Perfect system installation failed, can some one help me

[techno 2]

Hell there all,
Three weeks ago I installed my motorized system and got only 75% of signal with no Quality.
Morot: SG2100, dish: oval 33"x28", Receiver: Coolsat 7000. LNB invacom quad

However, Sunday I collected all the info I got from you and did the following steps:
-Double checked the mast vertical with my inclinometer and was perfect.
-Verified and fixed the motor and dish elevation, true south
-Set up my dish for 82 west using satellite signal finder until I got the best signal level (the tester was connected between the LNB and receiver)
-Also changed the DiSEqC switch with a new one and secured the ground connection. Connected L to port 1, C to port 2

As a result of all the work I did in a very cold weather on top of my roof I got 80% of signal strength with zero quality.
There must be thing wrong that and it might be a very tiny or simple thing. May I ask for more guidance or a hint that I might need?
For you information, I live in North Haledon, zip 07508, longitude
Address: 07508 Latitude: 40.9568° Longitude: -74.1886°
True Azimuth: 74.18, Magn. Azimuth: 87.31
Dish Elevation: 23.63, Motor Elevation: 40.95, Dish Elevation: 23.63


Is there any hint or idea to help finding the reason of the system failure.

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

Having gotten very frustrated working on my system, here are a few questions:

1. Did you have the reciever in a place with a TV set so you could see the dish move and watch the signal meter ON THE TV at the same time? If you didn't, I can almost guarantee you won't get it. This is from extremely hard earned experience this past labor day. If you think a cold roof is bad, try one in the south when it's 90 degrees.

2. Even if you did actually get the dish pointed at 82, are you sure you had your reciever set to a transponder you knew was active? If not, you can be right on the sat and get absolutely nothing. Also, 82 degrees is Nimiq 2, probably not the best choice for testing, as I'm pretty sure all of the channels on that sat are scrambled, so you wouldn't be able to see anything even if you did get it. AMC 5 @ 79 would be a much better choice, the NYN transponders are always on.

3. Were you trying to use DiSEQ 1.2 or USALS? If you were using DiSEQ and you didn't store anything beforehand, telling the motor to move will result in NOTHING. Again, hard earned experience talking. Use the USALS!

CN

[lestrade]

Hell there all,
Three weeks ago I installed my motorized system and got only 75% of signal with no Quality.

Can someone tell me the difference between strength and quality?
thanks
jl

[pmb1010]

strength is how much signal "data" is hitting the lnbf.
Because there are signals all over the place all the time - as soon as you hook up a LNBF you'll notice a jump in signal level even though it points at the ground.

as you move towards a satellite the signal level will go up. SOMETHING is hitting on the dish and into the lnbf. At that point the reciever is trying to decode what its seeing. If it doesnt - quality of digital level will be 0.
As you change to the right parameters (V/H and the other values) - the quality goes up.
As you tune in the skew/focal length/dish position the better the data decoding becomes - the higher the quality goes and channel lock occurs.

Look at it this in a very simplified way - lets say an AM radio station is transmitting on a FM frequency. You take your FM radio and point it at the transmitter. You'll get lots of signal but no usable reception because the "format" is wrong. After you switch the radio to AM the signal level remains the same but the quality goes way up and now you can hear the music the right way (quality)

[lestrade]

thanks very much!
jpl

[bubby-joe]

Did you by chance forget to open the right lnb port in the antenna Disecq setup. Is your switch outside some Diseqc switches don't like the cold.

Also if your trying to lock on 82, use a direct cable LNB port "C" to RECEIVER if input not antenna input, is there quality, freq 12224 if not check cables and realign.

What size of dish, 30 inch minimum for linear satellites.

[boz]

I suggest to double check the alignment. I don't know how you found true south, but I've never had good results using a compass because of reading errors, magnetic deviation etc. I use a solar azimuth table to find true south, as it gives me a wonderful visual reference to align my dish.

Go the Naval Obervatory site: http://http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/AltAz.php

Calculate the Altitude/Azimuth table for the sun at 1 minute intervals for your location on the desired day. Note the exact time for the Azimuth of the sun to be at 180 degrees.

Move your dish to true south. Then using a ladder or some other convenient object, hang a plumb line between the sun and your dish starting a few minutes before this time. (My plumb line is just a heavy wrench on a string.)

