Completely new to FTA, need system for single satellite for single purpose

[Anole]

How did you calculate where I gotta aim, is there an online tool for that?

If you put your zip code into this web page:
Satellite Finder © Satellite AV
...and follow the instructions, it can give you a couple of page output in PDF of where to aim for all the Ku birds in the sky.
And it includes a column for azimuth with the local magnetic correction included.


btw, you started out asking for a low-end single-purpose receiver, and now you are looking for feeds?
I sure hope the '600 has blind scan.

 

[paulm]

btw, you started out asking for a low-end single-purpose receiver, and now you are looking for feeds?

Well, only cuz you guys make this hobby sound so damn cool!

Honestly, so long as I can get my UND hockey games, I'm going to be a VERY happy camper. When we bought the house and found out what pay tv costs ($40/mo for basic cable?!?!?), we got netflix and never looked back. Selling my lifetime subbed TiVo on ebay covered this FTA system I bought for hockey, and if I end up getting into the hobby there's even enough left over for a better receiver and a motor for the dish.


Iceberg -- I've sent this thread to a few of my old college buddies scattered around the country. Once they see me up and running there may be some more sioux fans jumping on the bandwagon

 

[Mr Tony]

captiveworks 600 and a 80cm (which google tells me is about 31.5 inches) dish with linear lnb. FedEx says it'll be here sometime Friday, so hopefully I'll be able to get it up and running in time for Saturday's games. I'll probably have to go buy a spindle of coax (recommendations on where to buy it? wallyworld?) and maybe some hardware for mounting it, i'll see what it comes with.

get some good RG6 cable. There is some stuff designed for satellite. It costs a little more but worth it. You can get it at really any big box retailer,

You picked the right town, I am in Poky. How did you calculate where I gotta aim, is there an online tool for that? SE is good for me, I should be able to mount it on one of the posts for my back patio. As for pointing it, what will i need, a hand held compass? Got a link that shows a newbie how to install one of these suckers?

A compass really isnt needed but if you can find an el cheapo one get it. I paid like 2 bucks for a decent one and it works pretty good.

The last bit, i'd imagine, will be finding a tidy way of getting the coax into the tv room in the house. For this weekend i'll probably just string the cable out the back door, but hopefully I can permanently jack it into my household cable without messing up my cable modem (i don't have cabletv ,and when they hooked me up to the cloud they ran a new line from the pole -- i just need to figure out what is feeding what room)

as a temporary gig, that would work fine (the back door theory) but you probably would want to figure out a way to get it into the house with no issues.

btw - i paid $6 for the internet stream of und vs manitoba last weekend. what a RIPOFF! Barely watchable; could almost never see the puck and any fast action was one big blur of artifacting. Man am I excited to get this system up and running!

watched a nice clean picture on Sunday (I know...dont rub it in ).I had to laugh as most of the commercials are the same ones as last year (the tire place, Italian Moon, Whiteys, Hugo's, home of Economy, Dahlstrom motors) .

 

[Mr Tony]

Honestly, so long as I can get my UND hockey games, I'm going to be a VERY happy camper.

you'll be happy once you get it up and can see that game Saturday night...allows you to save the $6 from the internet feed and get some beer, pop or chips

Iceberg -- I've sent this thread to a few of my old college buddies scattered around the country. Once they see me up and running there may be some more sioux fans jumping on the bandwagon

there is a fair amount of Sioux fans with setups just for that. They have either Dish or DirecTV and added the FTA dish for the FSSN.

Once you get it, we'll help you get it ready. The only things of note
-in the auction they didnt list what type of LNB. Once you get it, post the info from it here so we can get the receiver set up properly
-the Fortec dishes have been known to be off by 5 degrees from what the elevation markings say. This may not be an issue (some dishes are right) but I have seen dishes off by a couple degrees.
-We will have to add the FSSN info into the box. What you would do is aim the dish with a known transponder that is on 24/7 to get the dish aimed. Then 15-20 minutes before the game on Saturday, you would have to scan in the FSSN. Since it isnt 24/7 there is no signal until right before game time.

