Sonicview points to 97 but get 103

[ftaseek]

Hi,
I have a SV360p with Fortec 31" and gt-s40 lnb. Wanted to get Galaxy 19, after a few days of pointing I finally was able to get some signals. Even though the menu said intelsat AM5 (believe old name of galaxy 19) but i was getting MS10, MS20, Microspace61 that are listed for AMC 1 (103). I don't understand this can anyone pls explain?

 

[crackt]

sounds like your aimed at 103w and your intelsat am5 transponder list contains info that will provide a lock there. chances are the transponder list is antique and needs updating.

crackt out,.

 

[turbosat]

Sounds like azimuth too far west & elevation too low. I would enter an active transponder from 97W into the receiver (the LIST-top of page here and pick one) and then loosen the dish motor bracket bolts slightly on the pole, then move dish/motor together slightly east. Tighten down motor bracket bolts and try another blind scan. IF you're using USALS, that's how I would attempt to straighten it out. You may have to adjust the motor's elevation UP just a little bit. Make very slight adjustments at a time, and watch for signal activity on that transponder on 97. You are close, its just a matter of a bit more tweaking.

 

[ftaseek]

Thank you crackt and turbosat for the replies. I'll find out how can I update the list. btw, I do not have a motor (yet). I'll update after trying it out.

 

[turbosat]

No motor? That simplifies things. All you need do then is loosen dish, twist east on pole and adjust elevation upwards a tad. On the standard poles I use, its only about the width of a pencil mark between satellites to get 2 degrees of spacing, I usually move my fixed dish one satellite at a time so I dont get lost.

 

[ftaseek]

I spent some time yesterday to move the dish as you mentioned. Even though I had signal peaked using a meter (just received yesterday) but blind scan didn't catch a signal. I'll try again today.
btw, how can I update the transponders on my sonicview 360 premier?
Thanks for the help.

 

[ftaseek]

Couldn't get anywhere. Noticed that almost all the transponder freq were off couple of Hz compared to "The List", frustrated used Channel Master to create a bin file and loaded in my sonicview 360 premier. Viola, all the names were corrected but there were 0 tranponders on every satellite. Went back and reset to factory defaults, got back some transponders.
btw before this I tried to update the main s/w, it was 1.17, I found 1.19 at sonicview site updated ok but that gave me some message like "update your firmware" whenever I changed channel. To solve that found I have to load the "Clean" file for sonicview. Did that and version changed to 1.73-p.
Now here I am with satellites with some transponders. What's the easiest way to get all the correct transponders? Is this the way to use channel master? Can someone guide me to an instruction manual or something for this channel master or let me know of some other way to update transponders??
Thanks.

 

[FaT Air]

Every LNB/receiver combination will show TP freqs plus or minus a few Mhz. It all depends on the stability and accuracy of the LNB LO and receiver.
Are you sure you're on G 19 now? Enter a few TP's info from Lyngsat for G19. Go to Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com and enter your location and desired sat.
Aim accordingly.( peak Q), A blind scan should get all the TP's and channels. From some reading lately, there are ongoing changes on this sat, I personally don't blind scan this sat. I only load the TP info for the channels I want. I'm sorta partial to 12150, Horizontal, SR 2000. as it's been there like forever. (BTW" my receiver/LNB combination likes it entered as 12150, The list is 12151, Lyngsat has it as 12153)

 

[turbosat]

Seek, if you are getting something, try scanning by transponder or blind scan. If you can receive a signal, try peaking the dish while you watch the receiver's signal strength screen. SLowly pan the dish east/west for best strength , then tighten those bolts down. Then try adjusting the elevation up or down a bit to get max signal there too. Check the lnb skew, for whatever satellite you're on. Remember, it won't matter to the receiver which satellite you're aimed at, as long as you have the lnbf information correct in the setup screen. If you have 91W called up , and start scanning, it will store channels ,even if you're aimed at 97w. If you're dish is aimed at it, that is. Right now with no motor, the goal is hitting that first satellite dead-on!

 

[ftaseek]

Thanks Air and Turbosat for the inputs. I was busy this weekend, will try during the week and let all know, I'm not giving up that easily

 

[ftaseek]

Guys, just contacted the seller and he agreed to return or exchange my sv360p. I have a choice of cs7100 or pans 150 or vs ultralite, which one should I get? I am doing this as i saw people talking about sv360p having low signal sensitivity.

 

[thebaggins]

I'd go for the Pansat 150, very good meter and good blind scan :up

 

[ftaseek]

Thanks thebaggins.
Any more votes? I have to decide by tomorrow.

 

[ftaseek]

OK Pansat 150, is on the way. Will let all know when I receive and install it.

Thanks

 

[ftaseek]

Received Pansat 150m few days ago, installed and successfully pointed to 97W. Wow, got about 50 video and 30 radio channels. Definitely much easier to grab channels than my old Sonicview 360 premier (thanks again to "thebaggins" for suggesting Pansat 150m). If anyone know how I can update satellite names, it still sees G19 as G25? I don't see anything in the menus to update that, am I missing something?
Also the video quality seems a bit low, this could be because of the channels themselves. Because while aligning I hit 99W and received some kind of Fox feed called "chowd1". It's quality was amazing (btw, I use component output).
Now I am thinking of making it a motorized system. It is said everywhere that SG9120 is a better motor as it has metal gears, any suggestions from anyone??

 

[thebaggins]

Do a search on the forms here for a program called "Channel Master", it is used as a channel editor and you can rename Sats, channels, and a lot of other things. Iceberg has posted as Sat list that is compatiable quite a few times, and I believe that the "List" can now be exported into a Channel master format to use. Also on G19 97 west you should get something like 250 video channels and around 300 audio channels so you may want to tweak a bit more before you start thinking about a motor. Before I forget some of the channels on G19 show as scrambled but are in the clear so to get all of them scan all not just FTA

 

[ftaseek]

Yeah I have seen and even d/l'ed to use before with my old sonicview. I'll try it with pansat.
For tweaking, I can choose any channel and try to get max quality, and run blind scan again? or do I have to get correct channel list first?
Thanks for your help thebaggins.

 

[FaT Air]

<<For tweaking, I can choose any (WORKING) channel and try to get max quality, and run blind scan again?>> That should be fine, then blind scan. Should get all available channels, And TP's, but you can also check the list to see if any are missing. Then try a TP scan on those. No-one can guarantee that all listed channels are available though.
Some video on 97 is highly compressed, meaning poor pic quality. Others are quite respectable.
Also I believe there are reports that some TP's come in better with a very slight realignment that can make some other TP's weaker.

 

[ftaseek]

Ok thanks Air, I'll check it out. That's a shame I thought if one channel is on highest quality then the rest of the channels in the same satellite will get highest quality setting too.
Ok you cannot win all the time, I guess.

 

[thebaggins]

Also you want to check your horizontal transponders versus your vertical transponders when you are maxing your quality readings. Locking a horizontal TP may not get you the best quality on a vertical TP. You have to pan the dish slowly looking for the sweet spot were both come in with reasonable results.