Finally!

[stanleyjohn]

I still think lowering the dish abit is a good choice!Just pay attention while running your deere.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Ok! The limbs are down!

Cost me $50 but it was well worth it! There was NO WAY I was about to climb that tree, much less use a chainsaw way up there. That would have been a quick, one way trip to the morgue for me..

So I paid my friend's boyfriend again to do it. He said it was no big deal because he's used to being hundreds of feet up in the air building scaffolding in a refinery.


He tied a rope to the ends of the limbs and I stood on the ground and pulled them away from the dishes as he cut on them. That part for me wasn't hard at all. I did make sure not to wrap the rope around my hands like I learned watching Swamp People. Just in case something went went wrong I didn't want my arm getting ripped out.

I did make him tie the ladder to the tree and tie himself up to a higher limb just in case. He objected but I prevailed. I didn't want to get stuck paying life support bills if he fell out of the tree and was all messed up... Or was killed..

So it went well, there were no major problems, one limb brushed the dish as it came down but it didn't seem to have done any damage to it, the dish is still on the satellites just fine.

I now have a clear shot at the sky, at least for the satellites that I feel are going to get the most usage..

There are still other limbs up there but I do not believe they are in the way.

Now the next thing I need to do is concentrate on 87 AMC 3, the two channels I really, really want are there. We lost thisTV on WVXF so that satellite is of no real use to me anymore. The new channel there is boring. Sorry but I'm not a huge health freak so much that I have to watch that stuff around the clock. I know I need to diet and I don't need a bunch of skinny people laying guilt trips on me.. Meh........


So, the tree problem is no longer an issue. Now it's all about alignment.

As for cutting the pole down lower, that's a must. When I stand up on that wobbly old ladder, the top rung is 5' in the air. I'm 5' 7" so that puts my head up in the air over 10' high! A fall from that height for me could be fatal. I don't want to die just yet.

So, that said, the pole is going to be cut down 2 feet shorter. It's still a good way up but I won't have to stand all the way to the top of the ladder, I can stand in the middle of it where it's a lot more stable, stronger and safer. The chances of a fatal fall are greatly reduced. Falling from half the distance I'll just end up in the hospital for a few days at worst, I would think.

I do not like being up on high places.

One step forward, two steps back...

 

[stanleyjohn]

Looking good dee! The tree cutting reminded me of the half a dozen or more trees i took down last summer so i could have full line of site from 90 to 130w.It was alot of work but now i have a good supply of wood for my wood stove.

 

[osu1991]

From a close look at your grid, I'd say it's aligned excellent with the face of the dish.
Yes, the scalar ring is way off parallel to the dish face.
But, the LNBF is not as far off being perpendicular to the dish.
Worst point is, the LNBF is neither located-at, nor aimed-at the center of the dish.
Zoom in on the picture, and you'll see what I mean.
And people wonder why I always request photos...

I know it'll be hard to get the LNBF relocated properly, prior to lowering the dish.
I'd be inclined to suggest you wait 'till ya cut the pole, 'cause everything will be much closer to the ground.
Just be sure you don't cut off too much.

Once the LNBF is centered-on, and aimed-at the middle of your dish, I suspect you'll find you need to adjust the elevation just a wee bit.
But, that could be just what the doctor ordered.

Is there any chance you'll be able to look up through the hole in the center of the dish to see if the LNBF is centered?
I won't suggest rigging up a cheap laser pointer at this point, since it might be more like the tail wagging the dog.
But whatever techniques you develop for this little dish, will go a long way to ease the alignment of your big BUD, later down the line!

You're right. I didn't notice it till you said that, but the lnb is not aimed at the center of the dish. Straighten the scaler and get the lnb lined up correctly and everything will probably fall into place, signal wise.