 

[Mr Tony]

Well I just went through my Captiveworks to see how to set it up for a new satellite (havent done that in a while) and to add a transponder

Setup
1. press menu
2. install
3. antenna
4. select KU_Americas 6 (93W)
5. 1st transponder (TP) should say 11711 V 14312 auto...use that. That is up 24/7
6. LNB (depends on what the numbers are)
7. LNB Type normal
8. the rest change to off or none



now to add the FSSN
-menu
-install
-edit TP
-move to edit and select the 2nd TP. Hit OK
-enter the info. 12031 freq, v polarity, 4880 symbol rate auto fec and save

 

[paulm]

Wow Ice, talk about going above and beyond! :

FedEx says my gear is in Salt Lake, so I think it will show up tomorrow as they predicted. I'll let you know what lnb it is as soon as I get it.

If such as thing doesn't already exist, I'm thinking it would be cool to take pictures of the install process and in conjunction with the information in this thread make a definitive "how to get the fssn on fta" guide (probably a new thread somewhere on satelliteguys) for the benefit of other sioux fans. Link it up on boards like uscho and siouxsports etc. Sound like a project you'd like to help me out with?

 

[Mr Tony]

If such as thing doesn't already exist, I'm thinking it would be cool to take pictures of the install process and in conjunction with the information in this thread make a definitive "how to get the fssn on fta" guide (probably a new thread somewhere on satelliteguys) for the benefit of other sioux fans. Link it up on boards like uscho and siouxsports etc. Sound like a project you'd like to help me out with?

we have a couple threads on siouxsports about getting the FSSN

Once you get the setup, let us know how we can help. If you are goign to mount the dish lower to the ground, the best thing to do is to bring the receiver and a little TV ouot to watch the signal quality move. Its easier than having someone holler from in the house

 

[ussexplroer]

I was reading idaho

So You are in idaho? Geez so am I. Best advice I can give you. Look for the dishnetwork dishes. Aim that direction. I think the elevation is about 43 but on the dishes I have done. Then move over a tad and you can get G10. One thing that helps out big is a simple sat meter. Beleive me. Also realize that those DBS sats are way over powered. At least in this area. So you will get a big spike on the meter. Then smaller spikes.

1. Get you post in the ground or mounted to the house.
2. Make sure it is level.
3. Aim it to what dishnetwork dishes our. 110/119.
Leave collar, and elevation bolts loose.
4. Setup your receiver to the highest transponder level.
(there is a list of transponders on this site)
5. Move dish over until you get a signal and a picture quality. Also realize signal is nothing. You can get different signals all through the arc. I'm talking small, small movements of the dish. Left to right. At my house in American Falls. Left is heading towards 61.5 and right is heading towards 148.0. That is if you was standing behind the dish.
6. One the signal changes at least on my receiver. wait a sec. See if it locks for a picture quality.
7. After that you can then skew your lnb. I didn't need to do that on my system since it is motorized.
8. make slight adjustments right / left for best signal quality. Then up and down. Then skew. Then carefully tighten down the bolts. Make sure to keep a eye on signal level.
9. once again a signal meter is great. I can sit there on a dish. Move it from right to left and hit just about evertyhing on the arc.


Hope that helps,

Josh

 

[Mr Tony]

ussexplorer

The OP is wanting to aim at one satellite (IA6 at 93W) so the motorized setup is not needed

 

[ussexplroer]

I had to go back and look

I had to go back and look. I put down skew the lnb. - But aiming is pretty much the same I noticed. I did plenty of dish network and a few direct tv dishes. So I based my install on that. Then slight move the dish over to the proper satellite.

Though one Time I took a prime star dish, meter, and chucked it out on the front porch. Boom hit a signal. Not sure what though. I'm thinking 58.0 because it was more than 61.5. Luck I just guess and I didn't have any compass at the time so I had no idea what I was picking up and so no idea what to program into the receiver.

later,

Josh

 

[paulm]

Woo, I got my system! I had to leave town yesterday before the FedEx guy came, but my neighbor was nice enough to bring the packages inside for me, which is very good... because it's raining! doh! hopefully it'll clear up this afternoon, or i'm getting wet. anyhoo, here's the info on this lnb: Ariza technology ER-783L Digital Ready Standard KU Band single LNB RF: 11.70/12.20 Ghz IF: 950/1450Mhz LO: 10.750Ghz Gain:55db Noise Figure:0.5db

 

[Mr Tony]

OK...so using that info setup on the menu would be like this (the change from the original post is bolded)

Setup
1. press menu
2. install
3. antenna
4. select KU_Americas 6 (93W)
5. 1st transponder (TP) should say 11711 V 14312 auto...use that. That is up 24/7
6. LNB 10750
7. LNB Type normal
8. the rest change to off or none

 

[paulm]

Some installation questions:

I'm mounting on the south facing side of a post supporting my patio. If you had your choice of heights up to 10 feet, how high would you go?

