Captured 123.0W Today But Quality is Only 35% Max

[jsattv]

At long last,..... after reading Gabshere's & others posts these last few days about the stronger Signal from Galaxy 18 - 123.0W, decided to try again. I had been slowly adjusting my 12 Ft Mesh Dish's Elevation but noticed tracking from East to West was out a bit on Both Ku and C Band Sats. So I slowly very minutely adjusted the Dish on the Pole and tightened up the Bolts and there it was - Quality up to 35% on Tp's 11720, and 11800!! Blind scanned them in and got 33 channels.

Went out again with someone in the House and Bumped the Dish from East to West as well as up and down with the bolts on tight and was told that the Quality went from 35 to 0 when I bumped the Dish East or West or tried lifting or lowering it. Generally Q on the 2 Tps varies from 25 to 35 %. The only other thing is that ONN on 74.0W has dropped down to about 37Q, and White Springs is still at 15% Max Quality. Most of the C Band Sats are now at 75 - 85 Quality from 57.9W right up to 137.0W. Question I have is I'm wondering if I can get more Quality on 123.0W, but is this a adjust more Elevation or should I slightly tweak Declination? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Lak7]

If you can't tweak the Dish angles any better, may have to adjust the Feedhorn - make sure it's centered, distance from the center of the dish is correct and f/d set properly.

 

[gabshere]

but is this a adjust more Elevation or should I slightly tweak Declination?

if your getting 123 & 74 them most likely your declination is set ( you should be getting the center also)

If you try any of these.... try them one at a time and across the arc before trying another if no improvement or loss then adjust it back and go to the next adjustment you want to try. (and adjust them using ku only)

you can try to adjust elevation slightly
also you can slightly adjust feedhorn skew or focal length (unless you have analog skew control) i have noticed that although we look at the calculated numbers being set in stone sometimes they can be fine tuned and be slightly off the calculation.

sometimes the best signal between the two (satellites) is a trade off .... but you will have to keep making very slight adjustments ( and i mean minute) until your happy with the signal.

is 37Q & 25 Q good on a ViewSat ?? does the picture break up pixelate ?? on c-band do you loose picture during a rainstorm ??

sounds like your real close now

 

[jsattv]

Thanks a lot for the advice George. Yes I did reset the F/D Ratio for as best as I could get it. Other Ku Band Sats have a much higher Quality. Even 79.0W has a Q up to 63, while G 25 / 97.0W (my South Satellite) has some Tp Q's in the 80's. The Pentagon Channel on 103.0W which I'm told needs a skew of 20 degrees up here in Winnipeg, is at times coming in with an amazing Quality of up to 62 after a Skew Adjustment, then it usually levels out at about 50 (which is about the best I have ever received it at).

So many other Ku Band Satellites mostly at the top of the Clark Belt Arc are okay, but ONN on 74.0W which I had as high as 80 previously has now dropped back to 40 Max Quality. And Reception on White Springs / 129.0W is really a confusing issue, since even though it's only at 15 % Quality Maximum it's NOT Breaking up or pixillating , that is once I acquire it - it seems to be stable?? Guess like you say future adjustments may need to be a compromise for Best Reception across the Arc, since when I had ONN at 80 Quality I couldn't get Galaxy 18 / 123.0W on Ku Band at all, but I'll keep trying .....Thanks.

 

[Lak7]

Using the same receiver, can you park the 100cm and BUD at 74 west and compare signal.

 

[jsattv]

If you can't tweak the Dish angles any better, may have to adjust the Feedhorn - make sure it's centered, distance from the center of the dish is correct and f/d set properly.

Thanks Lak7 sorry I missed your reply, yes I DID reset the F/D Ratio when I overadjusted the Pole from East to West last week and this resulted in only 50 % Quality even on 97.0W, so I had to start from square one again because Tp 12177on G25 97.0W was a problem. Once I readjusted the positioning of the Feedhorn back to 11 on Ku, and 5 o'clock on C Band, and then readjusted Elevation again slowly over 2 days, everything got better. Boy it sure doesn't take much to over adjust the Dish on the Pole from East to West too much!! I'm almost reluctant to readjust East and West travel again since it doesn't take much to overcompensate on the adjustments even with the Pole Chalked!! As you guys have mentioned many times adjustments need to be miniscule, otherwise everything goes completely out of calibration!!

 

[Lak7]

"Chalk" the Pole for C Band
"Scribe" the Pole for Ku, a 1/4 turn can make a big difference.

 

[jsattv]

Using the same receiver, can you park the 100cm and BUD at 74 west and compare signal.

Lak7 I haven't used the 100 cm Dish since last year when I had severe wind damage twice - in June and August, and in August a neaby Tornado 12 miles outside the City completely repositioned the 100 cm Fortec Star Dish and severly Damaged the connections on Motor. Like someone from Florida advised me at the time -"A 100 cm Dish in the Middle of the Roof is like a Sail in the Wind"!!

