36" dish

[mikecooler]

I having a problem installing a 36" fortec dish. The problem is that i can't seem to get a signal. Trying to aim a IA5/KU 97*W, elevation 48*. I move the dish east and west but no signal (0). I have been installing alot of 31" , but 36" is killing me, been @ it all day. Has anyone install a 36" fortec dish and get it to work.. Is the manufactor elevation scale on the dish correct?

[ctg101]

Originally Posted by mikecooler

I having a problem installing a 36" fortec dish. The problem is that i can't seem to get a signal. Trying to aim a IA5/KU 97*W, elevation 48*. I move the dish east and west but no signal (0). I have been installing alot of 31" , but 36" is killing me, been @ it all day. Has anyone install a 36" fortec dish and get it to work.. Is the manufactor elevation scale on the dish correct?

i use a 36" fortec dish i bought from sadoun over a year ago, it took me several days before i got it to work, and on my dish , the elevation scale is of by about 10 degress

[John Smith]

I am having the same problem. I can get vert. transponders and not Horz. Then on other satellites, I get Horz. and not Vert.
I don't know what the problem is. My meter says that I am all over the satellite. I get signal strength but no quality. I have checked all transponder frequencies and they are correct.
Anybody got any Ideas?
Yes, the dish and motor tracks all Sat's. It's dead on.
HELP

[pmb1010]

Originally Posted by John Smith

I am having the same problem. I can get vert. transponders and not Horz. Then on other satellites, I get Horz. and not Vert.
I don't know what the problem is. My meter says that I am all over the satellite. I get signal strength but no quality. I have checked all transponder frequencies and they are correct.
Anybody got any Ideas?
Yes, the dish and motor tracks all Sat's. It's dead on.
HELP

Some things I'd try:

- lay a straightedge across both axis of the dish, take some measurements? (make sure it's not bent...)

- see if I could find a way to determine if the focal point of the offset is actually hitting the LNBF (is the lnb arm bent, or wrong length?)

[razinboy]

... and also trying to install a 36" dish. I'm trying to get T5 (Lifetime Ultra receiver) and nothing. The level is stuck at 20% and the quality is 0. My settings are as follows:

I live in San Jose, CA (37.33 Lat. 121.88 Long.) Based on the calculator tool, my Azimuth is 142.6 (-15 MD = 127.6), my Elevation = 39.5 and my LNBF skew is -28.9.

Any tips, folks?

[razinboy]

Plugged cable from dish into wrong input. Anyway, I only able to get my level to max at 73%. Still 0% for the Quality. So I'm still stuck

[razinboy]

One more update:

As I mentioned earlier, I was getting no Quality signal. However, when I switched the Tp Freq. from 11749 (default) to 11836 I got a quality signal that's 70-80%. Level is now at 93%. However, the scan picks up no channels. All other Tp frequencies are 0%. Is the problem still alignment or is it a receiver setting problem?

Thanks!

[pmb1010]

Originally Posted by razinboy

One more update:

As I mentioned earlier, I was getting no Quality signal. However, when I switched the Tp Freq. from 11749 (default) to 11836 I got a quality signal that's 70-80%. Level is now at 93%. However, the scan picks up no channels. All other Tp frequencies are 0%. Is the problem still alignment or is it a receiver setting problem?

Thanks!

It almost sounds like you're on the wrong satellite. If you get some quality, then you scan FTA it looks for specific pre-programmed transponder frequencies and symbol rates for the particular satellite you have selected in the box's menus.

Seems to me, if you're on the wrong sat and scan, it won't find the right mix and you'll get no channels... I've never tried that so this is just a guess on my part.

Can you do a manual scan of the transponder 11836 alone, since you get signal indication maybe if you scan that it'll give you a channel.

[bobkat]

pmb1010 is correct. You are likely on the wrong satellite. I have done this before as well before I got a Birdog (Birdog doesn't falsely identify a satellite -- one of its many superb features). When I used to align dishes with a FTA receiver and look for T5 I would get a lock on a transponder but all other transponders were zero quality.

Keep tweaking that dish because you are probably not on T5.

kat

[razinboy]

Thanks, pmb1010, bobkat,

You were right. Managed to finally get it pointed at T5. Elevation ended up being a bit higher than I calculated. But I also think the weight of the dish is causing the pole to not be 100% plumb. (I'm using an 8' pole in a bucket of cement. Need to be that high to clear some metal overhang to the front of the balcony.)

Anyways, I'm glad I can pocket the $150 the installer was going to charge, thanks to the helpful instructions on sadoun.com and on these forum pages.

Cheers!

[bobkat]

NP razinboy; glad we could help out.

kat

[teo2004]

If you got your dish's elevation angel correctly, you will get signal.. Move your dish slowly.. If you still can't get the signal.. I highly recommend to get the motorized.. It is so easy to get the signal with this toy..... It is around 100-135....

[bobkat]

Originally Posted by teo2004

If you still can't get the signal.. I highly recommend to get the motorized.. It is so easy to get the signal with this toy..... ....

Actually you got it backwards. Its much harder to align a motorized dish than a stationary one.

kat