hi, got a few questions from a noob

[melgarga]

I'm sure in the hands of someone experienced the Birdog is a powerful tool, but somewhat intimidating, if not overwhelming to one that is just breaking into the realm of satellite receiption. Properly configured and operated I have no doubt it has the ability to surpass the 'shade tree' method I've been promoting on every level, yet we can't overlook the term properly configured and operated . I would love to have one myself, but like most others, cant justify the expense.
Dee has shown considerable aptitude. I am certain she is capable of picking up anything she is shown how to do. This hobby can be frustrating at times for the most seasoned of us, for a newcommer without any in person, show-n-tell interaction, I imagine it reaches the breaking point.
I dont think anyone could disagree that configuring and operating a Birdog, and using a PCI DVB card would not be in a Satellite FTA 101 course if there were such a thing. Both are much further up the experience level ladder. Both require a moderate background in advanced PC operation, and a working knowledge (multiple sucesses in alignment and configuration) of DVB application and operation.
One thing I see that everyone is advocating, and that is shoot for another satellite. WSTV is one of many places to see, and only interesting at times. The tree limbs are possibly an issue, at the very least an un needed variable, so eliminate it by going for a bird that is undeniably clear LOS. ( I think she will like 101W) Regardless of which she picks, a success will give her confidence, confidence will give her motivation and so on. It is positive reinforcement at it's finest.
Regarding the Birdog again, if I had to take a best guess, I'd have to say she has something wrong in the configuration. I would think that the 'config data file' can be saved and therfore e-mailed and uploaded to another meter. If this is the case maybe you could send her a known good config data file and get her to write it to her meter, along with instructions on which mode to select for which bird That would take out another variable.

 

[zamar23]

I agree that a professional tool can only add confusion to a FTA novice instead of helping a lot. It does require learning curve by itself, which by chance includes all your previous FTA knowledge and background. How one can configure and use a BirDog without knowing such basics, as what TP frequency is?

I suggest to set aside the BirDog for now, and use proven to work for a novice simple methods, such as:

- "Sun Shadow at Solar Noon" method to find an accurate due south direction for each dish;
- Dish pre-allignment from the due south direction, using its own azimuth, elevation and skew scales, and Dishpointer & Lyngsat (Maps) info on sat & channel & dish size & LNB type required;
- Dish allignment fine tuning & LNB course performance check using a portable TV or $10 analog Sat Signal Meter. If there's no signal Strength (not Quality) regardless of LO freq selected and aiming direction - the LNB doesn't work.

 

[Dee_Ann]

With all due respect to everyone involved in this topic, I own a birdog , the latest version 4 (it says USB Plus) and nothing beats the use of such equipment when it comes to pointing and peaking a Dish. You can even rotate the dish fast that if the EL angle is right it will find it , with the receiver you have to wait a few seconds per every move. No matter what Dish or which SAT , the birdog is way better than the receiver/tv solution. I am not saying that people should by a birdog as they are expensive and therefore better suited for professional installers who makes profit by speeding their installs. For hobbist and the likes like us a receiver/tv/friend solution is more than enough.

But in this case the OP has the birdog already. your unit version 2.5 BTW does not have the Spectrum feature although it has the Constellation feature.

I stand behind my first post indicating that the OP should first make sure that the software of the birdog is updated and I recommend her to follow Anoles suggestion on moving to find anothér bird if possible to familiarize and mostly to discard potential Line of Sight issue with White Springs (branches of trees as per her own pictures).

Other than that , keep trying you will make it.

Thank you very much for your encouraging words!

The meter doesn't have USB, my neighbor made a programming cable for me.
I took picture of it's startup screen to show what model/version it is, maybe that will help clarify better, my descriptions may be a little lacking at times.

The man I bought it from had bought a brand new meter, much better than this one and didn't need this one anymore. So he sold it to me, cheap. At least I think so.
I paid him $100 for it. He said it was in perfect condition and to me, it looks pretty clean. However it does appear to be pretty old from it's little info screen, could that be a problem?

