fta no free channels

[comfortably_numb]

I also recommend the Amiko HD.265, which is sold be KE4EST and is a very solid receiver for a good price.

 

[IntelPennny4]

is 97w 123w and 125w the only sats you want programing from SHAWN?

 

[primestar31]

Why would you change the LO? That would only display the transponder frequencies wrong. As long as the LNB frequency range covers to 12750, a linear LNBF LO 10750 will scan the the circular Dish or Bell with approx. 3dB attenuation.

I figured Harsh wouldn't believe me if I said that, so I added a kicker, lol.

 

[Brct203]

by the way, I notice that your list shows the same transponders under the 3 satellites. Were you moving the dish at all?

The receivers have a list of satellites, they are just placeholders to help users keep things organized. I mean, if your dish is aiming at Galaxy 19 and in the receiver you select AMC-21, it will still only scan in what the dish is seeing, which is Galaxy 19, and store those Galaxy 19 channels under AMC 21. In other words, changing satellite in the receiver does nothing unless you move the dish. If you want to receive several satellites, you will need either a motorized dish or several dishes, or in some cases you can have several LNBFs side by side on the same dish if the satellites to be received are at least 4 degrees apart and not more than 10-15 degrees apart.

 

[shawnruckus]

is 97w 123w and 125w the only sats you want programing from SHAWN?

IntelPennny4 :
Not sure, those are just what sats i was told for my area. Not sure if they are good sats for fta channels in my area. Should i be looking else where? I've never hooked up one of these systems so im a bit new, lol. Would the factory install of mostly all Eastern channels/sats make a prob for me? I've had to add those sats(galaxy 18, 19, amc 21) to the list by removing some pre-stored. Tried to contact company to get a usb download to change factory sat list but just they say to use blind search feature, avoiding the point that i want to upgrade/change list.

Thanks
Shawn

 

[shawnruckus]

by the way, I notice that your list shows the same transponders under the 3 satellites. Were you moving the dish at all?

The receivers have a list of satellites, they are just placeholders to help users keep things organized. I mean, if your dish is aiming at Galaxy 19 and in the receiver you select AMC-21, it will still only scan in what the dish is seeing, which is Galaxy 19, and store those Galaxy 19 channels under AMC 21. In other words, changing satellite in the receiver does nothing unless you move the dish. If you want to receive several satellites, you will need either a motorized dish or several dishes, or in some cases you can have several LNBFs side by side on the same dish if the satellites to be received are at least 4 degrees apart and not more than 10-15 degrees apart.

No the dish was in 1 position during all scans.(Actually stayed in same spot since i couldn't get it to pass 42% quality) Does this mean i have a bad LNB? or maybe its because I have those 3 sats selected when i do the search?
So your saying that if im looking for say Galaxy 18 but pointed at another sat it would still show me signal quality of what ever sat im pointed at, not that its specifically sees Galaxy 18?
Thanks for all the help,
Shawn

 

[comfortably_numb]

No the dish was in 1 position during all scans.(Actually stayed in same spot since i couldnt get it to pass 42% quality) Does this mean i have a bad LNB? or maybe its becuase I have those 3 sats selected when i do the search?

No, it just means you're pointed at the wrong satellite

 

[Brct203]

Considering that it's a small dish, and that the LNBF polarization does not match the satellite polarization, 42% might be all you're getting. I tried it yesterday with a much larger dish and I don't think i was getting more than 60%. Having the wrong polarization type means that not only are you not getting all the power that is hitting the dish, but more problematic, you are adding and averaging signals between the 2 polarities. As long as there's a clean signal on one polarity and none on the opposing polarity, it's ok, the signal gets through with a bit of loss but is still usable, But if there's a bit of signal on the opposite polarity, either you get a mess that won't even be detected, or (as is probably happening here on some transponders), you still get signal but it's a bit messed up, hence the mediocre quality reading. It has nothing to do with having scanned those channels under several satellite names.

