Still new and trying can't find AMC 21

[Backwoods Montana]

After a summer of work, I'm back home again trying to get setup with FTA and am having trouble finding AMC 21.. What am I doing wrong?

I'm at 47.3645 N Latitude and -113.5920 Longitude. I've got the dish pointed to 195 degrees at an elevation of 34 degrees. I've adjusted ever so slightly to get the best reading on the satellite finder and have a good signal. I skewed the LNB 10 degrees (tried it each direction) and I'm showing a strong signal (probably 85 percent) with zero quality.

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong with my receiver or the dish. I've tried every type of search that I could think of but still nothing. Any ideas?

I'm using a Coolsat 6100 with a 90 cm Geosat pro dish and a Geosat pro Universal ku-Band LNBF GSL1u-Bullet.

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[comfrey]

I think you mean 125 degrees.

 

[Mr Tony]

he means 195 on compass

but actually due to the magnetic deviation its compass 180 (I chose Missoula as location)

Satellite Elevation Geographic Azimuth Magnetic Azimuth LNB Skew
125.0°W AMC 21 Ku Ku 35.1° 194.9° 179.5° 10.1°L

so actually aim the dish dead south

 

[Mr Tony]

If you have a Universal LNB make sure the receiver is set for Universal (9750/10600)

 

[Backwoods Montana]

I think 195 degrees is correct...

I think you mean 125 degrees.

According to dishpointer.com, I should be pointing at 195 degrees, although AMC 21 is in orbit at 125 degrees. Right???

 

[Backwoods Montana]

I'll give it a try...

he means 195 on compass

but actually due to the magnetic deviation its compass 180 (I chose Missoula as location)

Satellite Elevation Geographic Azimuth Magnetic Azimuth LNB Skew
125.0°W AMC 21 Ku Ku 35.1° 194.9° 179.5° 10.1°L

so actually aim the dish dead south

I'll bump it back 15 degrees and see what happens. Thanks!

 

[Mr Tony]

see post 3

you actually point to 180 degrees (dead south) due to magnetic deviation

 

[Backwoods Montana]

Still Nothing...

I'll bump it back 15 degrees and see what happens. Thanks!

Well, I had it aimed right to start with. My compass had the 15 degree declination already adjusted. I tried backing off 15 degrees anyway and got nothing.

My LNB Frequency is set at 9750/ 10600.

Are there some other changes I should be making to the search?

 

[Mr Tony]

what transponder do you have set up to aim the dish?

12180 V 30000 is a strong TP

 

[Backwoods Montana]

what transponder do you have set up to aim the dish?

12180 V 30000 is a strong TP

I'll try and not sound stupid here, but I aimed the dish roughly by compass and then with fined tuned it with a meter-type finder. I then further tuned it by the on-screen signal level from the Coolsat receiver.

I'm searching blind and automatic, and trying to change some of the other settings too. When I thumbed through the frequency setting it went off the scale at 12079 MHz, but the next one up (12103) dropped back down to nothing, and the next one back (12077) went down to nothing.

AMC 21 wasn't a pre-programmed satellite in my receiver, so I might have some of the settings off.

 

[Mr Tony]

what satellite do you have selected?

 

[Backwoods Montana]

I've input a new satellite and defined it as AMC 21

 

[Mr Tony]

ok

then set up the LNB as Universal (9750/10600) and set up a transponder under manual as
12180 freq
V pol
30000 symbol rate

and aim the dish.
Skew shows 10 so if you stand in front facing the dish its counterclockwise 10 degrees

 

[Mr Tony]

If you think you're close do a blind scan and see what transponders show up on the list. Then we can go from there if you are nearby (like on 121 or 123)

 

[AcWxRadar]

Montana,

Try using this:

Sun Outage Calculator

to get your azimuth angle aligned. It is only a few days away. On the 10th of Oct. it will be optimum, but you can gauge it well from the 7th through the 13th.

A blind scan with a strong signal as Ice states will also help judge where the dish is pointing. If we can determine where the channels are eminating from, that will provide a guide to which direction you may need to turn the dish.

RADAR

 

[Backwoods Montana]

OK, so I've been tinkering a little today when I had some time, and I seem to get a very good signal and quality at this frequency: 12079 M 21636 V
There seems to be no channels associated with this though.
Is there any way of finding what satellite that belongs to thats somewhat close to AMC 21. That might give me an idea which direction to move.

 

[phlatwound]

Have you looked at this website?

North & South America - LyngSat

That page will show you transponder freqs and symbol rates for all the sats viewable from North America, some are out of date but it's a great resource.

 

[Mr Tony]

you are on 129W

Since I am motorized, I plugged in the transponder you posted and moved the dish until I got signal. I thought you were on 128 but got nothing. Moved to 129 and bars lit up green. Bery strong signal

so you're 4 degrees away which if you draw a line on the mast of the dish (line it up with something like the bracket that can move) you would move less than 1/16" off that mark you made you will hit 125.

The mark also knows where you are on the arc

 

[Mr Tony]

Have you looked at this website?

North & South America - LyngSat

That page will show you transponder freqs and symbol rates for all the sats viewable from North America, some are out of date but it's a great resource.

Lyngsat doesn't show that TP

confirmed he's on 129. Symbol rate is off (mine logs as 21650) but he's close

 

[phlatwound]

Lyngsat doesn't show that TP

confirmed he's on 129. Symbol rate is off (mine logs as 21650) but he's close

Excellent...Backwoods, you are getting close now.

I was able to lock and view the Montana PBS channel with a little (18" x 20") Dish 300 this weekend, once you get your 90cm aligned it should work great.