P S B - Help!!!!

[greyskies]

I had ordered a Winegard 30" dish, a Moteck SG2100 Motor, and a Dual Standard LNBF for $190 including S&H.

After I had ordered it, I was to receive e-mail with tracking information. That was the first problem, they could not get e-mail to me, so could not track.

Next, I received the shipment from UPS this afternoon, and noticed that I had received a Single Standard KuBand LNBF. Called the dealer, and agreed to provide me a credit of $25.00, and in actuality, that probably is a good thing, because with a motor, don't need a dual LNBF.

Then, when I got home and opened the box with the dish, realized that I had not received a Winegard 30" dish as ordered, but a Hotdish 75. I called the dealer again, and rather than return the dish and wait for another, agreed to provide me with a $20.00 credit. Assuming not a major difference in quality between the Winegard and Hotdish, that was satisfactory (and results in a total reduction in order of $45.00 - Not too bad if it works together).

Well, I installed the mounting bracket into a concrete slab on the second story patio of our home, and hooked up the mast, level and plumb. Used both a level and a inclination (sorry if I am spelling or naming the device wrong), and it was level and plumb. Have a clear line of sight over the small railing on the porch (9-10 feet in front of dish) and no trees or roof overhang that might interfere with dish.

Hooked everything up to the RG6 cable I had been using with either the dishnet receiver or my fortec lifetime receiver. The motor turns fine both east and west, and the fortec receiver controlled it like a charm. However, I cannot get any reception from Telstar-5. My location is Davie, Florida (central broward county) and my zipcode is 33324-7435.

The motor has two adjustable sides (latitude and elevation). Please advise as to what I should set them to. Then, with regard to the dish, what elevation should it be set to?

Final question, could there have been a problem with either the RG6 cable going from the motor to the LNBF or with the LNBF itself. The documentation for installation of these things is not very consumer friendly, so I am not certain that the LNBF was installed properly. Should it be installed straight vertical, or at an angle???

Please help me.

 

[Cascade]

Greyskies, what's the model# of the LNB you have?
The elevation scale on the one side of the motor mount is a rough guide to where you're located, if you go by the latitude scale you'll be better off.

Look in the manual on page 7 you'll see the table, For example: If you're at latitude 30 you'll see that the motor needs to be set at 60 and your dish needs to be set at 25, ignore the declination angle for now, you don't need to set that for anything.
The LNB should be at 0degrees when your dish is at position 0 (Centre) and will skew when the dish moves in the arc.
Go here for the closest city near you to find out your sites latitude:
http://www.csgnetwork.com/antennasatelazposcalc.html

 

[Cascade]

Set the motor mount elevation to 64 and your dish elevation to 25.6 . The scale on the other side of the motor bracket should say around 26.
Regarding true south you'll need to compensate for magnetic deviation which is +2degrees in your case so set everything to the 2 values above, rotate the motor to 0, make sure the dish is aligned with the motor (There's a line on the motors pole where the dish bolts onto) and swing the whole assembly to South+2 degrees..

 

[greyskies]

How did you calculate these figures??

Set the motor mount elevation to 64 and your dish elevation to 25.6 . The scale on the other side of the motor bracket should say around 26.
Regarding true south you'll need to compensate for magnetic deviation which is +2degrees in your case so set everything to the 2 values above, rotate the motor to 0, make sure the dish is aligned with the motor (There's a line on the motors pole where the dish bolts onto) and swing the whole assembly to South+2 degrees..

I went to the website you linked in the prior response, and it calculated the following for Fort Lauderdale"

Telstar 5 at 97 degrees West
Satellite Position 97.00
Latitude - 26.12
Longitude - 80.14
Azimuth - 214.5
Elevation 54.1

How did you determine that the motor mount elevation should be 64 and the dish elevation 25.6?

