Dish 500 for just 61.5?

[klgould]

I have a Dish 500 with what I assume is the legacy dual LNB. All I want is to get international programming. From the Dish web site, I can see that the channels I want are transmitted on satellites 61.5, 121, and 148.

I first tried to just point the Dish 500 at 61.5. From my location (zip code 20190), it's at azimuth = 165 degrees. The receiver sees a satellite at this location with good signal strength, but displays a "wrong satellite - unknown" message. I'm testing all of this out in the yard with the dish connected directly to the receiver (no multiswitch). As the Dish 500 has two LNBs, I've just hooked up the one marked "119" to the receiver. I've set the "skew" to 90 degrees).

Any ideas on how I can use the Dish 500 with sat 61.5?

I tested out the Dish 500 and verified that it works with sat 110 and sat 119.

Some more questions: If I cannot use it with sat 61.5, the same content is on 121 and 148. The little azimuth and elevation calculators on Dish's website describe how to calculate for four satellites, but sat 121 is not one of them. If I cannot use the Dish 500 with 61.5 (and I think I should), can I use it with sat 148? Where can I find the calculator for sat 121.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Chuckster]

You may need to go onto the signal strength screen & run a check switch when you have the signal at the 61.5 location.

 

[SimpleSimon]

That would be my first question - Did you run Check Switch?

What kind of receiver are you using?

As for your LNB, a Dual has one 'eye' and DishPro has a big DP on it. Go here to see pictures of the various LNBs.

As for the other stuff, you will NEVER get 105 or 121 with a standard Dish LNB - it requires a FSS LNB.

 

[klgould]

Still stumped

Thanks for the responses. Running the "check switch" didn't seem to make a difference for me. I still can't convince the receiver that it's seeing the sat 61.5. My receiver has absolutely no brand name on it nor model number - just says has Dish logo on it. I can lock onto 110 and 119 all day long with this setup, but as soon as I swing over to 61.5, I get good signal strength, but just end up with the "wrong sat - unknown" message. Is it even conceivable that I'm seeing the wrong sat or do I need to do something else to get it to work with the Dish 500? Like I said in my original post, I have the skew set to 90 degrees and the elevation set to 42 degrees, which is what a dish 300 would expect - anyone know if I have to somehow compensate these settings because it's a Dish 500?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[mattb]

You should be able to do 61.5 without a problem (even with a E*500, Ive used one of these to get skyangel only. I know you said the receiver just has a Dish Logo on it, have you looked at the system menu, I havent looked at my receiver in recent but I beleive it tells the model in there. (forgive me if I am wrong, Just getting back into E* myself)

 

[SimpleSimon]

I'm still waiting to find out what kind of LNBs & switches are involved. Plus the receiver model would help a lot - is it a Legacy (4-digit) or DishPro (3-digit).

 

[David_Levin]

Doesn't a Dish 500 require a pointing adjustment for the side sats? Isn't the pointing screen based on a Dish 300? Not sure about the skew for this setup.

It'll also depend on if your using the 110 or 119 LNB mount.

Wrong sat is kinda strange. Once you run the check switch, any sat should be correct... Unless you're locking on someone else's bird.

 

[CKNA]

When it says wrong satellite, it still should say on the bottom which one. You maybe pointing at Canadian BEV satellite. There are two at 82 degrees and 91 degrees.

I see you are setting skew. You do not need to do that as it is only for receiving two satellites. Set the skew at zero. That will make it easier.

Look up a model number of your reciever on the back and let us know.

 

[Mr Tony]

When it says wrong satellite, it still should say on the bottom which one. You maybe pointing at Canadian BEV satellite. There are two at 82 degrees and 91 degrees.

If on the system setup its checked to 119 and he tries to ainm at 61.5, he'll get the same message

I see you are setting skew. You do not need to do that as it is only for receiving two satellites. Set the skew at zero. That will make it easier.

90 makes the dish straight. 0 would make one lnb on top of the other. 90 is correct

Make sure in the system install, you check the box for 61.5. I just did it the other day and it worked fine.

 

[boba]

Setting the skew at 90 is correct that is the equivalent of a DISH 300. If you go to menu 6-1-3 the first line displayed is the model #. When using a dish 500 your azimuth is off by 4.5 degrees because the satellites are 9 degrees apart on the "Y" adapter. Start with your dish pointing farther East than you need to be and swing it toward the West hopefully the first signal you hit will be 61.5. Voom broadcasts from that location so you could hit a satellite that it won't lock onto you need to select a transponder DISH is broadcasting on.

 

[jerrydss]

All of the above is right, doesnt really matter what type of receiver you are using, as long as it is a Dish receiver, set the skew at 90. You will have to adjust your elevation and azimuth slightly, due to the D500, and there are 2 'ghost' sat's in the same place as the 61.5, I always seem to find them when doing a MC or International, just gotta tweak the dish in. If the sat signal is in red and states wrong sat detected, make sure you have the 61.5 sat checked on your menu screen that may solve your problem.

 

[klgould]

Just in case anyone is still interested I got my Dish 500 to work with sat 61.5. The receiver that I am using is just labelled on the back as being a "model 2700" with no manufacturer's name. When I locked onto the satellite, it continued to say "Wrong Satellite - Unknown" and I had a signal strength of 110.

I disconnected the RG6 to the dish 500, ran a "Check Switch" (even though I have no switch installed), powered off, reconnected the RG6, re-ran the "Check Switch", powered on and off a couple of times and then it worked. I now see the Dish International promo channel, and an abbreviated channel lineup that just includes 3 or 4 foreign music channels.

I assume that if I actually subscribe then the channel lineup on the Program Guide expands? I have to ask because I'm doing all of this work to get the Chinese channels and they had better show up in the Program Guide once I subscribe

 

[SimpleSimon]

They should show up, assuming the channels you want are actually on a bird you can see.

 

[CKNA]

If on the system setup its checked to 119 and he tries to ainm at 61.5, he'll get the same message


90 makes the dish straight. 0 would make one lnb on top of the other. 90 is correct

Make sure in the system install, you check the box for 61.5. I just did it the other day and it worked fine.

You are correct. My mistake 90 degrees makes it straight. I do not why I got it confused.