StarChoice Step #2 Installation Questions

[HDTVFanAtic]

Which bird is the 22Khz bird on SC?

 

[Mr Tony]

111.1 (Sat B on the 75e dish)

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Had several hours to play on the roof today - and again, more questions instead of less when I came off the roof.

No matter what skew, elevation or azimuth number I used (regardless of the signal on SATA) using an Accutrac22, I could not get over a 68.1 on SATB. From past experience, I would say this is essentially a +7.3 to +7.5 on the STB. This is a far cry from the +8 to +10 that bwaldron is reporting some 35 air miles east of me. Obviously, this doesn't seem right.

So my questions:

1) Are these 2 birds of equal power? On the roof using an Accutrak 22, I could never get a the signal on SAT A that I could on SATB and I am wondering if these are unequal to begin with - for sake of reference, N1 to N2 or 110W compared to 129W.

2) Is the EcbNo actually S/N and thus I am only seeing signal on the roof so I need someone down below to call out the number?

3) How tight are F1 and F2 kept in "the box" or do we know?

All that being said, when I was able to get the signal on the 2 as close as possible, SATB was 61 ans SATB was 59 - still not the 68 showing on SATB when I ignored SATA entirely.

Considering I primarily wanted this for HDTV, I decied (at least for the time being) to leave SATB maxed at 68 (or about +7.3-+7.5) and let SATA fall in the the mid/low 50s.

Is there a sweet spot I am missing somehow? Or am I comparing Signal to SNR?

 

[bwaldron]

Well...I'm probably not expert enough to answer your questions.

While I installed my D* and (former) ExpressVu systems myself, I had my old BUD installers do the *Choice dish for me, as I had them out here anyway to take down my old damaged BUD. They pointed the dish with a meter, but then peaked the signal using cellphones with one guy at the dish and one inside at the receiver looking at the onscreen EcbNo. My understanding is that the ECBNo is a S/N measure.

As far as signal between the two birds, I am not seeing big differences between them (until F1 was swapped out last year, it was a good bit weaker than F2 here). I do, however, see larger signal quality variance among the transponders on F1 than I do on F2.

In case it helps, right at this moment I am getting an ECBNo of +10.1 on 299 (F1) and +8.9 on 281 (F2). Fairly sunny and clear here now that a thunderstorm has passed.

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Well...I'm probably not expert enough to answer your questions.

While I installed my D* and (former) ExpressVu systems myself, I had my old BUD installers do the *Choice dish for me, as I had them out here anyway to take down my old damaged BUD. They pointed the dish with a meter, but then peaked the signal using cellphones with one guy at the dish and one inside at the receiver looking at the onscreen EcbNo. My understanding is that the ECBNo is a S/N measure.

As far as signal between the two birds, I am not seeing big differences between them (until F1 was swapped out last year, it was a good bit weaker than F2 here). I do, however, see larger signal quality variance among the transponders on F1 than I do on F2.

In case it helps, right at this moment I am getting an ECBNo of +10.1 on 299 (F1) and +8.9 on 281 (F2). Fairly sunny and clear here now that a thunderstorm has passed.

I would say that is in the margin of difference that I am seeing between the 2 birds...but I am biasing mine for 111 instead.

However, unless that is SNR that I cannot see on the roof and need a second party to play setup with, then I cannot get anything close to either one of those, not matter what elevation, angle and skew I use.

 

[keenan]

Question- with a 75cm dish the numbers for my location-95404-indicate a skew, or tilt, of "-14.1" for Anik F1. On the physical dish itself the 90 degree mark puts the dish perpendicular with the mast, straight up and down, no tilt.

Is the number "-14.1" added or subtracted from the 90 degree mark, or an I way off on my thinking..should the mast mount be rotated to 104.8 or to 75.9?

Thanks.


I see from the page Iceberg linked earlier that the skew setting for San Francisco is "76" so I'm assuming that means subtract the 14.1 number from the 90 degree setting.

 

[Mr Tony]

if you are behind the dish, you tilt the dish to the left so the LNB on the right is higher

 

[Mr Tony]

yes you take the number off of 90

 

[keenan]

Got it, much appreciated.

Next question-there doesn't seem to be a clear marking for the elevation setting-this is with the 75cm dish-is it the edge of the bracket that the adjuster bolt goes through, or the edge of the mast housing that's just visible through the slot?

