Trying to find out which bird I'm on?

[rleehamn]

I been setting up my big dish over the weekend and got most of the sats program back in.

One of the last ones that I got in is GB (G11 91w). I have made sure the channel lineup is correct.

Now I am below that bird to the East I am 35 lower in numbers east of GB. The only station that I've been able to get the last two days is ABC network! On channel 20. No DC light and no VC light so I would say analog channel.

I use a compass and it said the bid dish is at 160 and I use my HugesNet Antenna Pointing to get the az. and it said that 160 is W9 (AMC-9).

Can anyone tell me for sure which I'm on.

Thanks

[rleehamn]

The ABC channel is a feed. I waited for the 10 o'clock news and it went off air. In the 9 o'clock time it had Dancing with the stars.

[wejones]

Can't really tell unless you scan in some FTA channels, although G28 has some feeds.
However, if you post the motor counts of some sats you've identified for sure, then we can estimate the # counts per degree, which should get you close to figuring it out. I have a spreadsheet on which I input the longitude and counts of two extreme sats, from which it calculates the counts per degree. Then I've listed all the sats with longitude, and it calculates the theoretical counts for each sat. It comes pretty close in most cases. For H-H mounts it is pretty good over a wide range, but for actuators I usually had to break it up into segments, ie use it over smaller spans, to get good results. But post some known sat's count numbers, and it might help. Either that or find some DVB signals.

[rleehamn]

It will be later this evening before I'll be home.

I have a print out list of the sats with their degrees and I have marked each sat that I have found with the receiver dish position numbers. I noticed that most is about 30 counts each sat. some a little less and some a little more.

Can someone refresh me on what I would need to hook up from the 920 to my MercuryII? So I can check for DVB signals? I know I read somewhere either a dc pass or something and that there were two different ones. I don't think I can just hook a coax cable up to the 920 without frying the MerckyII!

Note: I have replaced the bsc621-2 Univ with a corotorII.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by rleehamn

It will be later this evening before I'll be home.

I have a print out list of the sats with their degrees and I have marked each sat that I have found with the receiver dish position numbers. I noticed that most is about 30 counts each sat. some a little less and some a little more.

Can someone refresh me on what I would need to hook up from the 920 to my MercuryII? So I can check for DVB signals? I know I read somewhere either a dc pass or something and that there were two different ones. I don't think I can just hook a coax cable up to the 920 without frying the MerckyII!

Note: I have replaced the bsc621-2 Univ with a corotorII.

To slave the Mercury, it's best to get 2 ""T"s which have one leg DC-blocked and one leg DC-passed, such as
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/J..._Satellite.htm

or get a regular "T" with both ports DC-pass, but also get a separate DC-block. Radio Shack used to sell the DC-blocks. I have read that some of these "T"s use diodes to block, which can fail. I usually use regular "T"s with RS blocks, but I'm currently using a blocked "T" similar to the above, but it's a different brand, formerly sold by Sadoun, so I can't confirm that the above works reliably.

Basically, you want one receiver only to power the LNB. If using a Co-Rotor, this must be your analog receiver (4DTV), so have the 4DTV on the DC-pass leg, and your FTA receiver on the DC-block leg. Do this for both C and Ku coax (assuming that you have separate coaxes coming in for C and Ku.... if not it might be more complicated). Usually, you can use a diseqC switch to select between C and Ku on your FTA receiver.

With the DC-blocked leg going to your FTA receiver, you can tune any FTA signal on the satellite and polarity selected by your analog receiver, but you obviously need to control polarity and satellite via the 4DTV.

[elgemcdlf]

As one who actually has a MercuryII and a 922 with much trial end error Are you planning on running Ku strictly from the big dish or do you have a small dish for FTA Ku? Is the small dish motorized? If you are running a small motorized dish your DiSEqC switch needs to be between the motor and lnbf. So what this means is you want to split the line at the lnb of the big dish. Then run it to the DiSEqC switch mounted between the motor and lnbf of the small dish.

If you can visualize I have 2 runs coming into the house. One from the main dish for the 922 (4DTV) that comes straight from the dish. I have a second 8.5' dish pointed at 40.5 with a BSC lnbf that is run to the DiSEqC switch mounted at the base of the pole of my small dish. The lnb lines are split at the main dish running across to the DiSEqC switch and finally the lnbf from the small dish running down the pole to the DiSEqC switch.

The line from the house goes to the motor and motor out to the DiSEqC switch. I run inline amps as close to the lnb/lnbf on all the DVB MPEG2 lines. Not sure why I just do

[rleehamn]

So instead of hooking up from the back of the 920 to a T then to MercuryII.

I would put the splitter dc on both my c and ku lines put both that pass to the 920 and the 2 non pass to my diseqC switch then from diseqC switch to my MercuryII.

Thanks

[wejones]

Back to the other topic of figuring out what sat you're on from the counts of known sats.... I just put together a simple calculator.... not sure how well it works, but give it a try.

BJ Sat Position Calculator

input longitude and counts of 2 known sats, then the longitude of an unknown sat, and hit calculate, and it should give you the approximate counts for the unknown sat. If you try a couple sats to the east of G11, you should be able to figure out where you are.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by rleehamn

So instead of hooking up from the back of the 920 to a T then to MercuryII.

I would put the splitter dc on both my c and ku lines put both that pass to the 920 and the 2 non pass to my diseqC switch then from diseqC switch to my MercuryII.

