Quality Meter keeps going from Zero to 80% and wont lock

[ScottChez]

I picked up a used Viewsat Extreme and reflashed it with the clean factory bin that I download from Satelliteguys. I then loading the Sat list file on to it so it should be just like form the factory.
I think who ever I got it from had some other bin software file loaded. I tried 3 different factory bin from other web sites all saying they are factory bins not modified.

I bought a GS120 motor and a standard KU LNB from Saudon. I had thought the LNB was bad so I bought a 2nd one. It did not help

I have tried locking on to AMC 4 100.9W and Galaxy 97W , it seems like I can point to both using the USALS system and my Long and Lat but when I get to them

The Signal Meter is around 80% and the darn Quality meter just keeps going up and down as in Pulsing up and down every second or so. Sometimes it may stay up for 3 or 4 seconds like it is about to lock , then it drops.

If I walk in front of the sat it stops so I know it is not interferance, it really is pointed to something up there.
I tried many elevation tweaks, Long tweaks , moving the dish left to right, and I tried many SKEW settings. no luck

Any suggestions


My Settings =AMC 4 100.9 W
-----------------
Standard
LNB Freg 10750
22 khz switch OFF
TP 11708 and it tried many others plus a blind scan

Galazy 97W which is near my true south
LNB 10750 Trans 12177 and others

 

[Mikey11]

what make and model is your lnb ?

 

[ScottChez]

KUL1: Sadoun Standard Linear Single Ku 0.4 dB LNBF

*

Linear Standard
*

Single output
*

Low 0.4 dB noise figure
*

L.O.: 10750
*

 

[Kermee]

[snip]

I bought a GS120 motor and a standard KU LNB from Saudon. I had thought the LNB was bad so I bought a 2nd one. It did not help

[snip]

Does the same thing occur when you take the GS120 'out' of the equation?

Cheers,
Kermee

 

[ScottChez]

Yes the same happens with out the GS120

 

[freezy]

Is your polarity set right. It sounds like your are receiving circular polarity.

You may have had a bad flash.

Make sure you reset all the settings to default then reflash

Then reset to defaults again before you make any other changes.

 

[turbosat]

Sounds like you just haven't gotten the dish to track the arc properly yet. Sadoun used to have a good video on their site showing how to aim a motorized dish. What kind of dish , how big ? First time setup can be problematic, but its just a matter of setting the proper angles, and once you learn it, it's not that bad. Setting the angle between the dish, and motor shaft may be where you need some adjustment-if you already have the dish on a good plumb pole with the motor-'s elevation set.

 

[freezy]

Ahhh! sig meter at 80%.

What does the quality meter go up to?

Are you also attached through a switch? Try without, they go bad.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Scott,

What did you set the L.O. or LNB Frequency to in your menus? Make sure that this is set to match the 10750 oscillator within your LNBF. You probably did this, but sometimes some folks just forget and you usually have to set this for every satellite, not just one and expect it to control all the others.

Next item to cover is the sat and transponder information that you are trying to seek. If 97W is your nearest due south satellite, go into the setup menu and select this sat and 12177 MHz V SR 23000 (roughly). You already mentioned that you were spotting for this TP and it is an acceptable one to use, so don't bother changing that. Your longitude must be near mine as Galaxy 19 is my nearest true south sat as well. I am near Omaha, NE. I checked TP 12177 V for myself and it is providing a good signal. It isn't a boomer, but it isn't weak.

I noticed that you bought a second LNBF because you thought the first might have been bad. LNBFs rarely go bad unless they are struck by lightning. I have only had one go bad in my time and that was when I had a DN subscription over five years ago. You can usually rule this out in most cases. I think you are safe with this at this time.

The next thing that you must do is to take your receiver and a small, portable TV out to your dish and connect everything with short jumper RG6 cables. Then check your signal quality levels.

If you follow my comments above, then you can rule out your LNBF, your cable and length of cable and the sat and TP as well as your L.O. setting in the menus. This will cover a LOT of possibilities for you to troubleshoot. You should be able to wipe these items off your troubleshooting list if you are certain about them all and I think that you can be. The only doubt that I would have in my mind at this point is your LNBF L.O. setting in the menu. If you have that correctly set at 10750 MHz, we can move on.

Since you are using a KUL1 LNBF, I doubt that you have any switches installed, but if you do, remove them or bypass around them. We do not want a switch in the circuit to distract us.

If you are out in the yard or on the roof with your receiver and TV and connected to your dish with short RG6 cables and NO switches, we can go to work.

If there is still trouble with the quality reading, then we have at least two main possibilities. 1] Alignment of the dish and motor (my first choice) 2] The quality of the signal path through the motor (a rare concern, but not improbable). 3] A receiver or tuner problem.

Dial your motor in to 97W first and set your receiver to peer at 97W TP 12177 V. Then power off and connect your IF cable directly from the LNBF to the receiver and bypass the motor.
No change? Try to gently twist the dish pan while standing behind it and grasping the outer perimeter of the dish and gently flexing it right, left, up and down. Do you detect any changes?

Not to forget, is there anything possibly in your LOS that may be occluding the signal path from the satellite? A tree, a hill, a barn, a building, a very high voltage power line or pole or similar structure?

Is your LNBF installed on your dish correctly? If this is a motorized dish, your polarization should be set to zero degrees for the sats that you are seeking. This means that the LNBF must be rotated to the straight up position or zero degrees. There is one satellite that is an oddball in this aspect, but you ae not aiming at that one, so don't worry about this as long as you stick with 97W for now.

