Globecast dish and 123W

[shultz]

My 39" fortec is blocked by trees and i can't get 123W anymore (i get all the other sats from 30w-129w). My brother-in-law gave me a complete Globecast 75 elliptical dish, and i was going to mount it out in the field away from the trees, and use it for just 123W. Well, i can't get anything! I've moved that dish ALL over the place & nothing but a red 97 level reading. I aimed it at other sats and it picked them up, but the Q reading is not as good as the fortec. I changed everything in the coolsat setup for this sat. The only thing i didn't mess with is the skew on the back of the dish. I figured if i was just aiming it at one sat, i'd leave it "straight" and not tilt it. Can this dish even pickup 123W??
thanks for any help

 

[iafirebuff]

I would try to adjust the skew and see what happens. You should be able to get 123w on that dish (provided you have LOS).

 

[lumpkin666]

If you're aiming at one sat (no motor), then you definitely need skew (either dish or lnb). It's when you're using a motor that you don't need skew (since the motor skews the dish for you). 123 is a ways out there (at least for me in the midwest), so skew is probably more important than it is for the something like 97 (which is almost due south for me).

Your 75cm should get "something" from 123. There's nothing special about 123 or your dish that would make it incompatible.

 

[shultz]

I did try to adjust the skew on the lnb, (+35.81 according to satelliteav. com) but that didn't work. I'm at 40N and 86W, i adjusted the azimuth to 230, and elevation at 30. I left the skew on the dish at "100" where the dish is "straight" and no tilt to it. where can i find the skew setting for the dish? I have a clear LOS and this is my first attempt at a non motorized setup. I know its got to be something simple.

 

[iafirebuff]

While the lnb or dish is skewed, have you tried to move the dish ever so slightly to "fine tune it"? That is adjust the elevation and or azimuth? Also, are you using a satellite meter or do you have any of the strong TP's programmed in?

 

[Mr Tony]

If the dish can be skewed on the back, by all means do it. You would take the +35 and add it to 90 (which is stright). If you are behind the dish the left side will be higher than the right

If the dish cannot be skewed, then you skew the LNB...but I think those GC dishes can be skewed

With a 35 skew it has to be skewed or you'll have as much hair as your (or my) avatar If it was with 10 it wouldnt matter but that much it has to be skewed. Think of the motorized setup when you're at the ends of the arc how the LNB looks

edit: checked sadoun's site and the GC dish skews just like my StarChoice dish...unscrew the 4 screws and skew the dish to 125 (90+35 skew)...again, the left side of the dish should be higher than the right

 

[shultz]

If the dish can be skewed on the back, by all means do it. You would take the +35 and add it to 90 (which is stright). If you are behind the dish the left side will be higher than the right

ok, gottcha...i got the dish set on 125 on the back and now its rainin like a @#$%^&*() guess i'll wait till saturday to play with it. but even though i've skewed the dish, the mount on the pole should be at 230 with the compass regardless where the lnb is, right?

 

[Mr Tony]

if your azimuth is supose ot be 230 thats where you point the dish

skew just handles the fact the satellites are at different longitudes and to optimize the signal, you skew the LNB or dish. Skew on a fixed dish changes depending on lat & longitude.

The closer you are to a satellite longitude wise the less skew there is (thats why your true souoth satellite skew is zero)
The farther north you are the less skew you need (cant figure that one out)..

 

[lumpkin666]

The farther north you are the less skew you need (cant figure that one out)..

I tend to think of that one visually - if I'm sitting at my desk (against the wall) and a fly lands on the wall 10 feet to my right, I have to turn my head quite a ways to the right to see the fly in my immediate field of vision. If I'm standing across the room from the wall, I only have to look ever so slightly to my right in order to see the fly in my immediate field of vision.

I'm sure that's not exactly the same principle that requires the larger skew as you move further south, but it's probably something along those same lines. And that makes enough since to explain it to my non-technical brain enough that I'm comfortable moving on without pondering on it any more

 

[SatPhreak]

If you were setting up a dish on the equator the skew would be 90 degrees for all of your west sats and -90 degrees for all your east sats. Only your true south sat would have a 0 degree skew. The farther north or south of the equator you go the less your dish needs to turn to go from one sat to another and therefore would need less skew. Well it actually it would be because of less azimuth and less elevation.

 

[Larry1]

SatPhreak, If you were on the equator, would it not be zero skew for all your satellites? Your dish would move from east to west, but your LNBF would still be square to the satellite arc.

Anyways, shultz be sure to adjust the dish like Iceburg suggests. It should make a great improvement to your reception. A quality LNBF also makes a big difference. On the weekend I was adding an additional LNBF to my dish pointed at G10R to get IA7. (for WhitespringsTV) I tried and tried but could not get the quality to rise above 2. When I switched it out to another LNBF, my quality went up to 45. The first LNBF was a Digiwave standard rated at 0.3db, and the one that I did get a good quality reading with was a 0.9db StarChoice LNBF.

 

[Anole]

If you were setting up a dish on the equator the skew would be 90 degrees for all of your west sats and -90 degrees for all your east sats.
Only your true south sat would have a 0 degree skew.

Sorry, but I cannot let this statement stand.
It is just incorrect, as presented.

 

[shultz]

Everyone got their coats ready?? You know whats gonna freeze! I went out this morning, aimed the GC dish at 230, made sure skew was at 125, EL at 30, ran cable over to switch, went in and turned on 123w on the coolsat, and the damn thing worked!! I'm gettin 70 on the weaker TP's and hittin a high of 94-97 on the others! I just want to give a BIG THANK YOU to you guys!! I've never messed with a stationary dish and never thought about the skew. Just goes to show you that you can teach an old dog new tricks! Now the boss can go back to watchin perry mason again THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!

 

[Mr Tony]

sweet Always happy when it works out. Those numbers are about right for what I get on my CS5000 too (except the max I can get is 82...old factory software)

as for the coat? Nah...gonna be 95 tomorrow with heat index of 105+ in Minneapolis...

 

[iafirebuff]

CONGRATS! Now enjoy!

 

[kb2kir]

This may or may not be a factor, but how long is the cable run?

 

[shultz]

This may or may not be a factor, but how long is the cable run?

From my motorized dish to the house, the cable run is about 100ft. From the new GC dish over to the switch on the motorized dish is 50ft. Still commin in great!

 

[Mr Tony]

50 feet is nothing

G10 signals have been wacky lately...right now 11720 is really low but 11800 is coming in great

 

[tvropro]

50 feet is nothing

G10 signals have been wacky lately...right now 11720 is really low but 11800 is coming in great

I think G-10R is just about ready to put out to pasture. It's backup XIPS system failed in Aug 2004 and there running low on fuel to keep it in the box. It will be interesting to see how much better a new bird will perform. Maybe the days of 11720 going wacky will be over with.

 

[Tron]

It would really help us if they change the frequency from 11720 to something else. This would prevent cross-pole interference from Dish 121w, but that's probably not a serious problem for Equity since they're using larger dishes.