SatMex5 C Band

[elgemcdlf]

Depth was the thought. Hands wanted to type length though

[sapote]

I Tried playing with the lnbf I put it just barely on the end and I got some channels, but the quality signal was like in the 30's and 40's. When I pushed the shaft in all the way I got a better reception. The numbers got higher and so did the quality.. I did get some more channels on Satmex 5. I got the mexicanal and others I did not get the full list that ENGEL? put down on the Satmex 5 Forum, WHy i dont know.. Also I did not find the 13/18 volt adjustment anywhere? Is it on the outside of the receiver like a button? (pansat 2700A) or is it and adjustment with the menus???

[rainman]

the 13/18 volt is automatic on most receivers one for vertical channels and the other for horizontal turn on the lnb power and it should switch when you go from horizontal to vertical channels.

[wejones]

Depth was the thought. Hands wanted to type length though

You're right that F/D is a measure of "depth" of a dish, but just so no-one thinks that the "D" in F/D refers to depth, I thought I'd remind that it stands for "diameter". Ie the F/D is the ratio of focal length to dish diameter, where a high number suggests a long focal length, shallow dish, and a small number indicates a smaller focal length deep dish.

[wejones]

I Tried playing with the lnbf I put it just barely on the end and I got some channels, but the quality signal was like in the 30's and 40's. When I pushed the shaft in all the way I got a better reception. The numbers got higher and so did the quality.. I did get some more channels on Satmex 5.....

Ideally, you should find out what the focal length and F/D ratio are for your dish. You should then set the LNBF so that the numbers on the throat line up with the proper F/D ratio. Then adjust the distance of the front of the LNBF correspond to the focal length by moving the whole assembly, not just the throat inside the rings. This is difficult on some dishes, as it often requires you to lengthen or shorten the 4 feed support bars by equal amounts. If this can be done at the feedhorn, then it isn't too difficult, but on my dumb dish, it needs to be done where the supports meet the dish, which is almost impossible to do once the dish is up, because I can't reach them.
I'm guessing that what you're doing is moving the throat in and out, which is changing both the FL and the F/D ratio. You may optimize the FL that way, but you'll probably end up with the wrong F/D setting for your dish, however considering how difficult it is on some dishes to accomplish the proper FL adjustment, that may be best. Worst case is you're not using your entire dish.
Re not getting all the stations listed in the list, I just did a scan, and while I got most of them, I didn't get the Azteca one at 3725, although I DID get a couple others that weren't listed, which may be channels that aren't up 24/7. They may be changing these channels around a bit, but I noticed that some of the channels are slow to lock for some reason. Some of them are pretty narrow, and if your freq is off a bit, your lnbf may be a bit off frequency, and you might miss it.

I don't speak spanish, so I'm generally not interested in this satellite, but got interested when one of them was in English when I tuned it it, but then it switched back to Spanish. They were just showing some English clip, and talking about it in Spanish.

[sapote]

Thanks for the information you just gave us Wejones. I think I will just leave it like that as long as I can get some channels I am happy. I Want to get that box that Sadoun sells to move my big dish, cuz I got tired of moving manually. I will keep trying to find some more channels now that finally thanks to you guys, I am starting learn something....

[wejones]

..... I think I will just leave it like that as long as I can get some channels I am happy. I Want to get that box that Sadoun sells to move my big dish, cuz I got tired of moving manually. ......

This probably depends on how the feed is connected, but on my dish, with 4 support arms that are supposed to come in radially into the feed, if I twist the feed, making the support arms come in tangentially, then the feed moves in closer to the dish, so I've found that I can vary the FL this way. However this complicates things because it also changes the polarity, so after doing this, I have to move the angle of the throat part back to where it was. I just went through this yesterday, as somehow my FL got out of adjustment .
As mentioned in another thread, you can sometimes tell if your FL is off when KU seems to peak at a different point from where C-band peaks, because when the FL is off, the focus of KU looks something like a donut, and you have to move the dish off center to get the best signal.
How are you moving the dish manually? With big C-band dishes, you can generally move them with a car battery, or a car battery charger. Connect and it moves one way, reverse wires to go the other way. Problem is knowing where it is. Back in the analog days, this wasn't a problem. I used a car battery charger for a couple months once, but I wouldn't want to do that now when most everything is digital.

[sapote]

This probably depends on how the feed is connected, but on my dish, with 4 support arms that are supposed to come in radially into the feed, if I twist the feed, making the support arms come in tangentially, then the feed moves in closer to the dish, so I've found that I can vary the FL this way. However this complicates things because it also changes the polarity, so after doing this, I have to move the angle of the throat part back to where it was. I just went through this yesterday, as somehow my FL got out of adjustment .
As mentioned in another thread, you can sometimes tell if your FL is off when KU seems to peak at a different point from where C-band peaks, because when the FL is off, the focus of KU looks something like a donut, and you have to move the dish off center to get the best signal.
How are you moving the dish manually? With big C-band dishes, you can generally move them with a car battery, or a car battery charger. Connect and it moves one way, reverse wires to go the other way. Problem is knowing where it is. Back in the analog days, this wasn't a problem. I used a car battery charger for a couple months once, but I wouldn't want to do that now when most everything is digital.

When the guy installed my mexican sky receiver, he used the big dish that I had and used the Satmex 5 I think. Then, when Sky changed to Pas 9 he came back and used a smaller dish with the Ku lnb. He took off the little motor of the arm. There was a little flat piece of metal at the end and I have been moving it back and forth with some vice grips that I have adapted. It is ok, I guess for now. I need to get a real arm and get the motor or try the battery charger trick and see what happens. Thanks for the tip....

[wejones]

When the guy installed my mexican sky receiver, he used the big dish that I had and used the Satmex 5 I think. Then, when Sky changed to Pas 9 he came back and used a smaller dish with the Ku lnb. He took off the little motor of the arm. There was a little flat piece of metal at the end and I have been moving it back and forth with some vice grips that I have adapted. It is ok, I guess for now. I need to get a real arm and get the motor or try the battery charger trick and see what happens. Thanks for the tip....

Well if the motor is gone, I guess the battery thing won't work. I lost the motor off one of my dishes once, and I squared off the end of a wooden dowel to fit into the shaft where the motor went, and used a cordless drill to turn the thing. On another brand actuator, I drilled a hole through a big nail near the end, and put a smaller nail through, and this fit in the slot so I could drive it with a drill.

[sapote]

I noticed there are 8 H channels. Check your receiver. Do you have it setup for 13/18V or only 18V? Needs to be 13/18V. If it is not try setting that properly and rescanning.

I did a scan last night and only got 4 h and like 10 or 11 on vertical. Can someone tell me how many are on H? Please maybe I moved my lnbf too much....