Satwork 3688

[pr1947]

Good morning you all,

Quick question, how do I hook up this receiver to my Fortec Platinum so I can use it as a dish mover only? I'm having some difficulties with the Fortec receiver specially when I need to move the dish one or two clicks at the time. For some reason this Fortec receiver likes to jump five clicks at the time instead. I have gotten some inputs from you guys and I have made some changes to my system but the problem still persists. Maybe I'm being to critical but I like my system to be the best it can be. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

JosB

[rainman]

I didn't think the satworks had the option to move a dish. I know my 3618 don't that's why I got it slaved to my c band system.

[pr1947]

This receiver does operate the SG2100 and it moves one click at the time but the Fortec Platinum is ten times better than the ST 3688 except when it comes to moving the dish. Maybe I'm looking to fix something that is not broken.

[rainman]

have you tried using the usals mode on the fortec. works good on my ultra locating the sats.

[Iceberg]

rainman
The 3688 does use Diseqc 1.2 but the 3618 does not. You can actually swap software in either box

The drawback of the 3688 is when you do a blind scan, it logs all frequencies, so if its already in there, it logs it twice. I had ONN transponder logged probably 10 times (It only logs the channel once)

[rainman]

Originally Posted by Iceberg

rainman
The 3688 does use Diseqc 1.2 but the 3618 does not. You can actually swap software in either box

so Ice are you saying if I installed the 3688 software in my 3618 it will move a motor?

[Iceberg]

yes it can

There was a member at Satguys (Diamond Jim) who flashed his 3618 to a 3688 and had no issues with it

I flashed a 3688 back to a 3618

[rainman]

cool I'll have to check into it thanks Ice.

[elgemcdlf]

Originally Posted by pr1947

Good morning you all,

Quick question, how do I hook up this receiver to my Fortec Platinum so I can use it as a dish mover only? I'm having some difficulties with the Fortec receiver specially when I need to move the dish one or two clicks at the time. For some reason this Fortec receiver likes to jump five clicks at the time instead. I have gotten some inputs from you guys and I have made some changes to my system but the problem still persists. Maybe I'm being to critical but I like my system to be the best it can be. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

JosB

If your dish is properly aligned USALS in the Fortec will drive it just fine. If you require "bumping" the dish after USALS has driven to location to get best signal quality your dish is not aligned properly.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by elgemcdlf

If your dish is properly aligned USALS in the Fortec will drive it just fine. If you require "bumping" the dish after USALS has driven to location to get best signal quality your dish is not aligned properly.

I know you have said this dozens of times, but I don't agree. This "bumping" is along the arc, and is NOT evidence that you are out of alignment at all. It "could" be out of alignment, but needing bumping is not by itself evidence of that. It could be that the system is just out of sync.

I know that in theory, if everything is done right, the USALS should work, however I have demonstrated with my system, that the reference zero position on these motors can get out of whack, and in my case was even off right out of the box, and then changed on it's own later. If the reference zero position gets out of whack, then USALS won't work, and even with perfect alignment, you may have to bump the motor after going to a sat.

I would certainly not recommend messing with the alignment, unless you see improvement in the signal by the lift up/pull down tests that are orthogonal to the arc motion. Being off peak ALONG the arc is NOT by itself evidence of being out of alignment, although it can be a symptom.

[elgemcdlf]

My Platinum with a SG2100 and proper alignment has never missed landing correctly. I went through the "bumping" stage. The only sat I have programmed in with 1.2 is Amazonas. I ran out to 61.5 and bumped to 61 then locked as 1.2 setting which contrary to what has been posted concerning mixing the two for sat settings has yet to fail either.

I have also come to the conclusion that the size of the arc you are trying to receive has a bunch to do with it as to alignment. Getting the center of your potential arc with acceptable signal is a breeze. Adding to the ends becomes a bit more challenging. I sweep from 30 to 129 so basically 100 degrees. In my experience I have found IF you are peaked when at 30 with USALS as your driver, 87 (center for me) and 129 USALS will not fail you anywhere else on the arc and signal will be strong everywhere.

