Another Dish Pointing Question...

[gizmo]

Hello!

I have a 2005 Fortec Lifetime Ultra receiver, Fortec 33" dish, Fortec USALS motor, and Fortec Universal LNB. I am using new R6 cable and connectors with no switches. I set the system up exactly as directed in the instructions. My zip = 08827, Longitude = 75W, Latitude = 40.7N. I calculated my elevation = 50, azimuth =27 from the booklet that came with the motor. I am using a perfectly vertical pole sunk down about 4 feet into the earth. It is dead balls level on all sides. My dish is pointing to true south = 193 degrees (south on compass + 13 degrees magnetic diviation). Everything is tight and secure. All measures were made using the indicator markers - not the nuts that secure the measure's position. There are no trees, buildings, or any other objects within 1/4 mile of the dish. I have used a signal meter as well as the receiver with a small TV located directly at the dish to tune in the sats.

That out of the way, I've been trying for days to adjust my setup to get on the Sat arc (or, at least get AMC 3). I used the GOES 12 (at 75W) as my initial pointing sat, but I can not get signal quality. I've adjusted the elevation, azimuth, compass direction countless times with no luck.

I switched to Intelsat Americas 5 (at 97W) and I have no problems getting a quality signal (avg 85 signal strength, 72 quality). The stations come in great on this sat, but this seems to be the only sat I can get to. When I pull in this sat, none of the other sats have quality and usually the other sats have a varying level of signal strength around 59 - 72.

At one point, I adjusted the dish to get the highest signal strength possible, than adjusted the sat positions in the antenna setup until I hit a point where I got a quality signal. I was able to get broadcasts from about 5 sats, but none of the sat broadcasts I would normally want to watch...

Does anyone have any suggestions? I want to watch the British comedies on PBS. The British people are the funniest people on earth! Thanks!

:mozilla_laughing:

[pmb1010]

Let me just make sure:

1. You set the motor to center (zero postion), and alighned everything to 193?

2. Put in your Lat/Long in the USALS section of the ultra during the satellite setup.

3. I'd suggest using AMC5 as your "most south" setting satellite. Using USALS, drive your motor from zero postion to that satellite. Dish will only move very slightly 75W to 79W is only a few degrees.

4. At that point, put your transponder seleciton on 11742 V and try to get the Utah Education network channels signal, by moving the dish elevation, and motor "side to side" on it's pole mounting bracket.
(do not adjust motor elevation - that stays at 40.7)

5. Lock everything down when you get a signal. Drive motor to IA5 using USALS. See what you get.

[gizmo]

Howdy pmb1010!

Thanks for the reply!

Yes, I set the motor to the zero reference point each time (it was set to zero out of the box). Yes, I put in my lat/longitude in the USALS (when you don't, it responds "out of range". I only had to do this for one sat and than it appeared automatically for each additional sat when I selected the USALS option for the additional sats). I also tried zeroing in on AMC5 - it always gives me low signal strength. I haven't played around much with the transponders - I assumed the receiver would always select the most powerful one? Regarding the elevation, my motor manual provides a table of settings that I should use depending on elevation. (For 40.7 I believe the elevation setting is 50). I will give this a try this evening. Thanks for the tip!

[pmb1010]

OK maybe you're right on the motor..
I'm referring to SM312D type (that I have)

No the receiver will not select an active transponder.
You must select an active one during dial in.

Peak for highest quality signal (the green bar) on AMC5 on the Utah stations. Disregard the "signal" indicator.

It should blast in 80 to 85 percent quality where you are (or more) on the quality scale.

[gizmo]

Sure thing! Thanks again!

One other question: Once this sat gives a strong quality signal, will all of the other sats (pretty much) come in too? Or, will I have to set the transponders for each sat I want to pull in? Have a great weekend!

Mike

[pmb1010]

If you are all dialed in, yes.

The sat arc looks like a rainbow in the sky. The "trick" is to get your motor lined up on a satellite as high on this arc as possible (in my opinion for best success).