I just don't understand how it is that it doesn't see the satellites when I am watching TV on them! I mean with the darn thing connected in the middle between the dish and the house it doesn't say it's finding anything.

And I set the meter to look for the right satellite, AMC-9 KU Linear, horizontal and vertical. Right? The meter says KH AMC-9 83 or KV AMC-9 83 and it doesn't find it.
But there it is, I'm watching TV on it. Strange.. Maybe it doesn't like me...

I will try today to use it to find the satellite at 95. I forget the name of it right now. I'm sure that there are no trees in the way on that one.

I don't know what the "constellation" thing is, that's a new one that I need to look up and someone else threw another new term in "declination" which I haven't heard before. I assume something to do with declining ?

There is soooo much to learn. This is way more complicated than I thought it would be. I thought you just pointed the stupid things up and watched TV. How hard can that be? Ha!

Whew! Well, if I take it in small bites I think I can handle it. I get overloaded pretty easy and want to throw it all out. I have a tad bit of a temper. But I do want to learn and I'm not going to give up.

Thanks guys, y'all are golden! :::


Edit: Oh yes! I just remembered something, the man I bought it from told me he had just upgraded it for SWM.
I have no clue what that is. Could that be a problem?

 

[Dee_Ann]

Oh and this is a little tiny bit off topic but,

Back about 20 something years ago I was living in CA and the transmission on my little car went out. I had it towed to a shop and they told me it would be about $800 to fix it but it would be a week. They said if I wanted to pay an expedition fee they could bump it up to the next day, for another $300. I told them they were thieves.

They dumped the transmission in the trunk and pushed it to the edge of the lot and told me to get out. I called my dad, he came up, towed it back to my apartment and fixed it in half a day for a total cost of $28. It was just some seal and some disc parts.
My dad said it was easy to fix and that I did the right thing to call them thieves.

A few years later my air conditioning went out in the same little car. This was a life and death situation ya know. I took it to another place and they told me it would be $2,700 plus tax for parts and labor. They said 2 or 3 things had gone bad and needed replacing. I only paid $6,400 for the car, brand new! I knew that was just not right. No way.

Once again I told them thank you no and left. Once again I called dad and he came up. What was wrong? It just needed cold stuff put in and one loose thing tightened up. It cost like $3 to fix and took about 15 minutes.

He taught me how to put the cold stuff in myself, he bought me a hose with a meter on it, it's all color coded. You put the blue hose on the blue thing under the hood, put a can on the hose, start the motor and pull the trigger until the needle is in the green. All done. Really easy. Everyone should learn how to do it.

Oil and filter change too. Very, very, very much NOT fun. But I can do it. My dad taught me how. I can put antifreeze in the car too when it gets winter time.

I took a PC to bestbuy one time. They charged me like $300 for a power supply.
I was ok with that until I discovered later that a new power supply is like $20.
I learned how to put them in myself after that. Everything in a computer is color coded so how can you go wrong?

I've saved myself a lot of money over the years by learning to do things on my own.
I know enough basic stuff to scrape by and avoid the thieves.

I am hardheaded, stubborn and thrifty. I think it's my Scottish/Irish part of me that makes me that way. Or at least that's what my mom thinks. I got her looks but my dad's brain.

Anyway... So yes, I'm determined to get this figured out. If it kills me.

 

[zamar23]

Dee_Ann

Good spirit! It looks like your only major FTA related problem is that you're trying to use an old tool without refreshing its software, or even trying to find out on what frequency your target channel broadcasts, and if it matches the frequency the meter is looking for signal at from that sat. You might not go anywhere with any linear sat, until this simple issue is resolved, because the same issue may pop up with any sat - they all change TPs often.

