No Signal Quality!

[afara]

My equipment is:
Fortecstar 90cm Dish, Fortecstar Lifetime Receiver, ExpressVu Dual LNBF model:BSCH83P81 and Stab HH100 motor mounted on vertical metal rod in the ground.
Location: Lat 39.1N, Long77.5W, DishEl'n: 24 in theory but 17 in practice

I have tried many different alignments pointing to Telstar5 and other satellites and had no success. I was able to get up to 80% signal level using Standard LNBF setting and Freq of 10750 and +- 22 degree polarization but received zero signal quality in every case!

I have clear view of the sky and weather was party cloudy and fair.
Jamal,
I noticed that the dish plate had a dent caused by the way you guys shipped all the material in one big box (with no cushioning material!). Could it be the dish itself is not working well? Please help!
Ali

[bobkat]

Originally Posted by afara

My equipment is:
DishEl'n: 24 in theory but 17 in practice...

+- 22 degree polarization

OK; couple of problems.

1) if its 24 in theory (which is not theory but fact) and you set it to 17 that tells me one of two things -- either your post is not true and level in both directions - or you did not set the motor elevation to be the same as your latitude.

2) for a motorized setup the LNB skew (tilt) must be ZERO, not 22 degrees - it would be 22 degrees for a stationary dish setup; remember that the skew is automatically adjusted by the motor assembly as it turns.


Also, try positioning the LNB in the cradle as far back as it will go; I find this helps a great deal.


Make the above adjustments are let us know how you make out.

:wink:

kat

[afara]

Kat, thanks for your prompt response. The vertical post that I installed is exactly vertical. I have tested it with level and it shows a perfect plumb.

I tried elavation 24 & polarization degree zero skew at first according to documentation and got about 60% signal level. I tried changing the elavation a little manually and got better signal level but no quality. This must be due to Lat (Inclination) setting of HHMotor. The grid on the side of motor doesn't exactly tell you to which edge the degree of inclination need to be set. (checked manual and web site!)

As far as for LNB, I tried various settings i.e., closer to dish, away from dish, I even took it out and brought it closer to dish and signal level went lower. So the best signal level I got was LNB to be somewhere in the middle on its cradle. Any other thoughts?

[bobkat]

Originally Posted by afara

Any other thoughts?

Well; are you sure the dish is perfectly aligned to be perpendicular with the motor arrow and that the motor arrow is pointing at true south?

kat

PS: Here is a linky to another thread dealing with motor alignment issues ----> http://sadoun.com/Forum/phpBB2/viewt...854871c4a3297d

[afara]

Kat,
I'm not 100% sure. I read the link you sent me. Seems like it is a frustrating experience and I need to be more patient. I will reset the motor to 180 true south and start all over again and will let u know.

BTW, does anyone know what frequency ExpressVu LNB should be set to?
thx

[bobkat]

Originally Posted by afara

BTW, does anyone know what frequency ExpressVu LNB should be set to?
thx

10,750 MHz

:wink:

kat

[afara]

Thanks Kat for your help. It worked! My mistake was because I changed elevation on the dish instead of changing elevation of HH rotor itself. Also, setting LNB farther away from the dish helped a little bit on signal quality.

I was able to get upto 60% signal quality on satellites to my west and upto 99% on satellites to my east. This might be because I am in east coast. I followed instructions written in Stab manual and tried to find a signal quality from the nearest satellite to my south (AMC5). Then with little adjustments for easterly T5 and westerly Echostar3, I was able to have signal on both east and west satellites. Thanks again for your prompt support.

Ali

[bobkat]

8) 8)

You're welcome -- glad to help out.

kat

[satwatch]

Hi Afara,

I just read your emails and I have exactly same problem that you had.
I am trying to lock on Telstar5 and I get 75% signal level and 0% quality all the time. It does not matter where I point the dish. I also received 90cm dish that had slight dent because of bad packaging. I have a same LNBF, but I have Ariza TP1000 receiver. Do you think I am not point to the correct az and el.? I am thinking I have a bad receiver.

satwatch

[bobkat]

Originally Posted by satwatch

Hi Afara,

I just read your emails and I have exactly same problem that you had.
I am trying to lock on Telstar5 and I get 75% signal level and 0% quality all the time. It does not matter where I point the dish. I also received 90cm dish that had slight dent because of bad packaging. I have a same LNBF, but I have Ariza TP1000 receiver. Do you think I am not point to the correct az and el.? I am thinking I have a bad receiver.

satwatch

Hi Satwatch:

The ARIZA receivers come with local oscillator frequency set to 10,600 MHz as a factory default. Make sure you change it to 10,750 for the ExpressVu LNB. This is done in "Satellite Edit" / "Telstar 5" / "Setup" from the main menu.

kat

[afara]

Yes, Kat is rignt. I have Fortecstar receiver and its standard lnb (or LO Frequency) was set to something like 5900 by default. I had to manually change the frequency of LNB to 10750 in the receiver setup. I assume finding signal quality to be easier if you are not using a motor.
But in any case, find your satellite direction using a compass and adjust your dish horizontally/vertically very slowly around that direction and monior your tv screen. Make sure nothing blocks the dish while you're aligning dish or lnb. This process can get frustrating but eventually you'll find the signal.