Need a little help setting up a ku system.

[skewed]

Good morining. I have been collecting parts for a while now in the hopes of a starting a new hobby. I had bought a old pansat 2300 but a friend of mine said it was junk and could not do a blind scan so I popped for a viewsat ultra as he said this was the best. While I was saving the money to buy a dish/motor set up I came arcoss a DTV worlddirect dish. This dish has a regular lnb and ku band. While wainting for the money to come for the new dish I decided to hook the system up and see what I could hit. I hit 61.5, and 119. I have a sat "beeper" and I can hear a heck of alot of them, pretty strong too. I can get great signal strength but no quality. A few times I had the quality flash from 0-35 or 45, blinking. When I knew I was on 119 I went right and down until I locked onto another one, full strength but no quality. In other words I could not hit anything with this dish. I sub to direct and take my dish with me camping and I am pretty good at pulling in dtv by counting the sats that I hear. I can normally hit it the first time without going in the camper and checking the tv.

Does anyone here have any experience with this dish who can help me out? I just an not sure that I even have everything set up right. One more thing, the sats that I would like to hit would be 123 or sbs6 either one will do for a start. Sad thing is I was ready to throw all the stuff in the trash last night after fighting with it for 5 hrs. I can only imagine how hard it will be to set up a motor.

One more thing, I removed the regular lnb off the dish to keep as a spare for a camper, so I just have the ku up there. Could that make a difference?

Thanks in advance. I am really looking forward to playing with this. Its cheaper than hunting and fishing and it will keep me home.

 

[Lak7]

This dish has a regular lnb and ku band.Look at the label on the LNB

List the info from the sticker / label on the LNB

 

[turbosat]

lnbfs

You need a linear lnbf for the fta signals. The pay-services use circular polarization, and much more transmitting power to send their programming, hence the smaller dishes. For real free-to-air you should find a bigger dish, 1m is good and will get most of the signals, and a linear lnbf. If you can swap out the lnbfs, you could use the circular to align your dish, then put the linear on. There's not much free on the pay-tv satellites, some ad channels and previews.

 

[skewed]

It has a linear ku, and eagle brand ku lnb, the dish is 36"x24". I'm not home to post the exact info but I see if I can surf it.

 

[Lak7]

Remember to enter the correct LNB info in the receivers Sat / Dish setup manu.

 

[skewed]

This is the info, can this even be used with fta(p.s I know the regular one is for dtv anc dish but what about the other one? INFO:

( Direct T* World Direct / DIRECT* International Antenna) This dish has two LNBs,

1) Eagle Aspen DTV 32+ , Round shape Lnb with two connectors

2)Eagle Oval shape Lnb , 95 KU Feed Horn Assembly with P170KU + Single output LNB with one connector .

Output Freq = 950-1450 MHZ
I/P Freq = 11.7 -12.2 GHZ

 

[Lak7]

According to the Mfg. spec's - Yes
The L.O. is 10750
In the Receiver:
LNB type: Standard
LNB L.O. / Freq: 10750

 

[skewed]

Any idea what I could be doing wrong?

 

[Lak7]

Where are you located?
What sat are you trying to hit?

 

[skewed]

I am in south central louisiana. I wanted 123 or sbs6 just to play with at first. I am still trying to find the best price on a 3' or better with a motor and to tell you the truth I was just kind of holding out until I saw that it was entertaining enough for me to start messing with. Thats why I was trying to hit just one or two sts with the stuff I scrounged up. I have a sat beeper and I can "hear" alot of sats. It seems like I shoul have been able to tune in something.