To be honest, one may have a hard time trying to "unload" an old signal meter for $100, as a pro wouldn't buy it as obsolete, and neither a novice for a once-in-a-lifetime setup, when a $10 analog meter on a sunny day will do the job: first you aim your dish at due south, and then use its scales and the meter to finish the job. You can buy an excellent HD receiver nowadays for $50, as people reported, and take it outside to aim the dish. The difference with the meter is, you can use it inside as well.

 

[Anole]

declinaton: more jargon

I didn't see where anyone said "declination", but let me assure you that you don't care what it is at this point!

Today, you only need to know:
- azimuth - which direction east/west to point your dish
- elevation - how high to point it
- skew - which way and how far to twist your LNB (or possibly your whole dish)
And all those things are clearly spelled out on all the satellite finder sites you probably already have bookmarked. - :up

When we get to BUD-sized motorized dishes, we'll revisit the "declination" matter, and it will seem simple by then.
It's possible we can get you through motorizing a small dish without even bringing it up! -
'nuff said !

 

[Dee_Ann]

I am beyond any shadow of a doubt, 100% totally, dead certain that this birdog meter is NOT compatible with my dish. Period.

I learned how to use the compass better now and also to not wear an underwire while trying to use the compass.

I found the satellite at 97. I watched a bunch of channels on it. It works.
I KNOW the dish is pointed correctly at 97 Galaxy whatever.

I already have a headache from the heat so please excuse me for errors.


I put the birdog meter on the dish and NOTHING. It does not show that there is a satellite there. I went to the birdog site and generated a new file that has ONLY the two 97 entries in it, KV and KH Galaxy-?? 97

I think it's galaxy 19? My head is spinning with numbers right now.

Either setting shows no satellite. But my TV shows a LOT of channels. I know they are right because they are the same channels we used to have some time back.

Fashion TV won't come in but Fashion HD plays audio but no picture.

So bottom line, the birdog is a big dog. Bah......

Next step.... Maybe I now need to learn to make my own files for this stupid dish I have.

And again, this is the same way with the satellite at 83 for RTV. I'm watching it on TV but the birdog says no satellite.. Grrrrrr......... :rant:

 

[Dee_Ann]

These are some snapshots of the screen for building your own files for the birdog.

More reading to do tonight...

 

[willie8605]

You can buy an excellent HD receiver nowadays for $50, as people reported, and take it outside to aim the dish. The difference with the meter is, you can use it inside as well.

Do you know where the people reporting this are finding these prices? I haven't ever seen any that low on ebay...at least not ones that are not originally for directv/dish network

 

[Dee_Ann]

I used the birdog to find 97 on one of those old grey dishes, it worked *great* on that one. But it's waaay different than the others, it has two connectors on the lnb.

I'm watching some girl teaching about satellite equipment on a channel called "PIT"..
The channel shows up as channel 1.

She's a genius! Maybe she will talk about some things that would help me..
I wish I was as smart as her.

Ok, so I know that I can find satellite 97 with the birdog and that old grey dish but not the direcway dishes. That's fact. I'm onto something now. Now if I could just figure it out. I think I will have to custom program the birdog. I just don't know how.

YET....

 

[melgarga]

Do you know where the people reporting this are finding these prices? I haven't ever seen any that low on ebay...at least not ones that are not originally for directv/dish network

