PC 2000 analog setup

[colbec]

I am setting up my first analog receiver, a PC-2000. The final intention is to use it as a dish mover with a Von Weise actuator pushing a 6 foot Kaul.

The actuator is working fine, pushing and pulling in the correct direction. I have wiped the existing memory and set up some basic limits east and west. I have also found a test card for Johnson TV on G3 channel 5 and have peaked the dish on that and have entered G3 as a satellite. So far so good. I have cast around for some other test cards that might help me get some other sats programmed in but they are not popping up as expected. Dish is not out of alignment since on the digital side I can pick up a number of sats no problem.

The issue seems to be the sparse number of active analog channels to home in on to get the receiver set up. Is there a list somewhere of analog channels that might be of help to me in this setup situation?

Would also appreciate a list from somewhere of what some of the PC 2000 abbreviations for satellites mean. Some of them are clear, particularly the G series but out east there is an S2 that I am having a hard time finding. Maybe it has gone already. Receiver is datestamped Feb 1997.

 

[colbec]

Part of my problem is wrong satellite. Johnson is on AMC 6, not G3. Ah well, only about 30 degrees off. It's all a learning process. Back to square 3.

 

[gabshere]

ok here you go.... your problem isn't unique
your trying to program your analog receiver to move the dish to certain satellite locations anf just need to know how they corispond to the current list of satellites correct. here is what i do .
print a satellite chart from one of the programmers I used NPS's chart
it list
Satellite AMC-16
(85)
4dtv W9
ku K9
analog W2

from here you can take the listing just posted a week or so ago over in the thread charts use these charts to cross referance you old satellite name to pinpoint what they are now.

 

[colbec]

Well, George, it helps and it confuses! This is what they mean by time and space dimensions, in year X, satellite Y was at Z position, then in year X+n..., and then it was renamed..., and moved again...

This old box is giving me some practical experience in the confusing array of satellite names! Probably I shall just make up my own list of correspondences between satellite abbreviations and what they actually mean.

 

[htownjoe]

i have an analog rec, i have found 112 active analog tps, most are feeds,not 24 hr tps, first off amc 6 is the sat you have found with johnson tv, that is a nasa feed, go a bit east and tune to tp 20, then move west and you will find a woman preacher or dr gene scott, that is amc 3 and is 24 hrs a day, set your rec to channel 17 and go west a bit more to find a disnep 24 hr channel which is mostly a test pattern and channel 16 is another preacher channel 24 hrs a day, this sat is g4 at 99 deg. try these and then go to lyngsat.com and it will list you the channels and sats. i can get you my personal chart with all the channels i have found when i get home from work if you cant understand the lyngsat site, try the ones i told you first. good luck!

 

[htownjoe]

after you find g4 put your rec on channel 1 and move the dish to the east a bit until you come to a black screen or a scrambled adult channel, there will also be one on ch 7. this sat is t6, the best sat for analog feeds. there are 20 ch on t6 that occasionally have feeds, especially on weekday mornings. alot of celebrity feeds too with the celebs just sitting there talking and gossiping.

 

[colbec]

Many thanks, htownjoe, I will follow up on your suggestions asap.

I managed to thoroughly confuse myself by slaving the pc2000 off my coolsat. The theory was to use the coolsat to find digital channels on various C-band sats and then shift over to the analog and see what it could find after the sat had been peaked. It should have worked, however I ended up in a mess, not finding expected channels even in digital. Which is why I need to go back to the beginning.

First I mistook one sat for another, so easy to do despite many combinations of freq and symbol rate. Second I need to re-peak the pole and polar mount, I played with it too much and now need to go back to first principles.

 

[colbec]

After about 4 electrical storms charged through and made me think something was zapped, and checking and re-checking everything at least four times and still getting zero channels on both analog and digital, even the Johnson TV I had before, I suddenly had a brainwave and realized my error. Yes, I had at one point remounted the lnb and put it in 90 degrees off the polar axis. Since I was working on linear H and V this was a critical error and explains why there was nothing there.

Now I have the Disney card and other 24 hr channels as expected. More tweaking of the dish to be performed, but the PC 2000 is moving the dish automatically from one sat to another. By swapping the video output between analog and digital boxes I can get a good idea of where the dish is pointing.

I just have to stop the chipmunks from riding on the lnb yelling "Whee!" and "Faster, faster!"