Finally!

[Phottoman]

Dee-Ann, you ARE on the sat you are looking for, no doubt. What you have to do now is go out to the dish and while it is on that bird, gently push the dish up or down and wait a few seconds while you are holding the dish, see if that improves your signal. If that improves your signal it just means that you have to move your entire dish East or West just a fraction of an inch, loosen the bolts just enough to move the dish (NOT by using the actuator, move the whole dish), then move it with the actuator back to your True South then rescan the dish. It may take several tries, but you ARE there, just a little tweeking left to do.

If the signal improves when you lift the dish, you are too far EAST, move the dish WEST, if it improves the signal when you push down on the dish, you are too far WEST, move the dish EAST. You only want to move a fraction of an inch each time you move the dish manually, without the actuator.

If the signal improves when you pull UP on the dish, that means you are too low, to raise the dish, loosen the four main bolts holding the dish to the pole and move the entire dish EAST just a hair, tighten the bolts, and move the dish using the actuator back towards your True South just a tad then rescan, Be sure to delete all channels you were seeing before re-scanning. Then rescan your satellite. Obviously if the signal improves when you pull DOWN on the dish it means you are too high, so reverse everything I just said. To LOWER the dish, move the dish WEST just a hair, tighten the bolts and move it back EAST a hair with the actuator.

Once you get everything tightened back down, and you pick up a bunch of channels on that bird, go back out and try again with the pull up and push down action and see if the signal can be improved, if so do NOT stop, you may have to try this several times. You may even overshoot that small movement and have to go back and move the dish again and again and again, but this is how you tweek a dish.

Congratulations on doing a job that you were going to throw everything away a few days ago.

 

[stanleyjohn]

The 6 footor should be large enough to get metv,rtv,this and others on AMC3.If bumping the dish aliitle e/w didnt work then i would say lnb is alittle off or dish elevation off alittle.When you get back to it try slightly pushing down the bottom of the dish or pulling up while watching the sig quality on one of those HQ channels and see if that makes a differance.Opps! looks like Phottoman beat me to it.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Or, and this one scares me, is it possible that the 6' dish is just plain and simple too small?

Oh, I didn't realize this was a 6' dish. You probably won't be able to receive RTV or My Family TV, but since Me TV is DVB-S you will probably be able to receive it with a little more adjusting.

 

[Phottoman]

Oh, I didn't realize this was a 6' dish. You probably won't be able to receive RTV or My Family TV, but since Me TV is DVB-S you will probably be able to receive it with a little more adjusting.

I sure wish you hadn't said that. I have read several places that a six footer will work just fine. Let's not complicate things yet, she has enough on her hands getting the dish aligned THEN we/she can start working on improving the signal with the LNBF.

Photto

 

[PopcornNMore]

Is this a WS1870 dish? If so, why are the LNB support arms located differently?

 

[dougruss]

Is this a WS1870 dish? If so, why are the LNB support arms located differently?

She has the Bargain Dish...those supports are in the proper location !

 

[PopcornNMore]

She has the Bargain Dish...those supports are in the proper location !

If you look at the drawing in post #55 it shows the support legs mounted on the edge of the panels, but I suppose you could be right.

 

[stanleyjohn]

Oh, I didn't realize this was a 6' dish. You probably won't be able to receive RTV or My Family TV, but since Me TV is DVB-S you will probably be able to receive it with a little more adjusting.

I have no problem getting most if not all that can be seen with my 6ft dish on AMC3! Heres what i get for RTV.

 

[richyrich]

You are the best

YAYYYYYYYYYYY! You did it DeeAnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I say, you do good work, and many Kudo's, OMG's, should be given to you. You have proven yourself to be popcorn maker ready. All you guys and gals who have helped should visit her when you get down that way...

Hope the rest of your work will make you smile too...............................................

 

[PopcornNMore]

I have no problem getting most if not all that can be seen with my 6ft dish on AMC3! Heres what i get for RTV.

Ok, I'm a believer. That is a good signal strength for a 6' dish.

 

[Phottoman]

By The Way Dee-Ann, I want to thank you for starting this thread. After my last post about moving the entire dish and LNB combo, I went to watch My Family TV and couldn't quite get it to come in. In the past I have also noticed that I can get one or the other of the TPs with all the RTV channels but not both, so I started thinking of taking my own advise.

