Setting up my visionsat

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Turksat

Turksat

SatelliteGuys Guru
Original poster
Jan 2, 2009
123
7
New York City
iceberg,
My visionsat arrived last week, I just didn't have time to go pick up a sat finder, do you have a small tutorial somewhere on how to lock onto a certain satellite (G19 in my case) using receiver alone? I am planning to go up to the roof with a small 7" TV and my IV200 and trying to get a lock using receiver alone.

Honestly there are 5 birds in the direction of Galaxy 19 and even with a sat finder, i will probably not be getting the correct satellite anyway. I know the direction I should be pointing to a certain degree.
 
I saw in your other thread that you found dishpointer.com. Good.

There's a sticky with strong transponders:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/85225-i-need-strong-transponder-aim-my-dish.html

Cut and paste the transponders into notepad or your favorite word processor. On the top or bottom type in your latitude and longitude. Print it out.

Go to "the list" (click on the tab on this page that says the list) Print out G19.

Use Dishpointer to find your elevation, etc and write this on the page for g19. Note a landmark like a tree or building that you are aiming for.

Hook everything up. Set your elevation and skew.

In the dish settings screen choose LO 10750 Choose sat as g19 (or one of its old names) choose the transponder from the strong tp list. Turn the dish slowly back and forth until your quality lights up. Focus on the quality indicator. Blue good. Orange bad.
 
Wow, thank you. I didn't know we could tune into specific transponders to assist us help lock in.

I printed out everything, looking at Dish Settings page, I don't see where to choose LO 10750. I figured where to put the specific transponder since it clearly shows Symbol/Freq/Polarity after changing Auto to Manual in Channel Search page, but no "LO".

I guess after I get high quality, I go back to blind and let it search, right?
 
Sorry, going by memory alone. My visionsat isn't hooked up and different firmware labels things differently. How about
Satellite =97W
Frequency=12177 (or 12152)
LNB power=on
LNB type=single
Diseqc=off
Diseqc=off
LNB Frequency=10750

Once you get quality you can blindscan or you can check the tps from "the list" and make sure you have good quality on the others first. You may have to tweak to get some of the weaker tps. Just for kicks you can try an auto scan first so you see how much faster that is. Then do the blind scan to see if you pick up any new tps.
 
Very cool. Thanks. As soon as I get my cables I will go up and start working on this.
What is the refresh rate on the box for signal quality indicator? Does it refresh very fast or should I wait for 15+ seconds after each dish movement?
 
In the Positioner menu on the Visionsat, the meter is even more responsive than in the Dish Settings menu. The Dish Settings menu seems to show more of an average of the quality, like the difference between the "PEAK" and "AVERAGE" settings on audio equipment level meters.
 
I spent all day on this, but result was still not favorable.. :(
First issue is skew.. My LNB holder does not have skew adjustment. I followed above instructions and set up one of the strong transponders. I kept moving the dish side to side but still kept getting 0 quality. Signal is always between 80 and 85 but quality is always zero.
I thought maybe I made a mistake with my elevation, looked at the back of the dish, it was right between 37 and 38, closer to 37, which in my case it is 37.29. I moved it closer to 37 re tightened, no good, moved it closer to 38, re tightened, still not good. My TV is pretty bad upthere I kept loosing the signal (channel 3) so I finally packed everything and moved back down to home. :(
 
Never trust the elevation scale stamped on the dish mount. These can be off by significant amounts, as much as by 5 or more degrees. However, I see that you are using an Andrew dish, and these are usually spot-on accurate. It is possible that your skew is off. If skew is off by a significant amount, you may not pick up anything. You mention your holder does not have markings for skew. Could you post a picture of your LNB/feedhorn assembly?
 
I'm not familiar with your dish or lnbf. Looking at the pictures I don't see a spot for you to adjust the skew. Usually either the lnbf can turn or at the back of the dish, you can turn the whole dish. This happens around where the four bolts go through the dish itself. I don't see a mechanism for skewing in either place.

If there is no skew, and I find it hard to believe that there isn't. Then the only other thing I can think of is that you look up "poor man's HtoH". I tried this once unsuccessfully and gave up on it but in theory as you turn the dish on the pole your skew will change as well.

As far as your elevation goes, sometimes there is a little indicator that you line up with the elevation marks. If that exists and you are lining up the center of the bolts instead, you will be off the mark.

