Help with pointing Globecast dish (Telstar5)

[piotroosh]

Hi,
I'm trying to point my dish (.75 elliptical) to a telstar 5 (97W). I don't have a sat meter. heres what i did so far..
- mount is perfectly stable and perfectly leveled.
according to globecast's website and confirmed by a local installer i should be able to pick up signal @ 229.1 with 34.9 El and +24.8 pol.
But im not pickung up anything. I've spent 3 days now trying to pick up anything. I've installed plenty of DN dishes without any problems, but this one seems to be impossible to point in the right direction. Signal ranges between 60-80% Signal quality stays at 0%.
I think i triad every possible combination of az (from 190-240) and elevation (from 30-40 deg) and still nothing. Is it that hard to do it?
Do you guys have any tips for me? Or will I have to get someone with sat meter?
Oh.. of course i have a clear line of "sight" no trees, buildings...
Please help... its been 3 days....3-4h each day ;-)

 

[Shawn95GT]

Can you some more information? Where are you? I'm guessing NE US / SE Can

It is probably something silly...like the L.O. frequency of your LNB is set wrong.

the + 24.8 is easy - you should be able to eyeball 25° counter-clockwise on the LNB and tweak it once you actually have signal quality.

Signal Level doesn't mean much - it's all about the quality.

Give some specifics for your hardware and we can help you better - what reciever, what LNB, what dish, motorized?, etc.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Doh - did a little searching - all your equipment should be good to go - I assume it's one of their kits.

I just installed my primestar dish which looks VERY similar to the GC setup. I've found the dish to be VERY sensative to elevation as compared to azmuth.

1st off, double check all of your connections. I accidently hooked up the dish to the RF input one of the times I went out and was getting VERY frustrated until I found the problem. Make sure you are correcting for magnetic deviation for your location, dial in the corrected azmuth, and s-l-o-w-l-y move through the elevation arc. You should have it in no time. Setup a TV and the reciever right out next to you at the dish.

I looked a bit rediculous but I got G10R and IA-5 in 5-10 mins with my CoolSat / Primestar the night my coolSat showed up!

 

[piotroosh]

Yes it is a complete kit, it is used, my friend took it off his roof few days ago, so i know that LNB & receiver work.
Of course im including magnetic deviation. And i have no clue what else can be wrong.. basically i raise the dish 1/4 deg and scan the az. raise elev and scan... and i did that maybe 60-100 times.. today will be my 4th day ;-)
people driving by probably think that im crazy.... a guy sitting on a tree with a small TV in his hand.. ;-D
I guess i will just call my friend with a meter... cause i don't have any more ideas on what to do.
btw im in CT (06051)


Thanks

 

[Shawn95GT]

Looks like your numbers you're gunning for are right...


New Britain, CT 06051
Latitude 41° 40.002'N Longitude 72° 46.332'W

Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m) El Skew
-------------------------------------------------------------