What I did was use the beeper to find 101,110,119 because I know where they are at and go from there, right and down until I would find a signal. Next I would go inside and go through ALL of the possible combos of LNB settings and tp frequencies looking for quality or a lock signal. I was able to lock in on 119 and 61.5. The viewsat said locked, thats how I knew for sure where I was at. Sometimes Often I would get a great signal with the lnb at 10750 or so and have the quality bounce from 0-40 or so but never lock. It did this on at least 3-4 sats that were no where near 119. So what I did next after realizing that each sat name had different tp settings I started surfing sats trying every lnb setting and tp setting to see where I was at. After all that all I could lock on to was 2(61.5 and 119). As I stated earlier I removed the dvd lnb from the dish so I would not have to get up on the roof if I needed a backup for my camper. Could this make a difference with the reflection? I am just lost. Its raining here today so I am not sure I will be able to play with it tonight, but it might be best so I dont end up trashing everything because I don't have the right info.

 

[Lak7]

10750 is the correct setting.

FTA Sats are harder to hit vs. DishNet or DirecTV.

The In-Line Sat meter will not help much, better to use the Quality Meter in the Viewsat.
Be sure to have an Active Transponder selected in the receivers Sat / Dish Setup Manu, see "The List" at the top of the page.

FTA Sats use a Linear Signal vs. the Circular used buy Dish and Direct, so you have to Skew the LNB to match the Sat you are aiming for. For you about 42deg counterclockwise when you are looking at the face of the dish.

This page may help....
Satellite Look Angles Satellite Heading Calculator Azimuth Elevation Skew Tilt LNBF Latitude and Longitude values

 

[skewed]

I did not mess with the skew. I set it to 90 because I only wanted one sat. so that might be the problem?

 

[Lak7]

Yes, you must skew the LNB. Each Sat is different.
When you set up a Dish with Motor, the LNB is not skewed.

 

[skewed]

Thanks for the link, I have the proper skew settings now I just need to know, if you are standing in front of the dish a +40 is counterclock wise and a - skew is clock wise?

I'm sory for asking so many questions but I really intending on messing with it tonight if the weather holds out.

Thanks alot for all the help.

 

[Lak7]

Yes, scroll down the web page, it explains it.

 

[skewed]

I just pulled the other lnb that I took off the dish and it is suppose to a ku also, the description says


Circular Dual LNBF compatible with DirecTV and Dishnet Dishes. Can be used for any Ku band around the globe.

• Excellent noise figure (1.1 dB Max.)
• Cross polarization ( C.P. Isolation 25 dB Typ.)
• Outstanding stability
• Designed to be waterproof
• Qualified for harsh environment

SPECIFICATIONS

• Input Frequency Range 12.2 ~ 12.7 GHz
• Output Frequency Range 950 ~ 1450 MHz LO.
• LO. Frequency Stability: 11.25 GHz ± 2 MHz(Max.)

I am using the one that is cat eye shaped, not this one. Should I be using this one? I thought that FTA was linear?

 

[SatPhreak]

That lnb is not going to work for 123. The other one with the LO of 10750 is the one to use for 123. If you point at 119 with the circular you will get Nasa and Angel One.

 

[skewed]

After trying to set it up again tonight my "beeper" quit working. I traced it down to a bad cable from my main feed. Right now I am hoping that this was my problem. I know that the skew of the lnb matters but to me I should have been able to pull in something from some sat. Even if I could not view it it should have came up. But I got nothing. I will try to find cable tomorrow and start the search tomorrow but in the mean time if anyone has a link to fta installers in south louisiana please let me know. I was planning on getting a 39cm with a motor but if it is this hard to set up I dont know about that now.

 

[Lak7]

Try without the Sat meter,it's probably just leading you to the DishNet or DirecTV Sats.
Those Sats are so strong that they must be 9degs apart, where fta Sats are only 2 deg.
The meter would probably react if you pointed to a Cell Phone tower.
The receiver only shows Quality if the Transopnder you have selected in the receiver is active. For 123 West, go to the Sat / Dish setup menu and look for 11800 in the Viewsat's TP list.

 

[Tron]

From Louisiana, 123w requires quite a bit of skew. It will not come in if the skew is just set to '0'. In New Orleans, my 123w LNB on the Channel Master dish is at almost a 40 degree angle. On the DirecTV International dish, I believe that skew is adjusted by tilting the entire dish, not just the LNB.