Please - need help in Oregon

PDXCat

Member
Original poster
May 29, 2010
10
0
Aumsville, OR
I ordered a Shaw direct hd system from a company out of Montreal. They said it would be very easy to get the satellites (ANIK 1 and 2 - 107 and 111). I've burned through two installers who basically threw up their hands and have a third one coming today. My coordinates, as my research tells me, is an elevation of 36.6, a magnetic azimuth of 144.7 and a skew of 79.3. I live in Aumsville, OR and need to be able to get the CFL games when they start up in a month or so. The dish I have is a 75 cm elliptical. Is my info correct or is there something I'm missing. I'd truely appreciate any input. thanks
 
Your settings look good, from dishpointer.com your settings show:

Address: Aumsville, Oregon
Latitude: 44.8410°
Longitude: -122.8709°
Satellite: Starchoice 107W & 111W

Elevation: 36.6°
Azimuth (true): 160.9°
Azimuth (magn.): 144.6°
Dish Skew: 79.3


To get even more accurate go to the dishpointer.com site and put in your complete address, and pick from the drop down menu near the bottom of it under the Multi LNB section "Starchoice 107W & 111W". Then press the go button. You should show the installer this page as well, it should help him.

Setup your receiver on channel 299 first to get a signal. I'm not sure if you know this but to get all your channels the receiver will need to be activated.
 
You don't mention what receiver you have. If you have a 530, you need to run two coax cables from the dish.

My dish in Port McNeill was set up by an installer, and I didn't really pay attention to what he did. I set up my Seattle dish myself, and it's mostly a matter of being patient. Set the coordinates correctly and check the strength. Do NOT be in a hurry if the signal doesn't come in right away. I seem to remember that it may take tens of seconds to stabilize when you make an adjustment.

I don't know what frequencies Shaw uses. Maybe the installers were using meters that don't work with Shaw? I just used my TV.

CFL pre-season starts in two weeks - June 13. Go Lions!
 
You don't mention what receiver you have. If you have a 530, you need to run two coax cables from the dish.

My dish in Port McNeill was set up by an installer, and I didn't really pay attention to what he did. I set up my Seattle dish myself, and it's mostly a matter of being patient. Set the coordinates correctly and check the strength. Do NOT be in a hurry if the signal doesn't come in right away. I seem to remember that it may take tens of seconds to stabilize when you make an adjustment.

I don't know what frequencies Shaw uses. Maybe the installers were using meters that don't work with Shaw? I just used my TV.

CFL pre-season starts in two weeks - June 13. Go Lions!

I have a DSR505 and yes Go Lions
 
Can you give a little more info please...

How far were the installers able to get before they gave up? Were they able to find the satellites at all?

The first guy had a bird dog and found 111 I think and said the second one(107) had no content and that he didnt know how we could get ca tv in the us. But when he had had it on the skew was set at 90 and he told me that was the only way he could get it. My guy in Montreal, who I got it from, said that the us guys were just bad installers.
 
he didnt know how we could get ca tv in the us

There should be no problem with getting Shaw at your location UNLESS there is some object (tree, building, etc.) blocking your line of sight.

said that the us guys were just bad installers

He was right.

I'm presuming that they were at least good enough to determine if you have a clear line of sight to the Anik satellites and that they have the dish mounted, and that they ensured that the antenna mast is plumb. Is that correct? (NOTE: If the mast isn't plumb, you'll never find the satellites because your elevation and skew will be incorrect, even if they appear correct on the back of the dish. But even a bad installer should have known that)

It sounds like you're gonna try another installer, so hopefully he'll be better than the first two. It also sounds like you purchased from a well-known Montreal company......they have an excellent tutorial on doing your own install on ther website, or you can get help from this forum. Just be very specific as to how far you've gotten and where you're getting hung up.

You can use the signal strength meter in your receiver (it's in the options menu, but I forget the sequence....see your manual). As was stated above, you have to be patient, as it takes a few seconds for the meter to react to a movement of the dish. Your receiver should be set to channel 299. You must be tuned to this channel for finding the signal even if you receiver is not yet authorized.

Keep the questions coming....
 
If he has the dish hooked up to a meter here is a transponder he can use to aim it

11715 frequency
vertical polarity
19510 symbol rate

That is for Anik F1 (107.3)
 
If he uses the receiver its options 6-7-4 (if I remember right) line C will show ebno...higher the better

should be around +8 to +9 for a 75e dish
 
one thought...I hope the installer (s) arent trying to aim the dish like they'd aim a Dish 500 or Directv Phase III or 18" dish

Shaw is KU Band so it takes a little more patience. You cant swing the dish near the sat and pray the meter pings a signal. KU Band is lower powered

If the tech has installed a Directv or Dish setup the HD sat (111.1) is just off of 110. So the tech might be able to "visualize" where 110 is and go from there
 
As long as you're in the loop here....how's the 505? Are you happy with it? Any problems?

I havent used mine in a couple months since I got Directv but when I used it I really liked it. The HD picture is very crisp. No issues really with the receiver

I had a DVI-HDMI cable set up for it and it worked just fine. Had issues with the screen going black but seems like a software update fixed that
 
until you are locked on the satellite it will show 0.0 ebno #
If you have no ebno and you repeak the dish, you need to exit out and go back in (options 6-4-7) to re see the ebno. For some reason it doesnt move if you're on that screen

signal strength just means the LNB is connected

How is the installer doing this install
-using the receiver to aim the dish?
-using a meter?
 

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