I suspect he meant SD, but if he is right, sign me up!.....lol
Dee,
Like anole said, declination is not a factor in a fixed position dish installation. Dont fret over add'l terminology that has no bearing on your current project. If you are the curious type, suffice it to say that declination is another angle in the mechanical aparatus that moves a dish across the arc that compensates for polarity offset (skew) from one satellite to the next. On old C-band systems it was an adjusting stud w/locknut that was set at a specific angle on initial installation and left alone. On Ku dish movers, it is accomplished by the angle measured between mounting pipe where the dish attaches and the axis, or center pivot point of the motor output. The bend in the mounting pipe is calculated, engineered and designed into the manufacture of the dish moving assy from the factory.
Instead of beating a dead horse, I think we are beating a bird to death here. Not being a birdog user, I'm tossing this out there....Doesn't this meter have to have frequency, symbol rate and polarity programmed in to function? I have to believe it does, so with that presumtion, Dee, while you have the meter in-line with a signal known to be good ( because you can see it on your MC system) do you have all the proper data entered in the birdog for it to know where you want it to be looking for a signal?
You said you were viewing a proggy on 97 that identified as PIT. I see PIT OCC1 and OCC 2 here. May be the same, let's see. The PIT I am looking at is on a frequency of 12.177, vertical polarity, and running at a symbol rate of 23000.
1 - Do you have that info in the MC software anywhere you have looked. (perhaps right click the video and select properties, I havent used my PCI in a long time, so I'm not familiar at all with how to get the actual sat data displayed, plus different software will have different ways to access info.)
2- And this is a biggie, is any of that info, or other info relating to any frequencies (aka transponders) and matching symbol rate entered into and selected on the Birdog? If not it will only show you what you tell it you want to see, which is exactly what it is doing if you've not 'told' it exactly what on this satellite you want it to see. A LO setting should be in there somewhere as well, but I dont have any idea where to tell you to check it.
A dish is a dish is a dish, same goes for LNBs, more or less. The Birdog doesnt care which it is, just that they are properly assembled and pointed, and that you enter the electronic data that matches the LNB (LO freq), the TP on a given satellite you want to display, the SR that matches that TP and the polarity of that TP+SR set signal, especially if the Birdog is controlling the lnb (which is the way it needs to be if nothing else is on the line).

 

[Dee_Ann]

I suspect he meant SD, but if he is right, sign me up!.....lol
Dee,
Like anole said, declination is not a factor in a fixed position dish installation. Dont fret over add'l terminology that has no bearing on your current project. If you are the curious type, suffice it to say that declination is another angle in the mechanical aparatus that moves a dish across the arc that compensates for polarity offset (skew) from one satellite to the next. On old C-band systems it was an adjusting stud w/locknut that was set at a specific angle on initial installation and left alone. On Ku dish movers, it is accomplished by the angle measured between mounting pipe where the dish attaches and the axis, or center pivot point of the motor output. The bend in the mounting pipe is calculated, engineered and designed into the manufacture of the dish moving assy from the factory.
Instead of beating a dead horse, I think we are beating a bird to death here. Not being a birdog user, I'm tossing this out there....Doesn't this meter have to have frequency, symbol rate and polarity programmed in to function? I have to believe it does, so with that presumtion, Dee, while you have the meter in-line with a signal known to be good ( because you can see it on your MC system) do you have all the proper data entered in the birdog for it to know where you want it to be looking for a signal?
You said you were viewing a proggy on 97 that identified as PIT. I see PIT OCC1 and OCC 2 here. May be the same, let's see. The PIT I am looking at is on a frequency of 12.177, vertical polarity, and running at a symbol rate of 23000.
1 - Do you have that info in the MC software anywhere you have looked. (perhaps right click the video and select properties, I havent used my PCI in a long time, so I'm not familiar at all with how to get the actual sat data displayed, plus different software will have different ways to access info.)
2- And this is a biggie, is any of that info, or other info relating to any frequencies (aka transponders) and matching symbol rate entered into and selected on the Birdog? If not it will only show you what you tell it you want to see, which is exactly what it is doing if you've not 'told' it exactly what on this satellite you want it to see. A LO setting should be in there somewhere as well, but I dont have any idea where to tell you to check it.
A dish is a dish is a dish, same goes for LNBs, more or less. The Birdog doesnt care which it is, just that they are properly assembled and pointed, and that you enter the electronic data that matches the LNB (LO freq), the TP on a given satellite you want to display, the SR that matches that TP and the polarity of that TP+SR set signal, especially if the Birdog is controlling the lnb (which is the way it needs to be if nothing else is on the line).

