I checked the voltage on the LNB's but not getting a green DC light on any channels. Can't seem to get the dish tuned into any satelllites or channels (poor signal) I don't want to do a master reset, is there something else I can test or try? Also anyone know of a good place to get an inline satellite meter? Thanks in advance.
No Channels on 920
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hey, another Michigander! Welcome to Sat guys!
did you have channels before and now they stopped working or is this a "new" setup that you are trying to get dialed-in?
Try for some of the analog channels that are left. ARTS on G1-5 (@ 133 west) would be a good one, then once you have G1 setup you can go to chan 3 for the maps
did you have channels before and now they stopped working or is this a "new" setup that you are trying to get dialed-in?
Try for some of the analog channels that are left. ARTS on G1-5 (@ 133 west) would be a good one, then once you have G1 setup you can go to chan 3 for the maps
Sorry, I don't know how to work this site. I have a 920 that was working for several years. Someone gave me a DISH subscription for two years. Just after I was given DISH the LNBF went out. I bought a new norsat from Skyvision but didn't put it in until this morning. No DC lite, 16 Volts at LNB. This unit has been plugged in all this time. I periodically moved dish thru arc and sometimes left it park where it would go to G1 by itself. All SAT positions are still programmed from original, I had cheat sheets I made when everything worked. 10 FT Perfect 10 Dish chaparral horn GI920 receiver from 1999. My post is not exactly plumb but I think it should be within the receivers fudge factor. I HAVEN'T found any stations so I'm about ready to sledge it back to PLUMB? WHAT DOOZ YA ALL THINK!
Oh new glitch, went in to channel search on change sattelite. Unit no longer showing horizontal or vertical boxes , nor option 4 manual skew, nor #5 auto skew. I'm dying here?
Do you have access to a DVB receiver to verify the dish's position and polarity settings? They are cheaper that one of those 'fancy meters', and way better than the less than fancy ones for doing dish alignment/verification IMHO.
Besides, you will likely want to add FTA to your viewing options in the future anyway.
Until you can confirm position and polarity on G1, and get a green DCII light there, we are going to be at a loss to go much further.
You are apparently versed on the 4DTV world, so welcome back to C band!
Since it has been sitting dormant for a while, one other thing I would check is that the polarotor is still free and rotating properly. You may have enough range on your rf remote to stand at/near enough to the dish and flip between an odd and even analog channel.
If you are off plumb by very much it will impact your arc tracking accuracy. It doesnt take much. A 1/4" at the pole could easily translate to several inches spacial displacement at the LNB. Doesnt sound like it's going to be a very easy quick fix either.
Besides, you will likely want to add FTA to your viewing options in the future anyway.
Until you can confirm position and polarity on G1, and get a green DCII light there, we are going to be at a loss to go much further.
You are apparently versed on the 4DTV world, so welcome back to C band!
Since it has been sitting dormant for a while, one other thing I would check is that the polarotor is still free and rotating properly. You may have enough range on your rf remote to stand at/near enough to the dish and flip between an odd and even analog channel.
If you are off plumb by very much it will impact your arc tracking accuracy. It doesnt take much. A 1/4" at the pole could easily translate to several inches spacial displacement at the LNB. Doesnt sound like it's going to be a very easy quick fix either.
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Thanks Melgarga, I actually have a FTA. I tried it out when 920 was still receiving but didn't know what I was doing. It's still sitting next to the 920 cause it keeps good time. I'm going to plumb post as I have enough equipment to be gentle. Is a DVB a digital video band receiver? who makes them, who sells them, rents em? In the box with brand new Norsat LNBF bought in 10-2007 are cables,splitters,and combiners to paralell the 920 and the FTA. Though after listening to youse guys I may set one of my other 10 footers up as a separate ear eh? What say youse? This is getting to be entertaining enough I won't miss TV. thanks again
Your FTA receiver is a DVB receiver. DVB is a digital signal broadcast mode, like DCII or ATSC, etc.
There is quite a bit of DVB (digital) free to air content on C band. There is a list of FTA channels maintained by board staff linked at the top of the page. It covers C and Ku birds.
