Starchoice/Shaw Direct Mexico Desperate

[flyboy01]

Hi l, I got a shaw direct brand new reciever DSR505, but I live in Xalapa, Veracruz. I own a 1.20 m offset dish and a 80cm SKY dish. The LNBs were bought at the same place and so was the switch which is a ZINWELL MS4XWB-Z. I am pretty desperate at the moment because I THINK I have everything connected like I should, the dish pointed where It should be pointed at, (Elev, Azimuth, LNB skew) and by looking at the F1R and F2 satellite footprints 1.20m should be enough to at least get some signal.
Well when I connect everything up I don't get more than 20% reception, and dialing 4128 doesn't help since I get no green. The funny thing is that today I put up my old SKY antenna and I get the same reception, no more than 19%. The other funny thing is I started moving the LNB around and the signal didn't change very much, it still showed me I was getting from 15-19% At first I thought my dish wasn't working, but after seeing all this I don't know what I'm doing wrong, the signal DOES change a little if I move the dish around,but the max I can get is 20%. Please help, thank you so much in advance.

-Gabriel

 

[Imt2011]

Given the present meteorological conditions, I would give it a few days for the sky to clear... especially in your area. I also found that the switch might be defective and reduce signal, so you might want to try without it.

I am sure someone might have other options.
imt

 

[joshuals]

Can't help you much with the dish & switch hookup.

But my experience with the standard 75e Shaw dish is that even if you are pointed in TOTALLY the wrong direction with the dish, the signal meter will show around 20 just from other "noise" that exists in the air. It DOES tell you, however, that your connections between the receiver and dish are good; otherwise the meter would read "0".

When you begin to approach a satellite by rotating the dish and you see the signal meter rise to, say, 70, THEN you enter the "4128". If, at that moment, you are looking at the Shaw satellites, the system will sense this and the box will turn green. If, on the other hand, the box remains red, then you are receiving a signal from a satellite other than the Shaw satellites.

The condition you describe with your system IMHO indicates that you are not receiving a signal from ANY satellite at this time. I suggest you check some basics......masts plumb, settings for elevation correct, azimuths correct (suggest Dishpointer tab at top of this page). I have read where the skew should be set at 90 until you receive a signal and are sure its from the Shaw satelites, and doing this has worked for me.

Hopefully someone else can advise you about the hardware hookup you describe. It might be helpful to know which dish you are pointing at which satellite.

If you receiver is unathorized you will need to have one of your dishes pointed at Anik F1R and tune the receiver to 299. Note that you will NOT see a picture on this channel at this point. It is on this channel that you will use the signal meter. Once the signal is maximized you will call to authorize your receiver at which time you will see a picture on 299, as well as the other channels in your package. Of course this presumes that your other dish is properly aimed at Anik F2 and the switch is working properly.

Hope this helps...

 

[flyboy01]

Given the present meteorological conditions, I would give it a few days for the sky to clear... especially in your area. I also found that the switch might be defective and reduce signal, so you might want to try without it.

I am sure someone might have other options.
imt

Thanks to all for your reply and help, Today the sky was completely blue, and I started at around 11 AM to mess up with the dishes, and yeah I did notice that 14-20 percent was perhaps only noise and stuff since both dishes gave me the same numbers, and one is 1.20 and the other one is a SKY dish, although I don't know where to point them anymore I even turned them around to see if they picked up something elsewhere than where they're supposed to be pointed at. The satellite I pointed to supposedly was F1R I did use dish pointer and satlex to get the data for the exact coordinates, I suppose I need to be more exact, I will try tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks anyway.

 

[cosmico07]

where do you buy your receiver? Does it have warranty? I hope is not compulobo.

 

[flyboy01]

No, it is NOT Compulobo they sell that thing like 5 times the price it should be! I bought it in Guadalajara because it's not activated, and it's brand new. I don't want to activate it until I get a green light.

 

[Signa Lawst]

Absolutely agree on taking the switch out of the picture. I just ran into this yesterday. I was getting 16% no matter where I pointed the dish. I took the Zinwell WB68 out and whammo - jumped to 54%, and hit 64% w/ebno = 6.9 without really trying. Made me feel like an utter fool for about 6 hours trying to get above that 16% signal, initially.

 

[flyboy01]

So the zinwell switch is pretty much a waste of time/money?

 

[Imt2011]

Not entirely, otherwise you can't get the HD channels.

I would say that it is not to be used while pointing the dishes. After you can put it on to get the two satellites... It might reduce the signal but as long as you get image you are fine.

 

[flyboy01]

Okay! I found signal today! thank you all for your advice, I used dishpointer and instead of messing up with a compass I found a reference point in the distance and pointed the dish there, then I started elevating the antenna until boom, I got 60-70 percent at night with a cloudy sky, I also had the wrong skew, so I skewed it 27.1 degrees.
On the receiver satellite menu It says on the satellite box A4 does this mean I am getting F1R?
And the other question is, is it almost the same procedure to find F2? If i want to use 2 LNBs on the same antenna would it be hard? thanks in advance.

