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[kaatskill]

kaatskill

HI. Maybe someone out there can help me set up my Hot dish 30" with one LNB (horn?). I hooked it up where my dish 500 used to be (on the post of my deck at the rear of my home) and am receiving two channels,one is golf and the other is religious. I have everything I need to set up the dish (including a satellite finder meter,Aspen sf-99 ,950-2250 MHz that I used to try and find satellite's it has a tone to find and peak a signal,it hooks between the dish and receiver inline).I am so lost I do not even understand the compass I ordered. (It has a sight glass that pops up,etc very fancy) also ordered a level . My receiver is a Neusat SP-6000 and does a blind scan and I think my longitude is 81.5625 latitude 34.8859 am in Georgia,USA. I need someone to tell me the basic's as I do not yet understand the tech talk,etc. and am winging it at this time. I have been using a small TV set up under my deck hooked directly to my receiver and dish and that has worked well,I just need to know how to set the dish up to receive a lot more channels, at least more than two, ha ha).Can I just loosen the screws and rotate the dish as I look at the TV? How about the up and down of the dish? The marks ,"Degrees"on the bracket of the dish that is bolted to are hard to read and do not appear to be accurate,but,I could be wrong about this, Anyway,any HELP would be greatly appreciated.

 

[PSB]

What satellites and channels are you after?

 

[kaatskill]

I'm not sure,anything my dish will pick up as I do not know what direction to face it or what sattilites are the best ,currently it is (I think) facing south.That is the direction that Dish Network set up their dish and I just took theirs down and installed mine. I would like to get a lot of old classic movies channel and am not really into sports channels (Im 61 and like the old classic's,westerns and my grandchildren do also.) Thank you so much for responding.Robert.

 

[iafirebuff]

IA7 - 129 w has old movies on it.

 

[kaatskill]

Thank you Larry. How and where do I Point my dish to it or do I just do a blind scan with my receiver? Robert.

 

[iafirebuff]

http://sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/Satellite-Heading-Calculator.htm

That will have all the steps you need to aim your dish. You select what satellite you want, input your location and it will give you the elevation and azimuth to set your dish at. Once you get your dish aimed/peaked on the satellite, then you would go in and do a blind scan. Check out the link above, and if you have any questions, feel free to post back. It is kind of confusing at first. Actually frustrating is more like it, but worth the effort in the end!

 

[rdel]

I'm not sure,anything my dish will pick up as I do not know what direction to face it or what sattilites are the best ,currently it is (I think) facing south.That is the direction that Dish Network set up their dish and I just took theirs down and installed mine. I would like to get a lot of old classic movies channel and am not really into sports channels (Im 61 and like the old classic's,westerns and my grandchildren do also.) Thank you so much for responding.Robert.

Welcome
You may want to try for g10r, it has older shows like hawaii 5-0, wild wild west, kojak, perry mason, bonanza, gunsmoke, rockford files, mission impossible, my three sons, gomer pile, hogans heros and quincy and more.
rdel:up

To bad we don't get combat, twelve oclock high or rat patrol


Hey Iceberg and psb, it says i'm a senior member now. I guess that means i'm getting up in years lol
I minus well be, I spend all my time on RTN. lol

 

[iafirebuff]

I was going to suggest G10 next. I thought once he got it aimed for IA7, fiddled a bit and got used to the system, i would give hime instructions on how to aim gor G10, and mount another lnb for IA7. I did not want to confuse the issue too much from jump But, G10 with an lnb for IA7 is awesome for a 1 dish set up!

 

[kaatskill]

That sounds great,GUNSMOKE is one of my favorites as some of the others you mentioned,BUT, I still do not know how to aim the dish when degrees are mentioned or how to relate the compass that was sent to me with the dish (or to the sky,horizon). There are no degree markings on the support that holds the dish EXCEPT line increments for the movement of the dish up and down.There are adjustable screws there That I would be able to loosen but that dose not seem to be very accurate when you have a large screw next to a small line. The dish that I took down had markings for side to side and up and down,but that's not doing me any good. I got so frustrated that I looked in the yellow pages to call a pro.to come over and install the dish and this guy read me the riot act about He's not going to install an illegal dish to steal cable or satellite,what a jerk he was,So I explained to him that I was Installing a FTA dish and what that was ,he said he would do it for a minimum of $500.00 with no guarantees.You can guess what I told him....Now I am back to square one and my wife won't let me live it down (you know that old routine,I TOLD YOU SO) BUT,I will not give up. Now that's said, how do I turn the dish side to side,up and down?Do I do the side to side first,and how do I know when its right? How do I face (aim)the dish to the G10r at least to start? Is it in the southern sky? I have a good clear view of the south. By the way, the compass that came with the dish is nothing like the compass I used when I was in the boyscouts,this has a little flip up viewfinder and the cover flips up also with a thin wire running down the middle of the cover through a vertical window.What is that all about? I look through this thing and my neighbors are looking at me like I'm a peeping tom.(good thing they know me or someone would be calling 911) anyhow, I'm keeping my sense of humor with all this. SOOOOO, what now guys? A six pak,a case, or maybe I should just go for a keg, that way I won't feel a thing when I climb up on the roof and fall off. Only kidding. By the way I took the whole thing down and moved it to the other side of my deck where the view is better towards the south and west. Now I don't even get those two crappy channels I was getting before. (Golf & Religion).

