H25/500 Transponder Problem

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mark.polasky

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Aug 3, 2012
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Racine, WI
Installing H25 receiver on an SWM3 Slimline dish. Of course I am getting the 771 error during set-up of satellite dish. The only strong signals I am getting is on Satellite 101 on transponders 28, 30 and 32. They are registering in the 90’s. Also nothing on 99 and 103. I have 20.87 volts from the power inserter at the satellite dish. Tried taking out the 8 way splitter and ran a line straight to dish without any luck. I also replaced the RG6 cable from power inserter IRD to receiver. Ohmed out all cables also. Tried using receiver to align dish and then using a Satellite Finder SF-95. The receiver still registers same signal as first mentioned after many attempts. I get screaming signal using the Satellite Finder SF-95 and used that to peak and dither signals for azimuth, elevation and tilt. The information my receiver gave me for set up with zip code 53126 is Elevation = 39, Azimuth = 201 and Tilt = 76. I didn’t have to adjust much to start getting signal, then it was just a matter of peaking the signal. Ran receiver test and I am getting diagnostic code 41-649 which I can not find any where on the web. I am stumped. Any suggestions?
 
:welcome to Satelliteguys!

It sounds like you are pointing at 110 instead of 101. Try moving the dish to the east.
 
OK, so I tried realigning the dish to the east and got zero signal on anything after hitting signals on the next satellite. So I tried going east and west and checking hits on any satellites. Any hits I got on the meter showed zero/no signal on any transponders on the receiver for 101. Too much to left or right I could tell from my dish it would be way too far off. I bought this slimline dish setup to take my receiver to my relative’s house for getting together to watch the football season on weekends, and it’s coming soon. Both East and West satellites from my original settings showed no signal on anything. Could this be a problem with my LNB? I did try another receiver with the same results. No one responded with the diagnostic code mentioned in my earlier post. Any satellites I picked up on the signal meter East or West were obviously to far out for the 101 satellite.
 
Sounds a bit like my panic the first time I setup my dish. First issue is your Satellite Finder SF-95 meter. This is absolutely worthless on SWM. It is only measuring the SWM signal which will not vary so you cannot align with it.

Since you are apparently only doing this one time you would be best served to use your receiver. I am not familiar with the options on a H25, but I would imagine they are not that different from my HR24. You need to get to your signal strength display (Menu>Settings & Help>Settings>Satellite>View Signal Strength>Signal Meter). Use only this bar to align your dish. Confirm that it is set for 101 which should be your first option.

Your settings appear to be close. Satellite Finder shows an elevation of 38.9° and magnetic azimuth of 202.3° for your zip code. I would use these settings for your next attempt. (Although just using the zip code puts your location out in the middle of a farm field. You might get closer if you put in your exact address.) The skew is essentially what you have on your receiver.

You have to keep your compass away from any metal which can become an issue if you are on a roof top trying to do the alignment. But, metal will cause your compass to give you an inaccurate reading if it is too close. Once you get your best signal with the 202 degree setting tighten the mast bolts very tight so it cannot move around. Now adjust the elevation for your best signal. A word of caution here. Look for a red strip on the back bracket of your elevation fitting. Align that red line with the elevation number you see on the elevation markings. Lock down the elevation bolts when you get your best signal. For the best signal you now want to do the "dithering" setting. You will notice two bolts that have black dials on them. These are the dithering bolts. You need to use these to fine-tune the for the best signal. You can find a video on You Tube that shows you how to do this.

Once you have the very best signal you can get on 101, you change your meter to sat 99 and rotate/tilt the dish for the best signal there. (Some say that just using the setting from the receiver for the tilt is good enough, others say to adjust it. When we are traveling in our RV I just use the setting from Satellite Finder and it works.)

At this point you should be golden. As an aside, the error message you see is telling you that it cannot get guide information.
 
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