low quality on my new 1 meter motorized dish

[jamestheman]

Hello, nice forum here!

I recently purchased a 39.3 inch motorized dish system off ebay for a nice price, $185 with shipping and all.

It took me a while, 27 days to get the package as it was from Canada, but hey, I got it.

I put everything together, It looks very nice, I used my little satfinder to get my strongest signal, I noticed though the settings they said I needed in my area were way off from what I had to get them too to get my signals!

It said I needed a lat of 32 and my dish elevation at around 25! Well I ended up having to get it at 42 on the dish and 36 on the motor latitude!

Okay the dish is tracking the arc, it is going to all the sats, however the strongest quality I have gotten on any of the tps is around 75, most of them is around 40-45 or so quality! I had a primestar up before on the same pole, which is 100 pct level on all 4 corners and is concreted in the ground, and the primestar was hitting up to the low 90's on alot of tps, this dish is on the same pole and everything is tight and such, the only problem I see, well maybe it is or isnt a problem is when I tightened the bolts on the back of the dish that support the dish arm I tightened them too much and there is a little dent in the middle of the dish,


Is that or can that be my problem? ..... I spent 2.5 hours last night trying to get my quality on G-3 to get over 57 pct, and I couldnt get anything better, so what do you suggest? I take a hammer to it and try to bend it back? Or does it matter at all? The lnb I am using is a digiwave universal one and it is supposed to be a nice one, it is real inexpensive, like $15 or so.


Also is this universal lnb a real one that can get circular too?


Nice site guys!

James

 

[Smith P.]

Check Invacom LNBF.

 

[Mr Tony]

the only problem I see, well maybe it is or isnt a problem is when I tightened the bolts on the back of the dish that support the dish arm I tightened them too much and there is a little dent in the middle of the dish,

sounds like that may be it
try the warp test...lay the dish pan down flat on a surface. if it doesnt touch the ground in all spots then the dish is warped. Another one is the string test where you take 2 stings (one top to bottm and one across) and if they dont touch in the middle then there is an issue

Is that or can that be my problem? ..... I spent 2.5 hours last night trying to get my quality on G-3 to get over 57 pct, and I couldnt get anything better, so what do you suggest? I take a hammer to it and try to bend it back? Or does it matter at all? The lnb I am using is a digiwave universal one and it is supposed to be a nice one, it is real inexpensive, like $15 or so.

not the LNB. If you are picking up channels even at a lower quality then the LNB is good.

 

[jamestheman]

thanks iceberg, i will try that, I did just hit 87 pct on a bj sat channel on 105 though. so I guess I wouldnt be able to do that on one sat, but not another if the dish was warped, right? the dish does look to be sitting a bit lower on the pole than my primestar was, I will move the mount of the motor up as much as possible and see if maybe the trees on the other side of the house are maybe catching a bit of my south sky, I am hitting 105 at 86 or so quality on a few tps.

Thanks

 

[Mr Tony]

I would do the string test just to make sure

 

[Smith P.]

I wouldn't discard a problem with LNBF; it is easiest and first step of troubleshooting - swap LNBF.

 

[Mr Tony]

I wouldn't discard a problem with LNBF; it is easiest and first step of troubleshooting - swap LNBF.

not if he doesnt have a backup

If he is getting 87% on BJ Home which is a strong transponder the LNB is just fine
http://www.satelliteguys.us/586814-post21.html
and with saying he possibly tightened the bolts too tight that can pull the dish which results in warping of the dish

 

[Smith P.]

No way to go for FTA without backup LNBF/dish !

 

[DREAMFOX1]

Should be getting high 90s with that size of dish.

My motorized dish is just about the same size.

Check lnb bracket.

If the bracket is made of metal it could be bent at the wrong angle.

 

[Anole]

msc. thoughts

Not to discount any of the great suggestions above, but in addition . . . .

I recently purchased a 39.3 inch motorized dish system off ebay . . .

I had a primestar up before on the same pole, which is 100 pct level on all 4 corners and is concreted in the ground, and the primestar was hitting up to the low 90's on alot of tps, . . .