*** All Satellites 61W - 160W ***

EchoStar 3 61.5W 163.3 178.6 40.5 -12.4
Rainbow 1 61.5W 163.3 178.6 40.5 -12.4
Brasilsat A2 (incl. 5.8 deg) 63.0W 165.5 180.8 40.8 -10.8
Brasilsat B2 65.0W 168.4 183.7 41.2 -8.6
Brasilsat B1 70.0W 175.8 191.1 41.8 -3.1
Nahuel 1 71.8W 178.5 193.8 41.9 -1.1
AMC 6 72.0W 178.8 194.1 41.9 -0.9
Galaxy 12 74.0W 181.8 197.2 41.8 1.4
SBS 6 74.0W 181.8 197.2 41.8 1.4
GOES 12 75.0W 183.3 198.7 41.8 2.5
AMC 5 79.0W 189.3 204.6 41.4 7.0
DirecTV 3 81.8W 193.4 208.8 41.0 10.0
Nimiq 2 82.0W 193.7 209.0 40.9 10.2
Brasilsat B3 84.0W 196.6 211.9 40.5 12.3
XM Roll 85.0W 198.1 213.4 40.3 13.4
AMC 9 85.0W 198.1 213.4 40.3 13.4
AMC 3 87.0W 200.9 216.2 39.7 15.4
Galaxy 9 91.0W 206.4 221.7 38.4 19.4
Galaxy 11 91.0W 206.4 221.7 38.4 19.4
Nimiq 1 91.0W 206.4 221.7 38.4 19.4
Brasilsat B4 92.0W 207.7 223.0 38.0 20.3
Telstar 6 93.0W 209.0 224.3 37.6 21.2
Galaxy 8I (incl. 1.0 deg) 95.0W 211.6 226.9 36.8 23.0
Galaxy 3C 95.0W 211.6 226.9 36.8 23.0
Telstar 5 97.0W 214.1 229.4 35.9 24.8
Inmarsat 2 f2 (incl. 1.7 deg) 98.0W 215.3 230.6 35.4 25.6
Galaxy 4R 99.0W 216.5 231.9 35.0 26.4
DirecTV 2 100.8W 218.7 234.0 34.1 27.8
DirecTV 1R 100.8W 218.7 234.0 34.1 27.8
AMC 4 101.0W 218.9 234.2 34.0 28.0
DirecTV 1 101.0W 218.9 234.2 34.0 28.0
AMSC 1 101.1W 219.0 234.3 33.9 28.1
DirecTV 4S 101.2W 219.2 234.5 33.9 28.1
AMC 1 103.0W 221.2 236.5 32.9 29.5
Solidaridad 1 (incl. 2.8 deg) 103.5W 221.8 237.1 32.6 29.9
AMC 2 105.0W 223.5 238.8 31.8 30.9
G-Star 3 (incl. 11.5 deg) 105.0W 223.5 238.8 31.8 30.9
G-Star 1 (incl. 6.0 deg) 105.0W 223.5 238.8 31.8 30.9
MSAT 1 106.5W 225.1 240.4 31.0 32.0
Anik F1 107.3W 226.0 241.3 30.5 32.5
Anik E1 109.2W 228.0 243.3 29.4 33.7
DirecTV 6 109.8W 228.6 243.9 29.0 34.1
EchoStar 6 110.0W 228.8 244.1 28.9 34.2
EchoStar 8 110.0W 228.8 244.1 28.9 34.2
Anik E2R 111.1W 229.9 245.2 28.2 34.9
Solidaridad 2 113.0W 231.8 247.1 27.0 36.0
Morelos 2 (incl. 4.4 deg) 114.9W 233.7 249.0 25.8 37.0
XM Rock 115.0W 233.8 249.1 25.8 37.1
SatMex 5 116.8W 235.5 250.8 24.6 38.0
Anik E2 118.7W 237.2 252.5 23.3 38.9
DirecTV 5 119.0W 237.5 252.8 23.1 39.1
EchoStar 7 119.0W 237.5 252.8 23.1 39.1
EchoStar 5 119.0W 237.5 252.8 23.1 39.1
EchoStar 9/Telstar 13 121.0W 239.3 254.6 21.8 40.0
Galaxy 10R 123.0W 241.0 256.4 20.4 40.8
Galaxy 5 125.0W 242.7 258.1 19.0 41.6
Galaxy 12 125.0W 242.7 258.1 19.0 41.6
Galaxy 13 127.0W 244.4 259.7 17.6 42.4
Telstar 7 129.0W 246.0 261.3 16.2 43.0
Satcom C3 131.0W 247.6 262.9 14.8 43.7
Galaxy 1R 133.0W 249.2 264.5 13.3 44.3
Satcom C4 135.0W 250.7 266.0 11.9 44.8
GOES 10 135.5W 251.1 266.4 11.5 45.0
AMC 7 137.0W 252.2 267.5 10.4 45.3
AMC 8 139.0W 253.7 269.0 8.9 45.8
Inmarsat 2 f3 (incl. 1.9 deg) 142.0W 255.8 271.2 6.7 46.4
EchoStar 1 148.0W 260.1 275.4 2.3 47.4
EchoStar 2 148.0W 260.1 275.4 2.3 47.4
TDRS 9 (incl. 7.4 deg) 151.0W 262.1 277.4 0.1 47.7
TDRS 10 (incl. 6.2 deg) 151.0W 262.1 277.4 0.1 47.7
EchoStar 4 157.0W 266.2 281.5 -4.4 48.2