Another group of lists, covering a wider range than just the US visible birds is located here -
http://www.global-cm.net/mpeg2central.html
Most FTA receivers are very similar in operation. Depending on what you have, it is likely that someone here on the board has one like yours, you should have no problems getting any model specific help if needed.
I would set the 920 project aside for the moment, and focus on getting the dish to track the arc. There are a number of strong C band DVB channels that you can use as 'beacons' to align the dish. Many of the FTA TPs are not as strong and some are hard to use for alignment purposes. Once you get set properly they do come in fine. W5 @105W does not have any DVB content but 103W has plenty, so you should have no problem guestimating it's position for the DSR.
Program up the FTA box with C band info from the lists and go hunting. Get you a portable tv, extension cord, card table,your FTA and a cooler full of cold ones and go set up camp out by the dish so you can see the results of any adjustments you make in real time. That will be the best way to verify/re-align your dish.
Dont forget that if you have a polarotor style LNB you will need to use the 920 ( or any other C band analog ird if you have one) to switch between H&V and move the dish. If your RF remote works that far it will save running back and forth. You really dont want to wag all that out and set up up too......lol
There are several recent new threads on getting started, some of the questions you will have may already have been addressed, but dont hesitate to ask. Lots of helpful folks on here.
Keep up posted.
There is quite a bit of DVB (digital) free to air content on C band. There is a list of FTA channels maintained by board staff linked at the top of the page. It covers C and Ku birds.
Another group of lists, covering a wider range than just the US visible birds is located here -
http://www.global-cm.net/mpeg2central.html
Most FTA receivers are very similar in operation. Depending on what you have, it is likely that someone here on the board has one like yours, you should have no problems getting any model specific help if needed.
I would set the 920 project aside for the moment, and focus on getting the dish to track the arc. There are a number of strong C band DVB channels that you can use as 'beacons' to align the dish. Many of the FTA TPs are not as strong and some are hard to use for alignment purposes. Once you get set properly they do come in fine. W5 @105W does not have any DVB content but 103W has plenty, so you should have no problem guestimating it's position for the DSR.
Program up the FTA box with C band info from the lists and go hunting. Get you a portable tv, extension cord, card table,your FTA and a cooler full of cold ones and go set up camp out by the dish so you can see the results of any adjustments you make in real time. That will be the best way to verify/re-align your dish.
Dont forget that if you have a polarotor style LNB you will need to use the 920 ( or any other C band analog ird if you have one) to switch between H&V and move the dish. If your RF remote works that far it will save running back and forth. You really dont want to wag all that out and set up up too......lol
There are several recent new threads on getting started, some of the questions you will have may already have been addressed, but dont hesitate to ask. Lots of helpful folks on here.
Keep up posted.
Please excuse my ignorance,but are you refering to THE LIST at the very top of this page or am I looking for something thru your permalink. I looked at global-cm.net/mpeg2central. Interesting. I can deal with it, but I gotta tell ya it's all fun and games until someone gets a headache then pokes an eye out just for relief. there will be no sharp objects allowed on bar uh card table. It's not raining too hard in Michigan this week so I will go sit in the yard with a bunch of electronic gear. update soon
Yes, the tab at the top of the page, affectionately known as "The List" thruout the board. Well let's dont leave any sharp objects pointing up on the bar,....er, cardtable, just in case anyone needs to put there head down for a bit. Poked out eyes aint funny, I dont care who ya are, as Larry says........lol
Tired of the rain? Send it to Texas. I've had a lil under a 1/2" in six weeks here, and that was this week. Prolly less than 10" overall for the year here. It's been really bad.
Seein' how your one o' them electrotrishuns, say it with me GFCI.....lol
Seven ma likely wont kill ya, but it sure will let you know it's there for a few milliseconds.....
I've found that an up-to-date printed copy of the freq/sat listings, a note pad and a hightlighter to be invaluable when taking on such a project. There becomes so much to keep track of and refer back to it pays to have a means to do it handy.
What model FTA will you be using? Depending on the model, a proggy called Channelmaster can be used to build/edit and upload ch/sat data so you dont have to input it all via the remote. Pretty handy to set up a few known good TP per sat so you will know when you find one.
