Newbie looking for Galaxy 19

[jwf593]

I hope someone can walk me through the process of finding Galaxy 19.

After a few weeks of tweeking, I have finally gotten my dish to find Galaxy 3C at 95W and the other Galaxy at 93W, even AMC 3 at 87W. On each of these I've been able to blind scan and lock in channels and get nice a nice clear picture.

The problem is I'm looking for FTA Russian language programming on Galaxy 19 and as I move west from 95W I can't seem to find anything.

I've read enough on the forums to know that Galaxy 19 is a difficult signal to catch, but this is really getting frustrating. I have read that, if all my settings are correct, I should be able to just 'nudge' off (to the west) of the signal from 95W and I should be right at 97W. But my blind scans find nothing once I loose the signals from Galaxy 3C.

I believe my azimuth and elevation are pretty much on, and I have my skew set just below the -10 mark (trying for -8.8).

I am really new to this, but have been doing lots of reading in the last couple weeks and think I have the equipment set up correctly. If anyone can think of some settings that would allow me to get Galaxy 25,26 and 3C....but not Galaxy 19, I would sure like to hear from you.

I have a Fortec Star 120cm Dish, and Invacom Quad LNB (running two coax cables - one from a Circular and one from a Linear, combined to the receiver). My receiver is a Viewsat VS2000 Ultra. My antenna setup is 'Standard' and for LNB Freq and TP Freq I have tried all sorts of settings (maybe someone has a suggestion).


Thanks for reading this - and thanks for the assistance!

Jeff

 

[Mr Tony]

welcome

After a few weeks of tweeking, I have finally gotten my dish to find Galaxy 3C at 95W and the other Galaxy at 93W, even AMC 3 at 87W. On each of these I've been able to blind scan and lock in channels and get nice a nice clear picture.

The problem is I'm looking for FTA Russian language programming on Galaxy 19 and as I move west from 95W I can't seem to find anything.

seems odd that you can get 95W but not 97W as they are right next door

I've read enough on the forums to know that Galaxy 19 is a difficult signal to catch, but this is really getting frustrating. I have read that, if all my settings are correct, I should be able to just 'nudge' off (to the west) of the signal from 95W and I should be right at 97W. But my blind scans find nothing once I loose the signals from Galaxy 3C.

that is correct. Once you lose 95W 97W should pop right in. G19 isnt that hard to pick up as it is a newer satellite so its pretty strong

I believe my azimuth and elevation are pretty much on, and I have my skew set just below the -10 mark (trying for -8.8).

if your location in your profile is right, then yes the skew is right. From 95 to 97 is virtually no elevation change so it should be there

I have a Fortec Star 120cm Dish, and Invacom Quad LNB (running two coax cables - one from a Circular and one from a Linear, combined to the receiver). My receiver is a Viewsat VS2000 Ultra. My antenna setup is 'Standard' and for LNB Freq and TP Freq I have tried all sorts of settings (maybe someone has a suggestion).


Thanks for reading this - and thanks for the assistance!

Jeff

I would run the cable from the L side of the LNB to the receiver for now
Standard 10750 is correct for the settings on the receiver

Try and enter a transponder manually instead of blind scanning. Here are a couple stronger signals

12060 H 22000
12115 V 22425

both of these might already be in the transponder list.

 

[jwf593]

thanks! - newbie looking for Galaxy 19

thanks for the help.

I've pulled the connection from the C port on the LNB, so I'm just hooked up to the L connection. After doing this I ran another blind scan and 'found' just about all the TV and Radio channels listed for Galaxy 3C. (again)

After that scan, I did my regular 'nudge' to the West. I'm in Cheyenne, Wyoming with the dish facing South - so I tap the dish a little more towards the Rockies. (That's to the West - were the sun goes down). I guess I'm moving the LNB about 1" - 1 1/2". Is that a nudge? fyi, I live on a nice little ridge overlooking the city with absolutely NO obstructions to the south.

I've just completed a blind scan after making this adjustment and the receiver finds nothing, no channels at all.

You mentioned I should try to manually enter a transponder. I don't find a simple way to do this on the receiver (Viewsat Ultra 2000), but I am able to 'Channel Scan' and scroll down to 12115 22545 V 3/4.

I can also do this for 12060 22000 H auto.

Both of these transponders give me a nice 71 'strength' but a 0 on the Quality meter - and after a second of searching - the receiver finds no channels.

Thanks for taking the time to help with this - I hope you can think of something else for me to try.

