Installing my first FTA system

[badhat]

Well I put up the dish.. checked and rechecked to make sure my pole is straight. Used a sat finder to find one.... peaked it out.... now doing a power scan to figure out where I am at. I am hoping I did something right here. Am I taking the right steps or should I literally point to a bird that I want and set the skew and only scan for the one bird? Or am I doing right peaking out signal and then scanning? I do know my ultimate goal for birds but I just want to know which one I am on right now.

 

[TRG]

You got a signal so you must be doing something right! Will this be a motorized setup or fixed on one satellite?

Tell us what you satellite you found after the scan.

 

[badhat]

I know I should rtfm but .... I have the same LNB that was used on the primestar dish. It has dual F connectors and I have those hooked up properly vertical and horizontal. My question is what do I set for LNB type? I currently have it at 10750 and it's not picking anything up when I scan even though I have the dish pointed at a bird.

 

[rv1pop]

I am pressuming you have a switch to choose between the 2 polarities. That Merc II has been excellent for me for blind scanning although setting up to choose between the 2 means adding a second satellite in the setup to get the second polarity -- ask for more info later and I or someone with more knowledge can help you get that done. But for the present (turn off receiver on the switch on the back before changing LNB connections!!!) Hook up the RF in to one polarity and blind scan, Then turn off and recconect to other polarity and blind scan. You should get at least one live hit. Go to that one and fine tune. Unless that is the only live channel on the bird when you rescan, you should get more. Let us know how that goes and someone will help you more. Everyone here is great!

EDIT: yes, it should be a std 10750 lnb. I have been told to take the meter out before scanning also!

 

[badhat]

Well I had everything hooked up correctly. I eventually figured out that I needed to look on different transponders on the satellites. What I found, the receiver had preloaded, was 121W which says Echostar 9... I look on the lyngsat site and I don't find the channels I am seeing on that bird. I am hoping to find 123W tomorrow. I would make a small adjustment and find another bird but never could find out which one it was. I swear I only moved 2 degrees.

 

[Keith Brannen]

Well I had everything hooked up correctly. I eventually figured out that I needed to look on different transponders on the satellites. What I found, the receiver had preloaded, was 121W which says Echostar 9... I look on the lyngsat site and I don't find the channels I am seeing on that bird. I am hoping to find 123W tomorrow. I would make a small adjustment and find another bird but never could find out which one it was. I swear I only moved 2 degrees.

Several satellites can use the same or similar transponder frequency/signal rate, so just because you found a transponder that lit up on Echostar 9 doesn't necessarily mean you are on that satellite (and your receiver doesn't know the difference). If you can't confirm by Lyngsat, then you probably aren't on it. Post what you are getting (transponder info) and what channels you do get (FTA or scrambled) and someone here should be able to tell you what satellite you are on.

 

[badhat]

Well I will be as brief as possible with this. Here is what I am seeing:

Examples:

11782/V/20000 CCTV 4
11779/V/20781 CCTV E
12045/V/20000 AON
12045/V/20000 MACTV
11811/V/20000 RTN12

RTN1 thru RTN35
OTB1 thru OTB3
HRTV

I just noticed these are all vertical. I realize that just because I found 'something' doesn't mean it is what it says. I was just saying that this receiver (Fortec Mercury II) came with preloaded satellite and tp listings and info. So whoever edited the channel list is saying this is Echostar 9 121.0 W. If I am truly at 121W I should be able to shift 2 degrees and be at 123W where I want to be right? I might try my other LNB tomorrow that only has a single F connection rather than this horizontal/vertical connection LNB that I am using currently. That way I can just run straight from the dish directly into my receiver. I am crossing my fingers.

 

[rv1pop]

Hello again, neighbor,
Looking at the list, I would say you are hooked up to the vertical port on the LNB and the receiver is sending the voltage for H (thinking it is scanning H) and so it says H in error. Those channels are all on G3C at 95*... so you got a good start. Do not get discouraged. That little discrepancy is the only problem I have with the Primestar lnb.

I am not sure if you can reset the receiver to show you are on 95 or if you need to reaim the dish west some more... It sure would be nice if you could tell the motor you are on 95 because then you would be finished! I do not have a motor yet, so I can only guess.

 

[Keith Brannen]

I just noticed these are all vertical. I realize that just because I found 'something' doesn't mean it is what it says. I was just saying that this receiver (Fortec Mercury II) came with preloaded satellite and tp listings and info. So whoever edited the channel list is saying this is Echostar 9 121.0 W.

As rv1pop posted, you are on G3C at 95 W and all those channels are really horizontal (there are no vertical channels on G3C). As I said, some satellites use the same frequency and signal rate as other satellites, they are not necessarily unique to an individual satellite. If you had the same transponder info on another satellite and went to that satellite listing, it would also show that transponder as active and look like you are on that satellite at the same time. For example, if you had a circular LNB and went to the Echostar satellites, it could look like you are on every Echostar satellite, as they general use the same frequency and signal rate for all their satellites.