The pics on this page don't really show much.

http://www.kusat.com/go.php?path=/install/sc-75cm.php
@ Kusat.com

 

[Mr Tony]

on the inside of the elevation nuts there is an edge. Thats where you line it up

 

[keenan]

The edge that is part of the sleeve that holds the mast? IOW, the edge is on the interior of the assembly, not on the exterior anywhere on the adjuster assembly.

Quick and dirty pic, the edge that's marked by the blue. Only on the other side of course.

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

I first did mine without the bolt on the side (the left side on the above picture) - putting in on last.

I was just as confused as you - and the instructions on the other site are not that great - as you noted.

There is an edge behind the opening where the bolt mounts - to the left of the tip of arrow denoting the skew.

That was what I finally decided was the indicator - and what I think Ice is referring to as well - of course you cannot see it if you have the bolt in place.

I guess they assume most will use a gauge to set the elevation and fine tune it with a meter - which obviously is the final step anyway - but they certainly could not have made it more difficult.

 

[keenan]

I first did mine without the bolt on the side (the left side on the above picture) - putting in on last.

I was just as confused as you - and the instructions on the other site are not that great - as you noted.

There is an edge behind the opening where the bolt mounts - to the left of the tip of arrow denoting the skew.

That was what I finally decided was the indicator - and what I think Ice is referring to as well - of course you cannot see it if you have the bolt in place.

I guess they assume most will use a gauge to set the elevation and fine tune it with a meter - which obviously is the final step anyway - but they certainly could not have made it more difficult.

The same edge that I've circled in blue, only I've circled it on the other side since the pic doesn't give a view of the edge that we're talking about. I'll be using a guage but I wanted to rough it in before going on the roof-105 degree temps here lately-in the shade..

 

[frntchr]

FWIW:

Starchoice now has a link to a self install PDF:
http://www.starchoice.ca/english/store/download/Self_Install_Kit_Manual_Eng.pdf

Also, they offer a DIY install kit:
https://secure.starchoice.com/english/store/accessories.asp#satfinder

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

The same edge that I've circled in blue, only I've circled it on the other side since the pic doesn't give a view of the edge that we're talking about. I'll be using a guage but I wanted to rough it in before going on the roof-105 degree temps here lately-in the shade..

No, on the side of the point of the red arrow.

I have marked it in yellow.

Look through the cut out for the straight edge without the bolt in place.



or if you prefer from the pdf listed above:

 

[keenan]

Yes, that's exactly where I was talking about, you just can't see it the pic I used so I marked the opposite side.

frntchr, thanks for the PDF link, much, much better than KuSat's info.

 

[keenan]

Finally got the replacement STB(the first one apparently was shipped through Beruit) and I have everything hooked up.

I'm getting a 84 for signal strength and a Ecb/No. of 9.9 db. The screen shows satellite name of "A4"

According to the KuSat setup instructions I should be on ch 284. I'm not, and the STB will not tune to that channel, doesn't even show in the guide. I get ch 299 and that's it. I've tried the reset commands and the command sequence to get to diagnostic C and neither of those commands works.

The STB has not been authorized, or service been turned on yet. I want to make sure that I have the dish aligned properly before calling and I'm not sure if everything is correct as it doesn't jive with what I've read.

AIUI, 299 is on 107 correct? So if I'm getting that sat I should be dialed in for 111, no?

Using a 75cm dish and the DSR505 HD STB.

 

[Satellite Expert]

F

AIUI, 299 is on 107 correct?

299 is on both satellites.

You are ready for the next step. Your broker has to tell SC that you have a non stacked elliptical dish and that you want the HD turned on.

After authorization, check your F2 signal strength on the HD channels and 420 + 559. You will notice a variation on different transponders

 

[keenan]

299 is on both satellites.

You are ready for the next step. Your broker has to tell SC that you have a non stacked elliptical dish and that you want the HD turned on.

After authorization, check your F2 signal strength on the HD channels and 420 + 559. You will notice a variation on different transponders

Okay, so even though I see no HD channels listed in the guide, everything is good on my end?

What about those commands to get into the diag screen..? Will those work after activation?

One other thing, the time displayed on the front panel is wrong and the guide date is wrong as well, I'm guessing that will be rectified upon activation...?

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Okay, so even though I see no HD channels listed in the guide, everything is good on my end?

What about those commands to get into the diag screen..? Will those work after activation?

One other thing, the time displayed on the front panel is wrong and the guide date is wrong as well, I'm guessing that will be rectified upon activation...?

Diagnostic codes will work after activation.

The time is like Dish in that it is set by SC when they activate the unit depending on where the unit is "located".