What am I doing wrong?????Not happy with fortec dish system

[RAMBO]

Sadoun or any one out there, help
before I throw this equipment out!!!!!!! :evil:

Fortec 6000
Fortec universal lnbf
Stab HH120
Fortec 120cm (poor mount quality, no fine elevation adjustment screw on bracket, dish is too heavy to adjust by hand) :x
Zip 08836 = Lat 40.59 Long 74.55
Dish elev 23.69= 43.1 - (60 - 40.59)
All mounted on a concrete base, using schedule 40 2" 1/4 dia galv pipe

I set up angle finder on edge of motor, to obtain 40 deg
I set up angle finder on dish mount bracket, to obtain 23 deg
Align stab azimuth to nearest 180 deg + 13 mag dev, using compass
On fortec receiver choose nearest sat SBS6 74 deg
On fortec receiver assign lat 40.6, long 74.6
Quality 0, signal 70, pro digisat meter show 58 signal

Equipment is near dish, with portable tv

Another issue never resolved, 235' of cable run, any recommendations ( line amp, anything) since the dish will not move or obtain any signal strength with this equipment. Never had any problem with other type of sat receivers digital or analog.

For starters, are my calculations correct?, is my receiver setup correct? Should I used a another sat (T5) for setup instead of nearest sat (SBS6)? When using a postioner, should one always used nearest sat to obtain first signal, and then assign and adhust other sat's.

Not a happy camper, I am beginning to question quality of fortec dish (mount) and receiver. This is not the first time I have installed sat dish. Currently working, 10ft winegard c/ku, 75 cm channel master elleptical dual feed, and 90 cm offset ku.

Any recommendations????????? :?

[Sadoun]

Your Dish/motor angles are correct for your location.

Trouble shooting steps:

Make sure
1- The post is vertical and solid.

2- The mount - dish - lnbf feedarm - and LNBF are all pointing to TRUE SOUTH.

3- On SBS6 there are no active or LIVE transponders. Try using another satellite. I recommend AMC 5 at 79.0°W whic has 2 live transponders per lyngsat.com (11742 V 11110, and 12185 H 15000)

4- On the Fortec Star receiver, select AMC 5 from the satellites list.

5- Go to TP DATA and select the transponder that has a frequency similar to the above. If not found, go to the TP that says USERS Defined and enter one of the frequencies, polarity, and symbol rate above.

6- Go to POSITIONER and change it to DiSEqC 1.3

7- Click OK on DiSEqC 1.3 and enter you Long / Lat

8- Make sure your Long has a "W" for west after the value. To switch between W and E, use the "page up" button on the remote

9- Click on USALS

10- The motor should move the dish to AMC 5.

11- After the dish stops moving, chech the signal and quality. If not GREEN, use your hands to change the motor azimuth slowly East or West until you see the GREEN bars. Maximize it and then tighten the motor on the post.

12- Click on START and scan the satellite for any available channels.

13- Go back to the CHANNEL SEARCH screen.

14- Select another satellite (i.e. Galaxy 3C, T5, or any other satellite)

15- Scroll down to the TP DATA and select one of the LIVE transponders on that satellite.

16- Go to positioner, click on DiSEqC 1.3 and then click on USALS

17- After the dish stops moving, you should see GREEN signal and quality.

18- If not, try adjusting the dish elevation a little.

19- Click on START and scan the satellite.

20- Repeat for other satellites


As far as the cable run, it is too long. Make sure you have RG6 cable. You might want to run an RG11 cable for this length. Anyone else has any suggestions for RAMBO??

[RAMBO]

Thank you for your response Sadoun, will try tonight.

As far as cable length, Stab-Italy answered me back with the following:

"Cable length depend on copper quality contain in the cable.
The max parameter in order to not have any trouble in the connection are like as follows
(picture of connectors and cable, showing resistance=1.1 Ohm)
The cable length of connection between motor and LNB is not influential "

Meanwhile, I am trying to configure and install a elevation adjustment to original dish mount.

Hope your recommendation work :?

