Locating correct satellite

[grndcomm]

Hello FTA group and greeting from Duncan SC. I have just put up on a plumb pole a Fortec 31" dish with the SG2100 motor drive. My longitude is 82.12W and latitude is 34.9N. Dish moves as it should, and am just starting the progamming satellite task.

I set the dish motor elevation at 55 which corresponded with 35 (lat) on the other side. Motor elevation is set at 24 (30 minus my declination of around 5.7 deg).

Hottest day of the year here so am trying to get as much info as possible to avoid multiple trips to the dish.


Questions:

Should I use Nimiq 2 to find my first satellite. It is located at 82W and am asking if it is the satellite of choice to start the process.

The LNB I got has small "tic" marks on it. At the center is a bold tic mark. Does this center bold tick mark face straight up?

Also, the LNB has some room to move both toward and away from the dish. Should the LNB be positioned closest to the dish or fartherest away?

Many thanks
Ken
grndcomm

[rainman]

mount the lnb as far away from sat as it will go. the lnb should be center when pointing at your true south sat. nimiq should be your true south sat but is a circular sat you may or may not get signal with a linear lnb I would shoot for amc5 some strong tp on that sat.welcome to the forums and good luck.

[grndcomm]

Thanks rainman, I found AMC5 and also got the Weather Network on Nimiq2. I may have a problem in that I have about 150' of RG 6 cable. Picture is very good, however my signal to move the dish seems to be very erratic. Sometimes it will move, other times it will not. Also had the dish move to some unprogrammed location a few times. I can shorten the cable to around 100' ,but it will take some drilling through a wall that I didn't want to do.

I ended up setting my dish (not motor) elevation about 5 degrees higher than calculated to get AMC5 and Nimiq2. However I have not tried any lower satellites. Would like a lower satellilte suggestion if you could

Thanks again
Ken

[rainman]

try amc4 if you hit that one ok then see if you can get g10.

[brentb636]

Originally Posted by grndcomm

Thanks rainman, I found AMC5 and also got the Weather Network on Nimiq2. I may have a problem in that I have about 150' of RG 6 cable. Picture is very good, however my signal to move the dish seems to be very erratic. Sometimes it will move, other times it will not. Also had the dish move to some unprogrammed location a few times. I can shorten the cable to around 100' ,but it will take some drilling through a wall that I didn't want to do.

I ended up setting my dish (not motor) elevation about 5 degrees higher than calculated to get AMC5 and Nimiq2. However I have not tried any lower satellites. Would like a lower satellilte suggestion if you could

Thanks again
Ken

You might measure the DC voltage at the end of your cable. If it is low, some receivers can "up " the voltage range to 14-19V instead of the standard 13-18 volts. This may compensate for the voltage drop of a long cable run. Initially I had similar problems to yours, which were temporarily cured by boosting my DC voltage from the STB. Later, I shortened up the cables, eliminated a few connections, and am back to the 13-18 VDC setting with good results.

[rainman]

also on long cable runs you can use rg11 cable.

[grndcomm]

Hi Brent, I have not seen a feature of my Fortec lifetime ultra to boost output voltage. The few satellites I am receiveing seem to come in very good, both vertical and horizontal. I am more suspect at this time if my cable is too long for the Disq 1.2 signal to the dish motor. It works most of the time, but at times the dish appears to just go to some random point. I at the very beginning of programming and have located satellites at 79W, 82W and 97W, nothing any lower. looking for AMC4 at 101W, but have not found it yet.

Not sure if this is a factor, but I bought this Ultra new about 2 years ago. Just after I got it, had a job change involving a move and now am just getting time to set it up. On the Fortec website, there is an updated file dated May 2006. My SW version is dated around June 2005. That may help, but I haven't found a straight through serial cable with female ends on each end.

As always, I appreciate any and all input on this

Ken




You might measure the DC voltage at the end of your cable. If it is low, some receivers can "up " the voltage range to 14-19V instead of the standard 13-18 volts. This may compensate for the voltage drop of a long cable run. Initially I had similar problems to yours, which were temporarily cured by boosting my DC voltage from the STB. Later, I shortened up the cables, eliminated a few connections, and am back to the 13-18 VDC setting with good results.

[grndcomm]

Rainman, I just buried in conduit 5 RG-6 cables. I have never used RG-11, but have heard it is good for problems such as I might have. Thanks for the suggestion and replacing a RG-6 with RG-11 may be in the near future

Ken

[pmb1010]

RG-11 might be better for less signal loss, but for the control voltage the center conductor is pretty much the same size as RG-6.

In my opinion, you might not see any improvement.

With that said, you mention you are using Diseqc 1.2 to move the dish.
Why aren't you using USALS?
Once you get things lined up and put your accurate coordinates into the system, all the calculations are done for you and makes for more foolproof setup with USALS.

I didnt notice what receiver you are using. My Lifetime Ultra needed a software upgrade (a long time ago) before the motor worked right with it. And, when I tried to mix USALS with 1.2, it did not work right and I got the same results, erratic operation - even with the later firmware flash from Fortec.

EDIT - now I see you are using the Ultra. Get the right serial cable and flash it with the latest firmrware from FOrtec

[rainman]

check www.sadoun.com if he doesn't have the cable may know how you can get one.

[rainman]

just checked and saoun does carry the cable you need.

[grndcomm]

pmb1010, I will try the USALS option. I have used the Disq signal before and guess I just felt comfortable with it. This is my first receiver with that option. I do want to get the receiver firmware update, but will have to get a cable first. Thanks for your input

Ken

[pmb1010]

Radio shack sells the cable. I think its straight thru 9 pin serial.

The neat thing about USALS, is you can "nudge" the dish either way by cheating the satellite postion.
Example: you are trying to get 79w in and it's not just quite right. You can change the satellites positon in USALS settings to 78.9w and try for better signal (and watch the signal quality level as you do so)

I've used this trick when my dish would get windblown out of adjustment, until I could get out there to realign. I'd change my longitude/latitude in USALS till the sats would register.

[rid0617]

I livein Reidville near ya and I had to use AMC 5 to aim on. It was a litttle screwy but could never get a lock on Nimiq.

[grndcomm]

rid0617, I did find 4 TV and 3 radio services on Nimiq2. All 4 TV services were Canadian Weather. Service was called the "Weather Network" I am new to this area, but just saw Reidsville on a map, so I know your approximate location. What is the lowest FTA satellilte you use?

Thanks
ken

[antare]

Hi,
Can you please tell me what LNB do you have. what is the TP/SR setting for the weather network in canada. i beleive it is a circular signal. I have a linear
LNB and heard some people can get circular signal with a liner LNB