Using Dish to get Skyangel

[woogle]

Hi, I am new to this forum and to satellite dishes in general. We were subscribers to Dish Network for 3 years and just discontinued service. They have told us the equipment is ours to do as we like with it.

My wife suggested trying Skyangel and we looked up all of the aiming angles, and I have reaimed the dish and used the menu 6 1 1 functions to locate the 61.5 satellite. I have also tried the 27 and 32 transponders but I still get a signal strength of 0. There are no obstructions in the line of sight.

Apparently I have not aimed the dish correctly. I am trying to do this on my own without an installer and I wondered if there were any tips on an "easy" way to measure the angles accurately.

Also, the dish receiver always wants to look for the 110 and 119 satellites. Is there a way that I can change the defaults? We basically just want to see if it is feasable to use our current dish and receiver before we sign up with Skyangel.

Thank you.

 

[dishMIKE]

I just did this for a friend the other day . We found that transponders 12 or 14 were the strongest to try and find 61.5. We used the common method to find Echo 3. If there is a way to hook up a tv to look at while your trying to fine tune the dish in. Just use fine adjustments in either up/down(elevation) or left/right(azmuth) and with a little bit of patience you will get it. On the point dish screen just arrow over to the left to change the transponder and sat. Best wishes, Mike

 

[woogle]

Thanks DishMIKE

I will try those transponders but I seem to be "missing by a mile" I mean, I get 0 signal on the other transponders. Do you mean that I aim the dish at 61.5 and set the transponder and then go outside and move the dish until I start getting a signal? Is the signal status bar dynamic like that? That is, does the status change automatically as the dish finds it's target? Could you tell me the common method to find Echo 3? As I say, I am new at this.

Thanks again

 

[Pepper]

yes it is dynamic, just move the dish around till you see/hear something.

if you are trying to point at 61.5 with a dish500, you need to point about 5 degrees either side of where it tells you to point.

 

[woogle]

Thanks Pepper

I tried your suggestions and I still get 0 signal strength. I set the dish to the approximate angles using a level and protractor and then I moved the dish side to side and up and down about 5 degrees on each of transponders 12, 14, 25 and 32 and still no signal.

I am wondering if the Dish smart card has something to do with it. Is that where the satellite numbers are stored? When I pull the smart card out of the receiver, I am not able to do anything. I haven't subscribed to Skyangel yet...I just want to be able to see if I can get a signal with sufficient strength to get good quality reception before we commit to it.

I can manually set the satellite and transponder but when I go to Peak Angles and set it to 61.5 I get the message "for dish 500 angles, select satellite 100 west or 119 west" It is as though the receiver will not even recognize 61.5.

Thanks

 

[Pepper]

you have to use the 'dish300' setting for 61.5. Since you will be pointing at it with only one side of the dish500, that's why you need to aim to one side or the other. (you are either pointing at 61.5 and 69.5 or 52.5 and 61.5)

are you using the gauge on the side of the bracket for elevation? Because it's an offset dish, it is actually pointed somewhat higher in the sky than it looks.

 

[TNGTony]

Also, don't forget to set the skew to 0 (or whatever is horizontal).

See ya
Tony

 

[Mr Tony]

90 skew (so both LNB's are the same height)

 

[Pepper]

Yeah, I forgot to mention the skew. While you can get a circular signal on a single satellite with any skew, flat makes it easier to know it's pointed in the right direction.

 

[Mr Tony]

also makes the elevation right due to only being aimed at one satellite

 

[woogle]

Thanks to all, but...

I still get no signal. I tried setting the dish to Dish 300 and though I could now see the angles that were recommended for our zip code (which were the same as those recommended by Skyangel - 126 degrees azimuth and 33 degrees elevation) I still get no signal.

I am using a skew angle of 90 degrees as shown on the protractor at the back of the dish (straight up and down). I tried using the protactor on the side of the mast head but 33 degrees caused the dish to be pointed almost perpendicular to the ground. To get a true 33 degree angle from the horizon, I used my own protractor and a level and this produced a reading on the side of the mast head of about 57 degrees. To better illustrate, the dish is pointing about 5 minutes on a clock face skyward from the horizon line.

I still have a problem getting the receiver to lock onto 61.5. Every time I set the satellite and transponder and go back to aquire a signal, it says the satellite is "default" which I assume is either 110 or 119 or both. How do I reset the default?

Thanks again

 

[Mr Tony]

dont use the protractor because the dish is offset. It has a 22 degree "offset" so it may look like its facing the ground but it isnt. The signal comes down, bounces off the dish and hits the LNB "eye"

If the dish is suppose ot be at 33 degrees, then the elevation scale on the dish should be at 33. There might be a red line or just the edge to 33.

Skew (twisting of the dish) should be at 90 (so both LNB's are even)

33 elevation isn't bad. Here in MN its at about 28 or so

 

[woogle]

Thanks Iceberg...still no luck

I followed your suggestions and I set the elevation using the elevation gauge on the mast head and I checked the mast to see if it was plumb and I then set the elevation to 33 degrees. I set the dish to approximately 126 azimuth and swiveled the dish back and forth about 5 degrees on each side using each of the transponders available on 61.5 and still no signal.

I noticed that at that lower elevation there is a grain silo in the line of sight about 1000 feet away. Would that make a difference? It is maybe 100 feet tall.

The only other thing I can think of is maybe the LNB's are not working. That seems unlikely since I have a twin and I am not getting a connection on either one. I tried selecting dish300 and that didn't make any difference in the signal.

I'm stumped.

 

[digiblur]

Got a DC volt meter?

Unplug the receiver. Unhook the coax. Put a volt meter measuring positive on the center core and negative on the outer portion that is threaded. You should have at least 12 VDC if not more depending on the transponder it is on.

You also might want to run a check switch while the dish is pointed down to clear out the switch matrix on the receiver.

Don't let the offset dish angle confuse you... here's a pic showing how the offset works.

 

[N4ST]

...I noticed that at that lower elevation there is a grain silo in the line of sight about 1000 feet away. Would that make a difference? It is maybe 100 feet tall.
...

atn(100/1000) = 5.7 deg

Even if your estimates are off by a factor of 2, atn(200/500) = 21.8 deg

Not a problem.