H24 antenna setup problem

[Rlorton]

I recently visited a friend whose DTV was not in HD. He is borrowing a neighbors h24 while they are gone for the winter. He has an antenna from a prior installation on his roof. Using that antenna with his first receiver he got HD OK. The model he had is unknown. The antenna is a triple LNB with a long bar that has room for a couple more LNBs. Checking his setup the h24 is set for a triple LNB antenna and has no requirement for a B-Band converter. Setup looks good except that the resolution output from the h24 is always 480 and if you try to set it anywhere else it goes back to 480 The receiver is connected to a Sony 42" lcd flat screen via HDMI.
I have a h24 using a Slimline antenna at home that produces a good HD pix. Mine does require a B-Band converter. Any ideas?
Ron

 

[raoul5788]

It sounds like the setup your friend has is a swm type, meaning there is only one cable from the dish. It requires a power inserter to operate properly. Is there one in line somewhere and is it working correctly, that is, is the green light on?

 

[Rlorton]

It sounds like the setup your friend has is a swm type, meaning there is only one cable from the dish. It requires a power inserter to operate properly. Is there one in line somewhere and is it working correctly, that is, is the green light on?

Thanks Chip,
Where does one find a power inserter?
Ron

 

[raoul5788]

If you mean to buy, ebay or solid signal would be a good place to look. If you mean where in the setup, it's goes somewhere between the dish and the H24.

 

[Jimbo]

Does that old set up see the 99 and 103 Sats ?

When your back over there, go into the Settings, Sat and Antenna and check the Sats that he's getting. (I don't remember if that one gets the right Sats or not.)

Also check the recvr actual model.

 

[raoul5788]

Does that old set up see the 99 and 103 Sats ?

When your back over there, go into the Settings, Sat and Antenna and check the Sats that he's getting. (I don't remember if that one gets the right Sats or not.)

Also check the recvr actual model.

The way he described the lnb, it's a ka/ku type.

 

[Jimbo]

The way he described the lnb, it's a ka/ku type.

If thats the case, he should go into the Sat section and see what kind of signal strength he has and for sure what Sats its hitting.

I'm thinking your right, he probably is getting the right Sats, it sounds like its a SL but not a SWM set up.
I'm pretty sure the H24 needs the BBC connectors to see HD ... seeing its not a SWM.

Has he went into the Sat Set Up and re ran it yet ?
Making sure it is set for the LNB he has on the dish ?

 

[Rlorton]

I am now in Calif and he is in AZ so I have to communicate with him by e-mail. The dish on his roof looks like the ka/ku. Like this. http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=SL5-SWM How to tell if it's not a SWM I don't know. He and I are both just techie enough to get it right if we know what right is. When I was there a couple of days ago I checked the setup and got three sats with good signal strength out of it. The odd thing is that a lot of the numbers were zeros, I don't remember which numbers but it was half of them for two of the sats. His receiver is a H24-100 as reported on the setup screen. Does the receiver report which LNB is on the antenna? OBTW what is a BBC connector?
Ron

 

[Rlorton]

Got this response from him. "The tag on the Slimline dish says ka/ku. The sats it sees are 101, 110 and 119. Am not sure which dish to select in the setup menu." He also says there is one coax coming to the receiver. Since he can't see 99 or 103 what does he have to do?
Ron

 

[raoul5788]

Hit the - key. If you have a swm setup it will say so.

 

[Jimbo]

You can also go into the Menu/ Settings/ Info and Test/ More System Info this screen will tell you a lot of info including what dish you have set up.
As Chip mentioned the - button should take you to the same spot, but if it doesn't, go the route i posted.

 

[Rlorton]

Hey guys,
Got him on the right track. I sent him the url for this thread and he, after reviewing the dialog, found that he was using the wrong antenna selection in the setup menu. He has the right antenna selected now and is getting a few HD channels but has low signal strength on many of them. He is going to try and align it and if necessary he'll call a pro out to do it.
Thanks so much for all the valuable info provided. I can always count an good info here. OBTW I'm an old Buckeye myself so Go Ohio State!!!!

Ron

 

[Jimbo]

Hey guys,
Got him on the right track. I sent him the url for this thread and he, after reviewing the dialog, found that he was using the wrong antenna selection in the setup menu. He has the right antenna selected now and is getting a few HD channels but has low signal strength on many of them. He is going to try and align it and if necessary he'll call a pro out to do it.
Thanks so much for all the valuable info provided. I can always count an good info here. OBTW I'm an old Buckeye myself so Go Ohio State!!!!

Ron

How is he determining the HD signal strengths ?
Have him check the 99 and 103 Sats , ask what kind of numbers he has, don't look at the 1 bar for the Sats, have him go in to the next screen where he can see the individual transpondors.
The majority should be high 80s or 90's.
There will be a few that may be zero or low, but only a few.

 

[Rlorton]

He's using the transponder signals from 99 and 103. He says they are in the 50's on many of them. Is there a posted alignment procedure for that antenna? If so where?
Ron
Go Buckeyes!!!!!!

 

[texasbrit]

Don't worry about 99s and 103s, those are spotbeams deirected at different cities and so low or even zero signals are normal.

 

[raoul5788]

As texasbrit said, the 99s and 103s signals aren't important. What are his levels on 99ab, 99ac, 103ab and 103ac?

 

[Rlorton]

Here are the latest transponder signals.............99(ca) eleven transponders reporting with strengths from 76 to 80.
99(cb) fourteen available with none reporting.
103(ca) sixteen reporting with signals from 49 to 74.
103(cb) fourteen available with none reporting.

This kinda got past us. Does he need a power inserter for this setup?
Ron

 

[texasbrit]

Two things:
First, if this is not an SWM system he needs a BBC, otherwise he will get zero signals on all the B-band satellites (99cb and 103cb)
Second, he is getting closer on the alignment but still some ways off.

 

[Rlorton]

thanks texasbrit. BBC means B-Band Converter I assume. He doesn't have one on that setup.
Ron

 

[raoul5788]

I don't think he has a swm setup, so he does need the bbc. You will still get some hd channels without one, but you need it to get them all. The dish still needs to be realigned though. His signal strength numbers are much too low.