Easiest / Strongest Satellite to aim at from Central Florida ?

[user786]

Hi all, I finally got my equipment and I am ready to start looking for satellites.
All high quality coax has been run and dish is mounted and Viewsat Ultra is on and ready to go.

Here is my exact setup:

Viewsat Ultra running factory bin file
Extreme II Linear LNB with 0.3db noise rating
Quality RG6 cable
Dish Network Plus Dish measuring 30 inches wide and 24 inches tall
a generic bracket mount from ebay allowing me to mount the ExtremeII LNB on the arm of the Dish Network Superdish.

What is the satellite with the strongest signal and easiest to aim at from Florida zip code 34741 ? I tried for about 45 minutes nonstop to find Galaxy 19 with no luck at all. My signal is 75 and my quality stays at 0 no matter how hard I tried to find it using the data from dishpointer.com
I have attached some pictures of my dish setup here :

http://207.36.201.8/~op/temp/photo1.jpg
http://207.36.201.8/~op/temp/photo2.jpg
http://207.36.201.8/~op/temp/photo3.jpg
http://207.36.201.8/~op/temp/photo4.jpg

Any input is appreciated. I am not 100% certain I mounted the LNB correctly to the dish with the generic bracket. How does it look from the pics? Should I slightly adjust/bend the LNB mount so that the LNB will be pretty much pointing directly plum into the middle of the dish?

 

[qwert1515]

Did you remember to skew the LNB?
From your zip code your longitude is: 81.4°W
I would first try a satellite close to that location. (74°, 79°, 83°)

 

[guapoharry]

Where you want the LNBF to be located is at the focus of the parabola (dish).

If you have the original LNBF for the dish, that will tell you where to put the new LNBF.

The face of the new one should be postioned where the face of the old one was.

 

[ynnedibanez]

Where you want the LNBF to be located is at the focus of the parabola (dish).

If you have the original LNBF for the dish, that will tell you where to put the new LNBF.

The face of the new one should be postioned where the face of the old one was.

yeah, it looks like your lnb is positioned wrong
g19 has some pretty hot transponders, so if you are having problems with it, your lnb probably is not on the focal point of the dish, or it is not skewed properly.

 

[user786]

Does anyone have any experience trying to use the type of dish I am using?
30" wide by 24" tall. Is this big enough to hit a strong bird like galaxy 19 from zip 34741? Also how do i properly skew the Extreme II LNB. Dishpointer shows a skew around 26

I would like to successfully hit at least one of the easiest, strongest birds to make sure my LNB and dish are sufficient. Then that will give me some confidence to try aiming elsewhere. My signal is at 79 to 80 fluctuating but I get 0 quality when looking for 97 west. What bird should i aim at?

I have viewsat set at 97west, type standard, lnb freq 10750, 22khz off, tp freq 11991, lnb power on, diseqc none, motor off.
I got my elevation perfectly at 53 degrees and then very slowly moved left and right between 180 and 240 degrees and had no luck hitting anything at all. Almost everywhere was signal 74 and q 0 but I found a "sweetspot" where I got signal 80 and still quality 0. That's the best I did.

Please help me anyone.

 

[user786]

Is the focal point in the direct dead center of the dish? So 15" horizontal and 12" vertical on my 30" by 24" dish ?

yeah, it looks like your lnb is positioned wrong
g19 has some pretty hot transponders, so if you are having problems with it, your lnb probably is not on the focal point of the dish, or it is not skewed properly.

 

[user786]

Forgot to add that i personally installed and aimed dishes for 110,119 and also for 82,91 many times in the past so i am not a total newbie but this is my first time using a custom bracket and linear LNB on a dish network plus dish to try to get FTA stuff. I'm just not in a financial spot right now to run out and buy a 36" dish so I wanted to fiddle with my 30 by 24 dish first to see what I could achieve with it. From doing a lot of reading online, most folks think it is an acceptable size to get galaxy 19 from Central Florida with a stationary setup. I have no experience and have no idea if this is so or not. Has anyone else ever tried?