If your pole is as plumb as you say it is, with the motor bracket set to your Latitude / calculation in the manual - whatever is right for your intall - it should all fall into place and as the motor turns the dish side to side, it will track this arc. USALS does all the calculation work based on your co-ordinates entered into the receiver and positions the motor to where it needs to go.

When you get a sattelite to show some quality indication as you cycle thru the transponders, you know you are on. Go ahead and do a transponder scan to fill the receiver with stations on that particular satellite. The receiver has pre-programmed transponder frequencies, but the beauty of the Ultra is this "blind scan" option - it will look at all the frequencies from start to end, and get stations that might not be pre-programmed.

Once you get linked in to the arc this will all come together for you and make sense. Good luck.

[Jim Shaffer]

Originally Posted by Gizmo

I used the GOES 12 (at 75W) as my initial pointing sat, but I can not get signal quality.

This is not surprising, as your receiver neither tunes to 1600 MHz nor decodes weatherfax. #-o

[gizmo]

Thanks again!

Ok, I did as you suggested and beamed in amc5. I got it right away! Tuned into the Utah Education Network. It came in at 85+ signal quality just as you said - perfect! I then went to IA5, but I did not get signal quality right away. I made some minor adjustments to the dish, but it did not help, so I put it back to where I got good signal quality on amc5. I then did a power scan on IA5 and poof! It also came in! I brought the whole setup indoors and set it up in my living room. I did not get any good signal quality on ANY sats using the antena setup option. However, using the power scan options brings in LOTS of stations! It takes a while to get each sat setup, and most of the stations tune into banner pages, but I haven't finished exploring.

One thing I noticed is that the PBS stations on amc3 do not have any sound, although the picture is perfect and the signal quality is over 60+. Is there a trick to this? Or is this the way the programs are broadcast? I moved over to T11 and got the same stations and they came in fine though (with sound).

Regarding GOES 12, you're right! It does not come up at all. In fact, it does not even show up on the list of available sats on antenna setup screen. I must have mistaken the sat.... sorry! I'm new to FTA!

It is now Saturday morning ("sat" morning) and the kids have discovered Clifford the Big Red Dog on PBS Kids. They've taken over the TV!!!

Thanks for all of your help!

[pmb1010]

Great.

THe PBS stations have digital audio (AC3).
YOu'll need some sort of outside decoder to route the audio from your Fortec box and to an amplifier & speakers.
(Search on this forum for AC3 and you'll find may posts & what kind of stuff will make the audio work from PBS stations.

Have fun.

[gizmo]

Hello again!

I think I spoke too soon...

I've pulled in lots of sats using the power scan option, however, the stations on all of the sats seem to be duplicated over and over again (each sat seems to have all the same stations).

I managed to pull in the stations from amc5 ok, plus the stations from amc3, and T11. However, all of the other sats that come in all seem to have the same channels on them (I believe they are the same as on amc3). This stinks!

I will have to check into that digital decoder. I figured it must be something like that....Thanks for the info!

A nice breezy day here in NJ. Thanks again for your replies!

Mike

[pmb1010]

Make sure your dish is moving to the correct satellite spot when you change satellites.
Make yourself a chart of the satellites on paper, and move the dish to them using USALS. Verify it's pointing the right way for each.

[gizmo]

Originally Posted by pmb1010

Make sure your dish is moving to the correct satellite spot when you change satellites.
Make yourself a chart of the satellites on paper, and move the dish to them using USALS. Verify it's pointing the right way for each.

Holy smokes! I tried moving the motor and it would not budge! I am using a SG2100A with brand new RG6 cable and connectors. It was working fine the other day, but today it stopped. I took the wire off at both ends, cut the ends off and added new connectors. When the receiver is powered up, the green LED under the motor lights up for about 2 seconds, then it goes off. The motor will not turn when I press the manual button. I went to the dish with just the receiver and another known working RG6 cable and I get the same results, so I ruled out the cable. The motor is currently pointing about 30 degrees West from the reference point. The manuals for the motor and receiver do not give any mention to this, although the motor manual mentions there is a reset button, but the motor needs to be at the zero reference point. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

[DruzeTito]

so your getting no power to the motor at all even though you tried the manual button?

checklist:

1) cable plugged in receiver port and not lnb port on motor

2) ird plugged in and on

3) try getting a paperclip and pressing the reset hole on the motor..