 

[Mr Tony]

Dee I know you dont want to believe some folks advice, but for fun today (since it is pretty nice out) I put out the ghetto move 6 footer. Same dish (well pretty much. Mine is multi-colored due to changing some panels on it) and aimed for 99W to verify the post you made before about Live Well

Then moved the dish to 87W. Now for me in Minnesota 87-101 is all about the same elevation so I can literally move the dish across the arc. Moved to 87W and peaked the LNB a little bit (skewed it). I was goign to take pics of the setup but then I thought "she has a Coolsat" so hooked up the Coolsat 5000 to the dish

pics of ThisTV, MeTV, NASA and a couple other TP's to show something....63-64 is threshold on the Coolsat. 69-70 is very stable and 72+ is good
the dish will work fine for 87W
the receiver is a great machine
if you tweak it ever so slightly signal will move
I had to manually enter the info for ThisTV. Blind scan WILL NOT get it for some reason. Tried 3 times. 2 on "normal" scan and 1 on "detail"

But also as noted the scaler ring looks a smidge off. Try and make it level as that will help. If the LNB isn't 100% level dont worry as I know mine isnt yet I got results below.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Dee I know you dont want to believe some folks advice, but for fun today (since it is pretty nice out) I put out the ghetto move 6 footer. Same dish (well pretty much. Mine is multi-colored due to changing some panels on it) and aimed for 99W to verify the post you made before about Live Well

Then moved the dish to 87W. Now for me in Minnesota 87-101 is all about the same elevation so I can literally move the dish across the arc. Moved to 87W and peaked the LNB a little bit (skewed it). I was goign to take pics of the setup but then I thought "she has a Coolsat" so hooked up the Coolsat 5000 to the dish

pics of ThisTV, MeTV, NASA and a couple other TP's to show something....63-64 is threshold on the Coolsat. 69-70 is very stable and 72+ is good
the dish will work fine for 87W
the receiver is a great machine
if you tweak it ever so slightly signal will move
I had to manually enter the info for ThisTV. Blind scan WILL NOT get it for some reason. Tried 3 times. 2 on "normal" scan and 1 on "detail"

But also as noted the scaler ring looks a smidge off. Try and make it level as that will help. If the LNB isn't 100% level dont worry as I know mine isnt yet I got results below.

WOW! Well, that's reassuring..

Of course you are obviously much more skilled at this than I could ever hope to be so you're much better at all the little tricks of fine tuning these things. I totally believe you and everyone else, that this can be done. I openly admit that I am completely unskilled at this and have no real clue what I'm doing. I am totally learning as I go on this and it's pretty difficult stuff, at least for me. Some of it I understand, some of it I will never understand. And being that I am mathematically challenged, that makes it really difficult if not impossible for me to deal with things like working out the arc stuff and what-not.

But, I'm trying and I'm slowly getting there. It takes time for much of this stuff to soak into my thick skull and I have to do things over and over many times before "I get it".. For the most part, it's been more pot luck for me than science...

But I won't give up. I am going to get this thing working right! I've put so much money and time and effort into it now that I have crossed over the line of no return and now I have to get this down right because it bugs me that everyone else can get it right but I can't.

Thank you for showing me that not only can it work but that it can work well. This inspires me to work harder to get this thing right!

 

[Dee_Ann]

So my dad came by this morning with his pipe saw.

I didn't get any pictures because I had to help. Both of us lifted the dish off the pole and set it down then dad cut the pole off and I held the top part so it didn't fall and hit him in the head.

One thing I was concerned about was cutting the pole straight so that the part sitting in it would have a level surface to rotate on, if that makes any sense. So I took an old plastic coffee can, cut the bottom out and slid it over the pole. I took a white paint marker and drew a line using the edge of the can as a guide. Then Dad sawed the pole along the line and the edge came out perfectly level with the ground.

I have to toot my own horn and proclaim that I feel that was pretty darn clever of me..

So anyway, after he cut the pole we put the dish back on the pole and dad left. I took my little tv / pyramid / tripod invention and re-found the satellite again.

I didn't try to mess with the lnb or anything else just yet. Now that the dish is much lower to the ground, I can just stand on my tip-toes and touch the scaler ring. I'm going to take some cinder blocks and some boards and build a little platform that I can stand on to work on it, that way I can do away with the ladder completely and be 100% safe now with no risk of falling. I can leave the platform there as long as I need it.

I also purchased a little LED lamp with straps that you put on your forehead so I can see what I'm doing, considering I do so much of this in the wee hours of the morning. It's very, very common for me to be out back at 3am on the ladder messing with the darn thing. Holding a flashlight in my teeth American Pickers style just wasn't getting it. So I got the little head lamp. It has various levels you can set, 4, 8 or all 18 LEDs. Very handy! I like it a lot!

