Cheapo Satellite Finder / SNH-031 Question

[pt99]

I have a 90cm dish, a mercury II receiver, and a SNH-031, and a sadoun satellite finder. I set the freq on the lnb to Universal. Set the receiver to AMC 4 and the transponder to 11822 H 5700. When I do this the satellilite finder start beeping, and signal jumps to 9 - 10, but its always beeping no matter, where the dish is pointed. Is my setting on the lnb correct, or should I have it set to another setting?

Thanks

Nevermind, I unhooked the the sat. finder, pointed the dish in the general direction, and bamm I found AMC 4. It was the cable between the finder and the lnb is was a 6' foot piece of RG-59. I was able to picked up 3ABN, will have to fine tune it tomorrow.

Thanks Guys, you have a great forum here!

 

[rv1pop]

Welcome to SATELLITE GUYS! And congratulations!

 

[Wescopc]

You will find FTA satellites with your Mercury II more easily than with a cheap Satellite finder. The low cost SF-95 type sat finders work well with the high powered subscription satellites such as Dish Network, but not with the FTA satellites.
Bob

 

[Tron]

Agreed. Your best satellite meter is your receiver and a small monitor at the dish site. This can be cumbersome, but has its rewards by preventing frustration and wasted hours trying to aim the dish using other methods. Many portable, battery operated DVD players now have video input jacks, which enable them to be used as very effective portable monitors. Sonic Impact makes an I-Pod video dock which has a video in jack and works very well for this application. These can be had for about $50 on E-Bay.

 

[Conky]

The low cost SF-95 type sat finders work well with the high powered subscription satellites such as Dish Network, but not with the FTA satellites.

do they work at all on linear sats? I only have a 37" toshiba CRT television so dragging it outside is out of the question

as an aside(may be a stupid question) but could a multimeter somehow be used to detect a signal? what exactly are those meters picking up on?(ie change in voltage)

 

[Anole]

The LNBs convert the Ku-band frequency range (11 or 12 gigahertz) down to the 1 to 2ghz range. *
The meters are reading the level of that signal.

Power is going up the cable to the LNB, and the brightness of the backlight represents whether it's 12 or 18 volts.
But in the sunlight, you can't really tell the difference.
An LED on the meter would be more helpful. **

Some later model meters actually monitor for 22khz tone, too.
They have an LED that reports whether the receiver is commanding a Universal LNB into the upper part of the band (22khz = ON) **
Another useful feature for fledgling satellite hunters.


* - no, I wasn't very accurate with my numbers.
Feel free to post the actual ranges.
I didn't think the specifics were worth mentioning.

** - this meter actually has LEDs for both functions.
22khz, and V/H polarity (12/18volts)

 

[FTABman0]

The SNH-031 is a great little LNBF! You got a good one!

On the satellite finders, I would love to see them incorporate an analog meter in the new receivers like some of the old C band boxes back in the day. Now for you new school guys that prefer L.E.D. lights instead of those old “needle” meters. The light ones would have fast response but this is not sound equipment, I love to see that happen down the line later on in some model STB line. That would be most useful not to say having something extra to look at on the front of these cheap looking plastic receivers. There would be plenty of room for one for us USA STB users in the card reader area that never gets used for us!

Side-tracked, back to the sat-finders……

Now on using cheap satellite finder meters I can say that I use a SF-10S one of the first models out there and use it religiously! I put a micro sub mini switch on the tone so that won’t bug me being in line while installing or fine tuning. The main reason I did that is you don’t need it squawking all the time and wished it had a switch on the sound part factory built in! I have a couple of the SF-95’s too but use the SF-10S most of the time. Having the switch on it makes it nice when you have to walk away from it for a bit and it is not causing every dog in the hood to go crazy! I am getting a new Sadoun SF95L this week and I will install a switch on that one too! But these are a life sent! If you do not have one you know what I am talking about! :up

You can aim a dish in close without one but you can really fine tune with one of these in line having your back. The best part about them that they are so inexpensive break it, get another one and if your like me have a couple around for spares!

pt99, to The Satellite Guys!

Make sure you check THE LIST often here for current findings, the guys that keep that list up do a great job!​

This is the best place to be for questions like that! Have a great stay, the members here will always help you with any questions you have with experience! And remember, no question is too dumb even for newbie’s! We all were new at one point starting out in FTA!​

Iceberg is kind of the guy that knows everything about the hobby because he has tried just about everything! If it has been done, Ice has done it most likely three or four times!

Anole is our LNB & switch expert! There is not too much the Little Green Dude does not know about feed horns and KU LNB’s! I would almost bet he has one time or two hooked one up to a pie pan for fun to see if he can get a signal!

I know if you have any questions about the Hispasat 30 West bird ask or do a forum search for jayelem and his contribution! He must own stock in that satellite! I don’t think he ever leaves that bird!

linuxman is our big C band dish expert! There is not much he has not tried at one time! I figure when he does try something new and it does not work, no mater how much time was involved with it, he had fun!

rv1pop most likely is the current record holder on here and has the most dish install time records on the site for FTA systems dish set-ups! He most likely can tell you a thing or two about setting something up or fine tuning!

Any senior member or Scott our founder can help a lot as well! In short, there are a lot of dudes here that has done this for a long time and have the know how knowledge to help you or help you accomplish anything your trying to do or tell you if it can be done or can to save you a great deal of time!

There is a lot of great guys on here!

Enjoy your stay!​