I did a search on your lnbf. There was some evidence of it having a built in 22k switch to switch from H to V. If no one here can tell you which is which (22k on = H or 22k off = H) then you can either start googling or try each setting. Once you figure out which is which you'll have to setup 97w as having one polarity and another satellite as 97w again but with the other polarity.
 
Thanks Tron and avg1joe,
On the back of the dish there are 4 screws and it can skew at that spot, so the whole dish has to be tilted. The dish is not mounted directly to the mast assembly. It is actually held by 4 clips, those for clips can be loosened and the dish can turn.

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/351/dsc02222b.jpg

My instructions show LNB Tilt (Skew): -24.47°, so should I turn my whole dish by 25 degrees counter clock wise or clockwise !sadroll (since I am turning dish instead of lnb)? There are numbers on the mount, if it is at 90, it should be 65 or 115? :o

PS: There are also bunch of numbers, degrees, etc. on the LNB : http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/2859/lnbnjr2162f.jpg but there is no way this can turn.
 
ahhh you using a fixed dish I see ;)

If you are doing that then those dishes are very accurate

as for the skew, -25 from behind the dish turning it the left side is HIGHER than the right...so if behind the dish it would be clockwise
 
Thanks iceberg. So I will turn the dish clockwise, this will make skew alignment indicator which stands at 90, will make it 115. The skew marks are etched on the clamp mount assembly.

Edit: I just went through the manual, and on the manual (which is not too clear) it says "attach dish to clamp assambly, before tightening refer to skew setting chart for your geographical location...". I looked at that page with skew setting chart, it shows 116, which is exactly what you guys said (kudos!).. They printed this pretty small, it pays to read every single thing in the manual I guess, but even without it your answers covered it up pretty well.

My mast is almost level, maybe %3 or so slanted since bubble is just slightly off center, which adds a little to my elevation. So I will end up lowering it and will sweep after fixing skew, then will point a little higher, resweep... :)

Will post back with results by this weekend.
 
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sounds right for the skew....

edit: checked the starchoice dish which is the same thing and yep that 115 would be right...mine is at 107 skew and that is for 111.1W (I'm farther west than you so my skew will be different)
 
Your lnbf will skew also, if you loosen up those silver bolts holding it to the feedhorn part of your lnbf ,just loosen and twist the lnb-body. It looks just like the lnbf on my primestar 84e dishes. There is a tiny little line-up mark on the waveguide, to line up with the numbers on the lnb(that bronze looking ring with the 4 screws in it). Of course, if you can skew the whole dish that would be just the same as skewing the lnbf. Just be sure the lnbf is already setting on 0 , lined up with the little indicator line. Good luck.
 
I tilted my dish, and I noticed my Satellite Finder is beeping pretty loud, I moved the dish around, and finally got it at its loudest and tightened the screws.
I came down yet my quality is still at 0.


Edit, I did blind search again: It found KUIL TV FOX 64 so far.. Still searching. CGN TV, HRT1, CMC, BVN, I jsut have to check which sat these are on.. 52 TV channels, 12 Radio channels found.. Great, looks like I got one of the strongest transponders, time to go back up and fiddle a bit more. Level 96, Quality 94.. :) But not on the transponder I need.. 11966
:(

LyngSat is stating my channel is on 11966 H, but visionsat does not have 11966 H, it only has 11966 V.. What to do?
 
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Nice job finding a satellite!

I believe the dish setting menu has the ability to add and edit transponders.

For best results you should have the tv and the visionsat hooked up next to your dish on the roof. If you can't get the receiver and tv up there then you might reconsider putting the dish up there. Its generally best to mount it where you can reach it from the ground for future additions and fine tuning. Its easiest to tune when locked to a specific tp and watching the quality spike and ebb as you move the dish in all directions.

KUIL is at 101w.
 
I got some Brasilian channels as well. Since you mentioned KUIL is at 101w, I think my azimuth is off since I did it just by looking at where I should point based on dishpointer's google maps screen.. :)

The other channels showing up are Setenta ($), History Channel, Bio, plus some like weather channel that are subscription, and bunch of Korean and Chinese channels, Apostle tv, Bethel, RTPi.

I guess I got the wrong bird. :(

I have to have the dish up in the roof, but our roof is flat with access via fire escape, so it will be OK unless it is very windy/stormy. I will ask my wife to watch the quality bar when I fiddle with the antenna.
 
yes you are at 101W....just move the dish a smidge east. If you draw a line on the mast move it maybe 1/32" to 1/16" max off that line
 
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