In a few weeks I'll have that little handheld tuner/meter thing in and that will help too.

But for now I think that with the dish lower and my little tv on a tripod, I can get this thing fixed. I'm sure now that all my problem is to do with the scaler ring being all wonky and the lnb off center and who know what else. But I'm sure it's all about the lnb area...

 

[Phottoman]

Folgers, eh? I prefer Yuban myself.

Good on you Dee-Ann. Now you'll be safer and be able to finally get this thing aimed correctly.

And by the way, you really didn't need to spend MORE money on the meter, there is/was plenty of advise here on how to use your TV as a meter, would have been MUCH cheaper. But you ARE on your way regardless of the money.

And your dad has been a GREAT help through all of this. Now you really REALLY need to locate another C Band dish for him and your Mom so they can enjoy all you've learned through this.

Photto

 

[upnatm]

I'd like to offer an opinion on your "crooked" scalar ring.

Your loss of signal at 87w (other sats too?) in the morning when the sun arrives,
could be due to "terrestrial interference", something the scalar ring is designed to
cope with when properly aligned near the dish's focal point.
The Sun emits a lot of stuff, not just the light we can see, it all bounces around down
here, and some of it is getting past your scalar ring and into the LNBF, overpowering
the faint signal sent from the Clark Belt.

As mentioned earlier, this misalignment is also keeping the LNBF
from being at the "sweet-spot" for best reception. Once you have
these parts "tweaked", I'm sure your smile will become a lot wider!

Just an opinion, but I hope it helps.

Cheers, and keep up the good work!

 

[trinidex]

So my dad came by this morning with his pipe saw.

I didn't get any pictures because I had to help. Both of us lifted the dish off the pole and set it down then dad cut the pole off and I held the top part so it didn't fall and hit him in the head.

One thing I was concerned about was cutting the pole straight so that the part sitting in it would have a level surface to rotate on, if that makes any sense. So I took an old plastic coffee can, cut the bottom out and slid it over the pole. I took a white paint marker and drew a line using the edge of the can as a guide. Then Dad sawed the pole along the line and the edge came out perfectly level with the ground.

I have to toot my own horn and proclaim that I feel that was pretty darn clever of me..

So anyway, after he cut the pole we put the dish back on the pole and dad left. I took my little tv / pyramid / tripod invention and re-found the satellite again.

I didn't try to mess with the lnb or anything else just yet. Now that the dish is much lower to the ground, I can just stand on my tip-toes and touch the scaler ring. I'm going to take some cinder blocks and some boards and build a little platform that I can stand on to work on it, that way I can do away with the ladder completely and be 100% safe now with no risk of falling. I can leave the platform there as long as I need it.

I also purchased a little LED lamp with straps that you put on your forehead so I can see what I'm doing, considering I do so much of this in the wee hours of the morning. It's very, very common for me to be out back at 3am on the ladder messing with the darn thing. Holding a flashlight in my teeth American Pickers style just wasn't getting it. So I got the little head lamp. It has various levels you can set, 4, 8 or all 18 LEDs. Very handy! I like it a lot!

In a few weeks I'll have that little handheld tuner/meter thing in and that will help too.

But for now I think that with the dish lower and my little tv on a tripod, I can get this thing fixed. I'm sure now that all my problem is to do with the scaler ring being all wonky and the lnb off center and who know what else. But I'm sure it's all about the lnb area...

The thread lives on....yay!

At some point you'll have to admit that you have all the necessary skills to navigate this hobby, a coffee jar to Mark the pole - love that!!!

Your Dad is awesome too, obviously sees something in this and the benefits of keeping you occupied!

You keep saying you're not this and not that, but I can tell, and I'm sure I'm not alone, you got all the stuff and tenacity you need for this!

Wonder if we could make a low budget movie to highlight your struggles and the reward for those struggles, it could air on PBS and we can all watch it with our FTA setups LOL!!!

It's all good Dee, you're getting it good and all of us following along are really glad you are.

17 pages 250 posts ROFL!!!

 

[Mr Tony]

WOW! Well, that's reassuring..

