Is it normal to get just 4 satellites

[semco72057]

I have the Fortec Star 80cm dish with the Mercury II Receiver on a DG-240 motor and after long hours of adjusting finally was able to pick up 4 satellites just fine with over 50% signal level and quality, but the channels on those satellites are not the types I thought I would find. There are about 4 other satellites with good quality, but poor level signals and after what I have seen on the four I did find figure they probably have the same programs on them as well.

What I really want to know is 4 satellites normal to pick up real good, and can the satellites with good quality be adjusted somehow? One satellite I have now with a good level was the same way until I began checking to see if I could get any channels on it and somehow the level went up as high as the quality, which I can't explain.

[Jim-S]

North & South America - LyngSat

Check out this site, you should be able to get most of these, but some are C-band and some of them are Dish Net. and Directv. Click on each satellite to see what is on them.....................
Jim

[William Eng]

Your setup may be off. Check your post, is it plumb?

[semco72057]

The dish is now picking up more than 4 satellites with strong signals on my receiver. While experimenting with the P-Scan I got many channels from Asia, Africa, and America and then lost them when I erased all the channels and now don't remember what I did where I can't receive them. I have 11 satellites with good signals with two more which has a fair signal. The problem is in the scanning for channels and now I only get the same 6 channels which are the same on all the satellites which mainly Chinese (CCTV).

[Jim-S]

If you are getting the same channels on all satellites (CCTV), this may sound dumb but is you dish moving from sat to sat. Try deleting all TPs on the sat you are going to P-scan, go to antenna setup in the lower menu push the red button (edit tp) and delete the TPs and do you P-scan again. Sometimes after I do a P-scan I also do a Auto scan, seems to bring in more channels.
What LNB do you have.
Jim

[semco72057]

I checked the plumb and is looked okay. I can now get more than 4 satellites, but now having problems with the motor moving properly part of the time. I keep getting the same 5 channels when checking each satellite and when an observer checked the dish while I changed channels and the dish didn't move. Before that when checked I found that there was no power to the motor even though the receiver was on. I turned the receiver off and on again after 5 minutes and the signal was received by the motor. I have a DG-240 motor on a 30" (80cm) fortec Star dish. I had this problem before and for some reason it worked just fine. The motor turns normally when the manual buttons on the dish is pressed.

[Jim-S]

Please try to have only one thread going, it would be easier for us to respond.

[semco72057]

I think that I have the problem of the motor solved temporarily, but still don't understand why sometimes it is not receiving power to it from the receiver. For now it is working once more and have received many satellites from different locations. This tells me that the system is setup the way it should be and the problem with not enough power or no power going to the motor is a problem possibly with the receiver. I thank everyone for their support and I now love my system so much. FTA gives people a different look at television and what you can get since some of the stations on my Directv system are not active unless I agree to pay an additional charge for it like local channels. With the FTA system I am able to get some local channels here with the assistance of many who have noted and shared this information with everyone else. God Bless you all and I hope you have a great week and blessed Christmas.

[William Eng]

I think that I have the problem of the motor solved temporarily, but still don't understand why sometimes it is not receiving power to it from the receiver. For now it is working once more and have received many satellites from different locations. This tells me that the system is setup the way it should be and the problem with not enough power or no power going to the motor is a problem possibly with the receiver. I thank everyone for their support and I now love my system so much. FTA gives people a different look at television and what you can get since some of the stations on my Directv system are not active unless I agree to pay an additional charge for it like local channels. With the FTA system I am able to get some local channels here with the assistance of many who have noted and shared this information with everyone else. God Bless you all and I hope you have a great week and blessed Christmas.

Sounds like your receiver may be going bad. If you can find someone with another FTA receiver and swap it out, you can see if that is really the problem.