need help on final setup

[willie8605]

Okay, I finally got my satellite mounted, and am trying to pick up 123W. I am pretty sure I have it aligned correctly.

Here is my info:

The post the dish is mounted on is not perfectly plumb, but it is so close to being there, I don't think it would keep me from picking something up.

Viewsat Ultra Lite Receiver - coax runs from the LNB to SAT IN jack on receiver and then RCA out to TV
Hughesnet Dish (26x39) using the origninal LNB and took off the transmitter.

I used this website to find all the angles: Satellite finder, how to point dish with magnetic north, azimuth and elevation program calculator.
My lat is 36.11 N
and long is 97.08 W

I made the dish elevation 40 (the bracket on back has an adjustable slot for elevation changes)

I moved the dish azimuth to approx. 217 degrees according to the sat. finder calc. (i used a compass and the 217 is relative to magnetic north)

The hughesnet dish requires you to move the entire dish to set the skew. There are nice angle marking on the back where you rotate it so I moved it clockwise to as close to 30.9 as I thought it could be.

When viewing the antenna setup from the viewsat I have these settings for the satellite:
Galaxy 18 (123W)
LNB Power on
LNB Type standard
LNB freq 10750
22KHz off
TP freq. 11720
DiseqC 1.0 none
Motor off
"S" signal strength is 67
"Q" signal strength is 0
when I autoscan for channels nothign is found.

What are the "S" and "Q" signals and why does my "Q" signal have a 0 strength?
What is TP freq.?
What do I need to do to find the channels from sat 123W?

A pic of the dish and LNB I'm using is attached. The pic is old, so the dish isn't shown mounted, but it is now

 

[Othea]

Nudge

It looks like your calculations are close enough. S (=stength) means that your lnbf is connected to your receiver. Q (= quality) means that your dish is pointing right at the satellite.
Have you nudged your dish a little bit to the left, to the right, up and down in search of Quality? The compass will only give you an inexact estimate of the precise location. You need to move dish ever so slightly until the Quality reading rises.
Transponder indicates which transponders are active on the satellite. Some transponders will have no signal, so you can't use them to peak your dish setting.

I'm not sure about the lnb. It needs to be Ku standard or universal.

 

[willie8605]

I'm not sure about the lnb. It needs to be Ku standard or universal.

Does this pic help?

 

[willie8605]

Have you nudged your dish a little bit to the left, to the right, up and down in search of Quality? The compass will only give you an inexact estimate of the precise location. You need to move dish ever so slightly until the Quality reading rises.
Transponder indicates which transponders are active on the satellite. Some transponders will have no signal, so you can't use them to peak your dish setting.

I moved the dish around and I actually got the "S" signal strength to increase a few, but that was by rotating it a few degrees. The "Q" signal stayed at 0. I set the TP freq on the viewsat to 11805 b/c that one is list as a strong transponder on "The List", but it didn't help at all.

So, I'm still stuck with a quality signal of 0

 

[Othea]

11720V, 27692 should be good.
If this is the first time that you've tried nudging your dish left/right/up/down -- I'll bet that you're a few degrees off in one or more direction. You need to see your signal meter WHILE you move the dish, otherwise you will keep missing your mark.

 

[Lak7]

At the top of the Web Page is "The List"
SatelliteGuys.US - 123.0°W Galaxy 18 Ku

and...
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/85225-i-need-strong-transponder-aim-my-dish.html

 

[willie8605]

11720V, 27692 should be good.
If this is the first time that you've tried nudging your dish left/right/up/down -- I'll bet that you're a few degrees off in one or more direction. You need to see your signal meter WHILE you move the dish, otherwise you will keep missing your mark.

Should I keep the skew at the calculated value and only move the dish up/down or left/right?

So this is a problem with alignment and not anything else?

 

[Lak7]

Skew is critical for good performance, being off a few degrees will usually not prevent locking the Signal.
Which way, from behind the Dish, have you set the Skew - clockwise or counterclockwise?
Focus on Azimuth & Elevation first.

 

[willie8605]

Skew is critical for good performance, being off a few degrees will usually not prevent locking the Signal.
Which way, from behind the Dish, have you set the Skew - clockwise or counterclockwise?
Focus on Azimuth & Elevation first.

From behind the dish I turned it clockwise to about 31 degrees. I'm fairly certaiin that the elevation and skew are correct b/c it is easier to get a better fix on them.

Are there any software updates I need to make on my receiver?

Also, will my LNB (picture a few posts above) pick up both the H and V signals?