Also is this universal lnb a real one that can get circular too?

You got a dish and motor or you got a dish/motor/receiver?

What receiver (s) are you quoting signals from?

What Primestar did you use before?
Many of them do an outstanding job on FTA, especially with a well matched LNB/feedhorn.

Check that your concreted pole is still plumb after the motor and dish are hanging off the side of it.

Universal LNBs don't get circular.
Standard and Universal LNBs are correct for FTA.

edit: regarding backup -
You actually do have a backup dish - that Primestar.
If all else fails, you might consider mounting it to your motor.
That'd take a whole 'nother discussion if you should want to go down that road, of course.
... or at least put it back on the air (maybe a temporary pole?) to use as a debugging aid.

 

[Mr Tony]

What receiver (s) are you quoting signals from?

very true as each box reads different on quality meters

 

[WyrTwister]

Hello, nice forum here!

I recently purchased a 39.3 inch motorized dish system off ebay for a nice price, $185 with shipping and all.

It took me a while, 27 days to get the package as it was from Canada, but hey, I got it.

I put everything together, It looks very nice, I used my little satfinder to get my strongest signal, I noticed though the settings they said I needed in my area were way off from what I had to get them too to get my signals!

It said I needed a lat of 32 and my dish elevation at around 25! Well I ended up having to get it at 42 on the dish and 36 on the motor latitude!

Okay the dish is tracking the arc, it is going to all the sats, however the strongest quality I have gotten on any of the tps is around 75, most of them is around 40-45 or so quality! I had a primestar up before on the same pole, which is 100 pct level on all 4 corners and is concreted in the ground, and the primestar was hitting up to the low 90's on alot of tps, this dish is on the same pole and everything is tight and such, the only problem I see, well maybe it is or isnt a problem is when I tightened the bolts on the back of the dish that support the dish arm I tightened them too much and there is a little dent in the middle of the dish,


Is that or can that be my problem? ..... I spent 2.5 hours last night trying to get my quality on G-3 to get over 57 pct, and I couldnt get anything better, so what do you suggest? I take a hammer to it and try to bend it back? Or does it matter at all? The lnb I am using is a digiwave universal one and it is supposed to be a nice one, it is real inexpensive, like $15 or so.


Also is this universal lnb a real one that can get circular too?


Nice site guys!

James

You HAVE to have The whole dish / motor assembly pointed due geographic south ( not magnetic south ) when the receiver commands the dish to reference point ( due south ) .

If you do not have this right , then you will always have problems on some sats , often at the extreme ends of the arc .


Now , park the dish on a sat , which you are getting picture on , as close to your due south as possible .

Set your motor latitude to your true geographic latitude , as you can visually read the scale . Caution , both of my motors have a latitude scale on one side and a different scale on the opposite side . Use the latitude scale .

If you do not have this right , then you will always have problems on some sats , often at the extreme ends of the arc .

If the dish has built in skew , set it to zero or 90 ( depending on how the scale is labeled ) .

If you do not have this right , then you will always have problems on some sats , often at the extreme ends of the arc .

Now , adjust your dish elevation until you get picture back , and tweak everything .

If you do not have this right , then you will always have problems on some sats , often at the extreme ends of the arc .

If you are using a universal , linear LNBF , you have to set the first and second LOF frequencies , and sometimes the change-over information ( depending on your particular receiver menus .

With the motor commanded to reference point / due geographic south , set the LNBF to straight up and down , zero degrees skew .

If you do not have this right , then you will always have problems on some sats , often at the extreme ends of the arc .

Check all coax connections . Remove any switches untill you get these issues worked out .

Start checking sats , starting at the sat closest to due south . Then " bounce from east to west , starting closest to due south and gradually working to the extreme edges of the arc .

Errors in all these setup angles may not show up much on the sats closest to due south . Errors will show up more and more as you work your way west and east . Try to tweak the dish ( w/o messing up the other sats ) as you find problems east and west .

