Got a C-Band dish...now some questions

[Mr Tony]

Well Saturday the big day arrived.....the FedEx man came and lugged a huge box out of his truck. I lugged it into my house and ripped it open. Yes, my 6 foot C-band dish arrived

Spent about an hour building it (real easy to build) and slapped my C-band LNB on it (the ASC421) and aimed towards what is my true south. Hooked up a DVB box and a C-band receiver and started moving the dish.

Monkeyed around and BAM….in came some church channel. World Harvest. Dang near crystal clear. Never been so happy to see a church channel. Scanned through the C-band receiver and found 2 church channels, a feed (b-ball game) and a test card. So I knew I was on G4. Tried to get channel 22 on T5 but that was really fuzzy so the dish on the roof is blocking part of the view.

Now all I have to do is move one of my dishes on the roof because it’s partially blocking the LOS.

Have some questions now in regards to the Digital stuff

-Is digital really this hard to pick up? It might be due to the dish on the roof blocking part of the view but I can get analog with almost no sparklies whatsoever yet the only DVB I could pick up was the WB 4:2:2 feeds (that showed scrambled on my box and a 30 signal). Heck digital KU isn’t this hard once you get the analog honed in.
-How does the C-band LNB get set up? Since 99 is 6 degrees west of my true south, I put the LNB with the 0 straight up and figured I can fine tune it. Problem is I can get V polarity stuff on Horizontal when I did a blind scan. I turned the LNB 90 degrees and now at least the H stuff comes in on H polarity.

Right now I moved the dish to a corner of the deck until I have time to move the one KU dish out of the way. Was going to do it yesterday but we had really thick clouds and rain/snow so it wasn’t worth working on.

 

[PSB]

Yes digital is MUCH harder to pick up

I have my ASC-421 C-Band LNBF set at "0" on top, works perfect!

Good luck with the new BUD!

 

[Mr Tony]

I'll have to try again in the next night or two. I was so happy to get analog only to be pissed not to get any digital stuff

Its just weird..I had it set to 0 at the top and the polarity was backwards.

 

[john green]

Ice, What brand of C-band dish did you buy ? I have a 10 footer that I don't want to put up till I move.I am looking for something smaller and manageable.What kind of mount also ?

 

[Mr Tony]

6 footer from Sadoun

It has a metal type "o" ring base. If your elevation is pretty high, you'll be fine. On mine, the elevation is 38 for my TS so I need a brick or something to put on the back end to keep the back side of the o ring from lifting up about a 1/2 inich

 

[Mr Tony]

I figured digital was harder but dang. I know when I had analog locked, the digital was real close. 30-32 signal and if I moved the dish it would disappear.

Guess I'm not just bang on yet
(also it probably has to do with the 6' size)

 

[PSB]

If in doubt use BLIND SCAN! Thats the only way I could get digital C-Band to start with

 

[Mr Tony]

thats what I did...Thats how I found the backwards polarity

also I have to remember, the frequencies go DOWN in a blind scan (so it starts at the top of the C-Band frequencies and goes down to the lower)

 

[john green]

Did you need the optional LNBF collar ? Looks like a good deal.Shipping costs are usually an issue.

 

[dfergie]

I had Hell finding digital with my 8' BUD and the DVB World box. I may end up getting a Traxis or other standalone box to help me find...

 

[PSB]

To start with I had the same trouble, the only way I managed to get C-Band digital was to use Blind scan, then tweak the signal

 

[Mr Tony]

Did you need the optional LNBF collar ? Looks like a good deal.Shipping costs are usually an issue.

I bought one but the C-band LNB (421) won’t fit in it. The Collar is used more for KU band. The C-Band will fit right on there with no issues.

Since it’s in pieces and the box is pretty small, shipping wasn’t bad. $35 shipping to Minnesota. Ordered Monday, received Saturday

 

[Mr Tony]

To start with I had the same trouble, the only way I managed to get C-Band digital was to use Blind scan, then tweak the signal

Have to try that (after I move one dish and remove another)

The Pansat does blind scan pretty good.

 

[dwingel]

Correct aim and focal length setting on the lnb are more important for digital recption. I also had to fine tune my asmuth and elevation for best digital recption. Once you get it set a whole new world opens up.
Cheers,
Dale

 

[Mr Tony]

ahhh crap...forgot about focal length. Have to make sure to add that in

If the weather would be better outside I can work on it more. (was really yucky yesterday)

 

[PSB]

A LOT better today! Just back from a KU install!

 

[Mr Tony]

another question

Are the digital signals on IA6, G3, IA5 and G4 strong and will a 6 footer pick them up. Or are they like some of the weaker KU birds and you need a bigger dish.

 

[rjc3895]

Icerberg!
Quick! Hide the BUD! Here comes the HOA . . . and they're carrying torches!!!!!!!

 

[iammike]

Ice,

I went through a lot of the same things you're dealing with when I put up my BUD last fall. I could get analog real well, but digital was pretty difficult. That was with an ASC421. My biggest issue was skew, although focal length was a problem too. I found it really difficult to get the skew right with the ASC421. The biggest problem is the difficulty in making very fine skew adjustments. Particularly with an undersized dish like you're using, being off by a few degrees on the skew can make a big difference. I eventually upgraded to a Corotor II plus and a DSR-922 and skew was no longer a problem.

In your case, using a dvb receiver, you have a little tougher problem. You might try what I did before I got my 4dtv receiver. I used the VC module in my old Toshiba. Even though you're not subscribed to programming it will still give you a signal strength number on the installation settings screen. You can have a pretty solid analog signal even when your signal strength is pretty low. I've seen VC locks with signal strength as low as 20%, and clear pictures with 60%. On a properly tuned system, I think you'll get most of the analogs at 100%. If you can peak your analogs first, I think you'll find that the DVB stuff is a whole lot easier to get.

Mike

 

[Mr Tony]

Icerberg!
Quick! Hide the BUD! Here comes the HOA . . . and they're carrying torches!!!!!!!

nah. I saw the old head of HOA guy yesterday and he just looked and kept walking the dog. (the dish is in the back so you cant see it).