 

[whiteoakharold]

Just a word of encouragement from one of the Satellite Guys newest success stories. Relax and read, read,read.Start looking up (search) anything that relates to your project and desires (with the dish I mean, the one with the lnbf on it) I spent at least two months reading the old FTA Threads before I bought any equipment and was still confused (still am) when the dish and stuff started showing up. Read, Read,Read It really helps. whiteoakHarold

 

[Tron]

All of the satellites we are concerned with here are in an arc in the southern sky. Picture a rainbow that goes from Southeast to Southwest, with the highest point of the rainbow directly south of you. That's probably the best way to visualize the satellite arc. Your true south satellite is the one that's parked closest to the longitude where you live (i.e., I live in New Orleans, which is 90w longitude. So my true south satellite, the one that's pretty much directly south of me and therefore highest in the sky at the top of the rainbow, is 91w). When you see that picture in your mind, go outside and visualize the rainbow from Southeast to Southwest, with the top of it south of you.

When you adjust your dish, do so in VERY SMALL increments, just barely moving it. If you're aiming a dish without a motor (HIGHLY advisable when you're just beginning), use this calculator http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/Satellite-Heading-Calculator.htm to find the elevation from your location, and set the up-down position of your dish (elevation) to what this calculator says using the scale on the dish mount. Once that's set, you can SLOWLY pan (move) your dish east to west, west to east, until you hit signal quality on your receiver.

 

[rdel]

Hi kaatskill
What I did when I was starting out is to hook the fta receiver and a small tv up outside next to the dish and use the compass to find the close direction where you want to be looking. Go to the signal meter in the install setup and just start slowly moving the dish up and down, if you don't find anything then move the dish alittle to the side and move it up and down some more. The signal meter will let you know when you have found a sat. Then I would check the lyngsat list of Sat's and degrees to check which sat I have found (http://www.lyngsat.com/america.html)
the sat meter on the unit should say if you have locked into the right sat or not. If it doesn't say lock or locked then you have a different sat.
Lets say that you are getting a signal from close to the right area but it doesn't say locked, then check the lyngsat list for the Sat's closest to g10r ( echo star 9 and IA13 at 121 degrees or g13, horizon 1 at 127 degrees) you can change the sat that your looking for in the menu to the closest ones (ES1, IA13, Hor1 and G13) and see which sat you have found (you may need to check some of the sat 5 to 10 degrees off from g10r). Then you just have to move the dish a tiny amount to which direction (east or west) to get g10r. Don't let it get to you, it seems complicated but it's really not. It may take you a little while to find the sat so don't let it drive you crazy. Have some fun while your sat searching and take your time, you'll get it. remember the Sat's are only afew degrees from each other.
When I started I thought I would never find g10r, but after awhile I just go out and start turning the dish with no problem. The tilt on the dish shouldn't change that much from one sat to another when your looking for Sat's close to each other only the side to side movement can get to you, so barely move the dish side to side when you sat hunting. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask, that's why were here.
rdel
One other thing is don't trust the degree marks in the side of the dish mount, they can drive you crazy.
And allways move the dish slowly:up

 

[iafirebuff]

We WILL get you going! I am proof of that! Where are you located? I don't think you are in Iowa, but maybe someone is close by and could lend a hand?

 

[kaatskill]

Thanks Harold.Believe it or not I have been on the web into the wee hrs. of the morning reading, looking at FTA sites,but have not been able to find the "HOW TO" from start to end on the basic's of instalation of a FTA set-up. Hey,anyone know of any books out there with pictures on the set-up of a FTA system. (there you go senior's why not publish a book on this stuff for US dumb folk and become a millonare).Anyway,thanks Harold for the info.Robert.

 

[iafirebuff]

OK, so at what point are you at now?

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Kaatskill,

Here is an FAQ I did a while back that may help:

http://www.pbase.com/wtracyparnell/coolsat_4000__sg2100_walkthrough

 

[iafirebuff]

GREAT instructions! That should be a sticky on here. VERY NICE JOB!

 

[olegray]

iafirebuff....What would be a good lnb for IA7? Thanks

 

[PSB]

iafirebuff....What would be a good lnb for IA7? Thanks

If you are talking ku band then a standard or a Universal will work, INVACOM are tip of the line LNB's and are GOLD sponsors here at SatelliteGuys.US

 

[iafirebuff]

As Pete said, Invacom's are highly recommended. Check out psbsatellite.com and they have a few to choose from.