Anyway, it's not the right satellite, so no need to dig more into that topic

I think your LNBF is fine, you just need to move that dish a bit higher in elevation and pivot eastward by about 12-14 degrees and you should get better stuff. This time the polarization type will match. Just make sure you also adjust the LNBF skew.

and to answer your last question, you could name a satellite whatever you want, but what you'll get is simply what the dish is receiving, and it's receiving only what it's pointing to. (if that were a motorized system, that would be a different story). Don't worry about having scanned those "wrong" channels, you can clean that up later. I can almost guaranty you that on your way to finding 97W you'll end up scanning a few other things... 95W and 99W tend to be a bit stronger than 97W. 95W would have a bunch of Chinese channels, about 8 of them (some in English, French and Spanish). 99W would have 2 channels in English, and some Eastern European radio stations. If you get those, you'll know that 97W is not far...

Good luck and keep us posted

 

[shawnruckus]

So last night i had a break thru!!, I actually linked to galaxy 17,95 w and 101.0 and another one or to sats!! Found that 95 w had 41 channels some in hd, but obviously all in foreign languages. Didn't matter cuz i was ecstatic!! and i think 30 some radio.. Advice to move dish east was dead on, Thank you soo much!! Now all i have to do is keep at it till i get 97 w, bigger dish should help with that cuz i seem to keep passing over it, lol. Ill keep everyone posted on the bigger dish install when it comes in.

Thank You so much to all the people who took there time to help.
Shawn

 

[comfortably_numb]

So last night i had a break thru!!, I actually linked to galaxy 17,95 w and 101.0 and another one or to sats!! Found that 95 w had 41 channels some in hd, but obviously all in foreign languages. Didn't matter cuz i was ecstatic!! and i think 30 some radio.. Advice to move dish east was dead on, Thank you soo much!! Now all i have to do is keep at it till i get 97 w, bigger dish should help with that cuz i seem to keep passing over it, lol. Ill keep everyone posted on the bigger dish install when it comes in.

Thank You so much to all the people who took there time to help.
Shawn

There aren't many (possibly 1) HD channels on 95; I believe you were actually looking at 97. Just need to fine tune it a bit more then you should receive 200+ channels on that one

 

[harshness]

Just need to fine tune it a bit more then you should receive 200+ channels on that one

It is hazardous to promise a full palette of channels when working with someone using a too-small dish.

 

[comfortably_numb]

It is hazardous to promise a full palette of channels when working with someone using a too-small dish.

Most of the channels on 97 are still DVB-S, so minus the few that aren't, he may still indeed get close to 200.

 

[Brct203]

i think these days the number of channels on 97W is down to fewer than 180 these days, but I agree that was probably 97W he was getting as 95W just has fewer than 10 channels. A slimline should be able to get everything on 97W except maybe the new DVB-S2 transponder. It just won't do so well in rainy/snowy days.

The other question is... How well is the LNBF positioned on that slimline dish. Unless one has an old DBS LNBF to compare to, it's always a bit of a guess work.

 

[shawnruckus]

Wow a lot to type, lol. here go's: long story short I linked to several sats each with a channel or two or a radio station that gave me enough info to cross check with internet and luckily find out where I was pointed, then i could adjust the dish a couple degrees in the appropriate direction to find the next sat with a SAT Finder digital meter (in-line behind dish), then run the scan on the receiver box.(**Which by the way the receiver box never shows a signal quality percent before the scan, actual percent always shows 60% intensity 0% quality) Once scan is finished ill have the list of channels, hit ok, then once I've hit ok and go back into sat search and then it'll show 97% intensity 40-50% quality! Weird it doesn't show anything till after i scan. Once I have the signal bars working now i can go back to dish (with web cam facing my tv) and fine tune a bit. My dish is on top of my house so before i know it hours have passed while doing this<lol.

Galaxy 19 had a bunch of channels (around 60- 160 depending on how fine the adjustments were) but not much in the means of English programming again. So everyone out there reading this knows: You can be set to the right satellite and get in some channels but the better tuned in it is the more channels come in! Also if nothing comes up after a scan try to turn off fta only, even tho encrypted they can still give you clues on where your at.
Turns out that wasn't the case at first when i found that first pay out of channels but mostly in different languages, i was on Galaxy 3c/95w, but with that channel list and checking the net I was able to fig it out, and adjust, then right past it!!! lol, the meter takes a lil to get use to, it deff wants to wonder to the stronger sats making it interesting for 97w for me, the meter really liked it on either side of 97 so i got lucky actually linking to it.

