This has got to be the hardest thing!

[jself1982]

Ok, got my FTA setup from Sadoun, in which the signal meter I ordered is on backorder....anyways, Got the Mercury 2, Univ LNB, 31" Dish, HH90 motor...tried setting this thing up and its a nightmare!

Do I use the USALS setup or the Diseq 1.2 setup? My latitude is 34 and My longitude is 82. I know my true south is about 6 degrees more than the magnetic south on the compass...I set my latitude on the HH90 to 34 degrees as it said, set my dish elevation to 39.5 degrees as it said on the sadoun website....tried finding AMC-9 or 3 at 83 degrees and could not...the pole is firmly level, no obstructions, adjusted elevation on the dish by 1 degree both ways, made sure it is all connected correct and still no signal on AMC at 83 degrees...


So my question, how in the world can you find your true south perfectly with a compass and a protractor...because I guess thats why I am not getting a signal.

Then I took the motor off and printed out the list of what's up there to find a fixed location to scan, so I chose Galaxy 10ku at 123 degrees (got the dish az and elev from the web), got it w/o using the motor at about 70% signal level and a little lower signal quality--did the power scan and only got about 2 in the clear channels, one being KBS, and about 9 scrambled channels---is this all that is on this satellite b/c I've heard you all talk about G10R is a good one to lock in on but I got nothing.....what am I doing wrong? These manuals suck majorly! Can someone please make a quick explanantion of what I need to do to get this thing working? And am I only going to get a few channels here and there w/ this or will I actually feel like its worth the money when I get it working?

Thanks

 

[mastermesh]

It is a pain to find true south with motor the first time, but once you find it all the rest will be easy. I use USALS most of the time as it's easier... but some prefer the other. Do you really have G10? What channels are coming in? Also, which TPs are the channels tied to, and did you blind scan or just scan with the presets in the reciever?

 

[jself1982]

I don't know what blind scan or all that means yet....I did the Power scan option and it got a few scrambled channels, KBS World and another foreign channel...was I not supposed to be able to get G10? I took it all back down this morning---was going to try to reattempt the setup today...so far not pleased.

 

[Mr Tony]

Do I use the USALS setup or the Diseq 1.2 setup?

That’s just to control the motor.

My latitude is 34 and My longitude is 82. I know my true south is about 6 degrees more than the magnetic south on the compass...

NO. Your true south is the same as your longitude, which is NImiq2. That is a DBS satellite so we’d have to use AMC9 next door at 83.

I set my latitude on the HH90 to 34 degrees as it said, set my dish elevation to 39.5 degrees as it said on the sadoun website....tried finding AMC-9 or 3 at 83 degrees and could not...the pole is firmly level, no obstructions, adjusted elevation on the dish by 1 degree both ways, made sure it is all connected correct and still no signal on AMC at 83 degrees...

The pole has to be level & plumb. Set the motor elevation to 34 and DO NOT CHANGE. Set the dish to 39 or so (there should be a red line to line it up)

IN the receiver setup, make sure it say “Universal” for LNB or you’ll be doing this forever with no results. There isn’t much on AMC9 but there are some data signals that can at least give you signal quality. Bring up AMC9 in the menu and select it. Go to the transponder list and see if there is something that says the following

12140 V 30000
12160 H 30000
12180 V 30000

Those are data transponders and will help you aim the dish. Select one and aim straight south. Then S L O W L Y move the dish east & west to see if the quality moves. You shouldn’t have to go way far off centre. If nothing, move back to straight south, adjust the elevation, and repeat.

So my question, how in the world can you find your true south perfectly with a compass and a protractor...because I guess thats why I am not getting a signal.

Screw the protractor. Not needed. True South satellite is the same as longitude but it looks like your magnetic deviation is +10 so its around 190

Then I took the motor off and printed out the list of what's up there to find a fixed location to scan, so I chose Galaxy 10ku at 123 degrees (got the dish az and elev from the web), got it w/o using the motor at about 70% signal level and a little lower signal quality--did the power scan and only got about 2 in the clear channels, one being KBS, and about 9 scrambled channels---is this all that is on this satellite b/c I've heard you all talk about G10R is a good one to lock in on but I got nothing.....what am I doing wrong?

When working with a fixed dish, you have to skew the LNB. If you want to try a fixed dish, do this
Lets aim for AMC5, which has some stuff on it.