Well, as best as I can tell, you can't change many settings on the birdog. You get a file from their website that they put together for you. You tell them which satellites you want to find and it makes a custom file which you load into the meter.
About all you can do is scroll through the list of satellites.

It looks like I have an older meter that has fewer options than the newer La-de-da meters.

The thing works just fine with little dishes on pay satellites and it works great on the big grey dish


From what I've figured out so far, the birdog people take care of all the little details in the files they build for you on their site.

They may not be making files that will work on the direcway dishes I have.

Maybe the dishes are too old and the meter expects a newer kind than what I have.

This is why I think I need to make my own custom files for the meter myself and not use the ones from their website. They sent me an editor for making custom files myself for anything.

I'm sure I can do it, I'm sure the answer is out there somewhere, I just have to plow through forums and try to sort out all the terminology and technology as it's all new to me. Some makes sense, most does not. Yet. But I AM reading, a lot of stuff.

 

[hd fan]

OK so the birdog works with the old grey dish but not with the direcway dish?. The birdog at least with some other SATS, is programmed to look for weak TP's actually. For instance for Galaxy 18 @ 123W it looks for 11720V and for AMC-21 @ 125W it looks for 12104V and once it finds it (only 100 ms to lock way faster than a receiver that is why you can even rotate the dish fast) it will say FOUND.

The problem is, you could be pointing to the right SAT with the Direcway Dish and get "some" channels from the stronger Transponders YET the WEAK TP the birdog searches for it is still too weak to lock to. I assume the old grey dish is bigger therefore you get more signal therefore even the weak TP's will lock ok. For instance today I set up a temporary fixed 90 cm dish in the patio for 123W and also 125W and even though I can watch V-ME and Create and World from 125W the birdog says nothing yet it shows FOUND for 123W. guess why?, When I look at the Spectrum Analizer I can see the peaks for the 11720V and 11800V signals from 123W but for the 12104V from 125W nothin yet there is a small peak for 12180V from 125W and that is why I get to watch thos PBS SD channels at 125W and those Equity TPs from 123W without even bumping the dish.

I hope it now makes it clearer for you Dee_Ann what was happening.

Why is it that it searches for weak known TP's? Because then it will guarantee that any other TP on that SAT will work fine. Imagine, if you peak the dish using a weak TP the rest will work flawlessly.

I have not tried every SAT up there from my location but at least I have verified it searches for weak TP's on several of them. Also keep in mind it searches for a particular carrier right? , so if it finds another carrier on another SAT that has the same parameters (frec, polar, SR, FEC) it will still say FOUND. It usually happens with circular birds , for instance from DN , almost all of them use the same parameters and on different SATS this parameters repeat itself so it will basically say FOUND for 119W and also for 129W no matter wich SAT you selected since both birds have the same carrier with the same parameters. Well obviously in that case knowing the general direction of the SAT will tell you which one it is.

Dee-Ann , now that you know it works with the old grey dish , try that one with the White Spring SAT . Mind you, though, that channel uses very low SR therefore it takes longer for the birdog to lock , so move the dish slowly like when using a receiver to aim. Also maybe also the tree branches were the issue.

Remember that everytime you update the birdog IT ERASES THE PREVIOUS SAT LIST so make sure you have the proper configuration.

BTW , Sats emit a beacon like a lighthouse that is supposed to be probably stronger than the rest of the signals. Heck I am not sure but I will use the birdog Spectrum Analizer tomorrow and see how that beacon looks like for a particular sat. Sat operators list the beacon frecuency as part of their technical data. Usually it is located at the far ends of the KU band , either close too 11700 or close to 12200.

When I bought it I thought that the DDSI (Digital Data Stream Identification) that the birdog claims was a great supertechnology and it was related to some sort of data stream that the SAT sent down but guess what , Naive me!, lol. It only searches for a particular known carrier . After 7 years in NA I should know better , but well , that would be another long and tedious post. Anyhow other that being mislead by the DDSI sticker on the front, the birdog is a great tool and I love it.