 

[phlatwound]

If you have the original factory LNBF setup put it on your dish and take some measurements, then try to duplicate that focal distance and aim, with the linear setup.

That dish should be big enough to at least get some of the stronger tps on 97W.

You mentioned a frequency (11991), do you have the correct symbol rate and polarity entered also, for the tp you are trying for?

Here is a list of strong transponders for the NA Ku sats:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/85225-i-need-strong-transponder-aim-my.html

 

[user786]

OK I did the measurements and now my bracket and LNB seem to be the exact height, angle and distance away from the dish and aimed at almost dead on where the original LNB was aimed at. Also I checked all my individual TP settings on the viewsat and they are all correct. I set the elevation on the dish at 53 and moved VERY slow between 200 and 240 degrees and still got nothing at all. I have a perfectly open view of the sky with nothing at all in front of me. My S is at 79-80 but Q is not moving from 0.

Next question is how do I set the skew properly on this dish and EXTREME II LNB setup? Dishpointer says I need a skew of 26. right now the LNB is just set perfectly straight. Being how it is currently set should I at least expect to get some sort of Q reading even in the very low ranges and then I just adjust skew to fine tune in the signal to the strongest point or should I expect that I will get Q of 0 unless I first get the skew exactly right at 26? I have no idea how to set the skew on this linear LNB. Do I rotate the entire dish assembly or do I twist the LNB itself only or what? Also how do I even know where is zero skew on the EXTREME II LNB ? It came with no instruction papers showing any markings etc on what to use as zero skew.

Sorry for being longwinded but I want to provide as much info as possible to get accurate feedback and help from you all.

Should I give up on Galaxy 19 and try something else? If so, what ? I read a few people said G19 is very hard to get. Is this a fact?

Thanks again.

If you have the original factory LNBF setup put it on your dish and take some measurements, then try to duplicate that focal distance and aim, with the linear setup.

That dish should be big enough to at least get some of the stronger tps on 97W.

You mentioned a frequency (11991), do you have the correct symbol rate and polarity entered also, for the tp you are trying for?

Here is a list of strong transponders for the NA Ku sats:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/85225-i-need-strong-transponder-aim-my.html

 

[ynnedibanez]

the skew can be set two different ways with your setup
being as it is an oval dish with a skew plate, i would leave the lnb set at zero and skew the dish 26 degrees clockwise standing behind the dish.

the other option is to leave the dish at zero (or 90 degrees, cant remember how the skew plate is made on this particular dish) so it is even on the left and right and turn the lnb clockwise 26 degrees from the back of the dish.

either way one of the skew adjustments must be straight up and down and the other must be at 26 degrees clockwise.
with linear polarized satellites skew (or polarization) is absolutely essential.
g19 at 97w is a really good satellite to start with, it has several strong transponders, and is fairly easy to find.
hope this helps,
Denny

 

[Tron]

I would go with option #1, skew the entire dish and set the LNBF at '0'. Since this is an elliptical dish, skewing the entire dish will probably get you more signal.

Linear Ku is far more difficult to aim at than circular DBS. The birds are weaker and closer together. As Ynnedibanez mentioned, skew is an absolutely critical adjustment for linear satellites. You won't get anything if your skew is not properly set. Since the satellite you are aiming at is West of your location, tilt (skew) the dish toward the West.

 

[delta_charlie]

Hi, you might want to try AMC 1 at 101W. The Pentagon channel is very strong and you should be able to lock it with a smaller dish. Just be aware the skew on that TP is not normal. Just leave the dish and the LNB set to zero and try to find it. I'm also near central Florida and my best signal came from no skew.

My Pansat lists it as 12097/V/20000, Lynsat 12100/V/20000

Hope this helps, DC

 

[user786]

I am at my wits end. I have tried EVERYTHING and I get S to be around 79-80 but I just can't get the Q to move from 0 no matter where I aim it. Left, right, up, down.
This is a brand new XTREME II LNB I just bought. I am wondering if the LNB could be bad or if the 30x24 dish is just too small and that's why it isn't getting any signal.

