fta in Hawaii

[oliver2050]

I have an old 30" dish from dish network and changed the original dish pro lnbf to a universal ku band one. I'm trying to get galaxy 19 at 97w. I'm not getting any signal at all; "signal quality" stays 0. I carefully aligned the dish. I thoroughly searched this forum and others on setups here in Hawaii without much luck.

Is a 30" offset dish going to work with 97w or 125w?

Is there anybody here with a successful fta installation in Hawaii, with some tips?

What would be a recommended fta receiver and lnb? (currently I have a cheap Chinese fta receiver and a universal LNB or the original dishnetwork LNB)

My goal is to add on some international channels to my ATSC local ones I have already and to fully understand satellite technology.

Thanks in advance.

 

[etlam34]

I have an old 30" dish from dish network and changed the original dish pro lnbf to a universal ku band one. I'm trying to get galaxy 19 at 97w. I'm not getting any signal at all; "signal quality" stays 0. I carefully aligned the dish. I thoroughly searched this forum and others on setups here in Hawaii without much luck.

Is a 30" offset dish going to work with 97w or 125w?

Is there anybody here with a successful fta installation in Hawaii, with some tips?

What would be a recommended fta receiver and lnb? (currently I have a cheap Chinese fta receiver and a universal LNB or the original dishnetwork LNB)

My goal is to add on some international channels to my ATSC local ones I have already and to fully understand satellite technology.

Thanks in advance.

I think you will have more luck with 125. Look at the footprints of the satellites you are trying to receive. My guess is that you will need something bigger then 30”.

 

[primestar31]

97w has a KU beam aimed at Hawaii. Satbeams claims a 31" dish will work, but I'd recommend a 1 meter dish as a minimum if you really want to make sure you can get it. I don't trust Satbeams recommendations as a general rule.

 

[Andyboy90]

97w has a KU beam aimed at Hawaii. Satbeams claims a 31" dish will work, but I'd recommend a 1 meter dish as a minimum if you really want to make sure you can get it. I don't trust Satbeams recommendations as a general rule.

I know for C band satbeams is unreliable due to various factors (adjacent interference, error correction, etc)but at my location (Northern Canada) I have always been able to get almost all ku sats with smaller dishes than satbeams recommended size but YMMV

 

[KE4EST]

to SatelliteGuys oliver2050!!!!

You should have no issue getting most of 97W in Hawaii. Your issue maybe that your LNBF is not mounted in the prime spot since you have modified the dish.

 

[oliver2050]

Thanks all for the input. What do I look for when positioning the new Ku band lnb at the focal point? I'm trying to mount it as close as possible to the original dish pro lnb. Should I move it half an inch in the direction away from the dish? dish pointer says it should have a skew of -66 degrees. What is my 0 degrees starting point and do I rotate it ccw or cw?

 

[Brct203]

Thanks all for the input. What do I look for when positioning the new Ku band lnb at the focal point? I'm trying to mount it as close as possible to the original dish pro lnb. Should I move it half an inch in the direction away from the dish? dish pointer says it should have a skew of -66 degrees. What is my 0 degrees starting point and do I rotate it ccw or cw?

Mount the LNBF so that the feedhorn part of it (the round "entrance") is positioned the same way as the Dish Network one would be. As far as skew, there might be 2 options:
- Many of those DN dishes have a skewable mount, meaning the whole dish can rotate. In that case, mount the LNBF so that it's level when the dish is not skewed (most likely that means that the LNBF connector would be pointed downward), and then skew the entire dish to 66 degrees. Since 97W is to your east, that would be clockwise when facing the dish.
- if the dish mount is not skewable, then rotate the LNBF clockwise when facing the dish

 

[Theseeker]

Post Pics of the dish and how the Lnb is mounted

 

[oliver2050]

I'm still not getting any signal even though I precisely adjusted all the angles. I turned the lnb -66 degrees to the left of 0. The elevation angle should be at 22.3 degrees. I set it almost to the bottom of what's possible on the scale. The right edge of the elevation scale nut matches the 22.3 degree angle. (as close as I could get it with my eye) At this point the dish is actually facing slightly down. I read that can happen because I have an offset dish. I setup a remote webcam that points to my monitor indoors, so I can see on my phone if there is any signal showing while I'm adjusting the azimuth outside. The red intensity bar goes to 60%. That's all I get. I think it's just showing the lnb has power. I don't think I have any signal. I really wonder what I'm doing wrong of if any of my equipment is faulty? How precise does it have to be adjusted to get a signal?