Doing this can be a time consuming endeavor and for people who only seek English language channels you would not need near the sweep I desire. I think English quits at 72 in the east and then 129 out west. That being a 57 degree sweep or basically barely over half of what I desire. There may be some channels here and there east of 72 but I believe they are just repeats of channels found farther west.

When my dish makes it's 99 degree sweep properly bumping only results in a degradation of signal. Another note on motor asdjustment. I have found that the motor locks not being true to each other return symptons of a off plumb pole. The 2100 with markings on both sides greatly reduces this. I can set the latitude side and lock down then go to the elevation side and push or pull the motor until it aligns where it should be. This gives me a "straight" motor in it's mount.

I have seen some decent quantity of posts with negative comments concerning the SG2100 Sadoun sells. Mine came from DMSI as did Iceberg's and would be curious as to his experience positive or negative with his.

[pr1947]

I have to tell you guys after reading through all of your replies I have come to the conclusion that my system is working properly and the only thing wrong with it is me. I have some issues with a couple of AMC Sat's (87/103) but at the same time I'm tracking the Arc from 15 dg west to 129 dg west and getting pretty good reception. However, I am looking into replacing my 90cm ku dish and move up to a either 100 or 120. I'm hoping that in doing so must of my problems with AMC 87 and 103 will go away......maybe. I hope!

Jose

[elgemcdlf]

That is roughly in the middle of your arc. I would guess your arc is to flat. Maybe raising dish elevation a degree or maybe only a half degree. Of course it could be the reverse but I will say this much the most minute adjustment will tell if you went the wrong way I am making this statement assuming your are landing using USALS without bumping the dish into signal.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by pr1947

I have to tell you guys after reading through all of your replies I have come to the conclusion that my system is working properly and the only thing wrong with it is me. I have some issues with a couple of AMC Sat's (87/103) but at the same time I'm tracking the Arc from 15 dg west to 129 dg west and getting pretty good reception. However, I am looking into replacing my 90cm ku dish and move up to a either 100 or 120. I'm hoping that in doing so must of my problems with AMC 87 and 103 will go away......maybe. I hope!

Jose

Your problems with AMC1 at 103, are probably because that satellite has a non-standard polarity that is shifted by about 22 deg from all the other sats. Unless you have a big dish with a polarotor, there is really nothing you can do about that one. AMC3 at 87 has normal polarity, so that's not an issue there. What specific signal is giving you problems on AMC3? There have been some fairly recent changes to the transponders there, so you could be on an obsolete transponder. Plus, I noticed yesterday, when my big dish system got out of sync when I tried going past it's limits, that for at least one of the AMC3 transponders, there is a nearby sat with the same signal parameters, that could be interferring.
But basically, if you are getting all sats except for one, I wouldn't make any drastic changes to your system. First do some experimentation to see if manually bumping east/west fixes it, and if that doesn't try the lift up/pull down test to see if that helps.

[pr1947]

My weakest signals are 12110 H, 12140 V and 12176 H. 12140 comes in at 26 percent and the other two comes in at just under 40. Some times 40 percent is good enough to view but the 26 percent.... forget about it.
I do not know if you are picking up the 12176 H frequency It started broadcast about a week ago. It is also PBS mux.

Jose

[Iceberg]

Originally Posted by wejones

Your problems with AMC1 at 103, are probably because that satellite has a non-standard polarity that is shifted by about 22 deg from all the other sats. Unless you have a big dish with a polarotor, there is really nothing you can do about that one.

I just realized how much skewing the LNB for AMC1 made a difference. I never skewed it on my motorized because I wasnt climbing up on the roof to do that and I got Pentagon at 45 on the Pansat and a couple feeds. When I hooked up the T90 over the weekend one of the LNB's was for 103 (actually that was the center of the arc for this project) and after skewing the LNB more, Pentagon is at 99 and I got about 15 NBC feeds that I have NEVER been able to get.

a fixed dish at 103 may be the solution if you really want the feeds on there.