Jeff

 

[turbosat]

Add TP on the Ultra is somewhat hidden, look under the Channel Scan option (or whatever the 2nd option in right column under Installation). If you scroll down, using the arrows you will see a line of symbols, they will Highlight as you Arrow-Right across them. One of them is Add Sat, or Rename Sat, Add TP, etc. Just poke around and you'll find it-then you can enter your transponder info manually, when done, hit exit, it will ask you to save the changes.

 

[Mr Tony]

After that scan, I did my regular 'nudge' to the West. I'm in Cheyenne, Wyoming with the dish facing South - so I tap the dish a little more towards the Rockies. (That's to the West - were the sun goes down). I guess I'm moving the LNB about 1" - 1 1/2". Is that a nudge? fyi, I live on a nice little ridge overlooking the city with absolutely NO obstructions to the south.

if you are moving the dish by hand, an inch is WAY too much to move from 95 to 97

a nudge would be something like if you made a mark on the mast where 95 is, move that dish maybe 1/32" west...that is how minuscule it is

I remember when a sports team moved their games from one satellite to another it was 6 degrees away. It was 1/16" on the mast from the existing mark to the new satellite

 

[Larry1]

if you are moving the dish by hand, an inch is WAY too much to move from 95 to 97

Please note he is saying that the LNBF is moving that much, not the clamp on the mast. Also he has a 1.2m dish. Just a guess, but try another 1" or so to see if it hits anything. Maybe someone knows how far apart the LNBF's are on a 1.2m for multisat reception could give him a rough idea of the movement.

 

[Mr Tony]

ahhh crap you're right

and from my personal experience a 1.2m dish the LNB moves pretty far to move 2 degrees. I use to have my 1.2m dish at 121W C-Band and moved it to 125W KU and it was a good 6 inches for those 4 degrees (if we're watching the LNB move)

 

[jwf593]

just where is 97W from 95W?

hi guys!

thanks for the ideas. yes, I am estimating my 'nudge' to be about an inch at the front, the LNB. at the back - at the bracket, it's more like 1/16 to 1/8 an inch.

the only reason I am moving this much is that this seems to be the amount of distance I move between 93W and 95W, as I said I seem to be able to find these two without trouble. I can even give a 'half nudge' and manage to lock on to some of the channels from both.

i'll keep fooling with the exact position and let you know what happens.

thanks again!!

jeff

 

[Mr Tony]

have you locked anything west of 95?

like 99 or even 101? 101 has some very strong transponders

 

[jwf593]

West of 95W

hi Iceberg,

no, i haven't managed to pick up anything to the West of 95W. I've gotten channels from AMC 3 at 87W to the Galaxy at 95W. As I am writing this I am watching a really clear CCTV F from Galaxy 3C. At this position I can also get the Azteca channels from Galaxy 25. But, as I move the dish to the west....nothing.

This is why I mentioned that I have a totally clear view to the south with no obstructions. It's also why I pulled the dish down and re-checked the Skew, I thought perhaps it was too far off as I moved the dish west. But the Skew seems correct.

I am going to try the suggestion to move a little farther to the west, move the LNB a full 3 inches, and see what that does.

I've also just done a reset to Factory Default, just in case I had messed up some setting somewhere.

I'll try this new position and see what I can find. For what it's worth - I can't seem to make much out of the Signal Strength meter on my Viewsat. When I'm right on and getting channels I can watch, the strength is 73, when I'm off and it's not finding anything -- it's still 70 something. When I was dead-on to the AMC 3 and getting every channel listed for it -- the meter was still only 78 or so. Doesn't seem to be too useful in finding the correct positions.

thanks,

Jeff

 

[Mr Tony]

hi Iceberg,

no, i haven't managed to pick up anything to the West of 95W. I've gotten channels from AMC 3 at 87W to the Galaxy at 95W. As I am writing this I am watching a really clear CCTV F from Galaxy 3C. At this position I can also get the Azteca channels from Galaxy 25. But, as I move the dish to the west....nothing.

that is just weird since those sats are so close to each other

This is why I mentioned that I have a totally clear view to the south with no obstructions. It's also why I pulled the dish down and re-checked the Skew, I thought perhaps it was too far off as I moved the dish west. But the Skew seems correct.

If you get good results on 95W for quality then that little bit of skew difference shouldnt be much of a loss.

I am going to try the suggestion to move a little farther to the west, move the LNB a full 3 inches, and see what that does.