Is there any special test I can do to this linear LNB to see if it is working or not? I would assume it is based on the fact that it is giving a S of 80 when powered on and when powered off from the viewsat it goes down to S 20. Also it was brand new sealed in the box when I bought it. I noticed that the skew setting is done differently on this LNB and I looked for the notch and made the adjustment to around 25 degrees by twisting the LNB and I am sure I twisted in the correct direction (to the left when I am facing the concave front of the dish). I went and looked at a neighbor's set up and his was also skewed to the left. I left the dish completely straight at a skew of 90 degrees. My transponder settings for G19 were definitely all correct. I triple checked.

Now I am going to try to hit that pentagon channel on 103W at AMC1 by putting the LNB back to skew of 0 degrees and skewing the entire dish towards the west at 32 degrees. This is the setting I got from dishpointer.com for AMC1 from my location. I will use TP 12100 S/R 20000 V Polarity and FEC 3/4.

I am pulling my hair out on this and just can't get what is wrong or what I am doing wrong. I hope the LNB isn't bad or the 30x24" eliptical dish is simply to small. I could be trying forever in vain if that is the case.

 

[singkwan2004]

I am at my wits end. I have tried EVERYTHING and I get S to be around 79-80 but I just can't get the Q to move from 0 no matter where I aim it. Left, right, up, down.
This is a brand new XTREME II LNB I just bought. I am wondering if the LNB could be bad or if the 30x24 dish is just too small and that's why it isn't getting any signal.

Is there any special test I can do to this linear LNB to see if it is working or not? I would assume it is based on the fact that it is giving a S of 80 when powered on and when powered off from the viewsat it goes down to S 20. Also it was brand new sealed in the box when I bought it. I noticed that the skew setting is done differently on this LNB and I looked for the notch and made the adjustment to around 25 degrees by twisting the LNB and I am sure I twisted in the correct direction (to the left when I am facing the concave front of the dish). I went and looked at a neighbor's set up and his was also skewed to the left. I left the dish completely straight at a skew of 90 degrees. My transponder settings for G19 were definitely all correct. I triple checked.

Now I am going to try to hit that pentagon channel on 103W at AMC1 by putting the LNB back to skew of 0 degrees and skewing the entire dish towards the west at 32 degrees. This is the setting I got from dishpointer.com for AMC1 from my location. I will use TP 12100 S/R 20000 V Polarity and FEC 3/4.

I am pulling my hair out on this and just can't get what is wrong or what I am doing wrong. I hope the LNB isn't bad or the 30x24" eliptical dish is simply to small. I could be trying forever in vain if that is the case.

I have no idea how you reset the dish after the pics showed.
But from the pic, your LNBs point it too high to the dish, it should point to below the two screw line on the dish, the older type LNBF we can move it farter or closer to the dish to adjust the focal point, you need not to skew the whole dish, just the LNBF. Normally set it to 7 to 1 or 8 to 2 o'clock or 4 to 10 or 5 to 11 o'clock position depending east or west coast you are at for the satellite.
I am at Dallas, my highest satellite is G19 at 97*, I do not need to set skew for the 93* to 101* satellites, but if I further need to west satellite, I need to set the LNBF skew at 7-1 o'clock position looking from behind the dish.
Looking FTA satellite is much difficult to the big two company because those satellite are in lower signal power, it need cool mind to look for satellites.
Keep trying. Or if you can afford a cheap signal meter, get one so you will hear noise when you will hit or close to a satellite, this is good for DIY.

 

[delta_charlie]

Hi, do not skew the dish for the Pentagon channel - the skew is not normal on that TP. Leave the dish and the LNB set to zero.

Later, DC

 

[Jim S.]

I can get about 6 transponders on 97w with an 18" dish, so assuming that the LNB is good, I'd still suspect its position on the arm isn't right.

 

[user786]

OK I finally have SOME bit more positive news to share but still in trouble with why I am having problems.