 

[badhat]

Oh ok I am thinking that what was preloaded on this receiver is basically for reference only. I will have to load up the channel editor and see what I can change. I won't get discouraged with any of this.. I am a geek at heart and will definitely have hours of fun. So about the LNB issue and wrong polarity.. I suppose it could be possible that the LNB is defective. It spent years out in the field attached to a DSR410. I only had the sat finder attached to vertical yesterday... when I would hook it up to horizontal it wouldn't stop going off. Anyhow gonna eat some breakfast and get back outside.

 

[badhat]

Also, I am using a Zinwell Sam-3402 3x4 multi-switch. I have horizontal plugged into 13v and vertical to 18v and rx1 plugged into the receiver. Currently I am doing a search on the individual polarities. Seems to be working fine except that when I have horizontal plugged in my sat finder won't stop going off through a pretty big sweep so I can't tell if I am moving to another satellite or not. I can only sweep through vertical and hear the differences. Is there a setting I am forgetting to change on the receiver?

 

[Anole]

. . . okay, I don't want to go back and pick through this thread, but . . .
You do know that Vert is 13v, and Horiz is 18v, right?
So, if you reversed them on purpose, please excuse this post.

 

[badhat]

Haha... I just noticed. I have since swapped them and of course got better results. I think I have found the bird I have been wanting. Tons of active TP's. 11720/V/27962 is at the top of the list. Correct me if I am wrong but with this LNB type it has the skew settings at top and bottom. So if I wanted horizontal I would have to change the skew 180 degrees right? I am so glad I have a tiny bit of experience pointing c-band at our headend. I think next weekend will be my next great adventure... switching from stationary to motorized.

 

[badhat]

I have 81% signal on 123W watching a race on WMQF. I guess a little sleep and seeing how I had the polarities hooked up wrong on the switch this morning. I have what I found marked on my pole so I am hoping that motorizing will be a bit easier. Since I have found the bird I wanted shouldn't I just be able mount my motor next weekend.. re-peak on this bird I am on now, let the receiver know where I am at and the motor will do the rest? I wanted to let you guys know that I appreciate the help I have been getting with this. I imagine it would have taken a bit longer without ya.

 

[Keith Brannen]

I have 81% signal on 123W watching a race on WMQF. I guess a little sleep and seeing how I had the polarities hooked up wrong on the switch this morning. I have what I found marked on my pole so I am hoping that motorizing will be a bit easier. Since I have found the bird I wanted shouldn't I just be able mount my motor next weekend.. re-peak on this bird I am on now, let the receiver know where I am at and the motor will do the rest? I wanted to let you guys know that I appreciate the help I have been getting with this. I imagine it would have taken a bit longer without ya.

Glad you were able to get working. Unless 123 W is your true south satellite, then you will have to re-point your dish to your true south satellite (then the motor can travel the arc correctly and skew the LNB automatically).

If I understand your question in your previous post about skewing the LNB to get the horizontal, if you mean to allow your vertical pickup to get the horizontal, then you would skew it 90 degrees from the normal skew (all horizontal transponders would scan in as vertical transponders, and vertical transponders would scan in as horizontal, if your horizontal pickup is working).

 

[Mr Tony]

glad you found G10. One of the best birds up there

 

[rv1pop]

Glad you were able to get working. Unless 123 W is your true south satellite, then you will have to re-point your dish to your true south satellite (then the motor can travel the arc correctly and skew the LNB automatically).

If I understand your question in your previous post about skewing the LNB to get the horizontal, if you mean to allow your vertical pickup to get the horizontal, then you would skew it 90 degrees from the normal skew (all horizontal transponders would scan in as vertical transponders, and vertical transponders would scan in as horizontal, if your horizontal pickup is working).

I believe Moses Lake would have 119 as true south for him.
Glad you got it working right. I am going to have to check out the switch you are using as I now have two Primestar dishes to set up! Hmm. I might get a few more and forget the motor. Of course, then my signal tree (or switch diagram - boy this new terminology!) would look something like Iceberg's.
POP

 

[badhat]

I believe Moses Lake would have 119 as true south for him.
Glad you got it working right. I am going to have to check out the switch you are using as I now have two Primestar dishes to set up! Hmm. I might get a few more and forget the motor. Of course, then my signal tree (or switch diagram - boy this new terminology!) would look something like Iceberg's.
POP

Great I am assuming 119w will be easy breezy to find now. I have been thinking the same thing about getting some more dishes. If you are ever through Ephrata/Soap Lake and drive around a bit you will see a ton of them in great shape that the home owners would probably be glad to get rid of. Anyhow.. I lucked out big time finding my bird of choice yesterday... and once again I appreciate the help that I got getting there.