Of course you are obviously much more skilled at this than I could ever hope to be so you're much better at all the little tricks of fine tuning these things. I totally believe you and everyone else, that this can be done. I openly admit that I am completely unskilled at this and have no real clue what I'm doing. I am totally learning as I go on this and it's pretty difficult stuff, at least for me. Some of it I understand, some of it I will never understand. And being that I am mathematically challenged, that makes it really difficult if not impossible for me to deal with things like working out the arc stuff and what-not.

While I have worked with C-Band for 4 years now I was green when I first started with it so I understand. This was more of a "picture is worth a 1000 words" to show that the 6 footer does work fine for the 2 stations you really want (unless you want NASA too). My dish is not motorized, its "ghetto moved" which means just that. It sits in the garage and I wheel it out with the 2 wheeler in front of the garage (have line of site there) and literally pull the dish across the arc. I take the receiver (GeosatPro 200 or Pansat 1500) and find a known transponder. Bring that up and move the dish until I get quality. Then fine tune from there. Here in Minneapolis 93W is my true south (highest satellite in sky). From 87 over to 101 or 103 the elevation is very minimal change so I can literally slide the dish across the arc. For me to find 87W I dial up the Nasa transponder and go from there. Now I dont know if you are going to use this as motorized or fixed right now (some of your posts remind me of talking to my mother...they go so many different ways I forget what was said)
I think you're in the Beaumont vicinity which looking at the elevations 95W is your true south. So you're kinda in the same boat as me. 95, 93, 91, 89, 87, 97, 99 & 101 are all within a degree elevation of each other so if you find one satellite the rest should fall into place. If you are going to use it as a "fixed" setup you should be able to move the dish across the arc and get 87W

I think its just something minor like the LNB not skewed good enough or maybe it needs to be pushed in towards the dish further.

Thank you for showing me that not only can it work but that it can work well. This inspires me to work harder to get this thing right!

glad to help.

 

[Anole]

Wonder if we could make a low budget movie to highlight your struggles and the reward for those struggles, it could air on PBS and we can all watch it with our FTA setups LOL!!!

Dee can shoot it with her iPhone, and by the time it's done, probably uplink it herself!

 

[truckracer]

Nice little dish farm!! you are becoming a great satellite tech. keep learning! its a great hobby. i use the little pyramid repeaters too. i have rf modulators sendinf RF standard def to my outdoor tv's in tbe gazebo and picnic shelter. works great!

 

[Dee_Ann]

Shifting my hours a little towards normal, for a few weeks anyway... Oh the joys of sleeping disorders...


So.. I went out today into the daylight and didn't burst into flames or turn to dust as I was warned about!

I built a little platform out of cinder blocks and boards that I can stand on and work on the lnb without any danger of falling.. Whew!

I decided to see if I could try to dewonkify the wonky scarler ring.

I tugged and twisted and got nowhere. All I could get was flippin blotchy MeTV and blotchy NASA. Arrrrrgh!! :rant:

So, I decided, what the heck, let's try the cheap looking ring that came with the lnb. What could it hurt? Right?

So I took the ring off that I had salvaged off of an lnb that I found in the tool shed and replaced it with the very, very cheap looking ring that came with the lnb.

I had to push and twist on it and look at it from a distance to make it look like it was essentially square with the dish then clamped the lnb into it. I hit blind scan and all sorts of new channels came in I hadn't seen before. CSN this and that, Belmont, and other names that allude to horse racing. I was sure that now I was somehow picking up 95 Galaxy 3C which is lots of horse racing channels.. Arrrrgh.. I was sure now that I was totally on the wrong satellite, that the lnb was really out of whack or something else seriously wrong.

But, I discovered that also in there was MeTV and NASA. HUH??

So I got frustrated, took all my tools and stuff into the house and sat down to have a soda. I decided to check The List to see what the heck satellite I was on with all those new channels and to my shock I learned that those are channels on 87 AMC 3 !

I also found that now my MeTV is coming in very solid and clear. The signal is still only showing about 67% - 69% tops but it's steady and solid. That's the same level it was reading before BUT it was very unstable and blotchy. Hmmmm..

So I tried a manual scan for the thisTV channel and it ~A-L-M-O-S-T~ sorta wants to read it but it just doesn't quite catch. I'm only getting 64% on that transponder but it is in green at least. So I feel that I'm close.
I also hopped around and blind scanned other satellites and LOTS of new channels are showing up..

