90Motorized Dish Install - No signal/No Sats

[losbanos99]

I'm new to FTA systems, but have done my homework and read many sites, including this one. It's been fun so far! Brand new member as of yesterday, from La Grange, CA (37.687 / 120.406). I bought the 90cm motorized system from Sadoun. I'm using a Coolsat 6000 Premium receiver. Yesterday, I tried the full install on a vertical pole with clear view southern exposure, to no avail. The dish moves fine with the motor (using receiver signal). I'm just not lined up correctly I guess.

The alignment should be correct, declination (30-6=24) for the dish. For the motor the elevation is 37.7. The motor is set to 0. The dish is aligned exactly with the motor. The True South magn. is 165.6. My compass shows that the dish is pointed there, on the nose. Using the receiver, the signal is always 88-91% matter where I point it. When I lock in, the signal strength should go to 96+% and turn green (right now it's red). The QUALITY signal is always 4-8%, and I know this should shoot up into the 90's and turn green when I find ANY signal from any satellite. After no signal, I then moved the dish East-West very very slowly and at about 1/8 of inch increments...nothing. I changed the elevation up/down 1 degree and tried East-West again...nothing.

I would think that I should find at least ONE satellite out there to tell me at least my LNBF is working! I know there are strong signals out there, why can I not even find one? The LNBF is a single 0.4 type. When I gave up last night and shut it all down, I looked at the LNBF and saw that it was not completely vertical. It was skewed about 40 degrees. I moved it back to vertical (cable pointing straight down). I haven't tested yet, but will do so tonight. Do you think the skew on the LNBF could have been the cause? Also, why couldn't I at least find ANY satellite in the belt? I know the receiver works fine, as I used it first with an 18in dish. Thanks for any advice I can use tonight. My true south at would be Echostar 9 (121.0). I will post replies as I go forward from here.

-LosBanos99

[losbanos99]

in the post above, I said that after not getting a signal, I then moved the dish East-West very slowly. To clarify, I did this not with the motor. I left the motor at 0 setting, and loosened the whole assembly from the pole and rotated the motor and sat together East-West manually....so I didn't use the receiver to do this test. I did use the receiver to move East-West in small increments FIRST. Then put the motor back to 0 and moved it manually from the pole connection. What's the deal?

[rainman]

make sure you are using a active Transponder freq and that the lnbf LO is set correctly for the type of lnbf you are using. see LyngSat - Lyngemark Satellite for active Transponders.

[elgemcdlf]

You need to tell the motor to goto 121 or 119 from where you are but 121 has linear beam. I would be going for 121 and tp 12074V20000. Many report the 90cm dish to be off by 5 degrees so if you are finding nothing try raising the dish 1 degree and try again. Might be a lower issue also so choose one direction to go first. I would go as far as 8 degrees from my original setting in 1 degree increments. As stated you need to verify you have your lnbf settings in the receiver correct. The lnbf is turned on, etc.

[losbanos99]

Rainman...you are correct in that I didn't check the Transponder freq and that the lnbf LO is set correctly for the type of lnbf I am using. I figured since I found a signal on the 18in dish using the same receivr, it should find a single on this dish. I'll check it out and report back.

[losbanos99]

Thanks elgemcdlf. 12074V20000 must be the transponder freq # for 121?
I'll try 121 first. I guess this means that I have to set the cor
rect transponder freq for each Sat into the receiver. I had it set to factory defaults...but maybe they are not correct.

[milepost72]

This is not the way the instructions said to do it but after two very frustrating days I finally just mounted the thing facing just plain South, turned on the receiver to go to AMC4, set a TV out in the yard next to the dish and just kept moving it until I locked the satellite. The reciever found the rest of the satellites with no problem. Just a suggestion I hope willhelp you or anyone else trying to align a motorized system. For the record, my 90cm dish is also 5 degrees off. Hope this helps.

Milepost72

[rainman]

yeah using a small tv and the receiver at the dish is the best way to set up a dish you have a very good signal meter and sat identifier in your sat receiver.