As for the lnb bracket ill have to get a pic but for now ill describe: I bought a bracket from amazon, put a u bracket under the dishes org arm, connected the two(using the old lnb to try to mount new in same manner) with a bolt thru the two with a sleeve in the center for locking down purpose, then put a u clip over a hole in the bought brack with a bolt so i can fine tune the up and down angles then lock it down. I actually works well, ill have to take some pics to gave you a better idea of what im saying, lol. There should be a pic now

So now im headed form amc 21, according to the list i just found it should have a bit more English programming. But so far I keep locking on to one no name, no channels sats after another. Just keep making pencil marks so i know im head in the right direction, and so the meter doesnt bring me back to anything I've seen before. Now amc is pretty low, now I'm deff going thru a lot of trees, guess i might need the bigger dish after all. That being said the slim line did work pretty well, but cant wait to see how much better the 33' will be!. lol.

Thanks again for all the help, ill keep everyone posted on what i find on amc 21/galaxy 14!

Ps. This might sound silly but remember Im really new to this, the dish was originally set with a scew/tilt of i believe around upper 60's and so far I have left it titled, should it be? Same question on the new lnb, it has a set of degree lines across one side, do I set those numbers to the top at 0 then tilt to the skew # for that sat?(guessing at this point,lol) So far I've just hand turned it a bit here and there but I have no idea what the reason/science is behind what Im trying to achieve, lol. It does seem to work the best with lines up, but Ive noticed that diff sats like a lil diff, so if I'm swinging all the way back to amc 21 what should the lnb do??

 

[comfortably_numb]

Wow a lot to type, lol. here go's: long story short I linked to several sats each with a channel or two or a radio station that gave me enough info to cross check with internet and luckily find out where I was pointed, then i could adjust the dish a couple degrees in the appropriate direction to find the next sat with a SAT Finder digital meter (in-line behind dish), then run the scan on the receiver box.(**Which by the way the receiver box never shows a signal quality percent before the scan, actual percent always shows 60% intensity 0% quality) Once scan is finished ill have the list of channels, hit ok, then once I've hit ok and go back into sat search and then it'll show 97% intensity 40-50% quality! Weird it doesn't show anything till after i scan. Once I have the signal bars working now i can go back to dish (with web cam facing my tv) and fine tune a bit. My dish is on top of my house so before i know it hours have passed while doing this<lol.

Galaxy 19 had a bunch of channels (around 60- 160 depending on how fine the adjustments were) but not much in the means of English programming again. So everyone out there reading this knows: You can be set to the right satellite and get in some channels but the better tuned in it is the more channels come in! Also if nothing comes up after a scan try to turn off fta only, even tho encrypted they can still give you clues on where your at.
Turns out that wasn't the case at first when i found that first pay out of channels but mostly in different languages, i was on Galaxy 3c/95w, but with that channel list and checking the net I was able to fig it out, and adjust, then right past it!!! lol, the meter takes a lil to get use to, it deff wants to wonder to the stronger sats making it interesting for 97w for me, the meter really liked it on either side of 97 so i got lucky actually linking to it.

As for the lnb bracket ill have to get a pic but for now ill describe: I bought a bracket from amazon, put a u bracket under the dishes org arm, connected the two(using the old lnb to try to mount new in same manner) with a bolt thru the two with a sleeve in the center for locking down purpose, then put a u clip over a hole in the bought brack with a bolt so i can fine tune the up and down angles then lock it down. I actually works well, ill have to take some pics to gave you a better idea of what im saying, lol. There should be a pic now

So now im headed form amc 21, according to the list i just found it should have a bit more English programming. But so far I keep locking on to one no name, no channels sats after another. Just keep making pencil marks so i know im head in the right direction, and so the meter doesnt bring me back to anything I've seen before. Now amc is pretty low, now I'm deff going thru a lot of trees, guess i might need the bigger dish after all. That being said the slim line did work pretty well, but cant wait to see how much better the 33' will be!. lol.

Thanks again for all the help, ill keep everyone posted on what i find on amc 21/galaxy 14!

