My C and Ku dish farm has been idle all summer, but with the pending colder weather, it was finally time to go out and make some changes. The only feeds in use right now from the picture include ..Birdview on fixed 103, Fixed 103ku, Motorized C/Ku Birdview, Fixed 125 ku, Fixed 97ku, (probably changing that one, there's nothing there for me) and space for 2 other Ku's...but next spring we plant two more Birdviews..
I had issues with intermittent signal loss on any selected satellite, had tried various (Amiko only) 8-place diseqc switches, and knew "someday" I'd get to working on the system, which is run from an Amiko MiniHD unit. The last of the issues occurring before going idle was the loss of either horizontal or vertical channels and having to reboot the receiver if changing polarities once the motorized dish settled, or once we switched to an opposite polarity channel on a stationary dish.
Last week, with the help of our Monday night announcer, the old coax was pulled up from the ground and replaced. It's entirely possible it had been nicked by a snowplower when they weren't careful and dug-in then mounded-up earth near the cable in previous years. Since then, I had bought and buried some black "direct bury" cable from Amazon, but ...it was awful! Stiff plastic, not very flexible on the outer jacket and it didn't like the compression fittings at all. Pulled that run from the ground as well, never having deployed it, and replaced both the original cable and that stiff-jacket stuff with some American made orange-jacketed/direct bury from Amazon dot com.
One straight line from inside the apartment's positioner to the diseqc outside at the Birdview dish. The first thing immediately noticed was that I could switch from stationary dishes to motorized and switch polarities without loss of signal, meaning the feedline we dug up did, indeed have issues. I obviously can't speak to the longevity of this cable, but, it was heavy enough, flexible, and had good end connectors. Having one pre-made cable seemed one way to eliminate issues. Cost was reasonable, and it was good to work with.
The first thing that popped in on my screen was the test transmissions ahead of the World Series, and after that, changing back and forth, horizontal to vertical, and dish to dish, signals seem stronger than in a very long time.
In the past, I'd posted about odd scans, signal loss, and even how factory resetting seemed to help. I'd reached wit's end. Moral of the story to me: Cable makes ALL the difference. Funny thing is, after buying this cable, I realized I had plenty of original direct-bury Birdview cable from my various BV dish purchases over the past year or two I could have used...but, that can be deployed elsewhere.
This morning, some dropouts came on the music feeds on 105 C-band, but after a while, things stabilized. The receiver was parked overnight on one of the fixed Ku dishes. All I can think is that with the LNB de-energized on the movable Birdview, it drifted in the cold and was warming up. A change to Titanium's best C-band with filter is next, I have one here, and if my guess is right, That should stabilize things if drift was the issue. We'll test that theory maybe yet this weekend....But, one issue at a time. Nice having the system going for autumn and winter!
Next on the list is a positioner from Titanium with enough "oomph" for a heavy Birdview. My Vbox has never been good at this. Once it's going it's okay....but getting it to work against gravity is tough, and often I get an Error message before it kicks in again. I think I just need something stronger.
It's fun being back "at it" with satellite. I also found that this must truly be my hobby, even though I'm around broadcast electronics 24/7......because I found it relaxing to work on! Friends always tell me I need more hobbies...they don't see FTA as one. I do! It's the fun of building the system and the fun of the (signal) hunt!
"Stay tuned..."
I had issues with intermittent signal loss on any selected satellite, had tried various (Amiko only) 8-place diseqc switches, and knew "someday" I'd get to working on the system, which is run from an Amiko MiniHD unit. The last of the issues occurring before going idle was the loss of either horizontal or vertical channels and having to reboot the receiver if changing polarities once the motorized dish settled, or once we switched to an opposite polarity channel on a stationary dish.
Last week, with the help of our Monday night announcer, the old coax was pulled up from the ground and replaced. It's entirely possible it had been nicked by a snowplower when they weren't careful and dug-in then mounded-up earth near the cable in previous years. Since then, I had bought and buried some black "direct bury" cable from Amazon, but ...it was awful! Stiff plastic, not very flexible on the outer jacket and it didn't like the compression fittings at all. Pulled that run from the ground as well, never having deployed it, and replaced both the original cable and that stiff-jacket stuff with some American made orange-jacketed/direct bury from Amazon dot com.
One straight line from inside the apartment's positioner to the diseqc outside at the Birdview dish. The first thing immediately noticed was that I could switch from stationary dishes to motorized and switch polarities without loss of signal, meaning the feedline we dug up did, indeed have issues. I obviously can't speak to the longevity of this cable, but, it was heavy enough, flexible, and had good end connectors. Having one pre-made cable seemed one way to eliminate issues. Cost was reasonable, and it was good to work with.
The first thing that popped in on my screen was the test transmissions ahead of the World Series, and after that, changing back and forth, horizontal to vertical, and dish to dish, signals seem stronger than in a very long time.
In the past, I'd posted about odd scans, signal loss, and even how factory resetting seemed to help. I'd reached wit's end. Moral of the story to me: Cable makes ALL the difference. Funny thing is, after buying this cable, I realized I had plenty of original direct-bury Birdview cable from my various BV dish purchases over the past year or two I could have used...but, that can be deployed elsewhere.
This morning, some dropouts came on the music feeds on 105 C-band, but after a while, things stabilized. The receiver was parked overnight on one of the fixed Ku dishes. All I can think is that with the LNB de-energized on the movable Birdview, it drifted in the cold and was warming up. A change to Titanium's best C-band with filter is next, I have one here, and if my guess is right, That should stabilize things if drift was the issue. We'll test that theory maybe yet this weekend....But, one issue at a time. Nice having the system going for autumn and winter!
Next on the list is a positioner from Titanium with enough "oomph" for a heavy Birdview. My Vbox has never been good at this. Once it's going it's okay....but getting it to work against gravity is tough, and often I get an Error message before it kicks in again. I think I just need something stronger.
It's fun being back "at it" with satellite. I also found that this must truly be my hobby, even though I'm around broadcast electronics 24/7......because I found it relaxing to work on! Friends always tell me I need more hobbies...they don't see FTA as one. I do! It's the fun of building the system and the fun of the (signal) hunt!
"Stay tuned..."
