Locating Other Birds

[Sueng]

Hello all, as you all could read from my previous problem http://www.sadoun.net/forums/install...l-quality.html
I've had quite my share of problems with initially installing this satellite. Now however, I can get AMC5, Galaxy3C, and Galaxy25 (I've yet to try others). With all of them, I am using LNB type 10750 and I am changing the frequency depending on whats on lyngsat for that particular satellite.
For AMC5, Galaxy3C, and Galaxy25 I get around a decent 30-47% signal quality with 80 -90% strength. However, when I switch to other satellites, particularly SATMEX5 & 6. This is no longer the case, I no longer get those numbers instead I'm back to my old ways of 40%, 0%.
Now my question is this, when I have my sat locked onto one satellite (in this case three) does that mean I am in the perfect arc and my motor will adjust and should hit all these other FTA birds? Or are certain satellites higher elevation which will make me have to go outside and adjust the elevation just to get SATMEX5/6? Or am I doing something wrong with the receiver as far as transponder frequencies? I notice some of those frequencies listed on lyngsat are not present on my receiver, so I have to add them, am I doing that right at least?

Please let me know guys and thanks.

[jimneycricket]

I am kind of knew at this myself, but I got a lot of pointers from this forum, it seems that if you zero in on your 'true south' satellite, from there you can then hit the other birds out there.

I used this only yesterday when retuning in my fortec star dish, if I tuned in say for example 97w, got a great signal everything seemed o.k until I started searching for my other sats, and had problems.

I went back to my true south sat which was AMC-9 83w and zoomed in the sig as high as I could and then got all my other sats, before this I was having trouble with my lower sats especially 123w.

[Jim-S]

All you should do because you have an QPH-031 LNB is to set the LNB in the antenna setup menu, either 10750 (Linear) or 11250 (Circular). I would think that you should be able to hit the other sat's if you hit three. See the last post in the other post you had. When you see a sat with L or R in the transponder and not V or H it is a circular sat which most are Dish network or Direct Tv. V and H in the transponder it is Linear.
You have to set your antenna setup the same for all Linear sats and the same for all circular sats only two different setups. The 22khz in the menu must be either OFF or ON. Depending how you set it up.
It has to be ON for one setup and OFF for the other.
See your other post.
Jim

[Sueng]

Originally Posted by jimneycricket

I went back to my true south sat which was AMC-9 83w and zoomed in the sig as high as I could and then got all my other sats, before this I was having trouble with my lower sats especially 123w.

I actually tried to do this, but didn't work. After rereading this statement, you said you "zoomed" in the sig as high as you could. What do you mean by this? I live around 80 W, so my true south satellite is 79 W (AMC5) I returned here and tried to go back to SATMEX5/6 to see if I could get some chinese channels that I added manually. I'll repost the signals to see if I'm doing it right.

Also you mentioned you returned your fortec star.Was there something originally wrong with it?

[jimneycricket]

I "retuned" my fortec star,,what I mean by this is that I started fresh on it to try and get more signal, at first I zoomed in on 97w and got the quality at about 85%, then using disquec 1.2 I tracked to other sats, this worked to a certain extent but on lower sats I started losing sig (quality).

When I went back and started new from my "true south" sat I tracked all my sats in fine including 123w. If you got great siginal (quality) on your true south sat I don't know why you can't hit the other ones? The true south sat should be the starting point, also are you using USALS or 1.2? You need the "signal quality as high as it will go" small movement left to right and small movement in elevation would do the trick.

I don't know what size dish you have mine is is a 90cm. I get about 85% quality on G-25, you must get the quality to it's highest peak.

[BYX]

Let me explain you a couple of things to help you tweak your antenna before you abandon your project.
First of all keep in mind that when your antenna is traveling east to west or viceversa is drawing an arc in the sky.
This arc does not have to be toonarrow or too wide, therefore there are adjustments to do when you install and tweak your antenna.
I'm in Florida and I can tell you what you will see with that setup.
For Ku with that antenna you can see from 30°W to 123° W guaranteed and if you are near the ocean you can go as far as 15°W.
Your true south is in deed AMC5 @ 79.0°W.
Before I forget I asume that you already entered the correct latitude and longitude for your zip code on AMC5, once you enter that information the box will calculate the position of every satellite that you want to watch.
The USALS motor comes parked from factory at 0° and that is commonly known as the "reference point"
Select AMC5 and you will see that your motor moves a little bit more than a degree.
Now is time to look for the strongest transponder on AMC5.
The strongest transponder you will find here is Telemundo on 11900 H SR 2170.
I'm sorry if you don't speak spanish but use this as a reference to tweak your antenna. At this point you are looking for signal quality and not language.
Your tweaking starts with AZIMUTH, then ELEVATION and then DECLINATION.
Make sure that when you do AZIMUTH the antenna is not all lose because when you put everything tight it will be looking at a different place.
Therefore just a little bit lose to be able to move the antenna by hand with a little of force.
If you are going to use the QPH031 do your tweaking on the linear side and the frequency is 10750. do not use any switch until your antenna is operational and you are confident that you have a good setup.
If your antenna is correctly tweaked you will receive Telemundo with good 95% to 99% of signal quality.
Look for other transponders on the same AMC5 and you will see that they have different levels of signal quality. This is normal.
If you feel that you already obtained good signal quality on AMC5, now you are ready to travel east or west.
Make sure that all linear satellites are set for 10750 and USALS set for ON.
You can try going to G18 @ 123.0°W look for transponders 11720 or 11800 and verify signal quality. If you have no signal quality or too poor "DO NOT TOUCH THE ANTENNA".
Try to go east now.
You can try with Hispasat @ 30°W or Pas 9 @ 58°W, I better prefer to go straight to Hispasat and chck your signal quality.
If you have no signal quality of too poor "DO NOT TOUCH THE ANTENNA"
Go back to AMC5 and try additional tweaking and do your east to west or viceversa traveling and check for signal quality.
You notice I never mentioned AMC4, G25 or anything else, because if your highest or true south satellite is well aligned as well as your extreme east or west, you will see everything in between.
As for the circular side there is very little programming that you will find for free or FTA.
Do not try to use NIMIQ2 @ 82°W as a reference for Florida as it will give you a 3° error.
I hope this explanation will help and give you lots of fun with FTA.

[Jim-S]

Sueng....Would you please have only one thread going it's a little difficult to reply. I hope you are doing better at finding the sats.
Jim