First try at installation help

[Edwin33]

Newbie needs some help

Im trying to set up a dish for my dad to recieve Intelsat Americas 5. I used a program called satfinder and it said this satellite is 97.0 degrees W, and that for my zipcode of Ca, 91306 the Az(t) is 144.9 degrees and Az(m) is 130.7 degrees.

As stupid as this question may be, how do I use these numbers? I have a compass, but I don't know what to do. Do I find north then set that for 0 degrees and then point the satellite at 144 degrees from north, or am I completely wrong?

 

[Larry1]

You almost got it, the 144deg is the true or map reading, use the 130.7 degrees (magnetic) as it is the magnetic that the compass reads. (Compass points to the magnet) And yes "set that for 0 degrees and then point the satellite at 130.7 degrees" on the compass dial. You will also have an elevation that you need to set on the side of the dish. This is how far up in the sky the dish points, then the skew of the LNBF. That is to rotate the LNBF to compensate for the satellite not being directly south of you. Because the satellite is to the east or the west of you, and that the earth and satellite arc is curved, you have to turn the LNBF to line up with the satellite as the signals are vertically and horizontally polarized.

 

[PSB]

Have a look at our GOLD sponsors installation page to help visualise your skew settings

http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/LNBF-Installation.htm

 

[Edwin33]

Thanks for the help, hopefully I can get it set up today now.

 

[Edwin33]

I'm trying to set up a satellite dis for my dad to recieve Intelesat Americas 5 channels. It's an old dish, the reciever is a Prosat 7000S and the lnbf is a Mighty LK2D2.

Anyways, my first try has failed. I set up the dish at Az(m) of 130 degrees, and the post is pretty level, but I have no signal quality. There is signal strength but zero quality. I panned the dish slowly through probably a 45 degrees in each direction but nothing worked. Also, the lnbf doesn't look like the ones I've seen on these sites, it doesnt have that bend in it like I have seen. It's just a straight thing, so I don't know how to actually skew it. Can anybody help? I'm wondering if this is just a lost cause and the dish is just too old/bad.

 

[cablewithaview]

Make sure the LO freq. on the LNB is 10750 and go from there. If the receiver has a blind search, then let it go through the search and maybe you can pick up something and tune from there. I use an old Primestar dish (actually 2 of them) one on IA 5 and the other on G10R. I'm not fimilar with a Mighty LNBF but use a LNB and that should work.

 

[Edwin33]

Ok, so I checked and the LO freq on the LNB is 10.75 GHz. The receiver might have a search but I'm not sure. It does scan some frequencies when you want to add a transponder then it stops and says no signal. When I go to the Dish Position help screen it says my signal strength is 210, but signal quality is 0%.

What else could it be? What angle should the dish be pointed vertically, I'm wondering if this is the culprit.

 

[drhydro]

If you can give us your latitude and longitude we can give you the angles you need. You need to know what your elevation and azimuth are to really start looking for the satellite you want.

 

[PSB]

Here are all the angles to the satellites in your area.

Try a few different transponders on IA-5 as not all of them may be LIVE.

Make sure the Freq. you are scanning are KU band (5 digits) and not C-band (4 digits)

                       Winnetka, CA 91306
         Latitude 34° 12.552'N Longitude 118° 34.494'W

                       Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m)    El  Skew
---------------------------------------------------------------
                               