Ps. This might sound silly but remember Im really new to this, the dish was originally set with a scew/tilt of i believe around upper 60's and so far I have left it titled, should it be? Same question on the new lnb, it has a set of degree lines across one side, do I set those numbers to the top at 0 then tilt to the skew # for that sat?(guessing at this point,lol) So far I've just hand turned it a bit here and there but I have no idea what the reason/science is behind what Im trying to achieve, lol. It does seem to work the best with lines up, but Ive noticed that diff sats like a lil diff, so if I'm swinging all the way back to amc 21 what should the lnb do??

The picture looks like your LNB is skewed way too far to the right. Move it back to the center.

 

[Titanium]

To get the best performance possible, make sure that the replacement LNBF's feedhorn cover sits at the same height, is the same distance from the reflector and aimed to the same spot on the reflector. If the feedhorn isn't set in the sweet spot, the reflected signals are not focused onto the feedhorn opening and the Signal Quality readings will be poor.

It will be easiest for you to set the dish skew so the reflector is sitting level and not tilted. Use the LNBF notches to set the correct skew (LNBF rotation) for each satellite that you are aiming for. The aiming coordinates and skew are fond using sites like www.dishpointer.com.

Example: You could input your exact address to find the aiming coordinates and drag the pointer to the exact dish location. This really helps when trying to figure out where to aim the dish. Make sure the post (or mast) that the dish is mounted on is perfectly plumb and level. If it isn't, the elevation will be very hard to set and fine tune for best signal quality.

If the LNBF has been mounted at the correct height (matches the original LNBF), set the dish mount elevation to approximately 37.8 degrees. Find a landmark far away from you (tree, telephone pole, etc.) that aligns with compass reading of approx. 222.6 degrees.

Notice the calculated skew rotation for satellite 97w from your location is +22.6 degrees. This means that the LNBF will be rotated towards the West (standing in front of the dish CCW - Counter Clockwise) so the "0" skew mark is rotated CCW to approximately 22.6 degrees. If the skew is too far off of rotation, nothing will scan in or the polarities will be reversed.

The skew is the angle of the target satellite's vertical polarity, viewed from your install location. For example: A satellite that is directly South of your location (75 degrees), the skew will be set at "0" (vertical is straight up/down). Any satellite to the East of your longitude, the skew becomes negative and the LNBF is rotated towards the East (CW). Any satellite to the West of your longitude, the skew is positive and the LNBF is rotated towards the West (CCW).

A receiver will not show Signal Quality reading unless an active transponder is selected. When trying to find a new target satellite, make sure that you have the strongest transponder selected (or manually entered) into the receiver. Once this selected transponder is detected, the Signal Quality reading will be displayed and then the dish aiming and the LNBF skew and fore aft placement can be adjusted to optimize the Signal Quality reading.

Hope that this information helps!

 

[a33]

To get the best performance possible, make sure that the replacement LNBF's feedhorn cover sits at the same height, is the same distance from the reflector and aimed to the same spot on the reflector. If the feedhorn isn't set in the sweet spot, the reflected signals are not focused onto the feedhorn opening and the Signal Quality readings will be poor.

+1

Or even better: I would check and calculate the focal point, if it is a flat face paraboloid dish. "Original" LNB positions are not always right.

For that: mark top and bottom, left and right side of the working area of the dish, and the center point of the dish.
Then measure hight and width of the dish, and distance from top to middle of the dish (which should be equal to bottom to middle); as accurately as possible.
From these data the exact focal point can be calculated. (I could put the data in my calculator, and give you the results.)

greetz,
A33

 

[Brct203]

+1

Or even better: I would check and calculate the focal point, if it is a flat face paraboloid dish. "Original" LNB positions are not always right.

For that: mark top and bottom, left and right side of the working area of the dish, and the center point of the dish.
Then measure hight and width of the dish, and distance from top to middle of the dish (which should be equal to bottom to middle); as accurately as possible.
From these data the exact focal point can be calculated. (I could put the data in my calculator, and give you the results.)

greetz,
A33

in this case it would not work as I think he's using a re-purposed DirecTV Slimline, which is oval in shape (wider than tall) and not flat-face

I actually tried measuring on my 120cm offset (which does have a flat face) and ended up with a focal point that was very much off , and ended up guessing where it should be. I had used this calculator: Finding dish elevation offset angle.. Maybe there's a better way?