Satellite Finder is (c) Copyright 2004, P. Lutus

 

[piotroosh]

In that case i think im just stupid..
right angles... clear view of the sky.. working equipment... and nothing.. 0%
is there any way to tell the elevation of the dish without using the built-in scale? maybe its off a little... i don't know... im not doing it the first time. and it never took me longer than an hour.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Double check the skew - I said clockwise before and was wrong - it needs to be counter-clockwise for positive (as seen from looking at the dish from the LNB side). I edited the post above. I think I read on another site that the whole GC dish skews. This makes setting the azmuth harder because what looks like a given azmuth is actually less a few degrees due to the offset feed dish.

Try dialing in the elevation, then setting the Azmuth to what looks right and then swing it back towards the East some.

I think skewing the LNB only makes the install easier but skewing the whole dish is actually better signal wise.

 

[piotroosh]

I tried everything... skewing LNB +/- skewing dish +/-
i think i exhausted al my options... i just called my friend... he's coming over tonight to set it up... oh well... he's just gonna make fun of me till the rest of my life ;-D
Thanks for your help

 

[PSB]

It may be the receiver they are cheap and nasty and prone to overheating, hope not and you get it up and running tonight. GOOD LUCK!

 

[piotroosh]

i don't think its receiver, cause it was up and running without any problems. after that it was disconnected etc, and im trying to hook itp up again in different location.. unless something happened in transport ;-D which i doubt.

 

[PSB]

I have been to a NUMBER of Globecast service calls where the customer had been trying to point the dish for a week or so. I go over point the dish in seconds using my positive identification satellite meter only to find a bad receiver, thats why I always carry a spare Satwork 3618 with me in the truck, hopefully its just a pointing issue in this case Good Luck!

 

[ken2400]

Cut your pain down and get the signal meter if you have a standard LNBF, LO of 10750. It WILL help get you near what you want.

Oh ya what kind of LNBF do you have? Make and model please.

Hi,
I'm trying to point my dish (.75 elliptical) to a telstar 5 (97W). I don't have a sat meter. heres what i did so far..
- mount is perfectly stable and perfectly leveled.
according to globecast's website and confirmed by a local installer i should be able to pick up signal @ 229.1 with 34.9 El and +24.8 pol.
But im not pickung up anything. I've spent 3 days now trying to pick up anything. I've installed plenty of DN dishes without any problems, but this one seems to be impossible to point in the right direction. Signal ranges between 60-80% Signal quality stays at 0%.
I think i triad every possible combination of az (from 190-240) and elevation (from 30-40 deg) and still nothing. Is it that hard to do it?
Do you guys have any tips for me? Or will I have to get someone with sat meter?
Oh.. of course i have a clear line of "sight" no trees, buildings...
Please help... its been 3 days....3-4h each day ;-)

 

[Shawn95GT]

Cut your pain down and get the signal meter if you have a standard LNBF, LO of 10750. It WILL help get you near what you want.

Oh ya what kind of LNBF do you have? Make and model please.

It looks like some of the the Primestar stuff:

 

[piotroosh]

Ok so my friend came with sat meter.... pointed dish in no time. still could not get any signal... 10% max... tried skewing LNB, dish... nothing...
after a while we realized that a scale drawn on LNB is not correct !!!
it has a scale of -30 to +30.
+24.8 was almost an inch further.....
Signal now is at 55-70%. He said that's all i'm gonna get in this area. Im happy.

Thanks for all your help guys!