Thanks

Assuming that your C and Ku lines come from the CoRotor, and you don't have additional motorized systems, then the above sounds right. What Steve is saying is that if you are trying to also control a DiseqC1.2 motor from the Mercury, then the above may not work right, because you should have the motor before the switch.

[rainman]

Originally Posted by rleehamn

So instead of hooking up from the back of the 920 to a T then to MercuryII.

I would put the splitter dc on both my c and ku lines put both that pass to the 920 and the 2 non pass to my diseqC switch then from diseqC switch to my MercuryII.

Thanks

this should help.

[rleehamn]

Thanks for the replys!!

The pic was what I thought. (Good not to guess). thanks

I'll give the caluator a try when I get home tonight. thanks

[rleehamn]

Does C or the Ku go to the 22khz port on the switch? Also on the MercuryII which setting should I have for LNB type?

I've tried the BJ sat postion cal. and I was able to get W1 sat! Still wasn't able to identify where that abc was from.
So hooking up MercuryII with 920.

Thanks

[rleehamn]

Ok did scan and still lost..
Look like Night Line was on tonight on the abc..

Hooked up MercuryII blind scan:

Channels:

1 BTV-1
2 BTV-2
3 BTV-3 (shows offline for Globe Cast LA)
4 BTV-4 " "
5 Boeing
6 BTV-V-1
7 BTV-V-2
20 North America
300
301
302
303
304

Didn't note the audio stations!

I've done google and others found name of BTV but the links hit a lot on lyngsat but did not list all of the above for one sat. (My dish is almost all the way east)

4328/v/15938
4360/v/30031
4399/v/6492
4454/v/30031
4600/v/30031
4719/v/29031
4766/v/4504
4328/H/15938
4361/H/30031
4453/H/6492
4599/H/30031
4720/H/29031
4766/H/4504

Still not sure about if c or ku or either goes to either side one for 22khz and other not!?

It's 12:44 am my time, man I'm dead. Got to be up in 4 hours.

Hopefully someone can shed some light.

Again thanks

**Update- MercuryII is reporting this bird as Globecast- still don't know which orbit position and other name for this bird!!

[wejones]

Originally Posted by rleehamn

Ok did scan and still lost..
Look like Night Line was on tonight on the abc..

Hooked up MercuryII blind scan:

Channels:

1 BTV-1
2 BTV-2
3 BTV-3 (shows offline for Globe Cast LA)
4 BTV-4 " "
5 Boeing
6 BTV-V-1
7 BTV-V-2
20 North America
300
301
302
303
304

Didn't note the audio stations!

I've done google and others found name of BTV but the links hit a lot on lyngsat but did not list all of the above for one sat. (My dish is almost all the way east)

4328/v/15938
4360/v/30031
4399/v/6492
4454/v/30031
4600/v/30031
4719/v/29031
4766/v/4504
4328/H/15938
4361/H/30031
4453/H/6492
4599/H/30031
4720/H/29031
4766/H/4504

Still not sure about if c or ku or either goes to either side one for 22khz and other not!?

It's 12:44 am my time, man I'm dead. Got to be up in 4 hours.

Hopefully someone can shed some light.

Again thanks

**Update- MercuryII is reporting this bird as Globecast- still don't know which orbit position and other name for this bird!!

I wouldn't put much stock on what sat the Mercury says it is, because I think that is dependent on the uplinkers putting the correct info into their signals, which they more often than not don't.

However the sat "names" you list above pretty much correspond to IA8(G28), and on Ku I think. However I'm real confused about your list above, ie:
************
4328/v/15938
4360/v/30031
4399/v/6492
4454/v/30031
4600/v/30031
4719/v/29031
etc
*************
Where did these numbers come from????
I thought at first you were showing some C-band freq/SR values, but these are all out of range of being C-band. If a blind scan came up with these numbers, then you apparently have the LO set wrong. I have been trying to figure out what possible LO would lead to the above, but I'm coming up blank for the moment. I'm almost thinking that your receiver thinks you are on C-band when you are actually on Ku, AND that instead of 5150, you have some LO in there, like 5650 or 5550, or something in that range. Anyway, strange results. I'm really interested in what caused this.

[rainman]

if you scan ku band freq with c band lo you will get strange stuff like this Bill also if you use circular lo on linear sat you will get some strange readings.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by rainman

if you scan ku band freq with c band lo you will get strange stuff like this Bill also if you use circular lo on linear sat you will get some strange readings.

I think the only way that can happen is to use the wrong LO freq.
Ie whether you are scanning C-band or Ku, or a circular feed, the actual frequencies that the receiver is seeing will be in the 950-1450 range. So if your receiver thinks you are scanning C-band, then with one of those feeds, there is no way the resulting scanned freq would ever be out of the 3700-4200 band. If by chance, you were using a universal Ku lnbf, then, with the 10600 LO freq, you'd get frequencies that were 150 higher than with a standard LNBF, but since while scanning C-band, it is 5150 minus the freq, a higher freq would put the resulting freq down below 3700, not above 4200.
The only thing I can figure is that he was scanning C-band, using the wrong LO freq. I was just looking at my Ultra manual, and it has a scan mode, which uses a 5750 LO freq. If that LO freq was used, you'd be scanning in the 950-1450 band and get freqs between 4300 and 4800. I'd bet that he is using a 5750 LO setting.

Edit: I shouldn't have said "scan mode" in the last paragraph. I should have said LNBF type.