 

[a33]

Alas, satsig is not accurate; I tested that.

Also Parabola Calculator 2.0 for offset dishes (using Paul Wade's method) is not accurate, as it pre-assumes bottom at vertex. A slight difference there causes abberations for the focal point. (For PF dishes I believe this calculator is OK, though!)

Parabola6 is highly accurate for focal point calculations of paraboloid dishes, though. And gives a nice drawing of the results.
However I find the depth measurement of that calculator rather difficult; I find the measuring procedure that I wrote above simpler, and by using the top/bottom spots again I think you get more accuracy in the input measures.

So I made a calculator that can use three different types of input values:
- center point input values, such as mine and Parabola6's;
- deepest point input values, such as Parabola Calculator 2.0 (but without the incorrectness of the unnecessary preassumption of bottom at vertex). I have noticed it is very hard to find the exact deepest point, though;
- LNBfeedhorn point input values, when you know the feedhorn position is accurate (simple method, to find the effective focal distance of offset dishes, for e.g. multifeedcalculations).

If a dish is wider than high, but it is still paraboloid in form (to reduce impact from neighbouring satellites), with the water method you can still find the "effective width", and do the calculations.

If a dish is wider than high, and it is a multifeed dish, it is usually parabolic in the vertical sense, and circular in the horizontal sense. That is also the case with toroidal dishes.
I have a calculation method for those dishes in my mind, needing also the water method. And it would not be a proper 'calculation', but a step by step algoritm (by repeated steps, algoritm in the original sense, I believe?), to come very very near the true value.
But that calculation is still on my 'to do' list, for somewhere in the future, and the method is still untested...


Example of calculation of my triax-115 with the 'dish-center' method is added.
Also the other calculation methods, and needed inputs, are shown.



greetz,
A33

 

[Brct203]

Alas, satsig is not accurate; I tested that.

Also Parabola Calculator 2.0 for offset dishes (using Paul Wade's method) is not accurate, as it pre-assumes bottom at vertex. A slight difference there causes abberations for the focal point. (For PF dishes I believe this calculator is OK, though!)

Parabola6 is highly accurate for focal point calculations of paraboloid dishes, though. And gives a nice drawing of the results.
However I find the depth measurement of that calculator rather difficult; I find the measuring procedure that I wrote above simpler, and by using the top/bottom spots again I think you get more accuracy in the input measures.

So I made a calculator that can use three different types of input values:
- center point input values, such as mine and Parabola6's;
- deepest point input values, such as Parabola Calculator 2.0 (but without the incorrectness of the unnecessary preassumption of bottom at vertex). I have noticed it is very hard to find the exact deepest point, though;
- LNBfeedhorn point input values, when you know the feedhorn position is accurate (simple method, to find the effective focal distance of offset dishes, for e.g. multifeedcalculations).

If a dish is wider than high, but it is still paraboloid in form (to reduce impact from neighbouring satellites), with the water method you can still find the "effective width", and do the calculations.

If a dish is wider than high, and it is a multifeed dish, it is usually parabolic in the vertical sense, and circular in the horizontal sense. That is also the case with toroidal dishes.
I have a calculation method for those dishes in my mind, needing also the water method. And it would not be a proper 'calculation', but a step by step algoritm (by repeated steps, algoritm in the original sense, I believe?), to come very very near the true value.
But that calculation is still on my 'to do' list, for somewhere in the future, and the method is still untested...


Example of calculation of my triax-115 with the 'dish-center' method is added.
Also the other calculation methods, and needed inputs, are shown.

View attachment 137571

greetz,
A33

very interesting, i'll have to take a closer look at those methods. By "to or bottom" to "Center of dish", am I understanding correctly that you mean the distance in straight line from the top to the point that is equidistant to top/bottom edges and equidistant to left/right edges but also right on the surface of the dish (hence the slightly higher value than half the top-to-bottom value)? If that is correct, isn't that more sensitive to slight measurement errors than measuring the depth against a straight edge going across the dish? (I have not done the math, just wondering though)