I'm only getting 35 channels

[rogerduncan100]

I have a 39 inch elliptical dish with and Invacom quad LNB and a Viewsat Max HD receiver. I live in Toronto, which must be a good location. I have spent a lot of time trying to aim the dish and get more channels. For a time I did have many more but they were very unreliable.

Right now I have 5 channels from Galaxy 3C 95 degrees, 4 channels from SES1 101 degrees and 27 channels from Galaxy 19 97 degrees. That's it!

Maybe the default settings don't match my LNB?

Maybe aiming the dish has to be extremely precise?

Maybe the dish just isn't big enough to get weaker signals in Toronto?

Maybe the receiver firmware is defective?

Maybe I should only get 35 channels?

The motor works, the mast is vertical and there is a clear view of the satellites from 89 degrees to 125 degrees.

Help?

 

[brentb636]

Does your Viewsat have a blindscan function ? Your lnbf freq should be 10750, standard. You should get over 100 channels on 97W alone, unless you don't have the tp info in your receiver, and it has no blindscan function. No one that I know of is proud of the FTA performance of the Viewsat receivers, but it should work better than that. What do you mean my 39" elliptical dish ? 39" wide ? How long vertically ? My 1.0M dish is 38 1/2" wide and about 41" long . I think you need about that size for decent Ku performance in your location. If your dish is 39"x20", for example, that might be your problem, since it's really a 20" dish.

 

[rogerduncan100]

Hmm.

Changing the lnb high anywhere away from 10600 results in no signal at all. I tried 10750, no luck.

I have used blindscan as well as entering transponder information.

Settings I have are lnb high (10600), lnb low (9750), lnb type (universal), lnb power (on), TP freq (11079), DiSEqC 1.0 (none).

Roger Duncan

 

[Pixl]

Hmm.

Changing the lnb high anywhere away from 10600 results in no signal at all. I tried 10750, no luck.

I have used blindscan as well as entering transponder information.

Settings I have are lnb high (10600), lnb low (9750), lnb type (universal), lnb power (on), TP freq (11079), DiSEqC 1.0 (none).

Roger Duncan

Roger,

When using 10600 try also turning on 22khz tone. Many of the Invacom lnb's require this to kick them up to the high band you need in N. America.

Jim

 

[brentb636]

Is your lnbf the Invacom Quad qph -031 , with 2 linear and 2 circular ports ? If so, the LO frequency is 10750 for linear, 11250 for circular. Let's get the hardware straightened out, that'll help clarify the picture. [edit] Definitely measure your dish from top to bottom. That will establish the "dish size" . 36" for your location is probably the absolute minimum .

 

[brentb636]

That 11079 TP freq is pretty bogus for the sats you listed. Try putting the dish on 97W, setting the tp to 11789 V 28125 . Put the lnbf LO setting to 10750 . You should get signal quality. If not set LO to 10600 and 22khz ON for the same tp. I think you should get it using the 10750 LO setting. Very few people have purchased the Quad Universal lnbf from Invacom for NA operations.

Brent

 

[SatelliteAV]

Was the LNBF Skew (rotation) adjusted positive (counter clockwise - if standing in front of the dish looking at the back of the LNBF) for peak Signal Quality for each satellite or is the LNBF set with the coax cable pointed down at 6 o'clock?

 

[Larobpra]

I'm about 200 miles east and slightly north of you and get over 200 channels on 97 alone on a 36' dish. Sounds like something isn't adjusted right.

 

[rogerduncan100]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I have a good feeling that I will get the help I need here. I'm going to bed now (have to work tomorrow). I played with the settings, did a blind scan of Galaxy 19 and got 49 channels. It's an improvement.

Settings were: lnb high (11250) lnb low (10750) and tp freq (11079).

Truth is I don't know what these settings are! What do they mean?

It is an Invacom quad qph-031 LNB. But what are NA operations? (I just bought a package not knowing much)

Skew is fine. It's a motorized system so skew is zero degrees relative to the dish.

Thanks again everybody. Onward and upward tomorrow.