Since the dish is right outside the bedroom window, and because we hadn't communicated very well the last time I tried adjusting the dish, this time I sent Phottoette outside to try lifting the dish a little and lowering it to see what changes (if any) occurred on the signal meter in the Openbox. Well, DARN me. When she lifted it, it jumped 20 points. How about that.

I thanked her and told her that I would have her out there again in a few minutes. The meter jumped when she lifted the dish, so I moved it a tad East by loosening the four bolts holding the entire assembly tight at the top of the pole. (I am over simplifying this, I know, but I want you to understand what I did and why).

After moving the dish a little, I went back inside and using the remote on the actuator, I moved the dish just a few clicks WEST, and there it was, and now I am getting readings of close to 85S and 70Q on BOTH transponders.

I asked Phottoette to go back outside and try lifting the dish again, and I lost signal, and when she pushed down, I lost signal again, so now I have tightened the bolts and it's all because of you, Dee-Ann.

If I didn't make this clear enough, just ask, and I'll try to explain what I just did.

I haven't tried moving the dish to any other satellites yet, but I have a feeling that I just improved EVERYTHING.

Photto

 

[Dee_Ann]

I am watching "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis"

On, MeTV......

I do not know how I managed this but it's coming in really good!

BTW, the info I found online for MeTV was out of date, it said the channel is horizontal but the coolsat found it on blindscan on vertical.

I had to manually enter the transponder and channel info into the pc app and then when I scanned, BINGO!

So the coolsat and my pc get MeTV and Nasa!

Woohoo!!

Now I need to figure out where the heck ThisTV went...

Oh, and on the coolsat there is no sound for MeTV.

I pressed info on the PC though and it says the sound is Doldy Digital 2.0

Is that why? The Coolsat doesn't do that kind of sound? I seem to recall there being a similar issue with one or more of the PBS channels.
I don't know much about the coolsat as I never use it, I got it just for working out problems, just like this one. A very good investment, very handy to have..

 

[Anole]

I remember Dobie Gillis... and Maynard G.Krebs!
IMDB ... EPguides .

The Coolsats don't do Dolby, but you can add an outboard adapter to 'em.
Been discussed on the forum here many times in the past.

Sonic Voom for decoding AC3:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/156406-besides-g18.html#post1607936
Cyberhome CH-SRD 600R for decoding AC3:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/163105-ac3-audio.html#post1684029
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/163105-ac3-audio.html#post1684137

As for finding your channel on C-band, I had no doubt.
Not after seeing your little Ku mushroom farm out back.
All that you learned putting that in, was a good basis for the 6'er.
And, if it blows away with the next hurricane, it's given ya the education and confidence to get your 8'er (or was it 10?) up 'n running!

 

[Dee_Ann]

I remember Dobie Gillis... and Maynard G.Krebs!
IMDB ... EPguides .

The Coolsats don't do Dolby, but you can add an outboard adapter to 'em.
Been discussed on the forum here many times in the past.

Sonic Voom for decoding AC3:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/156406-besides-g18.html#post1607936
Cyberhome CH-SRD 600R for decoding AC3:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/163105-ac3-audio.html#post1684029
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/163105-ac3-audio.html#post1684137

As for finding your channel on C-band, I had no doubt.
Not after seeing your little Ku mushroom farm out back.
All that you learned putting that in, was a good basis for the 6'er.
And, if it blows away with the next hurricane, it's given ya the education and confidence to get your 8'er (or was it 10?) up 'n running!

Thank you for the info!

I think I am going to invest in an Openbox S9 next. I've read that you guys think it's pretty good stuff.
I think I am going to suggest the same for my folks.
When my mom finds out what's on MeTV she's going to MAKE my dad get a satellite system. Guess who will have to help...

And OMG! I just saw a commercial for The Twilight Zone on MeTV, weeknights at 10c !! I LOVE that show! And the Beverly Hillbillies, Perry Mason, Petticoat Junction, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, etc. etc. !!!!!!

THIS is going to be my number one staple channel. This was a huge pain in the rear to get this thing working but I am sooooooooo thrilled to have it finally!

Now if I can just figure out why I can't find ThisTV... I really, really want that one too!

Happy, happy, happy!!!!