But the Folks at Fortec Star were nice enough to replace the Stab HH120 Motor under warranty and I guess I can try it again - especially with all the great comments on the recent threads about trying more than one LNB on smaller Dishes. To answer your question, when I did use the Fortec 100 cm Dish I had great reception on ONN - in the high 80's and Quality 123.0W also was good as well - around 65 (on the same Satellite Receiver), but that was last year. Maybe I need to bring up the new Stab Motor & fire up the 100cm Dish Back up on the roof again, since the summer storms are likely done.

 

[Corrado]

With a 12' dish, my primary thoughts would include settling of the post. We should make certain the post is plumb before any other adjustments.

As far as rain fade, this is not a problem with C band. Heavy wind however, might be with a 12' dish during extreme weather.

 

[jsattv]

With a 12' dish, my primary thoughts would include settling of the post. We should make certain the post is plumb before any other adjustments.

As far as rain fade, this is not a problem with C band. Heavy wind however, might be with a 12' dish during extreme weather.

Thanks Corrado, you are correct I can receive C Band during rain storms. The Dish is on a steel Tripod on 3 concrete posts 60 inches in the ground, with infinite screw adjustments available for Level, last time I checked it with the Sears Digital Level it was good, but we've had at least 3 good storms in August so I'll check again.

 

[jsattv]

"Chalk" the Pole for C Band
"Scribe" the Pole for Ku, a 1/4 turn can make a big difference.

Lak7 what do you mean by "scribe the Pole", that is what is the difference from Chalking or Scribing the Pole?

 

[Lak7]

Using a Fine Point tool to make marks vs. a marker or chalk.

 

[jsattv]

Very Discouraging!!
While I was pointed at 123.0W on Ku Band, I Adjusted the Dish Elevation a lot lower on Saturday (many threads down) until I was able to finally solidely get 123.0W on and White Springs on 129.0W on Ku Band. Now I can get all Tp's on Both those far Westerly Satellites up to 62 Quality. But........now I can only get 25 - 30 Quality on my South Facing Sat / 97.0W as well as 95.0W re CCTV9. All Satellites in the West side are fine, but East and Mid Band Satellites are NOT so good. Checked my Elevation Setting on the Polar Bar and it has dropped a lot - from 50.6 to 50.2, Declination is now at 56.8 where it was at 57.2?? So would increasing Elevation up again towards help 50.5 resolve the 97.0W problem?

 

[Lak7]

Your orig. numbers sound good:
50.56(mount) + 6.66(declination) = 57.22 on the face of the dish

Here is a Pic that may help....

 

[sergei]

First thing is make sure your pole is still level and then remember that any adjustment that you make with with either the declination angle or elevation will have an effect on the other settings. It sort of a balancing act on adjusting the dish and always make small adjustments then recheck your satellites.

 

[jsattv]

Thanks Lak7 and Sergei, yes the original Inclination / Declination Calculations for my area which were worked out by Linuxman and Voomvoom were: 57.18 - 50.57 = 6.61 which previously gave me a very strong signal Lock on 97.0W and 95.0W on Ku Band. I'll slowly adjust the Inclination up from it's current 50.2 using the Sears Digital Level to try and get there while checking the East and West Satellites.

Lak7 from studying that page on the Geo-Orbit document the only thing I can make sense of is: The Dish has too little Elevation, and needs a slight N/S adjustment to the East??

 

[Lak7]

I would re-set the angles:
Dish Mount first, then Declination.
Check Q on 97, try North / South tweak, then drive to 123 and check Q.

 

[jsattv]

I would re-set the angles:
Dish Mount first, then Declination.
Check Q on 97, try North / South tweak, then drive to 123 and check Q.

Went Too Far:
Thanks Lak7. Adjusted the Dish Elevation using the Signal Meter to try to peak to the best signal. Got Sats 97.0W and 95.0W back on Ku with good Quality in the 70's but now 123.0W reception is very marginal - only up to 25 Quality and breaking up or pixillizing at times. Elevation is now reading 50.6 to 50.7 so I think its a bit too high. Will try again for optimal performance from East to West??

 

[Lak7]

...but now 123.0W reception is very marginal - only up to 25 Quality....

When on 123, does raising or lowering the elevation make an improvement?

 

[jsattv]

When on 123, does raising or lowering the elevation make an improvement?

Lak7, as per your suggestion, made a approximate 1.5 turn decrease on Elevation today and 123.0W got a bit better maybe 2 - 3 % on Quality to about 25 % at best, but it still Pixallizes at times. White Springs on 129.0W is back to 15 Quality Max (where it was at 60% Quality), - but at least it's there. This is confusing because it seems like only major adjustments on the Threads for Elevation are required to make a difference?? Maybe I need to look at Declination?