                       Amos 1/2    4.0W 255.6 241.4 -27.8 -53.2
                               
                Atlantic Bird 3    5.0W 256.2 242.0 -27.1 -53.4
                               
                Nilesat 101/102    7.0W 257.5 243.3 -25.5 -53.8
                               
     Telecom 2D/Atlantic Bird 2    8.0W 258.1 243.9 -24.8 -54.0
                               
                     Express A3   11.0W 259.9 245.7 -22.5 -54.5
                               
                     Telstar 12   15.0W 262.3 248.1 -19.4 -55.0
                               
                   Intelsat 901   18.0W 264.0 249.8 -17.0 -55.3
                               
                          NSS 7   22.0W 266.3 252.1 -13.9 -55.6
                               
                   Intelsat 905   24.5W 267.7 253.5 -11.9 -55.7
                               
                   Intelsat 907   27.5W 269.4 255.2  -9.5 -55.8
                               
                  Hispasat 1C/D   30.0W  90.8  76.6  -7.4 -55.8
                               
                   Intelsat 801   31.5W  91.6  77.5  -6.2 -55.8
                               
                   Intelsat 903   34.5W  93.3  79.2  -3.8 -55.6
                               
                    AMC 12/T 11   37.5W  95.0  80.9  -1.3 -55.5
                               
                        NSS 806   40.5W  96.8  82.6   1.1 -55.2
                               
                      Pas 3R/6B   43.0W  98.2  84.0   3.2 -54.9
                               
                         Pas 1R   45.0W  99.4  85.2   4.9 -54.7
                               
                   Intelsat 705   50.0W 102.4  88.3   9.0 -53.9
                               
                   Intelsat 707   53.0W 104.3  90.1  11.5 -53.3
                               
                   Intelsat 805   55.5W 105.9  91.7  13.5 -52.7
                               
                          Pas 9   58.0W 107.6  93.4  15.6 -52.0
                               
                       Amazonas   61.0W 109.7  95.5  18.1 -51.2
                               
                     EchoStar 3   61.5W 110.0  95.8  18.5 -51.0
                               
                      Rainbow 1   61.5W 110.0  95.8  18.5 -51.0
                               
               Estrela do Sul 1   63.0W 111.1  96.9  19.7 -50.5
                               
                   Brasilsat B2   65.0W 112.5  98.3  21.3 -49.8
                               
                   Brasilsat B1   70.0W 116.4 102.2  25.3 -47.8
                               
                       Nahuel 1   71.8W 117.9 103.7  26.7 -47.0
                               
                      DirecTV 1   72.5W 118.4 104.2  27.3 -46.7
                               
                          AMC 6   72.0W 118.0 103.8  26.9 -46.9
                               
                          SBS 6   74.0W 119.7 105.5  28.4 -45.9
                               
                     Echostar 4   77.0W 122.4 108.2  30.7 -44.3
                               
                          AMC 5   79.0W 124.2 110.0  32.3 -43.1
                               
                      Nimiq 2/3   82.0W 127.2 113.0  34.5 -41.2
                               
                          AMC-9   83.0W 128.2 114.0  35.2 -40.6
                               
                   Brasilsat B3   84.0W 129.2 115.0  35.9 -39.9
                               
                          AMC 2   85.0W 130.3 116.1  36.6 -39.1
                               
                          AMC 3   87.0W 132.5 118.3  37.9 -37.6
                               
                           IA-8   89.0W 134.7 120.5  39.3 -36.0
                               
                      Galaxy 11   91.0W 137.1 122.9  40.5 -34.3
                               
                     Nimiq 1/4i   91.0W 137.1 122.9  40.5 -34.3
                               
                   Brasilsat B4   92.0W 138.3 124.2  41.2 -33.3
                               
                      Telstar 6   93.0W 139.6 125.4  41.8 -32.4
                               
                      Galaxy 3C   95.0W 142.2 128.0  42.9 -30.5
                               
                      Telstar 5   97.0W 144.9 130.7  44.0 -28.4
                               
                      Galaxy 4R   99.0W 147.7 133.5  45.1 -26.2
                               
                     Spaceway 2   99.2W 148.0 133.8  45.2 -26.0
                               
                DirecTV 1R/4S/8  101.0W 150.6 136.4  46.0 -23.9
                               
                          AMC 4  101.0W 150.6 136.4  46.0 -23.9
                               
                     Spaceway 1  103.0W 153.6 139.4  46.9 -21.6
                               
                          AMC 1  103.0W 153.6 139.4  46.9 -21.6
                               
