Fortec Star problems

[sanel]

Location: Pittsburgh,Pa
Receiver make and model:The Fortec Star CLASSIC NA
Dish size: 90CM
LNBF type: Uni
Motor Digipower SG-2100
I installed following system on my roof top. I followed sadon instructions and i had system installed in no time. Few min after it was set up i was able to locate IV 5 without any problems. Signal is about 80% and i was able to find 149 channels. Picture is great.
Problem starts when i try to switch to new satellite. After following procedure i get nothing at all. i tried all 40 something satellites that were pre programmed and i did not get a sigle thing. When i try to return to IV 5 antenna goes back but signal drops to 30 %. i have to manually adjust it in Antenna setup/ Positioner /DisEqc 1.2/ move. i move it east every time.
What could cause this? I need solution before snow covers my roof.


Thanks guys.
Pozdrav Titu

[wejones]

Originally Posted by sanel

Location: Pittsburgh,Pa
Receiver make and model:The Fortec Star CLASSIC NA
Dish size: 90CM
LNBF type: Uni
Motor Digipower SG-2100
I installed following system on my roof top. I followed sadon instructions and i had system installed in no time. Few min after it was set up i was able to locate IV 5 without any problems. Signal is about 80% and i was able to find 149 channels. Picture is great.
Problem starts when i try to switch to new satellite. After following procedure i get nothing at all. i tried all 40 something satellites that were pre programmed and i did not get a sigle thing. When i try to return to IV 5 antenna goes back but signal drops to 30 %. i have to manually adjust it in Antenna setup/ Positioner /DisEqc 1.2/ move. i move it east every time.
What could cause this? I need solution before snow covers my roof.


Thanks guys.
Pozdrav Titu

I assume that the IV5 you mention must be IA5 . If so, then you weren't following the instructions, because you should have started by finding your due south satellite, which is probably AMC-5, not IA5. I would recommend starting over, and first locating AMC5.

[William Eng]

That actually happen to me when I was installing my in-laws system. High signal at first, but dropped when I moved the dish by motor. The problem was that all the screws were not tight. I suggest you go back and recheck every screw and nut, especially the ones that hold the motor to the dish. The dish should feel stiff to the touch, no free play. Then again, Bill in Maine could be right, your whole arc is off and if that is the case, start at the beginning.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by William Eng

That actually happen to me when I was installing my in-laws system. High signal at first, but dropped when I moved the dish by motor. The problem was that all the screws were not tight. I suggest you go back and recheck every screw and nut, especially the ones that hold the motor to the dish. The dish should feel stiff to the touch, no free play. Then again, Bill in Maine could be right, your whole arc is off and if that is the case, start at the beginning.

What you say could be one cause of not returning to a sat reliably. What I was referring to was that I THINK I understood him to say that the ONLY sat he found was IA5, which means that he never found his due south sat, which should be the first step.(Perhaps I'm assuming too much.) I don't think it's possible to have an aligned system without finding 2 sats, and it's MUCH easier if you find the due south sat first.
My theory is that he followed the instructions, but found the IA5 sat instead of AMC5, which would make both his dish elevation too low and have his mount turned too far to the west. In this situation, he would only intersect the arc at one point. Either that, or instead of trying to find the due south sat, he just told USALS to go from sat to sat, and finally found IA5, ie at the one point where the arc's intersect.

[sanel]

I did find pentagon channels as well when i installed my dish. i found them then i moved my dish and got perfect lock on IA 5

[wejones]

Originally Posted by sanel

I did find pentagon channels as well when i installed my dish. i found them then i moved my dish and got perfect lock on IA 5

I have found the Pentagon channel on about 4 different sats, I think G10r-Ku, G15-Ku, AMC1-Ku, and IA8-C, but I think the most likely one you found is AMC1, which is pretty far off from your south. I'm pretty sure that Pentagon isn't on AMC5. So I still think you need to first find AMC5. Look for either the Utah transponder or the NYN transponder.

[sanel]

I have moved my dish to the permanent poll outside in my back yard. Using bubble level i made sure poll was plumb before and after i installed dish. I've set motor elevation to 40 and dish elevation to 36 deg. dish elevation was suppose to be 26 ( 30- 6 setting for sg 2100) With these settings i was able to lock on AMC 5 as suggested for my true south with 59 % signal. I got all the channels, 16 all together.
At this point i'm not able to change and lock on any other satellite. This is driving me nuts.
My Longitude is 80 and my latitude is 40.3

What am i doing wrong now?

[wejones]

Originally Posted by sanel

I have moved my dish to the permanent poll outside in my back yard. Using bubble level i made sure poll was plumb before and after i installed dish. I've set motor elevation to 40 and dish elevation to 36 deg. dish elevation was suppose to be 26 ( 30- 6 setting for sg 2100) With these settings i was able to lock on AMC 5 as suggested for my true south with 59 % signal. I got all the channels, 16 all together.
At this point i'm not able to change and lock on any other satellite. This is driving me nuts.
My Longitude is 80 and my latitude is 40.3

What am i doing wrong now?

I know people are probably getting tired of me suggesting this, but make sure you're setting the latitude side of the motor, and not the elevation. Your latitude side should be set on 41, and the elevation side on 49. If you did the reverse, you'd be 8 or 9 degrees high or there abouts, which might explain why your dish elevation was way off.

Darn, another interception. :-(

[sanel]

It is set to 41. still same results

[wejones]

Originally Posted by sanel

It is set to 41. still same results

But is it set to 41 on the latitude side or on the elevation side???
In your previous message you said that you set the "ELEVATION" to 40, which I now assume you changed to 41. However that is NOT the elevation. The motor has 2 scales. One side is elevation and the other side is latitude, which is 90 minus the elevation.

[sanel]

got it fixed,
thx