Cant Recieve Any Signals

[peachynan]

Setup: 31" dish with digipower SG2100 motor, 4x1 coolsat diseq between the Invacom QPH031 LNBF and the motor. Coolsat6000 reciever. I've taken a portable TV and reciever on the roof and moved the dish east & west and up and down in small increments...still nothing in terms of signal strength. The dish moves nicely and I've done a re-set followed by an attempted re-set to the South. I'm at 42.63N x 82.56W Two questions 1. Is there really a signal at my true South which is 187 deg magnetic as the instructions say? 2. There is room to move the LNBF either closer or further away from the dish within its bracket...is this critical and should it be all the way in or out? TIA

[rainman]

Originally Posted by peachynan

Setup: 31" dish with digipower SG2100 motor, 4x1 coolsat diseq between the Invacom QPH031 LNBF and the motor. Coolsat6000 reciever. I've taken a portable TV and reciever on the roof and moved the dish east & west and up and down in small increments...still nothing in terms of signal strength. The dish moves nicely and I've done a re-set followed by an attempted re-set to the South. I'm at 42.63N x 82.56W Two questions 1. Is there really a signal at my true South which is 187 deg magnetic as the instructions say? 2. There is room to move the LNBF either closer or further away from the dish within its bracket...is this critical and should it be all the way in or out? TIA

your true south sat is the same as you longitude or the closest one to it.so your true south sat should be nimiq 2 at 82 degrees west.lnbf should be far away from dish.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by peachynan

Setup: 31" dish with digipower SG2100 motor, 4x1 coolsat diseq between the Invacom QPH031 LNBF and the motor. Coolsat6000 reciever. I've taken a portable TV and reciever on the roof and moved the dish east & west and up and down in small increments...still nothing in terms of signal strength. The dish moves nicely and I've done a re-set followed by an attempted re-set to the South. I'm at 42.63N x 82.56W Two questions 1. Is there really a signal at my true South which is 187 deg magnetic as the instructions say? 2. There is room to move the LNBF either closer or further away from the dish within its bracket...is this critical and should it be all the way in or out? TIA

Way out is probably best re lnbf, at least on my dish.
Re signal, your true south sat is AMC9. There may or may not be video at any specific time, ie look at AMC 9 at 83.0°W - LyngSat , and you'll see most of the video channels on that sat are feeds, and they don't always have video on them. However the transponders listed as Hughesnet, are internet transmissions, and they are generally always on, so you can use those to tune. But you need to set your receiver so that it's looking at one of those transponders, using a transponder scan (don't hit scan, just watch the sig/Q meters) or whatever window your receiver has that gives you signal/quality bars for different transponders.
And, as I tell everyone, make sure you set your motor's latitude scale to 0.6 plus your latitude, ie the elevation scale should read 90 minus this value. And do your searching with the dish elevation.

[rainman]

Originally Posted by wejones

Way out is probably best re lnbf, at least on my dish.
Re signal, your true south sat is AMC9. There may or may not be video at any specific time, ie look at AMC 9 at 83.0°W - LyngSat , and you'll see most of the video channels on that sat are feeds, and they don't always have video on them. However the transponders listed as Hughesnet, are internet transmissions, and they are generally always on, so you can use those to tune. But you need to set your receiver so that it's looking at one of those transponders, using a transponder scan (don't hit scan, just watch the sig/Q meters) or whatever window your receiver has that gives you signal/quality bars for different transponders.
And, as I tell everyone, make sure you set your motor's latitude scale to 0.6 plus your latitude, ie the elevation scale should read 90 minus this value. And do your searching with the dish elevation.

Bill he stated he had a invacom qph=031 so nimiq 2 at 82 would be a stronger signal to lock on to.

[peachynan]

So are you guys saying that my initial set-up should have been 82 degrees rather than the 187 I used? If so do I need to add 7 deg to the 82 figure? I'm still a bit lost here...TIA

[rainman]

the 187 reading is your south reading on your compass which would be you longitude of 82.56 degrees your closest sat would be nimiq 2 at 82 degrees which is close to you longitude. I hope this don't confuse you more.

[peachynan]

Here's what I did for the initial setup with the sg2100. I set the motor elevation angle to 47deg which is my lat (42.6) plus 4 deg as per page seven. Then I set the declination angle at 30deg-6.6deg=23.4 degrees for a dish bracket angle. Nimiq2 at 82.0 W gives me an azimuth of -0.6 according to cPanel® and that where my strongest signal should be. I can re-set the motor but upon doing so I wonder if I have to re-set the recievers software as well or will gaaps automatically adjust? Nobody around here as ever heard of FTA or I'd hire an installer in a minute..lol

[wejones]

Originally Posted by peachynan

Here's what I did for the initial setup with the sg2100. I set the motor elevation angle to 47deg which is my lat (42.6) plus 4 deg as per page seven.

Well, yes and no. I don't know where you're getting this "lat plus 4" thing. Page 7 on my manual doesn't have anything like that. But that is all wrong.
However the 47 deg is pretty close. If your latitude is 42.6, then you should set your latitude scale to 43.2 and your elevation to 90-43.2=46.8, which is pretty close to 47. Just make sure 47 is on the elevation scale, and 43 is on the latitude scale.

Originally Posted by peachynan

Then I set the declination angle at 30deg-6.6deg=23.4 degrees for a dish bracket angle. Nimiq2 at 82.0 W gives me an azimuth of -0.6 according to cPanel® and that where my strongest signal should be.....

Re the declination angle, I would recommend 5.9 deg for declination, which would give you 30-5.9=24.1 . I'm not sure what you're referring to re the azimuth of -0.6 .

[boroda1]

Originally Posted by wejones

I'm not sure what you're referring to re the azimuth of -0.6 .

My guess is that -0.6 is an angle for motor travel between his point zero (true south) and Nimiq2.
Make sure to use USALS and an active transponder on 82W,
i.e. 12239 H 20000
I would recommend, after success with Nimiq, you go to AMC9 for more fine tuning.

[peachynan]

The sg2100 instruction manuel has a table for elevation angle, declination angle and dish bracket angle all in referance to ones particular latitude. At 43deg (my location approx lat) it says my elevation angle (motor to mast) should be 47deg. A declination angle of 6.6 (from the table) which should give me a dish bracket angle of 23.4 deg and yes -0.6 is indeed the motor travel needed nimiq2 my supposed strongest signal.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by peachynan

The sg2100 instruction manuel has atableforelevation angle, declination angle and dish bracket angleallinreferance to ones particular latitude. At 43deg (mylocationapproxlat) it says my elevation angle (motor to mast) should be47deg.Adeclination angle of 6.6 (from the table) which should give meadishbracket angle of 23.4 deg and yes -0.6 is indeed themotortravelneeded nimiq2 my supposed strongest signal.

I have the table you mention, but it's on page 6. However I see no mention of "lat plus 4", it's really 90 minus lat, except it's better to add 0.6 to your latitude first . I see the 6.6 declination angle,but again, this isn't the preferred declination. 5.9 is a better value for you. I thought that you might be referring to the USALS angle,but wasn't sure since you called it an azimuth.

[peachynan]

So you think 24 degrees is a better dish bracket angle and with a 187 magnetic and try to pick up nimiq2 but Im not sure what you mean by trying to pick up an active transponder "an active transponder on 82W,
i.e. 12239 H 20000" are these settinga I have to put into the reciever?

[wejones]

Originally Posted by peachynan

So you think 24 degrees is a better dish bracket angle and with a 187 magnetic and try to pick up nimiq2 but Im not sure what you mean by trying to pick up an active transponder "an active transponder on 82W,
i.e. 12239 H 20000" are these settinga I have to put into the reciever?

The most common mistake people make is just assuming that the transponders that are default on the receiver are correct. Usually they aren't, and people are trying to get a signal from a transponder that isn't there. However with the Nimiq sat, it's probably there, but make sure that both the frequency and SR are correct. If you use the linear side of your lnbf, I'd recommend using the 12224 transponder. I always pick that one up whenever I do blind scans. If you use the circular side, then it doesn't matter which one you use.
Also, make sure you're using the correct LO freqs, which again depends on which side of the lnbf you're using.

[peachynan]

How about I hire a professional to set this puppy up? Anyone know of someone in the Detroit area? TIA

[boroda1]

Originally Posted by wejones

However with the Nimiq sat, it's probably there, but make sure that both the frequency and SR are correct.

I mentioned that 12239 frequency, because on Nimiq satellites, some transponders have a footprint for Canada only, but this one has a beam wide enough to get a signal, where I live. But because O.P. is in Detroit, which is close to Canada, probably all the frequencies (from Lyngsat) come in just fine there.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by boroda1

I mentioned that 12239 frequency, because on Nimiq satellites, some transponders have a footprint for Canada only, but this one has a beam wide enough to get a signal, where I live. But because O.P. is in Detroit, which is close to Canada, probably all the frequencies (from Lyngsat) come in just fine there.

I was suggesting 12224, because whenever I do a blind scan on AMC9, I usually end up scanning in the 12224 transponder. I think it's also a good one because since it's the lowest transponder, it only has interferrence on one side, so it is easier to scan in with a linear LNBF, no need to switch between linear and circular lnbf ports.
Basically though, try one, and if it doesn't work, try the other one.