 

[turbosat]

Sounds like you just need to get your satellite settings right and try scanning the sats again.
If you don't get over 200 channels on 97w, then you're not tracking the arc very closely, or something else is amiss. &what he meant about the universal lnbf>the satellites over Asia and other parts of the world use different frequency ranges than most of the US satellites.
Here , mostly we use a "standard linear" lnbf that covers the 11700-12200 ku band. The pay-tv services' satellites use a higher freqency range, usually 12200-upwards. A lot of us never worry about those frequencies or the satellites they are on, as the pay tv channels are scrambled and unavailable to free to air receivers.

 

[Mikhel]

Roger: Try manually updating the info of the transponders on that sat, i'm not really sure about the blindscannign capabilities of the ViewsatMax HD, also, you need to set up your LNB.

It has to be set up as a linear, from the info over at sadoun, as 10750 for the high and the low is 9750, power on but 22kHz OFF:
QPH-031 Invacom 0.3dB Ku band LNB

Also remember two outputs are linear, two are circular, make sure you're using the correct ones (altough if you weren't, you wouldn't get channels).

By the way, the reason your getting Q on a transponder as low as 11079 it's more than likely due to the wrong configuration of the LNB.

Cheers man and don't give up, have fun and you'll see you'll get it right =).

Mike

 

[AcWxRadar]

Roger,

Certainly there are not all that many channels on some of the satellites that you mentioned (like 95W). However, as others have mentioned, there should be a ton of FTA channels available off of 97W. You are missing more than just one polarity (horizontal or vertical) as there should be even more channels than what you are currently getting if you were missing just one polarity. You are not receiving even half of the channels that you should be.

I am not personally familiar with the Viewsat receivers, but I have heard that they are quite good. I don't think that any blame can be directed towards the receiver itself in this case.

My first gut instinct is that the problem lies within your menu setttings for the LNBF that you are using. THe QUAD Invacom QPH-031 LNBF is an excellent device. However, you have to ensure that your set up is proper. The QPH-031 has both circular and linear capabilities, but you probably won't be able to utilize the circular portion of this device, so I would ignore that for the time being.

If I understood you correctly, that you do have an Invacom QPH-031 LNBF, then your LNB frequency setting in your menus MUST be set to 10.750 for the L.O. frequency as that is what this LNBF has internally and your menu settings must match what the device really is.

Ensure that you have this set up correctly first, then try scanning again from a blank slate. With the channels that you do pull in, double check them against "The List" and with "Lyngsat" or other sources to verify if the channels match the transponder and satellite.

It is possible and even likely that you have more than one problem that is fighting you and confusing you in this case, so just work out one bug at a time.

RADAR

 

[SatelliteAV]

Add to Radar's excellent reply....

Be sure to connect to the "L" port of the QPH-031.

 

[neil_kc1]

are you sure you are on the arc? Locate your true south satellite and lock onto it with a solid signal before you try look at other sats.

 

[rogerduncan100]

I am on track, for sure! The main problem I had was that the settings for my LNB were wrong on the receiver. Once I fixed that I saw a big improvement. Next step is to re-aim the dish, then scan again. I think I am on my way to getting it the way it should be.

Thank-you, everyone, for the advice!

 

[DJdish]

As you´re progressing with your project you might as well also consider AMC 21 @ 125w

 

[Larry1]

If you are using any switches, for now remove them and connect directly to the one of the L ports, not to the C ports. Look for linear signals only at this time. The L.O. needs to be set to 10750, and LNB type to Standard not universal.

 

[Mikey11]

first of all your LNB type should be set to standard....your LNB freq should be set to 10750....and you should be connected to an "L" port on that LNB....all three of these things should never be changed....

now aim at 97w and scroll through the different TPs in the menu....stop for a few seconds on each TP and check the signal quality reading....the reading will vary from one TP to the next but what is the average reading your getting?....a 39 inch dish is more than enough in your area....i know from experience....i am close to you....

i blind scanned 97w today with my 39 incher and got 245 TV channels (some encrypted though)

 

[rogerduncan100]

I have it all set up now. I got every transponder on G19 and I am on the arc all the way from Tuff TV on 83 AMC 9 to HD PBS feeds on 125 AMC 21. It was just the transponder setting all along.

Thanks to all for the great responses!

Roger Duncan

 

[Larobpra]

Glad to hear you got it!