The elevation of the dish is 50…azimuth is 184. Select AMC5 in the receiver and there should be a transponder of 11742 V 11110 in there. Pick that and aim the dish dead south. Move a little to the west and you should get quality (its only 4 degrees off dead south)

These manuals suck majorly!

That’s normal for manuals. They lose something in the translation

And am I only going to get a few channels here and there w/ this or will I actually feel like its worth the money when I get it working?

Just out of curiousity, what did you expect? KU is lower powered so it isn’t as easy as DBS. Top aim a motorized you need patience. When I first got FTA, it took me a month to figure out the receiver and we didn’t have FAT areas like we do now.

So have some patience

 

[Mr Tony]

I don't know what blind scan or all that means yet....I did the Power scan option and it got a few scrambled channels, KBS World and another foreign channel...was I not supposed to be able to get G10?

POwer scan is the same as blind scan. It scans the satellite and finds everything on that satellite (as long as there is signal). You may be on G10 but you may be on another satellite.

What scrambled channels did it show on the screen? What names?

 

[Othea]

Suggestions

Jself -- Sounds like you have a nice system! I'm sure you'll love it once you get things set up properly.

For now, I would recommend that you leave the motor aside for a few days, until you figure things out with your new receiver and dish.

The fact that you have any channel confirms that your equipment is functioning properly. You definitely are on some satellite, but which one?

I checked to find out where KBS World is located, and came up with the following sites: EchoStar 3 (DISH Network); EchoStar 9/Intelsat Americas 13 (DISH Network); EchoStar 1 (DISH Network).

As long as you've come this far, it might be a good idea to stay on that satellite for a short while. See what the other channel names are (both scrambled and non-scrambled). Search for info on those channels at Lyngsat.com or google them to find out exactly which satellite you have located. (If you can't find them, provide a list of those channels here and someone might be able to reply.) Once you have made that determination, you can judge how far you are from G10. You might be only a few degrees off, or you may be way off!

My guess is that you have Echo9/IA13 -- that's only 2° more to the right of G10 (when you stand behind the dish). Perhaps a "blind scan" will bring in a lot more scrambled channels to help you confirm which satellite you are on.

Next, move your dish around to another satellite and scan in some more channels to get a feel for things.

Once you feel comfortable that you understand your equipment... then you should put the motor back on. I assume you will want to use USALS (1.3), but Disecq 1.2 should work just as well. Follow the directions at Sadoun (that's what I did, and it worked fine for me).

Patience... you're almost there!

 

[Mr Tony]

KBS is also on G10

 

[dish_in_the_sky]

I feel your pain!

I was trying to get Ku birds, and my dish was bent :-(

It took a week to get things going!!!

You're in MUCH better shape than that. Lyngsat.com is your friend for finding which satellite has the channels you just scanned in. Knowing which satellite you're on helps you find the one you want.

Compare the channels just scanned in with Lyngsat's channel list on each satellite will show you, but many receivers show what satellite the channel is on, saving you this step.

Now, if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, facing the direction the dish is pointing, get the orbital position of the satellite you're on (example: 95 deg. W. L.)

Say you want to go to 97 deg W. L. You move your dish to the RIGHT 2 degrees (97 degrees - 95 degrees in this example) AFTER you set a strong transponder for the satellite you want. Then adjust the skew for best quality (or for large moves > 5 degrees, adjust the skew roughly first.)

 

[jself1982]

Thanks, we gonna try again tomorrow, got the pole cemented and leveled out today, maybe better luck tomorrow.


So now my motor is locked at 0, and that should be where AMC at 83 degrees would be at correct?

 

[PSB]

AMC-9 is at 83ºw

http://www.lyngsat.com/amc9.html

 

[jself1982]

COMPLETED! AND LOVE MY FTA SYSTEM!! THANK YOU ALL FOR THE HELP!

:up

--THANK YOU!

 

[Mr Tony]

so its working completelly now?

 

[jself1982]

Yes, I get stuff on as low as 127 degrees to the PAS something at 55 degrees then beyond that is a thick tall deep spot of trees.....and I enjoy what I have seen, although I will not post on a public forum, don't won't nothing to go away

 

[timp]

Pete, i'm having trouble similar to this with my pansat2500, was trying to use nimiq 2 for my south satellite(my zip is 29073)-south carolina, with a hh-90 and 90cm dish, getting no signal quality but good signal level, my pansat doesn't list amc9 or its transponders, ideas?timp

 

[PSB]

Should be a way to add a new satellite name or use any unused satellite. Apart from using a known live transponder while watching for signal quality only, try a blind scan.