For now I'm giving it a break and I'll mess with it later. In the meantime I am pleased that I'm getting a very stable picture on MeTV. I'm almost afraid to touch it now but darn it, I want those 3am-6am thisTV shows!

Getting warmer!

 

[Mr Tony]

Yeah there are some scrambled horse race feeds on 87W

I also found that now my MeTV is coming in very solid and clear. The signal is still only showing about 67% - 69% tops but it's steady and solid.

so you are very close. We're talking a little move and you should get up to the 76 or so I showed. A thought is to lean into the dish while having the manual scan option up. If you lean into the dish and the signal goes up, then you know to move it a little bit. If it drops then try the other way to pinpoint the "sweet spot". If the signal drops when yo go East or West then try up or down. Very minimal changes can make a HUGE difference

So I tried a manual scan for the thisTV channel and it ~A-L-M-O-S-T~ sorta wants to read it but it just doesn't quite catch. I'm only getting 64% on that transponder but it is in green at least. So I feel that I'm close.

The reason is because of the FEC (Forward Error Correction)..basically how much of the stream is used to correct errors. The FEC is 5/6 for ThisTV and only 3/4 for MeTV.
IN simple terms, the higher the FEC (5/6 is higher) the more signal you need to keep it stable. SO you'll need a little more signal to get ThisTV to show up.

But you are almost there. Did you try and turn (skew) the LNB a little bit?

 

[Anole]

As a point of reference, could you duplicate just this final picture you posted before?
It's the one with the dish horizontal, and the grid overlay.
Comparing the two side by side, would make great training aid for newbies. - :up

 

[Dee_Ann]

As a point of reference, could you duplicate just this final picture you posted before?
It's the one with the dish horizontal, and the grid overlay.
Comparing the two side by side, would make great training aid for newbies. - :up

I would be pleased to but it will have to wait until later. We're having a freak rain event. It hasn't rained in months and today we're catching up a little.. Also I think it would be better if I did it at night again so the dish is on a black background, for clarity sake.

 

[Anole]

Absolutely ! . - :up
I only meant: sometime in the next few days.
And of course, assuming you were now getting all your signals, and the alignment looked much better.

By the way, your night photography is outstanding!
I think I saw what looked like a street lite up in one of your trees (pix of man up there to cut limb).
Didn't think ya had a flash good enough to lite up those dishes on the iPhone.!.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Absolutely ! . - :up
I only meant: sometime in the next few days.
And of course, assuming you were now getting all your signals, and the alignment looked much better.

By the way, your night photography is outstanding!
I think I saw what looked like a street lite up in one of your trees (pix of man up there to cut limb).
Didn't think ya had a flash good enough to lite up those dishes on the iPhone.!.

The streetlight is pooped out..

I do have an iphone but I also have a ~nice~ camera, a Canon..

Sometimes at night I use the flash, as I did on the dish/grid photo and sometimes I set a long exposure and nix the flash. Amateur photography is one hobby I aspire to master some day. I have this fantasy that one day I wake up and the camera fairy has left me a matched pair of Canon EOS 5D Mark II's. I would like a pair of them for doing 3D photography. So yeah, when $10 grand falls into my purse, I'm getting two. But by that time they'll be going on eBay for $100. 20 years from now...

Actually, this is a webcam snap of me snapping a picture of the webcam with the Canon... DOH! (Beware! I don't have any makeup on! )


But yeah, I usually use the Canon as the iPhone camera is pretty much a joke. It's no better than a kiddie camera in a disposable Pay as you go cell phone. Oh wait, it is a cell phone camera! DOH!!

So when I want to take good pictures, I use the Canon. When I just need a quick snap of something and don't have time to run in the house and get a real camera I use the iPhone..

 

[trinidex]

Shifting my hours a little towards normal, for a few weeks anyway... Oh the joys of sleeping disorders...

So.. I went out today into the daylight and didn't burst into flames or turn to dust as I was warned about!

I built a little platform out of cinder blocks and boards that I can stand on and work on the lnb without any danger of falling.. Whew!

I decided to see if I could try to dewonkify the wonky scarler ring.

Dewonkify..... ROFL !!

Follow Ices advice, you have the portable TV so tweaking should be a breeze for you, lean the disvLeft, then Right, then Up, then Dwn and the a combination of all 4 ! You'll getit!