If you can blind scan, try that and see if it picks up any transponders

I'll try this new position and see what I can find. For what it's worth - I can't seem to make much out of the Signal Strength meter on my Viewsat. When I'm right on and getting channels I can watch, the strength is 73, when I'm off and it's not finding anything -- it's still 70 something. When I was dead-on to the AMC 3 and getting every channel listed for it -- the meter was still only 78 or so. Doesn't seem to be too useful in finding the correct positions.

thanks,

Jeff

what does it say for QUALITY....thats the big thing. Signal strength doesnt mean much

 

[SatelliteAV]

See atached GeoSatFinder printout for Cheyenne, WY.

You will notice that G19 is about 3 degrees to the West and approx. 1/2 degree higher.

Sight up the bottom edge of the LNBF arm. Any trees, limbs or other obstructions?

Try adding one of the previously mentioned G19 transponder frequencies to the G3c TP list then reaim the dish without changing any other receiver setting. Can you find the G19 transponder? This test will rule out an incorrect satellite setting.

 

[jwf593]

Q meter readings

I've made the position change and am doing a blind scan right now. It doesn't look very promising so far.

As for the Quality meter - that's how I can tell I'm lined up on something - as the blind scan runs I can see the Q meter jumping up every couple of Frequencies. When I'm not getting anything (like now) the Q meter stays at 0, and the blind scan finds nothing.


thanks,

Jeff

 

[Mr Tony]

but when you are on G3 what is the quality on CCTV? Those are very strong transponders so the quality should be at almost max...if its really low then that might cause part of the issue

 

[jwf593]

AMC 1 at 103W

hi Iceberg,

well, I must be doing something right as I have managed to find something west of 95W. I just did a blind scan and it came up with the channels listed for AMC 1, which is WEST of my target of 97W.

I guess I'll just keep trying - this time tapping the dish back to the east a bit.

As to your last question, when I can get a good clear picture, like on the CCTV or the Azteca ones, the Quality meter usually is 70-80.

On AMC 1, I am getting a nice sharp picture from the ABN religious stations, even though the Q is down around 20-25.

thanks for all the help - I'll let you know what I am able to get,

Jeff

 

[Mr Tony]

you mean 3ABN? If so that is on 101 and the quality should be almost at max. Those signals are screaming normally.

Once you're on 101W try and raise the elevation on the dish a little bit to see if the quality meter moves up.

 

[jwf593]

success! (kind of)

hi! and thanks to Iceberg and all you guys who helped!

I've finally managed to bump and nudge my dish into a position where a blind scan found 300 plus channels listed for Galaxy 19, which was my original target satellite.

Thanks for the encouragement and advice!

Now, can anyone suggest what I can do to get actual programming on more of these channels, or is it normal for many (most) to be 'dark'. I have quite a few that are 'locked' ($) But a lot more, including Russia Today have a decent Strength reading (78+), but no Quality and no picture or sound.

Is this just a matter of my 'fine tuning' my current position - or do you think I've got something else to do? Anybody spend much time surfing 97W? Is it normal for a large number of these stations to be 'dark'?

One last question, my original intent was to find some FTA Russian language programming - so far, haven't found any out there. Anyone know if I can, and how to subscribe to RTR Planeta, etc., with my FTA receiver? I'll be doing research myself - but I'd appreciate a shortcut!

Thanks again to all for your patience with a newbie!!

jeff

 

[RichardButkus]

Here is a link to what you can find in the Russian language on Ku-band:

FTAList.com - Russian Channel List

Those channels are all on G19.

 

[Mr Tony]

I've finally managed to bump and nudge my dish into a position where a blind scan found 300 plus channels listed for Galaxy 19, which was my original target satellite.

Thanks for the encouragement and advice!

woo hoo!!!

Now, can anyone suggest what I can do to get actual programming on more of these channels, or is it normal for many (most) to be 'dark'. I have quite a few that are 'locked' ($) But a lot more, including Russia Today have a decent Strength reading (78+), but no Quality and no picture or sound.

The $$ are encrypted. Alot of those channels are thorugh a subscription service called Globecast
globecastwtv.com

Is this just a matter of my 'fine tuning' my current position - or do you think I've got something else to do? Anybody spend much time surfing 97W? Is it normal for a large number of these stations to be 'dark'?

yes that is normal. I say at about 1/2 of the channels are scrambled. You just have to fine tune a little bit. Russia Today is on 12152 H 20000 transponder. You may have to add that transponder. It is very strong so it should come in.
What kind of quality numbers are you getting on the various transponders?

 

[turbosat]

Check to see which channels you are getting video/audio on-are they all vertical channels?
If it scanned in Russia Today but no picture, maybe all you need to do now is some slight tweaking of the skew and/or elevation. I have hit satellites so close before like that, the rec would scan in some channels of one polarity but not display them, but slightly adjusting elevation or skew would bring them in. You're very close now!