[losbanos99]

Originally Posted by rainman

make sure you are using a active Transponder freq and that the lnbf LO is set correctly for the type of lnbf you are using. see LyngSat - Lyngemark Satellite for active Transponders.

lnbf LO setting - I assume you mean on the receiver. Well there is none. I checked all the coolsat 6000 options, install screens. Nothing about the LO setting. The freq of lnbf LO is 10.750 per the sticker on the lnbf.

So far, no signals in any direction at any elevation...nothing. When I put the freq of the sat to 12.740 I get no reading on the signal meter at all....0. On other frequencies the signal reading is no lower than 88 and no higher than 91%....still red. And Quality is stuck at 3-5%. Nothing. Any other ideas? Why am I not getting any signal from any satelitte. I'm moving this thing to hell and back, doesn't the law of averages say that I should stumble on some signal somewhere? I am pointing to the same general area I did with the 18in dish and had signals from 110 and 119. At this point, I don't know what to do. Forget the motorized part. I cannot move this 90cm dish to get any signal manually either. Any help is appeciated from this forum.

Thanks,
Losbanos99

[losbanos99]

I'm looking at the Coolsat manual now and found where the LNB freq should go. I guess I need to have a beer and relax for a moment. No need to respond yet...investigating.

[losbanos99]

Okay...nothing found yet. For clarification, I do have the receiver and a small TV out next to the dish. When I move the dish, I would be able to see any slight pickup in signal...as Rainman said, I have a good signal meter on this receiver.

I have the lnbf type set to SINGLE...appears to also work with UNIVERSAL. How do I know? When it's on these, I get 88-90% reading on signal meter, when it's on some other lnbf type there is no reading at all (never get quality reading to go up ever).
I have the LO freq inbf set to 10.750 which matches the freq for this lnbf (it's the KU01 or something from Sadoun). I am at longitude 120.4 degrees, so my true South SAT would be 121.0W Echostar9. I have moved the dish all over the place and not finding it.
NOTE: One thing I noticed about this Coolsat. It doesn't matter what SAT settings page I am on...if it picks up a signal from any SAT, it will give me a meter read and at the top right corner, it will tell me the name of the SAT. I saw this cool feature when using the 18in dish. I thought I was pointing that dish to 110, and instead it told me I found 119. This is why I am puzzled I am not stumbling across other SAT signals by accident. Any ideas are appreciated at this point. I'd hate to pay a pro to do it as getting there is half the fun. I'll await any ideas from the forum...any idea great or small is appreciated.

[rainman]

Try dropping your dish elevation by 5 degrees then do a sweep my 90cm was off that far when i set it up.

[1captain]

Losbanos try what Rainman sujested by drpping it 5 degrees, an when you see your signal meter start going up, slow down an let dish set for a second or 2, an take a little extra time in that area playing with lnb skew an dish elevation, then you should see quality start comming in. good luck..

Also like your avatar, what is it a home, bussiness, or what an where is it at, would like to see it 1-day, I like it.

[vj9999]

Originally Posted by 1captain

Also like your avatar, what is it a home, bussiness, or what an where is it at, would like to see it 1-day, I like it.

Looks to me like Luxor hotel in Las Vegas.

[losbanos99]

Thanks Captain, Rainmain, and all the others who posted advice. (To answer the avatar Q - it's an option from this website...under images I think).

Now for the solution. Don't laugh, because, as my nametag says, I'm a "newbie". Remember how I never stumbled across any signals? Well the damn lnbf was mounted backwards!! Yep, it was pointed away from the dish instead of straight into it. No signals are going to be picked up that way!

In all the excitement of putting it together (and my first one ever), I put it backwards. So Rainman, and all you pros out there...next time a newbie says they get a signal meter but no signals anywhere....add this one to the solutions list.

Once I turned it around I immediately got Sats. With a little adjustment on the motor mount elevation, I was able to get the complete arc....well from 91.0 to 148.0. (Lower than 91.0 and my dish is blocked by a mountain). There are a couple Ku Sats in the range I scanned that don't get anything. I'll post separately for those Q's. Thanks again...another satisfied customer on board.

[rainman]

Congrats losbanos99.

sometimes it's the little things that get's us.LOL