What's my FTA problem?

Status
Please reply by conversation.

OneMarbleShort

New Member
Original poster
Dec 20, 2006
3
0
:hatsoff: My situation is sort of special. I am using an 18" dish situated on the Equator, Ecuador; that points overhead to most satellites. Actually that makes me closer to most satellites than any location in the US, so why am I not receiving any FTA channels? There is good satellite SIGNAL strength but zero QUALITY, using my ViewSat VS2000 Xtreme receiver. Can't seem to figure out what's my problem. Do you have a clue as to what I should look at?
 
There are several satellites that I could start with, say Intelsat 805 at 55.5W. From my location that means my azimuth is 87.192191 and my elevation is 62.022263. There are no obstructions. The front panel receiver indicator says NO CHANNELS. The signal strength is 65 and the quality strength is ZERO.
 
There are several satellites that I could start with, say Intelsat 805 at 55.5W. From my location that means my azimuth is 87.192191 and my elevation is 62.022263. There are no obstructions. The front panel receiver indicator says NO CHANNELS. The signal strength is 65 and the quality strength is ZERO.


Could be the sats you are shooting for are aimed somewher other than the equator ?

18" dish is aufully small for FTA .

Some LNBF's will give 40% strength pointed at the ground . :-(

Wyr
 
Your Problem is, Your not in the footprint and 18 " is too small.
Yes your Location is ideal, but most c-band dishes in South America are super BIG.
Even Direct TV Latin America uses a bigger than 18 " dish

Just because your closer to satellites doesn't mean you are going to get a better signal, if they are pointing signal toward United States, being in Quito will not help.
 
That seems odd then; because I also have DirectTV. The dish is same size or smaller than 18" and it works fine.
 
TRY
PAS 1R at 45.0 West
Strong Signal for TV Huascaran
Freq : 11788
Pol : Vertical
SR: 10.000

EIRP on this Footprint is 51 and 55cm dish is minimum using 0.06 LNB
I think you might just get it.
 
Ecuador is just not Ideal for FTA on a small Ku dish.
I was looking at Lyngsat and I couldn't find much, now C-band is a different story.

Even if you pickup a 90 cm dish, Ecuador doesn't fall in the footprint for many Satellites, I would try with a Bigger dish of course Estrella Do Sul @ 63.0 w. .

Wow , even Nahuel 1 @ 72.0 w. doesn't help much , their footprint for spot 1 is on the Patagonia way south. But you have a good chance with Spot 3 but you need a 90 cm dish. So ok here's another Sat good for Ecuador, with 6 channels all Spanish.

Satmex 6 @ 113.0 is good for Ecuador, you're in the Hot Spot with a 49 EIRP, channels are ASIAN and one Spanish Religious.
 
Additionally, what sort of LNB are you using?
If it's one that came with the 18" dish, it's probably on the wrong frequency, and circular polarization.
Neither of which will work.
 
Additionally, what sort of LNB are you using?
If it's one that came with the 18" dish, it's probably on the wrong frequency, and circular polarization.
Neither of which will work.

Also, if you're after C-band, there's NO WAY that the 18" would cut it... even with a C-band LNBF (if you could fit one on it) :)
 
I've read and seen step by step pictures on converting Direct TV Latin America LNB into I believe Standard Linear, Interesting but not exactly usefull for this forum since most members are in the U.S. , once converted it cannot be reversed.

Anyone interested , I can search for it and hopefully I can find it, even some not so friendly FTA sites have decent info in their True FTA sections.

ONEMARBLESHORT, let us know how you're coming along.
 
jayelem -

That would be entertaining, from a technical standpoint.
And probably food for another thread.

Pulling the dielectric plate will unconvert it from circular to linear (if I understand correctly).
But you'd still have the wrong local oscilator frequency, and the rest of the LNB would be tuned for the wrong end of the Ku band.
Of course, maybe the broad band stripline in the LNB has wide enough bandwidth to receive the lower end of the Ku band...
In which case, just telling your receiver that the existing LO is 11250 would be enough.
Well, I'll wait for that other thread, with your comments.
Interesting.
 
The frequency must be set to 10500 Standard for the Direct Tv Lnb to work.

The Direct TV Lnb * MUST BE * the type used in the Carribean, South America, or the Now Defunct Mexico DTV. This will not work with any DTV Lnb from the U.S.

This info was obtained from a Forum in Spanish that caters to Spanish speaking people from U.S. and Latin America.

According to instructions, Remove cover and using sand paper ( or Dremel much easier), inside you will find something that looks like steps or pyramid like, using sand paper remove the steps untill it is smooth and clean, NEVER touching the bottom or you may damage H V Polarity.

Other DTV Latin America have a Clip easier to remove using a screwdriver.

DIY Lnb modification is cheap alternative to buying another LNB especially in Mexico whereyou can find plenty of these DTV Lnb that are useless since DTV does not exist there anymore.
 
Last edited:
Status
Please reply by conversation.
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts