PBS on AMC 3 Where are they??

[lspowers]

I need some help finding the PBS stations on AMC 3. I have a good fix on the sat and am getting 99% quality on the Tips and Patient Channels, but when I can (power scan on my Fortec Lifetime Ultra) it does not find the transponders with PBS on it. How could I het such good quailty on some of the channels, but nothing at all on all the transponders with PBS on it. I also cannot get the Florida Educational Channels, basiclly I can not get most of the channels at the higher freq. as listed on Lyngsat. Any ideas???

[wejones]

Originally Posted by lspowers

I need some help finding the PBS stations on AMC 3. I have a good fix on the sat and am getting 99% quality on the Tips and Patient Channels, but when I can (power scan on my Fortec Lifetime Ultra) it does not find the transponders with PBS on it. How could I het such good quailty on some of the channels, but nothing at all on all the transponders with PBS on it. I also cannot get the Florida Educational Channels, basiclly I can not get most of the channels at the higher freq. as listed on Lyngsat. Any ideas???

You don't say what equipment you have, but I'm guessing that you probably have a universal lnbf, and it is operating in the 9750 LO mode, and not switching. Ie if it's using 9750, and you do a blind scan, it may not reach the upper freqs on that satellite. I think that if you have anything but universal checked in your setup, that it will revert to 9750, but I'm not positive. I'd check to see what kind of lnbf you have, and if it is a universal, check to see if your satellite setup for AMC3 is set to universal, 9750/10600 or whatever the numbers are. That's probably the problem, but if that setting is OK, you might try changing the 22khz setting. I think that gets grayed out when using universal, but maybe not.

Anyway, just my guess.


EDIT: One way to see if the above is the cause, is to see what frequency was reported as the frequency for the TIPs channel. If I'm right, I'd predict that instead of 11716, that it probably says 10716 when you hit the info button.

[lspowers]

Originally Posted by wejones

You don't say what equipment you have, but I'm guessing that you probably have a universal lnbf, and it is operating in the 9750 LO mode, and not switching. Ie if it's using 9750, and you do a blind scan, it may not reach the upper freqs on that satellite. I think that if you have anything but universal checked in your setup, that it will revert to 9750, but I'm not positive. I'd check to see what kind of lnbf you have, and if it is a universal, check to see if your satellite setup for AMC3 is set to universal, 9750/10600 or whatever the numbers are. That's probably the problem, but if that setting is OK, you might try changing the 22khz setting. I think that gets grayed out when using universal, but maybe not.

Anyway, just my guess.


EDIT: One way to see if the above is the cause, is to see what frequency was reported as the frequency for the TIPs channel. If I'm right, I'd predict that instead of 11716, that it probably says 10716 when you hit the info button.

Sorry, my equipment: I have a fortec lifetime ultra, an 80 cm fortec dish and a universal lnbf. A reply to your assumption about my setup, yes the freq numbers are different on all the transponders in my system compared to lyngsat. The Tips channel shows a freq of 11715, not the 11716 as posted on lyngsat. Why is this, and all, of the transponders showing a different freq? Do you think this is what is causing my problem on AMC 3 and the PBS stations? And.. how do I fix it so it shows correct freq numbers? Thanks for your help!!

[rainman]

pbs is on a weak transponder patient channels show mid 90 for quality while pbs comes in at 47%. best to tune dish on the weaker transponders. also no two receiver see's the freq. exactly the same as long as they are within 5 points usually won't matter.

[lspowers]

Why do you think my freq are not matching what Lyngsat shows? What causes this to happen?

[wejones]

Re freq, as Rainman says, the receivers are all a bit different, and also your LNBF will drift a little bit.
But since your freqs are showing 11715 and not 10715, then my guess was wrong, so it must be like Rainman said, that you just don't have enough signal strength, although it is very strange that you can get 99% quality on Tips, and not have enough signal for PBS. I don't get that good a signal on the two channels you're getting, yet I have no problems at all on PBS.
Only other thing I can think of is signal loss in the coax, as this often tends to affect the higher freqs. How long is your coax, (although length is seldom a problem unless it's over 200'), and what kind of coax is it? If you have reasonable quality RG6, this shouldn't be a problem either, unless you got water in the coax or something, however if by chance you're using cheaper cable, like RG59, and have a long length, then I could see you losing the higher freqs.
One other thing, that I've seen on the Ultra, is that if you did the Power Scan using the "Symbol Range"="FULL", then sometimes it will miss transponders.... at least mine does. I usually do a scan with the high setting, and then again with the low setting, and it usually finds things.
The other thing you should do, is go into the TP scan (transponder scan). Check to see if the PBS transponders are already in memory, if not, back out, and go to edit TP/SAT , and edit the transponders by selecting NEW, then enter the data for the PBS transponders. After you've done that, go back to TP scan, or if the transponders were already there, then select one of those transponders in TP scan, and see if you get signal and quality. If you get quality, then hit OK, and it should scan in. If you don't get quality, then you still have problems, either with coax or alignment or something.

[lspowers]

Originally Posted by wejones

Re freq, as Rainman says, the receivers are all a bit different, and also your LNBF will drift a little bit.
But since your freqs are showing 11715 and not 10715, then my guess was wrong, so it must be like Rainman said, that you just don't have enough signal strength, although it is very strange that you can get 99% quality on Tips, and not have enough signal for PBS. I don't get that good a signal on the two channels you're getting, yet I have no problems at all on PBS.
Only other thing I can think of is signal loss in the coax, as this often tends to affect the higher freqs. How long is your coax, (although length is seldom a problem unless it's over 200'), and what kind of coax is it? If you have reasonable quality RG6, this shouldn't be a problem either, unless you got water in the coax or something, however if by chance you're using cheaper cable, like RG59, and have a long length, then I could see you losing the higher freqs.
One other thing, that I've seen on the Ultra, is that if you did the Power Scan using the "Symbol Range"="FULL", then sometimes it will miss transponders.... at least mine does. I usually do a scan with the high setting, and then again with the low setting, and it usually finds things.
The other thing you should do, is go into the TP scan (transponder scan). Check to see if the PBS transponders are already in memory, if not, back out, and go to edit TP/SAT , and edit the transponders by selecting NEW, then enter the data for the PBS transponders. After you've done that, go back to TP scan, or if the transponders were already there, then select one of those transponders in TP scan, and see if you get signal and quality. If you get quality, then hit OK, and it should scan in. If you don't get quality, then you still have problems, either with coax or alignment or something.

Thank you for the response. My cable is less than 75 feet, (closer to 60 feet) as I have been trying to get my HH90 motor to work porperly. So, I have been very concerned with the cable I have. It has good gold plated connectors with weather shields, it is also an RG6 cable. One thing you mention which I also wondered about was doing a transponder scan and to experiment with the settings there. If this yields no results then I feel it must also be an issue with dish setup. But it blows my mind that I am getting such good quality (no joke it's at 99% on the Tips and Patient Channels) on some transponders, but nothing on all of the tps with PBS. One more thing: It makes me wonder about the dish set up as it is now on my HH90 motor and, (when it wants to cooperate)can get most sats east and west of my true south sat. I have good signal on G10R 123W and AMC6 72W. Of course everything in between works pretty good, except for the thing I really want, the PBS stations on AMC 3. My true south sat Galaxy 11 at 91W was fine tuned to mid 70s on quality, with some tps going up higher. I'm afraid if I miss with my fine tuning to hit AMC3 I will screw up the arc and lose the other sats.

[rainman]

you may try moving lnb in and out to see if quality comes up.also try skewing lnb to see if that helps.just remember to mark the position before you start that way if it don't help you can return it to the right spot.

[boroda1]

My receiver shows "Montana PBS" at 12164,H,4340
and PBS with AC3 sound at 12109,H,14028.
Some of programs, they show, can be also viewed from your local PBS stations, and from UEN at AMC5.
Did you try to manually add these two transponders and scan them?
Sometimes switching temporary from USALS to manual motor moving mode, and moving motor 1-2 steps East/West helps to find where a signal is.
Did you try that?
Are you able to watch from other satellites higher frequency transponders,
like RTP International from AMC4, tp 12168,H,3002 ? KtwO from G10R?

[lspowers]

I tried the powerscan and changed from "FULL" on symbol rate to the hi and then on the low. It pulled up transponders, but they were really off the mark. It was showing tps with freq over 12300s. and accored to lyngsat it should only go up to 12180 v and 12169 h. The symbol rates look wayoff to. What causes such a wide difference? I'm really stumped.

Edit: OK, after that last two power scans it found one new station. It is Montana PBS, but it shows a freq of 12314 (h) and symbol rate 4340. This one is way off of the mark. According to Lyngsat it should be 12164. Does this help anyone who may have seen this problem before? Thanks

[rainman]

lyngsat is not always up to date on all transponders. do advance scan and put in the pbs freq. manualy and see what happens.

[Reinhold]

You get some weird things sometimes.I picked up about 7 C-Band satellites on my QPH031.Some come back after you turn off your receiver and some don't.I ones had 131W,135W and 137W.131 stuck around for awhile.
I currently get 97W and 123W in both C and Ku.
The PBS stations sometimes come in very strong other times I have to work with disqu 1.2.Sometimes they won't come in atall.I think desturbences in the atmosphere sometimes interfere with the signal.
Thats my 2c worth.
Reinhold.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by lspowers

I tried the powerscan and changed from "FULL" on symbol rate to the hi and then on the low. It pulled up transponders, but they were really off the mark. It was showing tps with freq over 12300s. and accored to lyngsat it should only go up to 12180 v and 12169 h. The symbol rates look wayoff to. What causes such a wide difference? I'm really stumped.

Edit: OK, after that last two power scans it found one new station. It is Montana PBS, but it shows a freq of 12314 (h) and symbol rate 4340. This one is way off of the mark. According to Lyngsat it should be 12164. Does this help anyone who may have seen this problem before? Thanks

Well this calculates to something useful, but it doesn't jive with what you said before.
Ie the above, sounds like you have a universal lnbf, but you have the receiver set on 10750. Ie 12164-10600=1564 (this is actual IF freq)
Now, if you have the receiver set on 10750, it computes like this:
10750+1564=12314 .

So this works out perfectly for you having the receiver set on 10750 instead of 10600. If you have a universal lnbf, you should be setting the lnbf type as universal, and make sure that the two numbers match what is on your lnbf, which should be 9750 and 10600.

However the above doesn't seem to match up with what you said before, ie you said that the TIPS channel was only 1 MHz off..... OH, I just thought..... perhaps you have the 9750 right, and it is finding your low channels with the 9750, then switching to the high freq, and finding the high freq channels off by 150 MHz.

I actually think that makes sense. Anyway check to see if you have 9750/10750 instead of 9750/10600 . Bet you do.

[boroda1]

What is your LNB setup?
Sometimes, transponder numbers show wrongly, when LNB is set to Universal, but indeed, it is Standard.
Do you have Fortec Star FSKU-v LNB?

[wejones]

Originally Posted by boroda1

What is your LNB setup?
Sometimes, transponder numbers show wrongly, when LNB is set to Universal, but indeed, it is Standard.
Do you have Fortec Star FSKU-v LNB?

And those Lifetime Ultra will randomly change the LNB setup if you have too many transponders saved. I think the maximum is 1300 transponders. I had mine up to about 1500 transponders once, and almost every time I did anything, I'd go back into the satellite setup, and the lnbf type would have changed on me. I think I basically cleared the thing to factory defaults, then deleted all the transponders on sats I didn't need, and also deleted those sats, using the GTools program. If you have to do it manually, it might be best to leave one transponder. before deleting the sat, because when you delete sats manually, I don't think it really goes away.
So if the lnbf type is changing on you, you have to many transponders in memory.

[lspowers]

Originally Posted by boroda1

What is your LNB setup?
Sometimes, transponder numbers show wrongly, when LNB is set to Universal, but indeed, it is Standard.
Do you have Fortec Star FSKU-v LNB?

Yes I have a Fortec Universal LNBF

[lspowers]