[bobkat]

RAMBO:

Here's a link to another thread that deals with the same issue ---> http://www.sadoun.com/Forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=481

There are several other threads that deal with motors and their installation; browse the INSTALLATION forum and the MOTORS forum for valuable information.

kat

PS: Its not easy doing FTA and its even harder with a motor; thing I found most helpful was to ensure motor assembly (the "0" mark) is aiming true south (180 +/- magnetic deviation for your area); as for your cable length issue - you say you have a TV and receiver out at the dish - so I assume your are not running through the 235 feet of cable to align the dish; use a short length to get signal then connect the 235 foot length and see what effect it has on the signal; for the record, i have run KU band signals through 800 feet of RG6 with only a 3 to 5 dB drop - strange but true. What's even weirder is when I inserted a line amplifier the signal level actually dropped !!!

[RAMBO]

Thanks for your info,

Actually, this week-end I had success, thanks to a home made adjustment screw tourniquet mounted on back of dish bracket and mount. As you are aware, larger dishes are equiped with a fine elevation adjustment screw, the fortec 120cm does not have that :x . The dish + motor is too heavy to hold while reading signal meter. What a difference, one small turn, combined with digital meter will show you exactly if you are on the signal. Stab HH120 shares the same concept, no fine adjustment :x . I am currently making a bracket screw adjustment for fine tuning the motor elevation. Once again motor + dish is too heavy for fine adjustments. I am somewhat surprise Fortec or Stab, doesn't incorporate this feature into their products, since every dish I have greater than 60cm, has those features. The larger the dish, the harder and heavier it is to manipulate.
Following your guide lines, plus my home fine tune modifications, you are guaranteed receptions.

[Sadoun]

Remember "RAMBO" always comes through at the end. 8)

Ask Stalone :!: :?:

[bobkat]

Originally Posted by Sadoun

Remember "RAMBO" always comes through at the end. 8)

Ask Stalone :!: :?:

:roll:

kat

[Sadoun]

kat

Remember RAMBO the movie?? Sylvester Stalone??

[bobkat]

Originally Posted by Sadoun

kat

Remember RAMBO the movie?? Sylvester Stalone??

Yes.....

I remember; all too well...

:lol: :lol:

kat

[ZzeusS]

Well I finally got my order from FedEx Home We'll Get There Whenever Delivery. 60lbs! Most of it dish.

Unpacked everything and thought.. hmm what was that 800 number again for installs?

But I sorted out all the parts and bits and peices and started assembling the dish. That one sheet of install directions.. wow. If possible run off another set of clearer copies man. Mostly easy stuff once you stopped trying to decipher the document and said 'wait, there are only 4 screws of this type, they must go here'. It may bite me in the ass, we'll see!

The RCA DIY kit has a lot of nifty stuff. The video tape made me laugh. I was doing a home amatuer recording of what I was doing, and my name is Steve, too.

Dish is all assembled, outside mast mounting definitally going not going to happen at 9:30pm CST, so I'll pick it up tomorrow. The wall mounting portion of the tape was pretty good, I hadn't thought of finding the studs and drilling. I'm in an apartment complex, so I dunno how well that will fly, but maybe I'll just do it anyway. The dish was a bit larger than I had thought, and while I wouldn't mind having a C band out there, and 1 meter is the FCC limit so I'm certainly legal, I wasn't psycologically prepared for a huge glaring white dish to be hanging out of my patio ops:

So far so good.

[Sadoun]

Good job.

How about this copy:
http://sadoun.com/Sat/Products/Forte...ishes/wpeA.jpg

[bobkat]

Originally Posted by ZzeusS

The wall mounting portion of the tape was pretty good, I hadn't thought of finding the studs and drilling. I'm in an apartment complex, so I dunno how well that will fly, but maybe I'll just do it anyway.

If you are mounting into a concrete or brick wall then use those self-tapping masonry screws called "Tapcon" - they work best; not included in the DIY RCA kit but available at Home Depot or other building supplies store. Best to use a hammer drill to make the holes. For a wooden wall it is essential to locate a stud - a dish of this size captures a huge wind load and will be blown off the wall (maybe onto someone's head :!: :!: ) if you don't secure the foot into a stud.

kat