 

[amc1]

Okay, I finally got my satellite mounted, and am trying to pick up 123W. I am pretty sure I have it aligned correctly.

Here is my info:

The post the dish is mounted on is not perfectly plumb, but it is so close to being there, I don't think it would keep me from picking something up.

Viewsat Ultra Lite Receiver - coax runs from the LNB to SAT IN jack on receiver and then RCA out to TV
Hughesnet Dish (26x39) using the origninal LNB and took off the transmitter.

I used this website to find all the angles: Satellite finder, how to point dish with magnetic north, azimuth and elevation program calculator.
My lat is 36.11 N
and long is 97.08 W

I made the dish elevation 40 (the bracket on back has an adjustable slot for elevation changes)

I moved the dish azimuth to approx. 217 degrees according to the sat. finder calc. (i used a compass and the 217 is relative to magnetic north)

The hughesnet dish requires you to move the entire dish to set the skew. There are nice angle marking on the back where you rotate it so I moved it clockwise to as close to 30.9 as I thought it could be.

When viewing the antenna setup from the viewsat I have these settings for the satellite:
Galaxy 18 (123W)
LNB Power on
LNB Type standard
LNB freq 10750
22KHz off
TP freq. 11720
DiseqC 1.0 none
Motor off
"S" signal strength is 67
"Q" signal strength is 0
when I autoscan for channels nothign is found.

What are the "S" and "Q" signals and why does my "Q" signal have a 0 strength?
What is TP freq.?
What do I need to do to find the channels from sat 123W?

A pic of the dish and LNB I'm using is attached. The pic is old, so the dish isn't shown mounted, but it is now

isnt that dish used for high speed internet of the sattelite? i have 1 looks something like it .

 

[Lak7]

Also, will my LNB (picture a few posts above) pick up both the H and V signals?

That, I don't know.

Skew sounds good.

Slow is key.
Make sure you are East of the target, then slowly turn the Dish on the pole to the West - watching the TV for the Quality Meter to Jump.
If nothing, Raise / Lower Dish Elevation 1 degree and repeat.

 

[willie8605]

isnt that dish used for high speed internet of the sattelite? i have 1 looks something like it .

Yeah, that's what it is. The receivers operate in the Ku band so they work fine for FTA applications, too.

 

[willie8605]

That, I don't know. Skew sounds good.

How do I go about finding out if I can receive the H and V signals?

 

[Lak7]

Looks like you are good...
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/133559-hughesnet-dish-can-used-c-ku.html

 

[willie8605]

Ok, I guess it's just a matter of alignment. I will have to try some more tomorrow.

 

[turbosat]

I think you're good to get both H and V, they don't know which sat/tp a system will be set up on until they sell one and get it installed. Haven't heard of any lately that were one polarity-only.
You just need to do the tweaking as suggested, either H or V transponder. If your UltraLite works like the Ultra, when you actually lock on a transponder-they Satellite Name will display in the upper right corner of the satellite setup screen. Start at your elevation, twist dish slowly east and west on pole until you see some quality reading. If nothing, adjust elevation up a little and try again. With a dish that small, its easy to miss the signal, so go slowly. When I try tuning mine, I adjust elevation bolt 1/2 turn at a time, then pan east/west. Mine's one of those older white Direcway fiberglass dishes that are like 39"x26 or something like that.
That one should work ok too. Takes patience the first time aligning to 123 tho, lol.

 

[willie8605]

So it sounds like since I have a decent strength signal, then the dish is pointed in the right area, I just need to spend some time fine tuning it to get the quality signal.

How strong does the quality signal need to be before I can call it good?

 

[willie8605]

If your UltraLite works like the Ultra, when you actually lock on a transponder-they Satellite Name will display in the upper right corner of the satellite setup screen.

If you go to the viewsat website and look at the ultra lite's specs, a new window pops open with the spec's for the ultra, so i'm assuming they operate pretty much the same if the manufacturer didn't even change the specs for the lite.

 

[willie8605]

Also, does anyone know if the hughesnet lnb is universal or standard? the freq. range label shows from 10.95 - 12.75 GHz. It's just a little higher than the universal lnb range. Just started wondering if I set up the receiver settings correctly b/c it is set on standard lnb.

 

[Tron]

Also, does anyone know if the hughesnet lnb is universal or standard? the freq. range label shows from 10.95 - 12.75 GHz. It's just a little higher than the universal lnb range. Just started wondering if I set up the receiver settings correctly b/c it is set on standard lnb.

That is a standard LNB, L.O. 10750.