 

[Cascade]

I went to the website you linked in the prior response, and it calculated the following for Fort Lauderdale"

Telstar 5 at 97 degrees West
Satellite Position 97.00
Latitude - 26.12
Longitude - 80.14
Azimuth - 214.5
Elevation 54.1

How did you determine that the motor mount elevation should be 64 and the dish elevation 25.6?

Ignore T5 for now, you need to get everything aligned otherwise you'll hit maybe one bird.
The page I linked to was to get a rough approximation of your Lat, it'll also tell you where your dish and motor (Once set up) should be pointing at T5 or any other bird.

If you look in the manual it says to rotate the whole assembly to true south which is magnetic south plus 2 degrees (For deviation) for your area. This is seperate from adjusting your dish and motor bracket Inclination/Declination.

Then it says (Page3 fig.A) to set the elevation angle of the motor which for your area (Lat 26) is 64 degrees, so looking on the Elevation side your pointer should be at 64 (taken from page 7).

Then part 6 on page 3 says to set the declination angle of your dish, again your Lat is 26 so if you look in the table on page 7 it'll say 25.6 which is 30degrees minus the middle figure (Dec angle of 4.4) Giving you 25.6, this is the angle that you should set on your dish.

The table reads:

Site Lat-------Elev Angle--------Dec Angle-------Dish Bracket Angle
--26-------------64---------------4.4------------------25.6------
...^....................^...................................................^...........
Your Lat...........Angle of motor..............................Angle of dish...

Ignore the Dec angle (4.4) We already know your site's lat and dish bracket angle.



Once you've set those 2 angles on your dish and rotated the whole assembly to magnetic South +2deg you'll be fairly close to where everything should be set.
the next step is to tweak the setup, taking into account that the dish/motor/pole setup will never be 100% plumb and will have minor variations you'll need to find your southernmost bird and adjust the dish (Not the motor) to max the signal. Then use the motor control switch along with a sig meter if you have one to see if you're hitting all the birds in the complete arc by rotating the dish (With the button on the motor).

I was as confused as you were when I installed mine a few weeks ago but if you look at the table and read the instructions logically it makes sense.

 

[PSB]

Cascade is on the ball!
Here is what I came up with....

zip=33324
Lat/N=26
Long/W=80

Total elevation to true south sat= 59.61
Dist. to sat.= 36550
Mag. Dev.= +3
True south satellite = 80deg W....AMC-5
I would set motor elevation to 64 Cascade is right (I am just lucky up here where the lat. and motor elevation is the same (45)
Nice talking to you.......Good Luck!

 

[Cascade]

Greyskies is lucky, I don't have anything near the visibility I need to hit my southernmost bird, the closest I can get is Galaxy4R, T5 is just out of reach (Damn those 3 degrees of tree..)

 

[PSB]

Cascades right, your motor elevation should be set at 64 deg, then aim for a live channel on AMC-5 I use.....
Empire Sports
Freq. = 11807
Pol.= H
S/R= 04162

 

[greyskies]

Level Percentage Real High when Scan, But No Quality Percentage

Cascade and PSB, my Level ranges above 90 % when I scan for different satellites, but no matter what I do (scanning and adjusting elevation on Dish), I do not get any Quality %.

Remeber, I have a Fortecstar Lifetime Receiver, a Hotdish 75, a Moteck (Digipower) SG2100 Motor, and a DMS International ASC321 Ku LNBF.


A. Any thoughts as to any setting that I may not properly have configured on the receiver? Such as:

(1) LNB Type - Options

Standard, Universal 1, Universal 2, Single-SL and Single-SH

(2) LNB - Local Freqs. - Should this be set to 10750, which is on the side of my DMS International ASC321 Ku LNBF?

(3) 22 Khz - Should this be set on or off?

(4) DiSEqC - Options

Tone A, Tone B, #1, #2, #3, #4, or Off?

(5) LNB Power - ON or OFF?

(6) If ON, 0 / 12?