4) make sure the cable is plugged into the IF INPUT on the receiver.

the motor should be getting power.. this is all i can think of now. Lets hope the motor isn't defective.

[gizmo]

Thanks for your help! I have not had too much time to play around with the setup lately, but I am sure that everything is set up correctly. As for #3 from your list (reset option), I read that the motor should be in the zero position. How am I supposed to get the motor in the zero position if it will not move? I am going to test for +12 volts from the IRD this weekend at the IF port (with the receiver on and after selecting the move option from the menu). If this tests ok, I'm going to put a 12V battery on the motor to see if it will move that way (just for testing). Thanks again!

[pmb1010]

Originally Posted by gizmo

If this tests ok, I'm going to put a 12V battery on the motor to see if it will move that way (just for testing). Thanks again!

I'd be very leary about putting any battery voltage to your motor.
Measuring with a meter is one thing, but putting voltage to it is another.
YOu can supply many AMPS to the motor this way, and if things go wrong, surely burn it out.

I'd leave things hooked up (receiver to motor) and see if you can splice in a piece of test cable with the shield stripped back (watch out for shorts) and measure the voltage on it for changes as you attempt to move left and right.

I'll be going thru the same thing with my HH90 setup, it's not responding right either...

[gizmo]

Thanks pmb1010!

Hmmm... I know of no other way to move the motor than to add +12V DC. I'm not planning to do this for a long time - just enough to see if the problem is with the motor or with IRD. First, I will test the IRD's output voltage. If it is giving +12V DC, than I will assume it is working ok. I've been searching for an answer about this for some time now, and no one seems to have had this sort of a problem.

It was working fine a week or so ago. It was moving as it should, and the green LED was always on. Then, one day I went to change the channels using the remote and I was not getting any signals. I looked out the window and noticed the dish had not moved. I brought my setup outside to test it at the dish, and it still did not work. I swapped out cables, checked connections - everything seemed to be ok.

The funny thing is that when I first hook up the IRD to the motor, the green LED will light for about 2 seconds, than it goes out. It remains off unless I disconnect it and reconnect it again. Then, once again, the green LED stays on for about 2 seconds.

I am running a pure typical FTA setup with a 3meter fortec dish, USALS motor by fortec, and the Ultra Lifetime IRD and all new, RG6 cables. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!

[gizmo]

I measured the voltage coming out of the IF input of the Fortec Ultra Lifetime IRD. It measured a constant 20.9V DC at the IRD. I then went to the dish and measured the voltage at the end of the RG6 cable. It measured 15V DC. I reconnected the RG6 cable to the dish, but no green LED came on. I stuck a paper clip in the reset hole to reset the dish. Still, no green LED, however, now I can move the dish E and W using the manual button at the dish (phew!).

I tried moving the dish again at the IRD using the USALS feature, but it did not work. I also switched the antenna settings to DISQ 1.2 and tried moving the dish this way - still, no potatoes. Now I'm really puzzled!

Looks like I'm getting constant voltage, but no signal. Any ideas? Thanks!

[gizmo]

I'm back in business! I read Admin's excellent trouble shooting guide again and found that I was resetting the IRD incorrectly with the DISEQC 1.2 settings. To fix, I needed to go to the set antenna settings, on the positioner settings select 1.2, then select "reference position". Wow! What a surprise when the motor moved! I moved it back and forth several times to make sure I was not seeing things, but it now seems to work. Now I have to adjust all the settings again. Thanks Admin for the excellent advice!

Just a word of encouragement to all of those that find themselves in an impossible situation: Keep trying! The instructions in the manuals are not altogether complete and they are missing a LOT of information pertaining to troubleshooting. Look on these boards and use the search feature to help find answers. Thanks to all that take time to help out!

Mike

[pmb1010]

Mike, thanks for posting back your results.

Unfortunatly, that procedure (Diseqc 1.2 & return to reference) did not help my HH90 motor non-movement problem... I tried back & forth between USALS and 1.2 a couple dozen times with only weird results.

Glad to hear you got th