Congrats on the progress so far , Dee_Ann.

 

[hd fan]

Well I acctually envy you as you actually have full control of the birdog with that editor that the birdog people sent you. I can only update it via internet and I am not able to suit it for a particular application unless I ask them to do that for me. I can only search for the weak Tp that it usually has. For instance lets say that with the Direcway dish you could watch RTN on your tv , then all you have to do is create a file that uses that same carrier parameters that RTN uses and you will see the birdog will see FOUND since that carrier is already there.

Your meter is fine , it lacks USB connectivity , the Spectrum Analizer and I think the DiseqC Switch Contol capability , but who cares! , most people do not need to use those either. The SWM is a technology Direct TV uses so for professional instalers for Direct
TV is very useful since older meters can not even power those LNB's because it uses 24V I guess. for users like us any birdog meter will do. Just make sure it is updated.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Well I acctually envy you as you actually have full control of the birdog with that editor that the birdog people sent you. I can only update it via internet and I am not able to suit it for a particular application unless I ask them to do that for me. I can only search for the weak Tp that it usually has. For instance lets say that with the Direcway dish you could watch RTN on your tv , then all you have to do is create a file that uses that same carrier parameters that RTN uses and you will see the birdog will see FOUND since that carrier is already there.

Your meter is fine , it lacks USB connectivity , the Spectrum Analizer and I think the DiseqC Switch Contol capability , but who cares! , most people do not need to use those either. The SWM is a technology Direct TV uses so for professional instalers for Direct
TV is very useful since older meters can not even power those LNB's because it uses 24V I guess. for users like us any birdog meter will do. Just make sure it is updated.

Well, I'm sure the birdog people would mail you a copy of the editor too, I just sent them an email asking if the meter would work on the WSTV satellite with that direcway dish and they sent me that. Easy..

Also, the thing can switch lnbs. The instructions say if you hold down the power button it goes to a screen where you can change the switches.

I tried it and it does work on the grey dish with two wires going to this little switch box then one wire to the meter. I got help with that from my neighbor and by looking at the stuff the ex left behind.

It seems too much work to hook all that up and push all the buttons when you can just use one wire. But I guess it's there for a reason. :

Maybe I would need that in the future for something else. I guess.
For now I am trying to focus on the basics. I'll worry about details later..

Believe it or not, some of this is starting to sink in.

Thank you again all!

 

[turbosat]

dee remember, Whitesprings TV is changing frequencies, tonight I think, it is still broadcasting on the old freq, but is changing to 12026H, the symbol rate is the same.
The bigger gray dish has that 2output lnb, like most of mine came with. You described a switch I think, so you should be good to go with that one. ( its a multiswitch, aka 3x4switch, just combines the H and V signals into the one cable so you don't need 2 going into the house). Apparently, when Primestar was first installed , they ran 2 wires into the house and their receiver combined H and V. bigger is better with dishes, remember-maybe the gray one will get you WSTV.

edit: PS-watching Popeye on WSTV right now, they tend to start movies on the odd hours, 5,7,9 etc and show cartoons and very old
short features in between. Very few commericals though, that's what makes it watchable for me, even if the movies are mostly old.

 

[zamar23]

Dee_Ann

The point we're still missing in this story is how BirDog controls LNBs. Try to find it in the Manual. Based on scarce web info, your LNB appears to be Linear, of a single or dual polarity (Vert / Horiz), with LO 10750. I found a bit dated, but somewhat useful info for you:
DirecPC Installation Technician Training. It doesn't say anything about your LNB model though.

P.S. I looked at the BirDog File Editor pics you posted, and now everything is clear. It may still be over your head to program it correctly. The starting point for you is to post in this thread shown by your PC Card parameters of the channel you're trying to catch (or confirm locking, since you already watch it) with BirDog. The thing is, in order to program something into BirDog, you need to know just a bit, what are you doing. It may well be that these parameters are already refreshed in your latest file. Look also, whether LNB control params for this sat match the LNB you have at hand.

