BEV in Virginia

[LilDeuce]

I am trying to get my BEV set up here in Richmond VA and am having some problems. I cannot seem to locate the satellite to start. I am a total "newbie" at satellite stuff and need help. Can someone verify for me the process I need to follow?

According to a satellite location calculator, I should be pointing my dish to approx 201 deg. with an elevation of 44.2 deg. with a skew of +16.7. The calculator has my location set the long/lat of zip code 23233.

According to the BEV manual, I should be using transponder 11? Correct ?

The dish I have has the skew at 90 deg as the default setting and I assume I add the 16.7 to the 90 and set my skew to 106.7. Correct ?

According to the location calculator, I should have a magnetic declination factor of about 10 degrees therefore I should be setting my azimuth look angle at about 211 deg magnetic. Correct ?

The elevation seems to be a no-brainer so I won't ask if there are any tricks here unless someone has any tips.

Now assuming that all is correct above, when I "pan" my dish back and forth about 10 degrees each side of my azimuth calculation and about 5 deg up and down on my elevation angle looking for the satellite I don't get any movement on my signal meter. The signal meter says that I should be able to set the initial reading to about 5 (on a scale of 1-10) and then move my dish to get peak signal. I cannot even get anything above 1 on the initial strength reading. This is a brand new out of the box Winegard meter I got from Radio Shack. Any ideas ?

My wiring is as follows: a 25 ft. coax from the dish that normally connects to my grounding block at the side of the house. To use my meter, I disconnect that cable and attach it the "TO LNBF" connector on the meter and run a RG-6 cable from the "To RCVR" connection to the house. This all makes sense to me that I am doing everything right.

I don't want to spend a ton of money ($75/hr) to a US installer who doesn't know Canadian systems come out and probably not fix my problem so I would appreciate any and all help I can get from here. If I can get an email reply, I would appreciate it. I am going out my mind trying to figure this thing out.

Thanks bunch guys/gals for any help.

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

I am trying to get my BEV set up here in Richmond VA and am having some problems. I cannot seem to locate the satellite to start. I am a total "newbie" at satellite stuff and need help. Can someone verify for me the process I need to follow?

According to a satellite location calculator, I should be pointing my dish to approx 201 deg. with an elevation of 44.2 deg. with a skew of +16.7. The calculator has my location set the long/lat of zip code 23233.

According to the BEV manual, I should be using transponder 11? Correct ?

The dish I have has the skew at 90 deg as the default setting and I assume I add the 16.7 to the 90 and set my skew to 106.7. Correct ?

According to the location calculator, I should have a magnetic declination factor of about 10 degrees therefore I should be setting my azimuth look angle at about 211 deg magnetic. Correct ?

The elevation seems to be a no-brainer so I won't ask if there are any tricks here unless someone has any tips.

Now assuming that all is correct above, when I "pan" my dish back and forth about 10 degrees each side of my azimuth calculation and about 5 deg up and down on my elevation angle looking for the satellite I don't get any movement on my signal meter. The signal meter says that I should be able to set the initial reading to about 5 (on a scale of 1-10) and then move my dish to get peak signal. I cannot even get anything above 1 on the initial strength reading. This is a brand new out of the box Winegard meter I got from Radio Shack. Any ideas ?

My wiring is as follows: a 25 ft. coax from the dish that normally connects to my grounding block at the side of the house. To use my meter, I disconnect that cable and attach it the "TO LNBF" connector on the meter and run a RG-6 cable from the "To RCVR" connection to the house. This all makes sense to me that I am doing everything right.

I don't want to spend a ton of money ($75/hr) to a US installer who doesn't know Canadian systems come out and probably not fix my problem so I would appreciate any and all help I can get from here. If I can get an email reply, I would appreciate it. I am going out my mind trying to figure this thing out.

Thanks bunch guys/gals for any help.

Ridge, VA 23233
Latitude 37° 37.164'N Longitude 77° 36.894'W

Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m) El Skew
-------------------------------------------------------------
*** DBS Satellites ***

EchoStar 3/Rainbow 1 61.5W 154.7 165.4 43.2 -19.8
EchoStar 6/8 110.0W 226.1 236.8 34.9 34.8
EchoStar 7/7S 119.0W 235.3 246.0 28.8 40.6
EchoStar 9 121.0W 237.1 247.9 27.4 41.7
EchoStar 5 129.0W 244.0 254.8 21.5 45.4
EchoStar 1/EchoStar 2 148.0W 257.7 268.5 6.8 50.7
EchoStar 4 157.0W 263.5 274.2 -0.3 51.9

DirecTV 1 72.5W 171.7 182.4 46.1 -6.6
DirecTV Spaceway 2 99.2W 212.9 223.7 40.9 25.5
DirecTV 2 100.8W 215.1 225.8 40.1 27.1
DirecTV 1R/4S/8 101.0W 215.3 226.1 40.0 27.3
DirecTV Spaceway 1 102.8W 217.6 228.4 39.0 28.9
DirecTV 6 109.5W 225.5 236.3 35.2 34.4
DirecTV 5 110.0W 226.1 236.8 34.9 34.8
DirecTV 7S 119.0W 235.3 246.0 28.8 40.6

Nimiq 2 82.0W 187.2 197.9 46.1 5.7
Nimiq 1/3 91.0W 201.3 212.0 44.2 16.7

Anik F1/F1R 107.3W 223.0 233.8 36.5 32.7
Anik F2 111.1W 227.3 238.0 34.2 35.6

It appears that you are using the calculations for Nimiq 1. You should split the difference between 82W and 91W assuming you have a dual lnb dish.

 

[LilDeuce]

Thanks for the information. I was able to determine that the problem was not really my calculation but I had a bad barrel connection coming into the house on the wall plate. Once I replace that I was able to acquire and get my signal.

Thanks again.

 

[TimeHorse]

Congratulations. Good to know another Virginian got Canadian Satellite working. Bodes well for us an hour to the north!

 

[miff]

I too am having trouble trying to find the satellite, my zip is 28625, is that to far south to hit the Nimiq satellite?

 

[Mr Tony]

no

Nimiq1 works all of the US...Nimiq3 is a bugger and southern US (Florida, Georgia, etc) can't get it or its tough.

Use Transpnoder 12 or 15 to aim the dish

 

[Derwin0]

no

Nimiq1 works all of the US...Nimiq3 is a bugger and southern US (Florida, Georgia, etc) can't get it or its tough.

Use Transpnoder 12 or 15 to aim the dish

And those to the north get a much higher signal on 11 (N3) than on 12 (N1), so peaking on 12 is better on both sides of the cutoff.
btw, no TP 11 or 12 working at 82 (N2), so use 13 or 14 there.
I tend to use 13 & 14 as they're both on N1 and N2, and provide for a somewhat reliable peaking. I avoid anything on N3 as it's much more powerful in the northeast. Though if you're further south, N3 might be better to focus on as I find it best to peak at lowest TP you can theoretically reliably get.