Fortc Star Dynamic-Lost signal, remote will not run motor..

[TimLones111]

Hello folks:
While trying to check on FTA Satellite..(Sadoun 36" dish-SD 380 Motor-Fortec Dynamic Receiver), I find that I have no signal, and the remote will not drive my motor, though the motor works manually..Could low remote batteries be part of the problem?..Thanks for any insight..

 

[Lak7]

What about Signal Strength?

Check Cable Connections for any corrosion.

 

[Bongu]

Have you tried power cycling your equipment? Did you try new batteries in your remote? When you say manually operated, is that with the buttons on the motor itself? If so, then your receiver is putting out the voltage to the LNB. Are there any switches involved? Did you experience any lightning storms in the last 24 hours that may have affected your equipment? There was a pretty good sky show in the Chicago area yesterday that moved East with a lot of air to air and a few really nice ground strikes.

 

[TimLones111]

The weather has been relatively calm the last few days..The signal has 40 stength 1 quality..Going to see if the batteries neeed changing..May try to reset things one more time tonight..Tomorrow I may try to check the cables

 

[turbosat]

Does the receiver respond to the remote? If not, then I'd suspect it, or the batteries. If receiver just isn't finding the satellites, either the dish has lost its aim, lnbf has gone out, water in the cable/connectors or the memory has gotten full or corrupted.

 

[Beano_face]

sounds like a poor/ corroded/ or broken coax connection...

it the green led "on" on the motor?

 

[TimLones111]

After doing a bit of checking:
Changed the batteries in the remote:The receiver seems to be fine EXCEPT for not beeing able to run the motor with the remote. The cables, though old seem to be okay,,I may try to still change them ..Bottom line is, if I dont know where the satellites are, cant try to work on the signal problem..Thanks to everyone for their suggestions thus far..

 

[TimLones111]

Okay folks:
Trying some different things here..I finally managed to grab a signal on 95 W (88S-28Q)..When I go back and forth to 93 and 97 W I lose signal, which seems to tell me the remote is driving the motor..I also replaced the cable from the LNB to the motor (REC) on the dish with a newer cable. Not totally sure if that's the culprit, but maybe some hope

 

[Lak7]

Are you using USALS for motor control?

Make note of the Transponder you locked, and confirm it's actually on 95 west.
If so, go to the Dish and gently push the Dish Up, Down Left, Right - see if there is any improvement, and make nacessary adjustments

 

[TimLones111]

Lak7:
The Channels I was receiving were the CCTV channels, so I was definitely on 95. Since my last post, I've gotten the remote to work with the motor some. I am using USALS..Now trying to reset anse what happens..

 

[TimLones111]

Update:
The remote seems to be driving the motor, but not all the time, or it's slow..I do have a picture on 72W at 12144/V/2573 GCN Network, but cant get anything on the NBC Mux..and cant get the Power Scan to work right..

 

[turbosat]

Tim, this is like pulling teeth-tell us what you have done , exactly. What is not right with the blind-scan, you said 'can't get power scan to work right'. If you get one channel on 72, have you tried deleting the other tps out and rescanning? Or, doing a TP scan? I would do a 'factory default' and start over. You can save your channel list , if you like, before you do it-that's one thing the Merc2/Dynamic does perfectly. I use a Mercury 2, same receiver, almost every day, and it works just fine MOST of the time, but I will tell you that mine will sometimes just take off! and start moving the dish to who-knows-where. That only seems to happen if I choose AMC4, for some reason, it will display a channel there for sometimes 10min, then suddenly I get a black screen and the thing has just moved the dish all on its own. In short, they DO have some bugs, as most receivers do.

 

[TimLones111]

Turbo:
I know receivers have bugs..I am sorry I havent been able to be more clear on some things. I just now managed to recover an old channel list. I'll see about trying to reset things at the dish when I get some daylight this morning..As far as The Power Scan, when I try it on 72W, I get no transponders showing at all,,

 

[TimLones111]

Good News:
When I established that I could drive the motor with the remote, I took my little 7" TV and receiver out to the dish..When I nudged the pole a bit , I got signal on 72! did a scan on 72 outside and 79 when I got back in..Both worked..(50-75 signal quality) With all the snow and rain the last few weeks, my pole has a lot of give to it. Can't do cement with it because it's a rental. Thanks everyone for your advice. I talked to a guy today that helps with a Pittsburgh Radio-TV blog. He's looking into getting FTA..I sent him here..

 

[turbosat]

That;s the best way to troubleshoot, go to the source! (dish) Glad you figured it out. Rock solid mount is key to good reception.