 

[macgod79]

This tv is about 10% difference in quality and I had trouble getting it one time and it was because my lnbf was slightly off. At true south it wasn't on 0 maybe at 2 or 3 and it thru my channels off. Great job dee I knew you could do it. Even though it was hard at first I bet you could do it from scratch now. As far as the rtv feeds on 87 I havnt been able to get them. Get a openbox and scan the whole arc with your motor. You will have so many channels then lol.

 

[Dee_Ann]

This tv is about 10% difference in quality and I had trouble getting it one time and it was because my lnbf was slightly off. At true south it wasn't on 0 maybe at 2 or 3 and it thru my channels off. Great job dee I knew you could do it. Even though it was hard at first I bet you could do it from scratch now. As far as the rtv feeds on 87 I havnt been able to get them. Get a openbox and scan the whole arc with your motor. You will have so many channels then lol.

Oh I'm not sweating it too much..

I'm probably just going to leave this dish sitting on 87. It's hooked up through my switch along with the ku dishes so when I change channels it's instant. No waiting. I've already set the scheduler to change channels through out the day and night to bring up my favorite shows (and new shows!) so I don't have to touch anything.. Channels just change by themselves all day and night. I just sit and watch.. Lazy huh?


I am inspired now to get that 10 foot dish going. Now that dish, I am going to make full use of the motor on it. At 10 foot I should be able to get pretty much everything. And the mesh is very fine so from what I've read it should work fine for ku too!

I am going to get my dad to cut the pole down though, putting it so high up in the air is of no use. I didn't realize how much they would be tipped up like a bird bath vs the ku dishes. So it will clear the ground a lot more than I thought it would. I think I could cut the pole down to 5' tall and still clear the ground nicely but have it down enough where I can work on it without a cherry picker truck..

We have some nice weather going on so I'm going to go out and work on the big dish and try to get it ready so my dad can come over and weld up those rusted off parts on the ring mount. Once he can do that I'm good to go. I can get a few of the neighborhood guys to come over and put that thing up for me. I think I can get the 10 foot dish put up by the end of this month.

I'll bet I can get all kinds of cool stuff then!

Woo hoo! I'm so happy to have MeTV! WOW!!

 

[trinidex]

Awesome Dee - kudos, high5 and all that jazz!!!

This is a great thread, I've been silently following for weeks.

Like many it reminded me of my "first time"

Good luck with the 10' and please keep us posted.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Excellent Dee! I'm glad you now have MeTV.

Enjoy today's schedule of great sitcoms. My family always looks foward to MeTV's Sunday schedule starting at 11AM (Brady Bunch, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, My Three Sons, Family Affair and I Love Lucy).

 

[Phottoman]

Congratulations Dee-Ann. You still have a little work yet to be done, don't stop now. I know it's exciting as all get out to have that working but why stop when the job isn't finished?

Now the FUN part begins.

You have to go out now and rotate the LNBF 45 degrees, in EITHER direction. You mentioned that info you found on line is "out of date" and that you thought your programming should come in Horizontal, not vertical. Well, it IS Horizontal and then you have a little tweeking to do on the LNBF, moving it in and out AFTER you change the polarity. And if you are getting METV, you should also be getting THIS.

Change the polarity first, then adjust your dish East and West for the best picture and signal, THEN start looking at tweaking that LNBF to get even BETTER quality on what you are watching.

How many channels on the RTV are you getting, and are you getting them on both transponders? 3800/H/29125 and 4080/H/29125

As for wanting the Openbox s9, HA, you are in for a very wonderful surprise when you see what that will bring in for you and how fast that will scan a satellite.

Another channel you'll want to be looking for in one of the two muxs for RTV, I can't remember which one it is now, but it is on the 3800 Transponder. It list's something that does NOT refer to My Family TV, but you'll find that one in there too. I edited the channel on my openbox to read as "My Family." Plus all the NASA Channels, you have a gold mine on this one satellite.

Oh, wait, you didn't seem to like NASA, but there ARE some very educational programming on those channels.

Dee-Ann, we are all proud of you. We KNEW you could and would do it. Aren't you glad now that you didn't abandon this project as you were saying you would just a few days ago?

Photto

PS: Darn, I forgot to ask, HOW ABOUT SOME PICTURES now that it done?

 

[stanleyjohn]

congrads Dee! MeTv is now my favorite retro channel on FTA