OTHER New to FTA

[Aircraft_Guy]

I am new to FTA and I am trying to get my first signals but I am having trouble. I have a 30" Wineguard dish on my driveway. The dish mount is vertical (checked with bubble level) and the dish is pointed at Amazonas 2/3. Galaxy 19 has a tree in the way and I need to move the dish to the backyard once the system works as it is easier to work on when it is on the driveway. The LNB is a "Single Universal Linear LNB KU-Band LNBF FTA Satellite Dish Orbital Tracker". I have about 20 ft of RG6 cable to the receiver. The receiver is a cheap Chinese one from ebay. It is a "1080P DVB-S2 HD Digital Satellite + IPTV Combo TV BOX Receiver + USB WIFI Dongle". I have pointed the dish toward the satellite with a compass, set the elevation with the marks on the dish, but I don't get any 'quality' on the status bar on the dish settings menu. I even tried a satellite dish pointing app on my phone but no luck. I used dishpointer.com to get the Elevation, Azimuth (magn) and LNB Skew. I've also tried multiple different satellites and none get any 'quality' status and none get any channels when blind scanning.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Shicks4]

Finding that first hit is challenging, and i always tried for my southern most satellite to begin with mostly because you dont need to fool around with the skew too much. Once im pointed pretty close to the direction of the satellite and i have a known working transponder programmed into my meter, or in your case set top box, i then start moving the dish up and down until i see some quality. Then i peak the quality up and down and tighten those bolts. Then i start moving east and west and peak the quality that way and tighten down those bolts. then i try adjusting the skew and peak the signal there. Once i have all that done ill do a blind scan and kinda watch what scans in to ensure im infact on the satellite i think im on. once you have made sure your where you think you are mark that position on your pole in a manner that you can realign the dish to that spot later. From there I usually kinda start working my way east or west since most satellites are around 2 degrees apart to get the feel of how much to move the dish for 2 degrees. But to be honest i went backwards and started with a motorized dish to start, then installed a c-band dish, then started messing around with stationary dishes on movable tripods. Just getting the feel of what to do and using dishpointer to get a reference point helps too. Good luck. I dont know if there is much on those sats in Ku. SES2 at 87w would be your southern satellite and i know LPBS mux is there and is working at 11811 H 11150.

 

[KE4EST]

Welcome to SatelliteGuys.
If you are sure 97W is blocked I would try something closer to your true south.
Amazonas is a poor choice to start out with, not much there and what is, is scrambled and not in the typical frequencies used in NA FTA.
You need to go to some place like www.sathint.com and look for an active transponder. Then enter that into the receiver and use that to aim with and remember to make very slow adjustments.
Satellite receivers are notorious for not locking a signal very quickly, whereas a good meter will lock in milliseconds.
That dish is on the smaller side for FTA but will work for a lot of stuff, but will not be as forgiving. If you think 95W might be clear the CCTV channels on 11780 H 20760 are strong and that dish will have no issue.

 

[bpalone]

From looking at Sathint.com, it looks you are not tuned to a known active transponder.

Check here: http://sathint.com/amazonas-2?filter=tv

The dates are somewhat old, so they may be correct or they may not be. Would try the frequencies listed. Maybe someone else will chime in, that views that satellite.

KE4EST beat me to it. :-( Just too slow, too slooow.

 

[Shicks4]

From looking at Sathint.com, it looks you are not tuned to a known active transponder.

Check here: http://sathint.com/amazonas-2?filter=tv

The dates are somewhat old, so they may be correct or they may not be. Would try the frequencies listed. Maybe someone else will chime in, that views that satellite.

I just went over and tried to check things out on those sats, but to be completely fair my ku reception at the ends of the arc sucks on my bud. But generally even if it wont stay steady it will scan in fta channels and i didnt find any. I cant use my ku setup right now as im waiting on a replacement receiver for the one that quit, and the other one i have isnt exactly user friendly. Looks like if hes in Indianapolis either of the sats either KE4EST or i mentioned would be ok, even if neither have things hes wanting to watch he will know if his equipment is working properly and he can get the feel for how to tune in satellites.

 

[danristheman]

Welcome Aircraft Guy another one from Indiana we must love tv in this state glad that you are here. Start off with closer to your home satellite at 87w aim for that one.

 

[bpalone]

That first signal is often the hardest, but is also the one that will be remembered. I remember my first one from back in the 80's, it was Burns and Allen on CBN.

If OP follows your's and KE4EST advise, a lasting memory will be coming shortly.

 

[Magic Static]

It appears your LNB setting is incorrect. Try 9750/10600 not 9750/10750. I can't read the label on the LNBF but it should have those LO specs on it.

 

[Aircraft_Guy]

Success! I was able to get a few channels on SES 2. They were Islamic news programming. The quality of the signal was 42%. I used a cheap satellite finder from Amazon and an app on my phone to position the dish to get the signal. It was almost like the receiver took a minute or 2 to 'find' the signal once it was point toward the satellite.

No luck yet with Galaxy 19 using the app and satellite finder. I suspect that the large tree branches are blocking enough of the signal that it reads 0. I have the dish on my driveway and plan on moving it to a pole once it get warmer and the ground thaws.

Thanks everyone for the help!

 

[Shicks4]

Congrats! Just take your time and play around with it, then maybe one day youll take the leap to a c-band dish!