Helping a friend bring life back to C Band Dish or Maybe Not

[Nosbod]

I'me helping a neighbour try to revive his 10 foot C band Dish. He bought a new Openbox s9 receiver,a vbox positioner, and a WS C/KU LNb. I hooked everything up checked the declination and elevation of the dish and they are good. I set the east and west limits and brought the dish to the top of the arc and installed the LNB. Moved the dish to the east limit and with the signal meter on tone moved the dish west until I had a strong signal. Stoped and went back to the LNB and using the meter adjusted the lnb for best signal. My signal meter gave me a signal strenght of 86 which I figured wasn't bad for starting. Went to the receiver and picked 72w and did a blind scan, and got nothing.We moved the dish further west to the next strong satellite this time I picked 87w from the receiver and with a signal strength on my meter of 85-86 did a blind scan, and again nothing.

I thought that there was a firmware problem here so I took the receiver home and hooked it up to the wifes KU satellite. I had no problem scanning in channels. I then thought the lnb may be no good but I was getting a good signal, so I went home took my LNB out and installed it in his system, did a scan and still no channels. His Lnb is a WS 741 with 22khz switching for the c Band. I tried this with the 22khz on /off no difference. I did the same on the KU side and nothing.

I brought his receiver and LNB home to do further testing, once I get my system back up and running. I had to take out his actuator because his was siezed and I gave him mine. I managed to put together a von weis from the 4 I have sitting around. So any ways once I'me back up and running I will put his LNB into my system to make sure it works.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[FaT Air]

When moving the dish to a particular satellite, it's best to get into the tune up screen and select a frequency/SR that is known to be ON. Then watch the Q. My Openbox will go from ~45 signal to ~88 signal when close to some satellites, but Q may be still to low to register. I tweak for maximum Q. Then I'll choose another weaker freq/SR and tweak some more. The signal meter, will get you close, but not "Right On" which is a necessity. Suggest tweaking the elevation on your most south sat first. then adjust the azimuth on one side of the other.

 

[Nosbod]

Thanks for the info. I was hoping not to have to start from scratch but I think your right. The only problem is the dish is 30 feet in the air and although he has access to a bucket truck he can only get it when it's not being used by the owner. If you don't here from me for a while that's why.

 

[FaT Air]

Being it's C & Ku 741, getting the Ku is very touchy. Make very, very, small adjustments. Might be easier to align on C band first, then a super fine tune on Ku.

 

[gabshere]

make sure you have the lnbf setup properly for each signal your trying to get C & Ku some receivers have it set up with both, others you probably have to add it
so if 72w has both c & ku each will need its own setting so the LO can be set for both C band & Ku.

72w Ku - LO 10750
72w Cband - Lo 5150

the 22k switching is probably on for ku and off for C band this would also need to be set with the correct LO in Setup

you can also take it a bit further after adding a satellite position for each band .... add a known transponder for each . after you've done this you can bump the VBOX east or west a bit and find the signal

 

[Nosbod]

The problem I.me having is finding the satellites. I've checked declination and rechecked elevation and have tweeked the dish on my southern most satellite. My signal meter tops out on signal, but when I move the dish east I get nothing and west I pick up 2-3 satellites then nothing. I've checked the pole and it's bang on 90. The dish doesn't appear to be warped. I used 87w C Band on this one satellite that I had strong signal and ran a blind scan, and got nothing.

So I'me not sure what to do next. It's not making much sense. On a positive note I've got my dish back up and running. Actuator seems to work fine.

 

[turbosat]

Sounds like your 'slice of the sky' isn't sliced right. If you get signal on one satellite, then start to lose signals as you move east and west, you're not on the north/south axis. It would be hard enough to do on a ladder, but 30' in the air, would take me a while too.
It's just a matter of finding your south satellite, then moving east and west from it, tweaking as you go. When the signals start to get weak, adjust elevation up or down a little to see if it improves, noting which way helped it. Going west from due south , if the signal gets weak and raising elevation a little bit helps it>then you need to rotate dish on the pole west a tiny amount, like 1/16" of an inch. It's hard to do , I know.

 

[Asket]

Sounds like your 'slice of the sky' isn't sliced right. If you get signal on one satellite, then start to lose signals as you move east and west, you're not on the north/south axis. It would be hard enough to do on a ladder, but 30' in the air, would take me a while too.
It's just a matter of finding your south satellite, then moving east and west from it, tweaking as you go. When the signals start to get weak, adjust elevation up or down a little to see if it improves, noting which way helped it. Going west from due south , if the signal gets weak and raising elevation a little bit helps it>then you need to rotate dish on the pole west a tiny amount, like 1/16" of an inch. It's hard to do , I know.

Does it have to be that high? The pole may be flexing enough to throw things off. Another thing is bad or inappropriate cable. Check the reciever at the dish if this continues with a known good cable.

The run may be too long.

 

[Nosbod]

Found the arc, one problem solved. Still won't scan any channels. I will pick up some rg6 today and run a new line. The existing line won't power my meter and it should. I should be able to run the meter all day if powered from the receiver but it dies after about an hour so it's just running of the battery.

 

[Asket]

Found the arc, one problem solved. Still won't scan any channels. I will pick up some rg6 today and run a new line. The existing line won't power my meter and it should. I should be able to run the meter all day if powered from the receiver but it dies after about an hour so it's just running of the battery.

Make sure the cable is swept for high frequency. Some are good only for OTA work. Use quad shield like Dish network uses. Good stuff.

 

[Nosbod]

Well I'me happy to say there is another BUD back from the dead. 25 years this has been up there and my friend said he hasn't received anything for the last 15. He was going to give me the dish but I talked him into bringing it back to life, and back it is. The original ribbon cable with 2 rg6 feeds are both defunked. I had to run a new rg6 and all is well.

I think in the future I will stick with dishes on the ground, but I did learn a new skill and although there probable is no test, I think I can say safely say I mastered the operation and maneuvering of a bucket truck. One more thing I can cross of my bucket list.

Thanking every one for their help.

 

[FaT Air]

Congrats on getting both operational. The neighbor will get a lot of enjoyment I'm sure. (and you'll be getting a few calls as you are now the "expert in residence") Accomplishments of this nature can only make you feel good. Great job. :up