Help, I'm getting my tail kicked! Bad LNBF?

[dish_in_the_sky]

I'm trying to get IA 5 but never found it. Same for Amazonas.

I just got my TechSAT 0.3 dB LNBF yesterday, and I haven't been able to get much signal at all, even trying the strong Dish network birds. I've only gotten a lock on 61.5, 110 and 119, which aren't what I'm hunting for... Grrr....

I'm using a 36" DSS dish, no motor yet, Buzz S2010f and TV at the dish.

Sigfnal meter on the Buzz sits at 73 with the dish pointed high in the sky (way away from the Clarke belt or sun) and only goess to ~75 or 76 on the 119 or 61.5 bird.

Adding a line amp (for grins) made the signal 80.

The Buzz is set to Universal LNBF and tried blind searching with the TechSAT LNBF. Sometimes I can get a lock at 110 deg W. L. Nowhere else.

Are the FTA birds far weaker than the 61.5, 110 and 119 birds? I have sometimes seen a 1 division deflection on the satellite meter above the noise on FTA birds, peaked as best I could, removed the meter (ensuring no loss of 22 kHz LO switch saignal) and tried blind scanning. Nothing. (my sat meter is one from MCM Electronics a few years ago, similar in appearance to the sat-95 meter.) The gain knob goes from -6 to +6, the noise floor on the TechSAT is +3 on the knob.

Tried locking onto the 119 W. L. bird with the circ. DSS LNBF, slammed the satellite meter needle with the gain turneds all the way down,slid over to 121 deg. W. L. and went back to the Tech SAT LNBF, then zip, nada, nothing. Cranking the skew around didn't help, I did try the 90 deg. off trick.

The TechSAT LNBF came in a box with no padding, stuffed into another box with one crumpled piece of kraft paper for padding, the box rattled when I picked it up. Unacceptable! Shipped from Georgia USA, via FedEx Ground. Could the LNBF be a shock loss victim of being tossed around in shipping?

Any good ideas on the signal meter in the Buzz, or using the satellite meter I have, or other tricks to test the TechSAT LNBF? With a 36" dish, I should have at least caught some FTA birds!

I was testing with ~5 ft of RG6 cxable and good, well-crimped waterproff connectors onm a dry day.

My lat is 47.8 deg N, long 122.3 deg W.

I have a wife, 2 in-laws, twin 2 month old sons and a 2 year old daughter in the house. I have some time to find satellites, but not to chase my tail for half a day trying to catch *any* FTA birds, especially given I can find 61.5, 110, 119 and 129 in about a minute each with the circ. DSS LNBF I already had.

GEEZ!!! *a little frustrated*

 

[dish_in_the_sky]

More...

BTW, with the circ. DSS LNBF, LO to 11250, the Buzz S2010f easily locked on to 110 and 61.5 deg W. L. and logged lots of scrambled channels with no difficulty. Same cable, receiver and dish.

 

[Mr Tony]

you're true south is G10 (or close to it)

yes the Buzz receiver has a lower than normal quality meter

if you have it on UNiversal that would be right. For G10 the elevatuion on the dish has to be 35.0
Azimuth for your area is 163 or so (180 is straight south). Scroll down to the transponder and select 11800. aim it south and S L O W L Y (like 1/8" or less at a time) and wait a couple seconds ot see if the qulaity moves. KU is lower powered so it does take a little bit to acknowledge the signal

 

[jgbayless]

I have a different brand 0.3 lnbf I had to turn on 22 khz for it to work properly. But I was already on t5. Thought I bought a dud until I turned on 22khz during trial and error.

 

[jgbayless]

I used an old primestar lnb to sight in t5

 

[jgbayless]

As Iceberg's tip # 5 says: "If you use a Universal LNB, for a short cut set the LNB to "Standard", LO frequency 10600 and turn 22k on." this is the only frequency my offbrand .03 lnbf will work with. I have 12v set to off. Any other frequency and/or 22khz turned off my lnbf will not show a signal.

 

[jgbayless]

This is ironic while trying to help someone else and following Iceberg's tip 3 5, My0.3 lnbf is working without 22khz. On my sBox receiver changed my lnbf setting from normal to universal and turned off 22khz. When I changed this though my two frequencies were set at 9750 and 10600.

What is 9750 frequency used for?

 

[PSB]

The low band is not used for much in this country! Cubavision on Pas 9 is really the only channel that it is good for!

 

[jgbayless]

I would like to thank Iceberg for the tips. # 5 already paid dividends for me.

I will maybe be able to used a reg 22khz (will sw21 switches work?) to hookup an extra dish or two. I am using a LAVA k101 0.3 lnbf which now thanks to the tips is universal.

 

[jgbayless]

Thanks PSB, I know I haven't seen 9750 frequency used anywhere that is why it thru me off.

 

[Mr Tony]

I would like to thank Iceberg for the tips. # 5 already paid dividends for me.

glad someone liked the tips

I will maybe be able to used a reg 22khz (will sw21 switches work?) to hookup an extra dish or two. I am using a LAVA k101 0.3 lnbf which now thanks to the tips is universal.

cant use a 22k with a Universal LNB...they clash

Diseqc & Universal will work

 

[Mr Tony]

Thanks PSB, I know I haven't seen 9750 frequency used anywhere that is why it thru me off.

check PAS9 on Lyngsat...anything with a frequency lower than 11700 is the low band

Universal is HUGE in Europe but not here. I wish there was more Universal sats...can get more on a satellite

 

[SatAdam]

... I am using a LAVA k101 0.3 lnbf which now thanks to the tips is universal.

Ditch that E-bay LNB, I had nothing but trouble with my LAVA lnb.

I got one from Sadoun, now all is well.

 

[dish_in_the_sky]

It turns out the LNBF is good (was uncertain at first.) The DISH was BENT!

Fixing THAT made finding FTA birds relatively easy, and I didn't even bother to watch the quality on the receiver, just peaked signal with a basic signal-only sat meter and off we went!

Yeah, yeah, LAZY me! (but this is just a start to get going.) I'll rigorously tweak for quality when I get the motor installed (by the end of this weekend if not sooner.)

Now receiving IA5 reasonably well, good enough till I get the motor in.

Thanks for the help, Iceberg, PSB and all!

Yes, a new 1.2m dish for $149 would be nice (a dealer offered that price) but my wife would *MUTINY* at that!

Maybe in future.... For now the 36" (91 cm) dish will do.

Oh, and the sun trick for testing a dish (different thread) requires a high polish and smooth surface to really work. The supplied finish scatters the light too much for a meaningful result. Oh, well... It would work, just not practical. (and can risk an LNBF/eyes/skin if one is careless.):down

When I set 22 kHz ON/LO=10600 MHz, I get good reception on all FTA on IA5 with the satellite meter in the line. [TechSAT Tracker 0.3 LNBF]

This is good, as the meter makkes finding the bird fast and signal/skew initial peaking easy.

Then I can use the receiver quality meter to finish the job.

 

[dish_in_the_sky]

Motor's up and pretty close...

I'm getting signal on G10R, IA5 and G3 (not great quality yet but watchable,)

May try to get some World Cup games on G10R