If you are on a sat with all strong TP's , put a wet paper towel over the end of the LNBF facing the dish . This will kill some of the signal . It has always seemed easier to me to tweak a dish on a weaker signal .

And , no a universal LNBF will not do circular , or at least not very well .


God bless
Wyr

 

[jamestheman]

Thanks guys! especially Iceberg.

I took the dish off and pushed in the dent. I am now hitting my strongest tp on 95 at 74 pct. I am hitting some tps on 91 and 99 at as high as 86 pct.

I have aimed this dish to basically every single spot and cant get it any higher, so maybe the dent is still hurting the signal a bit, it is very very small now, I would think though that a dish this large would be hitting 95 or so quality.


I am using a pansat 2500, and everytime I scan it goes through to sets of scans, i guess since it is universal.


It is picking up circular because when I scan 91 it picks up alot of bell express view and I dont think they use a linear signal for anything and I actually hit dish 110 last night and it actually scanned in tps from the sat.



The only thing I dont like is that it now goes really slow on the blind scan, I do have a coolsat 6000 as well, maybe I will use it and see if it can scan faster. However the signal bar is alot different on the coolsat, I dont like the bar on it because alot of times it will say I am not hitting a sat and when I scan it will pull them in, on the pansat it shows immediatly,


Also maybe 95 is being partially blocked from a tree in my yard because I am hitting the other signals much stronger than I am on it.


I will scan the skies tonight and see if the usals works right and see how it works. I bought this to get the most feeds and backhauls possible.


Weird thing though, the pole is still totally level, as level as I have ever had one, and the dish looks right, however the settings on the elevation and on the motor is way off what is says it should be, however I am getting the sats, guess that is what matters, my motor latitude is around 45 and the dish elevation at around 37, it says on the net my lat on the motor should be around 32 and dish elevation at 25, I understand a few off, but 12-15 off.l It stills works and is moving straight to the satellites though.



Btw, does an american lnb work on the east sats around 30-50 degrees? Or is there nothing there, I see there are alot of feeds out there too.






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[Mr Tony]

Thanks guys! especially Iceberg.

I took the dish off and pushed in the dent. I am now hitting my strongest tp on 95 at 74 pct. I am hitting some tps on 91 and 99 at as high as 86 pct.

sweet happy it was something simple

I am using a pansat 2500, and everytime I scan it goes through to sets of scans, i guess since it is universal.

If the LNB is universal it scans the low band then the high. Shortcut for that is to change the LNB LO from "Universal 1" to "Standard" and set the LNB to 10600 with 22k on...then it bypasses the low band crap that doesnt exist in the North American sats

The only thing I dont like is that it now goes really slow on the blind scan, I do have a coolsat 6000 as well, maybe I will use it and see if it can scan faster. However the signal bar is alot different on the coolsat, I dont like the bar on it because alot of times it will say I am not hitting a sat and when I scan it will pull them in, on the pansat it shows immediatly,

yeah the Pansat is slow but the meter beats the Coolsats hands down. I have the Pansat 1500 (little brother) and a CS5000 and the 1500 is used to aim dishes

Btw, does an american lnb work on the east sats around 30-50 degrees? Or is there nothing there, I see there are alot of feeds out there too.

between 30-50 the only 2 sats that really have anything are 30W and 45W...30W can get by with a standard LNB. 58W has Cubavision and needs a Universal (but Cubavision is also on 30W)

 

[gillham]

Weird thing though, the pole is still totally level, as level as I have ever had one, and the dish looks right, however the settings on the elevation and on the motor is way off what is says it should be, however I am getting the sats, guess that is what matters, my motor latitude is around 45 and the dish elevation at around 37, it says on the net my lat on the motor should be around 32 and dish elevation at 25, I understand a few off, but 12-15 off.l It stills works and is moving straight to the satellites though.

Do you have an angle finder to check the dish? An offset dish should be pointing 22°-24° below the satellite's elevation. Can you post a photo of your setup, the motor setting, dish settings?