Now, it was said, BirDog is looking for a weakest TP on each sat its pointed to and able to register signal from. I wonder, if its only true for the latest model with Spectrum Analyzer, or even correct at all. It may be, your meter is looking for the 1-st TP on the sat TP List instead of the weakest TP. If the 1-st TP no longer emits signal then the meter shows nothing. To use a "weakest TP" algorithm, a developer would need to define, how to select one: going through a pre-set sat TP list, with spectrum analyzer, or based on a Network provided TP & Channel Table. More, depending on geographic location and tuner chipset quality, it might often be impossible for a given receiver or meter to lock in every emitting TP of a given sat. If in this frequent scenario BirDog would prevent locking any TP of the sat, it would contradict its purpose as a sat finder. No-one would buy such a sat blocking meter - getting everything is hardly possible in life, but give me at least something from that sat! We often see it with 8psk or DVB-S2 channels. It may help to ask BirDog developers about its logic, but I doubt they'll tell, or even know it, as it may be part of the chipset inner working they know nothing about. Remember, its all know-how of each component maker. We can say at this point - don't know the BirDog logic, but can edit its file to narrow and direct its efforts.

It looks like you're determined to setup a small dish farm in your backyard. Still need to figure out, how to control all these LNBs & dishes from your PC Command Center, so you may eventually need to design a whole sat reception system with all switches etc. Might even manage to permanently fit BirDog into it. That will be your FTA degree graduation date. :up Hope, at the end you'll enjoy the channel choice FTA delivers on Ku-band. Some equipment upgrade plans may still sound reasonable.

 

[Tron]

At this point, I think a set-top receiver would be a great investment. You can snag a good SD receiver for next to nothing on Fleabay these days. Trying to aim using a PC card is literally next to impossible. The fact that you've done it means you're VERY proficient at aiming a dish. A stand-alone receiver will really help

 

[melgarga]

zamar23.
I believe that LO you posted is a typo.
HD Fan,
Only update via the 'net, and you cant edit/upload your configuration table from software on your PC to the meter? I would promptly return it and demand a refund! Who's running that operation, Billy Bob Gates? Sounds like they have taken a page from M$ Modus Operandi book on how to attempt total control and piss off customers. VERY poor business acumin AFAIC.
Dee,
I have an idea. Perhaps you could post the configuration files and editing sw you have received from Birdog and see if we can play around with it and get you a valid configuration of the popular stuff available up there.
It wont be as much 'fun' as having to find all this stuff yourself, but you dont seem to be having too much fun at it so far. You are making progress. You've got the 97W stuff, that's good. Did you note that you had to bring the elevation up and move the lnb polarity almost to zero skew from your attempt at a 129W fix? Learning to note these differences will let you get in the ballpark by knowing which direction and appx how much you need to move from one position to the next for what you are seeking.
Your neighbor and the original owner of the meter appear to be of considerable help to you. Maybe one of them could look at the config data you have loaded to the meter and tell you if it is correct, by comparing it to a recent FTA list.
Send those attachments, there are probably a lot of people that would like to play with that stuff.
EDIT-
I came across thispage of links. I clicked a few, some were pretty lame, but a couple had what should be some useful info for the new commer.
http://www.ats-group.net/glossaries/glossary-lexicon-satellite.html
Also, I mentioned a list maintained by a member here that is pretty complete and up to date. The Ku list is here -
http://www.global-cm.net/MPEGlistKuBandUS.html

This one will enlighten you to what can be found on C band -
http://www.global-cm.net/MPEGlistCBandUS.html

 

[zamar23]

Thanks for pointing on it, it's a typo. Correct LO 10750
Go figure from this thread, what's this LNB for? But from Dee_Ann's reports it sounds being Linear. Good idea to post here the Config file and upload the BirDog Editor package in addition to posting the channel data shown by your Card if you can find it. If the BirDog owner only installed DN dishes, he might not be of any help to her.