Next, what is your site latitude in degrees? Did you set your motor latitude setting to match this? Bare in mind that some motors have a LATITUDE scale on one side and an ELEVATION scale on the other side. Make sure that you are using the LATITUDE scale. I understand that the scale is not always easily read. If your lattitude is 44.6°, it isn't simple to set the motor with that degree of accuracy since the scale is not marked off that way for you. Don't worry too much about this discrepancy. Your judgement will be close enough to obtain a signal. You can fine tune it later, but for now it is not necessary.

The next item you need to concern yourself with is the dish elevation setting. You should get this from your installation manual or an online calculator like Satellite dish look angle pointer calculator

If you are still having troubles, report back and give us more detailed information such as the DISH and MOTOR model and your LAT/LONG coordinates.

My gut instinct is that your alignment of the dish and motor is just not proper. Make sure that your mast that the dish and motor are mounted to is absolutely and perfectly vertical or plumb. This is extremely important! Some folks who are new to this hobby do not realize it, but it is one of the most important aspects to be concerned with. Secondly, if that mast is "wobbly" or loose fitting, that is just as bad if not worse. The mast is the foundation for your dish and all other angles depend upon it being stable and plumb. Do not skimp or cut corners with your mast alignment and set up.

If you follow this advice, you should be able to at least isolate your troubles. Reply back and let us know what you determine. We are always here, obviously

RADAR

 

[freezy]

:And Breathe in

 

[ScottChez]

Yes I am in Omaha, so Radars info was right on for me.

I followed everyones ideas and now I am watching TV on Galaxy 19 97.0W I did a blind scan for the channels- THANK YOU EVERY ONE

BUT

Problem now is I can NOT lock into any other sat. I think I get to AMC4 101 w and it just goes up and down on the meter. Tried other SATs.
Is it possible that my dish is warped or the LNB arm is bent?

I am a news and weather junky so I am after the wild feeds that I read about. If I get this going maybe I will go HD

I tried several LAT settings and elevation angels. I even re did the arm making sure it is plum.

Any suggestions?

Here are my working settings for 97.0

Dish= Fortec Star 32" from Sadoun Sat

Lat setting 41.1

Elevation currently 40 minus 6 =34 also tried 30-6 =24 like the manual said

Digipower SF-2100 motor

USALS settings= 96.0 w and 41.n n

Just started heavy snow so I guess I done trying for a few day.

 

[freezy]

your true south may be off. not the satellite your azimuth. all the sats are in the Clarkes Belt. If the apogee of your arc is off your will only be able to get one satellite. That and I don't like (don't understand how to set up actually) USALS for moving the motor. I prefer DisEQ1.2.

 

[SatelliteAV]

The dish angle needs to be set at 30 minus the declination.

Did you drive the motor to Galaxy 19 position using the receiver USALS mode before adjusting the dish or was the motor in the 0 (zero) position when you aimed for Galaxy 19?

 

[ScottChez]

Update

Its all working now. I had Two issues, thank you everyone for the help

1. On one side of the moter there is a Latitude scale and on the other side there is a Elevations scale. The Sadoun . com video said to use the lat. I used the Elevation scale and then all the SATs came in line with the Arch

2. The Viewsat extreme Sat Map file is not up to date is my guess. I can be right on AMC4 101 but nothing will show on the meter using any of the transponders avl. You cant enter transponders anywhere that I can find. It makes you think you are not on the sat.
When I then do A Blind scan, it then finds all the transponders and it all works.

I have now scanned a Eastern Sat, a Middle at 97 and a Western so I should be good. Now I just need to find those Wild feed news feeds. Any sats better than others for this?

 

[Jim S.]

91 has feeds quite a bit, 72, 74, 99 are other places they show up frequently. Some people say 105, I don't see them there too often but I think I might have a branch in front of it. Really, most satellites will have a feed once in a while, some providers have their preferred satellites though. I've even seen feeds on 97, which has hundreds of full-time channels on it.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Hey Scott,

I did not know that you were so close to me. I am north of Fremont about 10 miles give or take.

You do have to use the LATITUDE scale when setting up your motor. 41.1° seems right for the Omaha Metro area, although I don't know how far south of me you are... North around Irvington or further south nearer Papillion? Regardless, you know where you live and if you use Google Earth to dial in on your place, you can read out the most accurate latitude and longitude for your use.

I do not know why the ELEVATION scale is present, but I suspect it is a leftover from older C-Band days where it was required. Now, it is just better for Ku band (offset) setups to look at and refer to the latitude.

Is this your first Ku-Band offset motor setup? If so, don't fret it too much. It will require a lot of determination and work on the first try, but then you will find one of those V-8 moments and slap yourself in the forehead and say... "Oh duh"! LOL

Have you read ALL the stickies that you can about setting up your motorized dish? Look for the FTA FAQ section. I posted a really LONG WINDED dissertation about setting up a motorized dish there. I didn't really write it. I took all the information about the subject and wrote around it. I think it contains a lot of the information you want to know about, in general and close to specific. Have a looksee on that.

You have your nearest true south sat nailed, 97.0°W, so that is a very good starting point. Here in our location, we are blessed in a way. We may not have the top signal for any or all sats, but we are in a prime location to capture the majority of them well.

When aligning your dish and motor, just be sure that you are patient.

Have fun Scotty!


RADAR (Gordy)