How do trees affect "line of sight"? If google maps is correct and my street does run north-south, I'm thinking I'll probably be out of the way of a denser leafed tree in my backyard, but it will run through some sparse foliage in the neighbor's yard. I notice that a lot of dish/directv dishes around here seem to be aimed right into trees, but I'm guessing their signal is stronger.

I'll be buying a decent length of RG6 - is it sold in long lengths with the ends already on, or will I need some sort of crimper to puts the ends on?

The bag of hardware that came with the dish is missing one screw, so I'll be heading to the hardware store for a replacement. I'll grab RG6 and a cheap compass while I'm out, anything else I should grab?

 

[Mr Tony]

Some installation questions:

I'm mounting on the south facing side of a post supporting my patio. If you had your choice of heights up to 10 feet, how high would you go?

I'd go as low as you can...easier to make adjustments if need be at 3 feet than 10 feet

How do trees affect "line of sight"? If google maps is correct and my street does run north-south, I'm thinking I'll probably be out of the way of a denser leafed tree in my backyard, but it will run through some sparse foliage in the neighbor's yard. I notice that a lot of dish/directv dishes around here seem to be aimed right into trees, but I'm guessing their signal is stronger.

the signal comes at approx 22-25 degrees higher than the dish looks (offset)...so you will need to clear the trees. Trees and foliage will KILL reception. The signal comes down, hits the dish then goes tot he eye (LNB) so it may look like its aimed at the trees but the signal is above it

I'll be buying a decent length of RG6 - is it sold in long lengths with the ends already on, or will I need some sort of crimper to puts the ends on?

get it with the ends on. Make sure the ends look good and some el cheapo stuff

 

[paulm]

John Madden isn't lying: ACE is the place! Everything in one stop, including beer.

Could I have your expert opinion on these trees?


My azimuth is somewhere in those sparse trees. Think I'm safe? After all, 90% of the time I use this dish they won't have leaves

I do have a fence post I could use that has completely clear line of sight, but it may not be plumb, I'll have to check.

Anyway, I'd really like to point in the direction of that picture. It's much more convenient in terms of running the coax, and is in a spot where it's less visibly noticeable.

EDIT: How's the football game vs UNO going?

 

[Mr Tony]

John Madden isn't lying: ACE is the place! Everything in one stop, including beer.

Could I have your expert opinion on these trees?

how far away are those trees and how high?

I do have a fence post I could use that has completely clear line of sight, but it may not be plumb, I'll have to check.

if the post isnt plumb when you install the mast you can make it plumb

EDIT: How's the football game vs UNO going?

down 21-14 6 min 3rd quarter left

 

[paulm]

how far away are those trees and how high?

By my best estimates, about 70 feet away, and somewhere between 50-80feet tall (not so good at estimating that)

I guess I could just try, but I'd rather not have to drill holes into my post only to have to take the dish down and move it right away.

 

[paulm]

oh, i see where you're going. with simple right triangle trig, we can tell if i'd be aiming over them. Well, at a 36.7° elevation, it doesn't seem like it.

 

[paulm]

okay, I can't seem to aim this thing.

Iceberg, I followed your instructions for setup on the cw600. It has two bars, quality and strength.
So far quality is always 0, and strength varies between 70 and 80 (never seen it go higher than 80, never lower than 70 -- whenever the lnb is plugged in, it always reads at leat 70 strength, even when not mounted on the dish)
When I'm aimed at the right elevation (37) and sweep around the area of my azmuth, i can get it to go to 80 by moving in small increments horizontally.

By the way, this is in the location with a completely clear line of sight.

I'm frustrated, I'm missing the game, and it'll be getting dark soon. Where do I go from here?

 

[Mr Tony]

OK...here is the info for the dish

azimuth (where in the sky) 141
elevation of dish is 36.7....now as mentioned before the fortecc dish has been known to be off by a couple degrees on the elevation

skew...this is IMPORTANT...skew is -20. So on the LNB you have to turn it (twist it) so the coax plug if 6:00 is straight down it should be like 7:30 on a clock. Skew makes it so the signal comes in

Also when doing the moving of the dish, KU Band takes a little bit to acknowledge a signal so small movements

Here is the info from the satellite finder
http://geosatfinder.com/Reports/SatAim.aspx?Longitude=-112.425776&Latitude=42.884546&SatIds=40

Do you have the info on the menu of the reciever correct as noted before?