Adjust the location of the plumb line so the shadow the line bisects the axis of your mounting pole at that exact time. Now the plumb line is directly south of your dish. If your dish is in alignment the shadow will also bisect the dish, LNB, and mounting arm. If it doesn't, you have to align your dish.

I often find it convenient to stake a line from the base of the mounting pole to the plumb line, and now I have a true south compass point to align to.

Once you have the motor and dish aligned to true south, adjusting the elevation to peak on a satellite is simple.

Using this method I've set up a toroidal dish and a dish motor and had nearly perfect alignment and tracking the first time.

[Jim-S]

Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com
You can try this site as well.

[BYX]

Hell there all,
Three weeks ago I installed my motorized system and got only 75% of signal with no Quality.
Morot: SG2100, dish: oval 33"x28", Receiver: Coolsat 7000. LNB invacom quad

However, Sunday I collected all the info I got from you and did the following steps:
-Double checked the mast vertical with my inclinometer and was perfect.
-Verified and fixed the motor and dish elevation, true south
-Set up my dish for 82 west using satellite signal finder until I got the best signal level (the tester was connected between the LNB and receiver)
-Also changed the DiSEqC switch with a new one and secured the ground connection. Connected L to port 1, C to port 2

As a result of all the work I did in a very cold weather on top of my roof I got 80% of signal strength with zero quality.
There must be thing wrong that and it might be a very tiny or simple thing. May I ask for more guidance or a hint that I might need?
For you information, I live in North Haledon, zip 07508, longitude
Address: 07508 Latitude: 40.9568° Longitude: -74.1886°
True Azimuth: 74.18, Magn. Azimuth: 87.31
Dish Elevation: 23.63, Motor Elevation: 40.95, Dish Elevation: 23.63


Is there any hint or idea to help finding the reason of the system failure.

Lots of blah, blah.
Your true south is a no brainer.
Based on your coordinates your true south satellite is Horizons 2 located at 74.0°W.
There is one transponder active on that satellite with only one channel.
You can have 100% of signal strenght but if you have 0% quality you have nothing.
For pete sake nobody tells you that you have to check your frequencies.
For that LNB 11250 for circular and 10750 for linear.
I don't know who give you advice to use the NIMIQ2 as true south you wen are located at 74° you won't be able to align your antenna for USALS if your true south is wrong. From 74° to 82° is 8° off.
Since you are interested in using the NIMIQ2 and possibly other circular polarized satellites I want to cordially invite you to read the forum rules.

[SkyPilot]

I suggest to double check the alignment. I don't know how you found true south, but I've never had good results using a compass because of reading errors, magnetic deviation etc. I use a solar azimuth table to find true south, as it gives me a wonderful visual reference to align my dish.

Go the Naval Obervatory site: http://http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/AltAz.php

Calculate the Altitude/Azimuth table for the sun at 1 minute intervals for your location on the desired day. Note the exact time for the Azimuth of the sun to be at 180 degrees.

Move your dish to true south. Then using a ladder or some other convenient object, hang a plumb line between the sun and your dish starting a few minutes before this time. (My plumb line is just a heavy wrench on a string.)

Adjust the location of the plumb line so the shadow the line bisects the axis of your mounting pole at that exact time. Now the plumb line is directly south of your dish. If your dish is in alignment the shadow will also bisect the dish, LNB, and mounting arm. If it doesn't, you have to align your dish.

I often find it convenient to stake a line from the base of the mounting pole to the plumb line, and now I have a true south compass point to align to.

Once you have the motor and dish aligned to true south, adjusting the elevation to peak on a satellite is simple.

Using this method I've set up a toroidal dish and a dish motor and had nearly perfect alignment and tracking the first time.

An alternative is to divide the time of total daylight by two - that is when the Sun will be at True South.

Example: Sun rises at 7:00 AM and sets at 5:30 PM, so you have a total of 10 hours and 30 minutes between the time the Sun rises and sets.

So you would divide the total daylight time by 2, which in the example would be 5 hours and 15 minutes.

Now, add or subtract that time to when the sun rises or when the sun sets and you have the time when the Sun is at True South for your location.

In this case, it would be 12:15 PM - at that time, point your dish and motor assembly at the Sun. Adjust your dish elevation according to the offset and you're done.

Takes literally less then 5 minutes and is more accurate then a compass or anything else.

What is more accurate then the Sun?

Unless you have a strong sat exactly at True South, I would recommend using this method as I have used it several times as I have changed motors, motor location, etc... and it takes just a few minutes and as mentioned, is dead on accurate.