Proper LNBF alignment

[hewski]

Hi, I am a newbie to this forum.
I hope you can help me on this subject.
A friend took down his FTA gear and brought it here to cornfield county Illinois from the Chicago burbs.
We are having trouble finding the KU side of IA-5. We have all the new angles figured out for this location so we hope that is not the problem. I am also aware of the offset dish angle (not prime focus).

Q #1- Using an ohm meter may not be the best way to find a good or bad lnbf but is the forward reverse reading at the F connector of 5k and 12k ohms ballpark?

Item next.. Not sure if this flashlight shaped lnbf has ever
been moved thru handling. It is clamped in a plastic mounting block locked by a small screw.

Q #2- Loosening the clamping screw allows the lnbf to rotate and/or be moved closer to or farther from the dish. I suspect these are important adjustments. Could they be so far off to not pick up a signal?

FYI: I have been enjoying a 7'6" motorized dish since 1991 so am not real new to the dish likes (no pun intended). I am also still spoiled from the good old glory days of C-Band.

Anyway... thanks in advance for your help... hewski

[vj9999]

By corn county, are you refering to DeKalb?

What size is the offset dish you are trying to use? Position of LNBF is important as is the skew. What settings are you using for elevation on your dish?

Not sure how you can tell a bad LNBF using ohm meter. What is making you think it is a bad lnb? What receiver are you using and what transponder are you trying to get on IA5 (what signal strength and quality - if any - do you get).

[hewski]

Hi DeKalb,
I am in Jo Daviess county.

The dish and Coship receiver is 5 miles from me right now so I am going from memory. It is smaller than 39" but is not an 18", one dimension I remember is 36". The dish and receiver had been working for over a year at another location in Illinois so is all meant for FTA use.

I started this government project by bringing the receiver here as a test. Put my big dish on IA5 and boom got a signal. Then auto searched and found about 50 transponders and a lot of radio.

Then took the programmed receiver to town pointed the dish similar to mine at home (just a tidge west of south) but at a lower angle, 41.5° minus about 20°. Spent an hour with a small tv on the roof and no signal strength(carrier?) or quality.
I have adjusted a couple direct tv dishes in the past so I know there is a momentary delay for a digital signal to pop in.

I didn't happen to have a new lnb to try but I did have along my Fluke 8000A meter and got continuity on the RG6, so no bad wire or connectors. I figured the only thing left is the lnb itself or it's alignment on the mount or the dish off the mark.

The lnb has many ruled ridges molded into part of the cirumference of plastic body, is this a polarity adjustment guide?

If the lnb were to read shorted I would buy a new one. If it read open I would not be sure.

The ku lnb on my big dish is good and it reads about 3meg and 5 meg reversed.


Thanks again for any help..
hewski

[hewski]

Opps !!

I made a mistake on the resistance measurement of the mpeg2 lnb,
it reads open. hewski