B. Is there a button on the motor or the dish that I was not aware of that I need to set?

Please provide me with some magical satellite guidance to get this working, as I was previously nervous, and then with Cascade and PSB's assistance I grew eager to get it up and running. Now I am starting to getting anxious.

greyskies in NOT so Sunny South Florida (Do we get storms in the summer or what?)

 

[reanimator]

I read all the directions and it is becoming more clear on how to set the dish up but I am wondering on the hot dish 75 where the dish bracket marks should be measured from? The center of the nut ?

 

[greyskies]

Bracket Marks???

I read all the directions and it is becoming more clear on how to set the dish up but I am wondering on the hot dish 75 where the dish bracket marks should be measured from? The center of the nut ?

Did I miss something in my rush to install the dish??? I looked at the pictures that came with my Hotdish 75, and put it together (you know the male way, pictures, no words, extra parts at the end).

I hope this thread was useful to you. Btw, I did use the center of the nut when adjusting the elevation on the dish.

greyskies

 

[PSB]

Greyskies, I would go back to taking the dish off the motor and set the elevation on your dish and try to get your true south satellite that way, when you get it you can go back to the motor set up and it will be a lot easier, I would contact your retailer again to see if they can offer some advice also....

You have a standard ku band LNB, set at 10750, and the 22khz should be off. LNB should be on. Disecq1.2 should be off (if you go back to taking the motor off) or set to the LNB number you are using (1/2/3/4)
Some pictures would be good!

 

[PSB]

Greyskies if there is any dishnetwork junk (switches...) in the cable run it will not work, just reading over the post again!

 

[greyskies]

There is a grounding coupler from bedroom to outside on patio, which only connects to cable run to dish, and to ground (water pipe).

Cable runs from Fortec receiver, to line amplifier, to grounding coupler, to motor, to dish. I will remove line amplifier and see what happens. Will let you know. If that is it, is there an amplifier for FTA dishes????

 

[PSB]

THAT may be the problem, whatever there should be no need for it, you are closer to the satellites than me!

 

[greyskies]

Didn't do anything other than decrease the Level Percentage. It works fine when I hook the dishnet receiver to the dishpro dish, and use the same connections and cables. Stumped. Btw, the cable only runs about 20-25 feet. Strange!!!

 

[Cascade]

OK, with the LNB set to Standard/10750/22KHzoff/Power on:

Try to hit either 119 or 110 as a test, get a decent level.
Change your LOF (Local Oscillator) to 11250 and try again. If you get no quality off that, scan (With the receiver, leave the dish pointed at 110/119) either 121 or 105 with the same settings, lemme know if you get any quality.
The level should go waaay down but you should get some Q on the lower numbered TPs.
I just wanna know what you're hitting to get a 90% sig level and 0%Q.

 

[Cascade]

Oh, there's a button on the underside of the motor casing to manually rotate the dish (You'd know that because you studied the manual ).
BTW - You do have the motor pointed the right way I hope, the pole to bolt the dish onto the motor should be facing down.

 

[greyskies]

Cascade:

Yes, the motor pole is facing down, as even all the pictures show one to do that.

As for the 119 and 110, I have to go to work now, but when I get home, I will most definitely try that. Also, I am going to replace the cable run from the wall to the dish, just in case the cable is not RG6U, but rather some left over cablevision wire. Don't think so, but better to try all possibilities, rather than to consider them and later forget them. I wonder if that could cause this problem.

 

[greyskies]

Tech advised use Universal 2 not Standard LNB Setting

PSB, Cascade, and all others who have helped thus far:

My gratitude to all of you for your assistance.

The tech at the retailer that I had purchased my equipment, advised that I need to set the LNB on my receiver not to Standard and a Local Freq of 10750, but rather, set the LNB to Universal 2, and leave the range of frequencies alone. Explained that the range of frequencies would not be modifiable under Universal 2 Option, as they are on Standard LNB Option.

Will let you folks know how this all turns out.

With anticipation (and a smidgeon of anxiety),

greyskies