 

[Imt2011]

Please refer to this discussion for what happens next.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/canadian-satellite-services/218271-installation-question.html

 

[joshuals]

On the receiver satellite menu It says on the satellite box A4 does this mean I am getting F1R?

The box will show "A4" regardless of whether you are pointed at F1R or F2. If you are pointed at F1R you will get a signal on 299 on the signal meter (if your receiver is unauthorized you will not see a picture on 299). If you get no signal on the meter on 299, yet the box says A4, you would be pointed at F2 and need to rotate your dish back to the east to get F1R.

And the other question is, is it almost the same procedure to find F2?

I'm assuming you are still going to use 2 dishes......the answer, in a word, is "yes". Use dishpointer to get the direction, and follow the same procedure.....but......

It's unclear to me whether your should call to authorize your receiver before aiming the second dish. Authorization MUST be done with the receiver on 299 and a signal being received on that channel. If you try to point the second dish to F2 with an unauthorized receiver, I'm not sure what happens...maybe someone else can help with that question. But lets assume you authorize your receiver before aiming the second dish. Once authorized, you could then tune to 712 and use that channel to maximize the signal on the second dish looking at F2.

If i want to use 2 LNBs on the same antenna would it be hard?

This would depend on what kind of dish you are using and on its focal length. On my old 90cm dish, the properties of the dish require that the LNB's be very close together to receive F1R and F2.....so close, in fact, that the physical size of the LNB case makes it too large to get the proper spacing (the spacing is said to be "4 degrees"). I've read of guys cobbling up brackets and/or breaking the casings in order to use 2 LNB's on the same dish, but it's far beyond my ability to give you any further advice on doing this. I've also seen ads for a generic "4 degree" LNB, but these work only with a dish made specially for that particular brand of LNB. On a standard SD dish, the LNB is specially made for their dishes, and the "eyes" of the LNB actually appear to overlap in order to get the proper spacing.

All recommendations I have ever seen for a 2 dish setup are to use a switch, as other posters have mentioned. I think you need to proceed with the switch now that you have got an initial signal from F1R, as someone else posted.

 

[flyboy01]

I'm assuming you are still going to use 2 dishes......the answer, in a word, is "yes". Use dishpointer to get the direction, and follow the same procedure.....but......

It's unclear to me whether your should call to authorize your receiver before aiming the second dish. Authorization MUST be done with the receiver on 299 and a signal being received on that channel. If you try to point the second dish to F2 with an unauthorized receiver, I'm not sure what happens...maybe someone else can help with that question. But lets assume you authorize your receiver before aiming the second dish. Once authorized, you could then tune to 712 and use that channel to maximize the signal on the second dish looking at F2.

Thank you so much for your patient reply, yes I am in the process of authorization right now, I am not going to mess with the F2 satellite until it's authorized, and yes I think I'm going to use 2 dishes, messing with the 2 lnb configuration is above what I can do right now I think. I'll let you know what happens, thanks again!

 

[flyboy01]

Got the whole thing working, thank you all for your help. I've got now 2 1.20 antennas the F2 one with 85% most of the time and F1 Satellite with around 75 percent, I can see all the channels I suscribed for and works great! Thank you all again for your help!

 

[DJdish]

Hello flyboy

thanks for your PM reply, I guess you eventually had no problems with your zinwell switch, ? and what are your LNB specs ? I am starting my pointing but I am using Spitfire Elite LNB 0.1 db ...and apparently it is not doing the trick, because I changed it and then I get a signal...

Thanks

 

[flyboy01]

DJdish:

Freq. 11.70 GHz ~ 12.20 GHz
Output: 950 MHz ~ 1450 MHz
Voltage (13/18 V).

I don't know which brand it is, but the same person I bought it from sold me the LNB's where did you get your box?
I heard that the JSC322 Standard Ku Digital Ready LNBF works fine with it too.

-Greetings

 

[DJdish]

Flyboy

Thanks for the feedback, I was just installing JSC321S (the single LNB) unfortunately I did not know that using a Universal like the spitfire would not work for Shaw, yet I use the spitfire for FTA and is great.

Anyway, now with the new LNBs I just finished pointing my 1.2 mts to Anik F1 and now it went smoothly, before tackling the second dish (1.8) to Anik F2, I was going to check the procedure you followed, I guess now I will activate the box and then proceed as per the previous comments to point my second dish to the second Anik.

Answering your question, I bought my box from Kusat in Canada and with shipping charges I guess it is about the same than buying from a shop in Guadalajara.

Thanks for all the feedback.

All the best,

 

[flyboy01]

DJ Dish,
I'm glad you've been able to point your first dish, how did all work so far? Greetings.

 

[DJdish]

flyboy,

Thanks for the follow up. Last week and once the rains stopped I was able to point my second dish to the next bird, I had a little problem in connecting the right switch but I was able to finalize my installation.

All the best,

DJDish

 

[jayrey]

i have gone up and pointed sucessfully at F1R with 96% and the signal bar in green on channel 299. I did not see an option to enter 4128 but assumed that all was locked for that satellite. When I went to my other antenna and try to get the F2 satellite in on channel 712 as I have seen suggested, I notice that 712 isn't one of the channels available on my channel list to try and aim at F2. What should I do from here?