Getting ready in Pontiac Michigan

[mystjet]

Hello everyone. This is my first post to the forum. All of the components for the FTA setup are arriving little by little, and so I thought it time to ask the first question.

What is my true south satellite for Pontiac Michigan 48342?
(42.643856 N, 83.279236 W)

Thanks in advance,
Jim

 

[PSB]

Hello and WELCOME to the SatelliteGuys.US FTA Forum

Your true south satellite would be AMC 9 @ 83.0W

                       Pontiac, MI 48342
          Latitude 42° 38.634'N Longitude 83° 16.752'W

                         Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m)   El  Skew
----------------------------------------------------------------
                       Telstar 12   15.0W 105.1 112.9  7.2 -45.2
                                 
                     Intelsat 901   18.0W 107.3 115.1  9.3 -44.6
                                 
                     Intelsat 603   20.0W 108.8 116.7 10.8 -44.1
                                 
                            NSS 7   22.0W 110.4 118.2 12.2 -43.6
                                 
                     Intelsat 905   24.5W 112.3 120.1 14.0 -42.9
                                 
                     Intelsat 907   27.5W 114.7 122.6 16.1 -41.9
                                 
                   Hispasat 1C/1D   30.0W 116.8 124.6 17.8 -41.0
                                 
                     Intelsat 801   31.5W 118.1 125.9 18.8 -40.5
                                 
                     Intelsat 903   34.5W 120.7 128.5 20.9 -39.2
                                 
              AMC 12 & Telstar 11   37.5W 123.4 131.2 22.9 -37.9
                                 
                          NSS 806   40.5W 126.2 134.0 24.8 -36.4
                                 
                        PAS 6B/3R   43.0W 128.6 136.5 26.3 -35.1
                                 
                           PAS 1R   45.0W 130.6 138.5 27.6 -33.9
                                 
                     Intelsat 705   50.0W 135.9 143.7 30.5 -30.8
                                 
                     Intelsat 707   53.0W 139.2 147.1 32.1 -28.7
                                 
                     Intelsat 805   55.5W 142.1 150.0 33.3 -26.8
                                 
                            PAS 9   58.0W 145.1 152.9 34.5 -24.9
                                 
                         Amazonas   61.0W 148.8 156.7 35.9 -22.4
                                 
           EchoStar 3 & Rainbow 1   61.5W 149.5 157.3 36.1 -21.9
                                 
                 Estrela do Sul 1   63.0W 151.4 159.2 36.7 -20.6
                                 
                     Brasilsat B2   65.0W 154.0 161.8 37.4 -18.8
                                 
                     Brasilsat B1   70.0W 160.8 168.6 39.0 -14.0
                                 
                 Nahuel 1 & AMC 6   72.0W 163.6 171.4 39.5 -12.0
                                 
                        DirecTV 5   72.5W 164.3 172.1 39.6 -11.5
                                 
                            SBS 6   74.0W 166.4 174.3 39.9  -9.9
                                 
                            AMC 5   79.0W 173.7 181.5 40.6  -4.6
                                 
                          Nimiq 2   82.0W 178.1 185.9 40.8  -1.4
                                 
                            AMC 9   83.0W 179.6 187.4 40.8  -0.3
                                 
                     Brasilsat B3   84.0W 181.1 188.9 40.8   0.8
                                 
                           AMC 16   85.0W 182.5 190.4 40.7   1.9
                                 
                            AMC 3   87.0W 185.5 193.3 40.6   4.0
                                 
              Intelsat Americas 8   89.0W 188.4 196.2 40.4   6.2
                                 
                 Galaxy 11/Nimiq1   91.0W 191.3 199.1 40.2   8.3
                                 
                     Brasilsat B4   92.0W 192.8 200.6 40.0   9.3
                                 
                        Telstar 6   93.0W 194.2 202.0 39.8  10.4
                                 
                        Galaxy 3C   95.0W 197.0 204.8 39.4  12.4
                                 
              Intelsat Americas 5   97.0W 199.8 207.6 38.8  14.4
                                 
                        Galaxy 4R   99.0W 202.6 210.4 38.3  16.4
                                 
                            AMC 4  101.0W 205.3 213.1 37.6  18.3
                                 
                            AMC 1  103.0W 207.9 215.7 36.9  20.1
                                 
                           AMC 15  105.0W 210.5 218.3 36.1  21.9
                                 
                          Anik F1  107.3W 213.3 221.2 35.1  23.8
                                 
         DirecTV 6 & EchoStar 6/8  110.0W 216.6 224.4 33.9  26.0
                                 
                          Anik F2  111.1W 217.9 225.7 33.3  26.9
                                 
                    Solidaridad 2  113.0W 220.1 227.9 32.4  28.3
                                 
                         SatMex 5  116.8W 224.4 232.2 30.3  30.9
                                 