                         AMC 15  105.0W 156.8 142.6  47.7 -19.0
                               
                      Anik F1/R  107.3W 160.5 146.3  48.4 -16.0
                               
                      DirecTV 5  109.5W 164.1 150.0  49.1 -13.1
                               
                EchoStar 6/8/10  110.0W 165.0 150.8  49.2 -12.4
                               
                        Anik F2  111.1W 166.9 152.7  49.4 -10.8
                               
                  Solidaridad 2  113.0W 170.2 156.0  49.8  -8.1
                               
                       SatMex 5  116.8W 176.8 162.7  50.2  -2.6
                               
                         AMC-16  119.0W 180.8 166.6  50.2   0.6
                               
                     DirecTV 7s  119.0W 180.8 166.6  50.2   0.6
                               
                     EchoStar 7  119.0W 180.8 166.6  50.2   0.6
                               
          EchoStar 9/Telstar 13  121.0W 184.3 170.1  50.2   3.6
                               
                     Galaxy 10R  123.0W 187.8 173.7  50.0   6.5
                               
                      Galaxy 14  125.0W 191.3 177.1  49.6   9.3
                               
                  Galaxy 13/H 1  127.0W 194.8 180.6  49.2  12.2
                               
 Intelsat Americas 7/Echostar 5  129.0W 198.1 183.9  48.7  14.9
                               
                         AMC 11  131.0W 201.4 187.2  48.1  17.6
                               
                   Galaxy 1R/15  133.0W 204.6 190.4  47.3  20.1
                               
                         AMC 10  135.0W 207.7 193.5  46.5  22.6
                               
                          AMC 7  137.0W 210.6 196.5  45.6  24.9
                               
                          AMC 8  139.0W 213.5 199.3  44.6  27.2
                               
                   EchoStar 1/2  148.0W 225.1 210.9  39.4  35.9

        Satellite Finder is (c) Copyright 2004, P. Lutus

Merged threads...........

Try to keep all your posts here until you are set up, you will get more help that way

 

[Edwin33]

My zip code is 91306 California. I'm looking for the Intelesat Americas 5 satellite which is at Az(m) of 130.7 degrees acording to satfinder.

By elevation do you mean the elevation from sea level or do you just mean how high up my roof is?

How do I try different transponders? When I go to add transponder it says the following:

LNB Sournce : LNB1 (10750)
Satellite: Telstar_5
Transponder (Mhz) 12084
Symbol Rate(kHZ) 23150
Polarization: Vert
0/12v Mode: 0v
22KHz Mode: Auto

 

[PSB]

Have a look below for a picture that will help with AZ and ELE.

 

[PSB]

Here is a LIVE TP to use for IA-5



DFreq. 11966

Pol. V


S/R. 22000

 

[Edwin33]

Here is a LIVE TP to use for IA-5



DFreq. 11966

Pol. V


S/R. 22000

I went to "add transponder" and I put in all of those values with LNB1 and when i clicked ok It shows a screen with all of that information and it says "preparing to tune." It stays on that for about 5-10 seconds then it says "service list empty" and goes back to the menu.

 

[PSB]

Sorry not familiar with that receiver, maybe thats it scanning this transponder, and since the dish is not pointed yet it will not see a signal.

I would use Lyngsat for transponders that are already listed on IA-5

http://www.lyngsat.com/ia5.html

 

[Edwin33]

Thanks for the help. Antother question though, when I go to "Dish Positioning Help" There's three inputs, one is for satellite position in degrees, one is for my longitude and one for latitude. There are also two bars, one is signal strength and one is signal quality.

The signal strength meter is at the highest possible which is 255. The signal quality is at 0%. So I'm guessing this means that it is picking up something but that it's not positioned perfecltly yet. Should I just leave it on this screen and go up to the dish and tinker with it until the quality goes up?

 

[PSB]

YES!

Watch for signal quality only

 

[Edwin33]

SO I went outside and adjusted it for some time and the signal strength level at max and the signal quality at 0%. So then I thought that if I unhook the cable from the LNB that the signal level should drop to zero if everyhing is working correctly. So I did that but the signal level still stayed at max. Does this mean that something else is broken, possibly the LNB or the reciever?

 

[PSB]

Not necessarily, worry only about signal quality, when I unplug my LNB I still get strength (not max.).

 

[Edwin33]

after many hours of trying I'm fed up with this dish. Afterall its very old and it was given to us for free so I suspect it isn't the best thing or even in the best condition. I think I'm just going to get a new system. Thanks for all the help though.

 

[PSB]

Too bad, have a look at our GOLD sponsors when searching for a new system