Help With $69.95 six foot dish,DMX741, and DSF120+C Satellite Finder

[avenger]

Ever since this area of town got hit wit a mini-tornado a few months back, my six foot dish have been performing very weird.

Have tweeked it a couple of times but everytime I do it is hard to maintain good quality signal on most of the satellite channels.

Bought a DMX741 LNB, in hoping to inprove the signal, it has inproved a bit, but I think that it could be better. For one thing, I am having to experiment with dimensions of the LNB into the scallar ring, do not know for certain the right depth in which to place the LNB into the scallar ring, nor the correct skew of the LNB.

Bought a DSF120+C Satellite finder, placed it inline per instructions, the finder indicates a quality reading of 99% right of the start. This digital satellite finder have two ATT buttons. Turned the knob on the side of the DFS120+C all the way up as instructed, still shows 99% quality. Press the right ATT button, still 99% signal quality, press the left ATT buton and brought it down to 61% of quality. What puzzles me is that since it already shows a quality reading of 99%, how do I go about in determine if there is any more tweeking of the dish and the LNB to be done by using both ATT buttons. Another thing while the finder is inline, the tv screen shows a quality reading of 0%, remove the finder and the reading appears, but as a low quality, even though the finder shows a very high reading. I do not quite understand/know if I am using the finder properly.

Anyone with this same setup, who is willing to explain what am I doing wrong with his procedure, or what setting clocking/depth the LNB should be in the scallar ring , in order for me to at least get some good quality signal all around is greatly appreciated.

Thanking you in advance.

avenger.

 

[FaT Air]

The DSF120+C won't show Quality as we refer to it. It is an analog meter with a digital output. As the spec says:"In-Line IF signal strength meter". It will show relative signal from the satellite. But not one particular TP, but the relative strength of the whole IF passband. Just like an analog meter(needle) adjust the attenuator for a mid reading and adjust the dish/feed for maximum. increase attenuation if meter "tops out". To blindly find the arc, Increasing the sensitivity, minimum attenuation needed for a mid reading, is where to start. But, you could be "On the arc" but on the wrong sat. Do a blind scan and see what TP's pop up. It's more accurate to use the Q meter of the receiver to "peak up" on, as it's reading the Quality of the signal of interest, and not that of the whole passband of the LNBF IF.

 

[mr3p]

Is your dish fixed or motorized? I'm going to guess fixed because you didn't say anything about a motor? With regards to skew, ordinarily you would set it for the appropriate number based upon your location. That being said, you didn't specify how you have your dish mounted/pointed so if you are manually able to move your dish through the arc (as if there was an actuator setup) then it would be set to 0, if the bottum of your arc is due south. Ultimately, the correct setting for skew is the number or position that gives you the best signal and like everything else should be manually/peaked with a receiver or meter. As for the "depth" at which to place the LNB, start off with the front of the LNB ~1/2-1" inside the scaler ring. When you do find the signal you want, you can then tweak as needed. Lastly, be sure that your scaler/LNB is centered on the dish. The arms that attach to the scalar are little flimsy and you need to make sure its pointed at the center of the dish. Happy hunting.

 

[stogie5150]

Looks like I need to take another trip across town.

Whats you schedule like this week? Shoot me a PM and we'll work this out, as I dont have your number anymore...LOL

 

[avenger]

Is your dish fixed or motorized? I'm going to guess fixed because you didn't say anything about a motor? With regards to skew, ordinarily you would set it for the appropriate number based upon your location. That being said, you didn't specify how you have your dish mounted/pointed so if you are manually able to move your dish through the arc (as if there was an actuator setup) then it would be set to 0, if the bottum of your arc is due south. Ultimately, the correct setting for skew is the number or position that gives you the best signal and like everything else should be manually/peaked with a receiver or meter. As for the "depth" at which to place the LNB, start off with the front of the LNB ~1/2-1" inside the scaler ring. When you do find the signal you want, you can then tweak as needed. Lastly, be sure that your scaler/LNB is centered on the dish. The arms that attach to the scalar are little flimsy and you need to make sure its pointed at the center of the dish. Happy hunting.

The dish is motorized and is pointed to Galaxy 17 91W my south satellite, with this setup I am able to scan from 83W to 118.8W but the channels are spotty thru the arc.
At the present I am only getting a few channels on those satellites which means that the dish is in need of tweeking. Everything was fairly good until that big mean gust of wind came along. The $69.95 special dish is not known to be sturdy, so the dish must have flexed something bad, but it does not seem to be warped, and the scalar ring also looks to be pointing to the center of the dish.

stogie5150 volunteered to set me straight some time this week, he is a pro at this, so I have to pay close attention of what he wiil do.

Thanks for the response.

 

[mr3p]

sounds like your dish must have moved. hopefully with a visit from stogie5150 you'll get things aligned again. one thing you migh do until he arrives is point at your due south satellite and play with that one to see the effect of adjusting tweaking skew and position of the lnb within the scalar.

 

[stogie5150]

stogie5150 volunteered to set me straight some time this week, he is a pro at this, so I have to pay close attention of what he wiil do.

Now you done gone and put pressure on me....

 

[avenger]

Today I decided to give the dish it's six months repaint job, I believed that I had arrested all of the rust from the dish, but after closer inspection, noticed that there were a few places that need touch up. So for the past hour and a half, I have been sanding it hopefully for the last time. Will try my hand at hand painting it with a good brush, two healthy coasts should do it. I have never did realize how flexible and flimsy my dish was untill I was sanding it, it popped a couple of time in the process.

Well gave the dish a good scrubbing and washing now I am waiting for it to dry, then on with the painting.

After the paint is dry, will do some more tweeking, hopefully stogie5150 wont have to work too hard in helping me in adjusting the dish.

Thanks.

 

[FaT Air]

it popped a couple of time

Id say a string test and some gentle massaging back into shape may be what's required to remedy the dish "acting weird". Sounds like a panel or two are bent(warped dish).