          EchoStar 7 & DirecTV 7S  119.0W 226.7 234.5 29.1  32.4
                                 
  EchoStar 9/Intelsat Americas 13  121.0W 228.8 236.6 27.9  33.6
                                 
                       Galaxy 10R  123.0W 230.8 238.6 26.7  34.8
                                 
                        Galaxy 12  125.0W 232.8 240.6 25.5  35.9
                                 
             Galaxy 13/Horizons 1  127.0W 234.7 242.5 24.2  36.9
                                 
 Intelsat Americas 7 & EchoStar 5  129.0W 236.6 244.4 22.9  37.9
                                 
                           AMC 11  131.0W 238.4 246.2 21.6  38.8
                                 
                        Galaxy 1R  133.0W 240.1 248.0 20.2  39.6
                                 
                           AMC 10  135.0W 241.9 249.7 18.9  40.4
                                 
                            AMC 7  137.0W 243.6 251.4 17.5  41.2
                                 
                            AMC 8  139.0W 245.2 253.0 16.1  41.9
                                 
                     EchoStar 1/2  148.0W 252.3 260.1  9.7  44.5

        Satellite Finder is (c) Copyright 2004, P. Lutus

 

[mystjet]

Motor, Dish & Receiver have arrived

First, Thanks again for the information Pete.

The setup is: Hotdish75, Dual .4 LNBF, Traxis 2500 receiver, SG2100 motor.

The motor is currently set at the zero point. I understand about setting the motor angle on the pole mount, but I am confused on the declination angle, and correct positioning of the motor.

What declination angle would I use?

As I understand this, I leave the motor on the zero position, and position the dish & motor as one unit, and in my case, going for AMC9. Is this correct, or should the motor be tweaked slightly off zero, then aim the dish/motor combo?

Let me know if you need any other information.

Thanks again,
Jim

 

[PSB]

Yes leave everything at the zero position and try to find a LIVE channel or transponder on the true south satellite.

The motor elevation = 48 deg.

Dish elevation= 23.5 deg
Do not worry about declination as it has been taken into account above. ( 6.4 deg)

 

[mystjet]

Signal to use

Thank you again Pete.

Another question. I looked at Lyngsat, and it looks like AMC 9 is almost all feeds. Is there a particular frequency & transponder that would be a preferred signal to home in on?

Jim

 

[Mr Tony]

There is one that I dont know off the top of my head but its a data channel. There is nothing on it but works real good for tuning dish

I want to say
12160 freq
V polarity
30000 symbol rate

but someone will correct me

 

[voomvoom]

Ice, you're off just a bit. It's 12060 and lyngsat list it as DirecWay.

Al

 

[mystjet]

Dish & motor mounted, quality level low

Hi Guys,

I got the dish/lnbf & motor mounted this weekend. I used the settings:

12060 freq
V polarity
30000 symbol rate

And I'm pretty sure I'm on AMC9. The LNBF is oriented straight up & down and all the way back in the bracket right now, but I find that I can't get anything greater than 34-37 quality level. I did notice that it occasionally does a jump to 0 then back to 34-37. A transponder scan reveals no channels on TV, but finds 5 radio channels that have no audio.

I've also found that if I scan the sky, the dish does seem to track correctly to other satellites. (Quality level to zero, then a spike to the same quality levels as it pans the sky, and seems to hit the next one)

It seems to me that this is a very low quality level based on other posts I've seen. Should I be messing with the skew of the LNBF? Or are there any other suggestions?

Thanks again.

Jim

 

[PSB]

The LNBF should be straight up and down on your true south satellite! Try moving the LNBF closer to the Dish while watching the Quality. What quality do you get on the other satellites?

 

[mystjet]

Same quality on the other satellites. I will try moving the LNBF closer when I get home later, and post the results.

 

[mystjet]

Hi all,

Well, I got home & just turned on the receiver & tried again. This time it registers 72% quality on the 12060. I did nothing else to the LNBF or dish positioning yet.

I programmed in all the transponders listed as FTA from Lyngsat and got these results:

11769 H
4232
64-67% quality
Shows up as NES422 and there is some sort of feed going on (lady with a fake mustache & gray hair.

11755 H
4232
73% quality constant
Shows up as NBCNC - just color bars & tone

I'm pretty sure that this must be AMC9. Do you guys think so?

I'm going to try to locate Galaxy 10r, and will check back here a little later.

Jim

 

[PSB]

Defiantly AMC 9 (Remember we do not post feeds in the open area. The above is OK as its posted on Lyngsat!)

Well done

 

[mystjet]

Hi PSB, Hi Icebberg,

I'm convinced that the SG2100 is set up correctly thanks to you two! I don't know why the quality levels were so low yesterday, but it's much better today. What kind of weather affects satellite signals other than rain?

I think I will be very busy scanning the skies for a while.

There was somewhat of a learning curve with the Traxis receiver. It doesn't think like I do but I think I can translate now.

You two are worth your weight in gold. I hope others appreciate you as well.

Until later...

Jim