Does you system use a polarotor and did you confirm it is functioning? Will you be able to control the DSR from the campsite? Just a few of the pre-reqs before digging in the ice chest...er, uh, setting up the campsite.
Tired of the rain? Send it to Texas. I've had a lil under a 1/2" in six weeks here, and that was this week. Prolly less than 10" overall for the year here. It's been really bad.
Seein' how your one o' them electrotrishuns, say it with me GFCI.....lol
Seven ma likely wont kill ya, but it sure will let you know it's there for a few milliseconds.....
I've found that an up-to-date printed copy of the freq/sat listings, a note pad and a hightlighter to be invaluable when taking on such a project. There becomes so much to keep track of and refer back to it pays to have a means to do it handy.
What model FTA will you be using? Depending on the model, a proggy called Channelmaster can be used to build/edit and upload ch/sat data so you dont have to input it all via the remote. Pretty handy to set up a few known good TP per sat so you will know when you find one.
Does you system use a polarotor and did you confirm it is functioning? Will you be able to control the DSR from the campsite? Just a few of the pre-reqs before digging in the ice chest...er, uh, setting up the campsite.
No Channels on 4DTV
I also have an FTA but have always had my GI 4DTV with 7' dish as backup. Just had the same problem. I tuned in W5 and was going to get a bigger subscription and everything was gone. NO DC light to get a hit. The guys at ATS sent me an LNB and I changed it--still nothing. I used a voltmeter at the receiver and at the LNB and was getting good power. I decided it was the receiver. Again ATS replaced an older battery and said I had microwave nodules but nothing else wrong. They tested it. I got it back, hooked it up, nothing. I finally found a guy who works on them that insisted it needed to be reprogrammed, it was easy. I've owned a big dish for 20 years and know how to do that, but what the heck. He did a reset and found that wasn't it. Guess what. I changed my hookup before the problem. I connected my receiver to my TV via SVideo. When I lost my DC light due to bad LNB (and it probably needed changing), I didn't renew my digital subscription. When I went to try to program in my satellites again I went as far west as I could to start the arc. I finally got sound on QVC but still no picture. At least I knew the LNB wasn't a bad one. I proceeded to G1 05 with success but no picture. Tom at ATS kindly informed me that S Video will not produce an analog picture.
It's always something simple. 4DTV receivers are very good products. Gotta add this one for anyone else with problems. A guy checked his cable and connectors with voltmeter and got a good reading. When he hooked them back up intermittent picture or nothing. There was a short in the cable, but when he would test it he would stretch it out and voltage was fine. When he hooked it up the cable was bent and short would happen. I'm surprised he figured that one out at all.
I also have an FTA but have always had my GI 4DTV with 7' dish as backup. Just had the same problem. I tuned in W5 and was going to get a bigger subscription and everything was gone. NO DC light to get a hit. The guys at ATS sent me an LNB and I changed it--still nothing. I used a voltmeter at the receiver and at the LNB and was getting good power. I decided it was the receiver. Again ATS replaced an older battery and said I had microwave nodules but nothing else wrong. They tested it. I got it back, hooked it up, nothing. I finally found a guy who works on them that insisted it needed to be reprogrammed, it was easy. I've owned a big dish for 20 years and know how to do that, but what the heck. He did a reset and found that wasn't it. Guess what. I changed my hookup before the problem. I connected my receiver to my TV via SVideo. When I lost my DC light due to bad LNB (and it probably needed changing), I didn't renew my digital subscription. When I went to try to program in my satellites again I went as far west as I could to start the arc. I finally got sound on QVC but still no picture. At least I knew the LNB wasn't a bad one. I proceeded to G1 05 with success but no picture. Tom at ATS kindly informed me that S Video will not produce an analog picture.
It's always something simple. 4DTV receivers are very good products. Gotta add this one for anyone else with problems. A guy checked his cable and connectors with voltmeter and got a good reading. When he hooked them back up intermittent picture or nothing. There was a short in the cable, but when he would test it he would stretch it out and voltage was fine. When he hooked it up the cable was bent and short would happen. I'm surprised he figured that one out at all.
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