I went and borrowed my neighbors linear LNB which is a known good LNB and stuck it on my arm mount and threw it up on the dish and aligned and found G19 within 3 minutes VERY easily. His is a basic VERY cheapy $10 linear LNB with 0.5 db noise rating. The one I have is supposed to be a better XTREME II from my research on this forum with 0.3 db noise rating. Hooray I got a bird with his cheapo LNB! I then proceeded to really fine tune and align the dish as perfectly as possible down to the oomph degree. The sad news that even with properly skewing the dish (I left the LNB at 0 and skewed the entire dish 26 degrees) I still was only getting a signal of 80 and a Quality of mid 30's at maximum. I really seriously fine tuned skew and tilt and direction and that was the absolute best on the strongest G19 transponder which for me happened to be 11898. Then I went inside and did a full blindscan and got about 20 to 30 channels only. All the channels on transponder 11898 worked fine in the mid 30 for quality but all the other transponders had quality of 10-12 and would not display a viewable video feed. Also many transpoders listed on lyngsat were plain missing. So anyway I saved the results of the blindscan and then went outside and very very carefully removed his LNB and very carefully replaced it with my XTREME II LNB and made sure to skew the LNB at zero using the marking on the side. Tightened up and very carefully refintuned everything and went back in side. Hooray I was able to detect and lock on G19 but the BAD news is my LNB was giving way LESS quality than his cheap junk. His LNB says 0.5 noise and mine says 0.3 noise. Yet on 11898 TP his LNB was getting 34-35 and mine is getting barely 10-12. On the other TP's where his was getting 10-12 mine is now fluctuating between 0-2. This is FRUSTRATING to say the least but I am patient and am keeping my cool and happily taking the challenge and tinkering along diligently and looking for more advice.

Everyone keeps saying that 30"x24" is more than big enough but I am not sure. I have a totally clear view of the sky. No lines, no trees, no houses, NOTHING at all in front of me. The only other thing could be that the LNB is not at the correct focal length on the arm of the dish or not at the correct focal point on the dish. I use the original Dish Network LNB and have everything on my custom mount and linear LNB pretty much exactly lined up with the specs from the Dish Network original LNB.

What else can I try? Why is his cheapo LNB getting better quality than my LNB?
But even his is getting max of mid 30's for quality? I am using the Viewsat Ultra (not Ultra Lite) with the original factory bin file from viewsatusa.com and the default sat file. I have used this STB for over a year on some other circular polarity stuff and it works just fine. I will confirm this by taking it over to my neighbors house later on and jacking into his dish just to make sure. As you can probably tell I am pretty technical and a very analytical thinker but there must be something simple I am missing due to lack of as much experience as you guys. Yes I can go out and buy a nice fat 39" dish and it may solve the problem but where is the challenge in that? I should be getting higher than mid 30's with my 30x24 and my good quality LNB right?

Help me pros. Help me. What am I missing??

 

[user786]

Crazy idea....Should I leave the dish properly aimed as it is now and unscrew the mount and LNB from the arm and just manually move it around back and forth along the arm and angle it more up or down with my hand and see the readings I get? My arm will be partially blocking the dish view of the sky though.....Hmm. I'm willing to try any suggestions.

Is there any definitive way I can test this LNB to see if it is indeed working optimally? If it isn't I need to ship it back today or tomorrow at latest and hope the ebay seller is easy to deal with.

 

[phlatwound]

user, I don't have any more suggestions that haven't already been mentioned previously in your thread. Your dish is big enough, as Jim S. mentioned earlier he has picked up tps off of 97W with an 18" dish, and I have too.

You may have already seen this thread but it is very similar (in dish size) to what you are attempting.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/215851-directtv-slimline-fta-success.html

Another possibility, maybe a long shot but, could your dish be warped or the LNB arm be bent?

 

[ynnedibanez]

Crazy idea....Should I leave the dish properly aimed as it is now and unscrew the mount and LNB from the arm and just manually move it around back and forth along the arm and angle it more up or down with my hand and see the readings I get? My arm will be partially blocking the dish view of the sky though.....Hmm. I'm willing to try any suggestions.

Is there any definitive way I can test this LNB to see if it is indeed working optimally? If it isn't I need to ship it back today or tomorrow at latest and hope the ebay seller is easy to deal with.

your "crazy idea" sounds quite logical to me:up:up