 

[a33]

I'm not familiar with the dish, but i would expect the LNB would be a bit further from the dish.
So as KE4EST suggested, I would now first check the position of the LNB.

I could calculate it for you, if you wish, if it is a normal elliptical flat-front dish?
I'd need hight and width of (the working area of) the dish (so without the rim!),
and the distance from top of (the working area of) the dish to the exact middle of the dish (which should be the same as the bottom of the dish to the exact middle of the dish, by the way).
Measure as precise as you can, millimeters at most.

Greetz,
A33

Edit: BTW I would think the -66* degree skew should be exatcly the other way round!
And my calculator gives 20.3* elevation for 97W, for 20.91N, 156.37W.
If your LNB is not positioned right, the dish elevation scale will not be valid for your new LNB-position.

 

[Brct203]

I agree, the skew should be the other way around. And I also agree that the LNBF looks a bit close to the dish.

For initial setup without spending much money, I got very good use out of a simple signal finder that is sold on many sites for about $10. It simply makes noise when it detects signal. Of course if won't tell you which satellite or any details, but I found it very useful in simply finding something. Once you get the highest annoying sound out of the thing, you scan. You won't get stuff each time, as it will also squeak for DirecTv etc, but still much better than aiming almost blindly.
Amazon product ASIN B000MTXFXS
don't get me wrong, this is in no way a replacement for a proper satellite meter, but it does what it's supposed to do

 

[catamount]

Also, post a pic of the transponder screen. It is possible you are aiming with a transponder that is no longer valid.

Catamount

 

[Theseeker]

Do you still have the old LNB holder for the dish? If you do I would suggest you fit it back on there and take a accurate measurement of where the LNB sits and then you will know how to position that one. Or another solution is if you know the Exact Elevation of the dish set it there and take the Lnb of the bracket and try to find the signal as if you are mounting a sidecar LNB so move the LNB light up and down left and right infront of the arm until you find the right location for the LNB. If yo have ever mounted multiple LNB on a single dish you will know what I mean.

 

[oliver2050]

Here is the transponder screen. Does that need to be changed? I'll make the above mentioned adjustments and report back. big thanks to everyone.

 

[catamount]

From what I can tell, that transponder is no good. Personally, I always use 12053 Vertical 23000, mainly because I started this hobby using stacked lnb's. Others use 12152 horizontal because of no adjacent interference. With 12053 peaked, I have always received every tranponder and thus all channels. Hit the red button for add, input data FEC is 3/4 I believe.

Catamount

 

[Theseeker]

Here is the transponder screen. Does that need to be changed? I'll make the above mentioned adjustments and report back. big thanks to everyone.

Looking at the Photo your Receiver looks like its a Freesat/Dynosat note that you will have to move that LNB or Dish slowly because that receiver as a slight delay when picking up the signal.

 

[danristheman]

Move your lnb holder up and away from from lnb arm follow the lnb arm in that direction where the arm is pointed up at. Several DN dishes have been modded on here to do that look it up. Aim for 12152 h 20000 sr strong transponder on that satellite.

 

[etlam34]

If you can get your hands on a satmeter, that would help out a lot!!

 

[oliver2050]

I went ahead and ordered the satmeter brt203 mentioned and I have another dish coming on wednesday. Yes, I'm using the freesat tuner that many people use successfully. changing the transponder settings did not help. I still just see 60% signal and 0% quality. It seems like 60% kicks in just as the lnb powers up. I'll get the measurements of my current dish and post them. Thanks all.

 

[KE4EST]

It seems like 60% kicks in just as the lnb powers up.

Correct, it is kind of deceiving calling it signal, but that is how it works.
No LNB(f), 0% signal. Hook up a LNB(f),it will show signal from 20-60% depending on what receiver you have.
Then it will go to another higher number once you lock a signal(no matter how good the quality its, as long as it is locked).