G25 setup using DTV 36in Elliptical dish.

[satenow]

Greetings,

I am trying to setup a DIRECTV 36" Elliptical dish to get G25 at 97.0 W.

Here is my setup.

LNB Type: Standard
LNB Frequency: 10750
TP Frequency :12152

I have elevated the dish to about 39 degrees and skewed it to -29 as listed for my area.

I am getting a signal strength of 75% but the quality flickers between 0 and 40.

I am using the linear LNB that originally came with the dish.

Thanks for any help/advice you guys can give.

 

[pedrogarcia]

I have elevated the dish to about 39 degrees and skewed it to -29 as listed for my area.

Set up looks fine. check the data for your location. the details you give are for a position about 200 miles east of Philadelphia in the Atlantic
Try this site for your location GeoSatFinder - Satellite Finder Calculator - Satellite AV
Good luck

BTW the bird at 97w is call G19, G25 is now at 93w

 

[satenow]

Hi, Pedro.

Northern California sets Elevation for 38.8 and Azimuth is 127.4. Skew is -29. I thought I had the satellite pointed correctly, just wasn't sure about my reciever settings. BTW thanks fr the heads up. The channel I am interested in has moved to G19.

Thanks!!

 

[willie8605]

Is that dish metal? My first setup I tried to use a metal elliptical dish and spent hours trying to align it only to find out it was warped! It wasn't visible so it wasn't easy to catch.

Also, your elevation adjustment may or may not be accurate on your dish. Mine is usually about 0.5 degrees off.

Did you bring your TV and receiver outside with you so you can watch the signal meter? This is something you have to do if you want to save a few hours on the alignment. Your settings look good if your TP symbol rate and polarization are correct. What kind of receiver are you using and does it have blind scan?

www.dishpointer.com uses google maps and lets you move your dish location around on the map so you can pretty much put it in exact dish location. It also has an obstacle line of sight (LOS) tool that shows you the max height objects around you can be before they interfere with your LOS.

 

[satenow]

I am setting up on my porch so I watch the signal strength/quality meters on my TV as I am doing it. The Dish is made of Metal, I believe, or some composite, and I couldn't notice any warping of the surface. I did try to blind scan for channels but nothing showed up. I am only interested in that TP 12152 and it gives me a strength of about 75 but quality is flickering. I don't see any obstacles in my line of sight. I will try again moving the elevation a half degree up and down.

I didn't understand what you meant by the TP symbol rate? The polarization for the TP in question is Horizontal. I am using the linear LNB (the smaller oblong shaped one).

Thanks!!

 

[willie8605]

Well if it's metal it doesn't mean it's bent/warped for sure; I just like to throw that out there b/c I had so much trouble with mine. The way I found out mine was warped was when I was standing behind the dish, I would start pushing on the left side of it (to move it towards the right) and before the dish actually started to rotate the Q signal would jump up. This was happening b/c I was slightly bending it inwards while pushing on it. When I would let go, Q would drop back to 0 on the meter. It's hard/impossible to perfectly fix a bent or warped elliptical dish, but I did try to adjust mine and it actually made it better, just not as good as it would have been if it was in perfect shape.

And your elevation may or may not be off. I suggest setting it at the 38.8 (40 works) you mentioned and rotate very slowly back and forth. If this doesn't work then raise/lower the dish about 0.5 degrees and rotate back and forth again. If your skew is right, you should be able to find the signal using this method.

If you look in "The List" each TP looks something like this: 12151 H 20000 (this is from 97W)
The first number is the frequency, H/V for polarization, and the second number is the symbol rate (your receiver may call it just SR). You need to check your TP settings on your receiver and make sure it is set correctly for everything. Last night I realigned my dish to 97W and some of the TP info was wrong. There were even a few TP's that I had to add.

Your signal strength is simply how strong the connection is between your dish and your receiver. The quality signal is the actual signal you receive from a satellite. So, a high signal strength is good, but around 30% Q or above is needed to view anything without choppy video.

Also, you might like FTAList.com - The easy list of North American free-to-air TV channels - it is an easy to use channel listing with basic info, channel homepage links, and you can sort it by language.

 

[pedrogarcia]

Hi, Pedro.

Northern California sets Elevation for 38.8 and Azimuth is 127.4. Skew is -29. I thought I had the satellite pointed correctly, just wasn't sure about my reciever settings. BTW thanks fr the heads up. The channel I am interested in has moved to G19.

Thanks!!

Oops I was thinking of G18,

you are obviously around the San Fran area or if you are further north raise your elevation. 12152 is strong transponder

 

[mroodey]

Are you using the directv world direct dish with the p170ku+ LNB? If you are you then you need to skew it to 61 on the back of the dish. If the mast is level you have the correct elevation, than you should be able to get it by slowly turning it in the azimuth direction. I have installed several of these for people for G19 and they are one of the easiest dishes to get that sat with. Here is a little more info on it: http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/157204-dtv36eds-directv-worlddirect-fta.htmlhttp://www.satelliteguys.us/157204-dtv36eds-directv-worlddirect-fta.html

 

[satenow]

Well if it's metal it doesn't mean it's bent/warped for sure; I just like to throw that out there b/c I had so much trouble with mine. The way I found out mine was warped was when I was standing behind the dish, I would start pushing on the left side of it (to move it towards the right) and before the dish actually started to rotate the Q signal would jump up. This was happening b/c I was slightly bending it inwards while pushing on it. When I would let go, Q would drop back to 0 on the meter. It's hard/impossible to perfectly fix a bent or warped elliptical dish, but I did try to adjust mine and it actually made it better, just not as good as it would have been if it was in perfect shape.

That is exactly!! what is happening with mine as well. I would try to slowly move it from side to side and I see the quality jump to 50....and it goes to zero when I let it go. I will try to see if I can twist the dish to make its reception better. Otherwise I will change it to a circular dish.

Are you using the directv world direct dish with the p170ku+ LNB? If you are you then you need to skew it to 61 on the back of the dish. If the mast is level you have the correct elevation, than you should be able to get it by slowly turning it in the azimuth direction. I have installed several of these for people for G19 and they are one of the easiest dishes to get that sat with.

I checked the pdf document and it looks like all the LNBs shown are circular? Mine is Oval shaped. I will check to see if it has the "p170ku" label on it tomorrow.

Thanks for your help and input guys. I will see if I can get this to work and report back on my progress.

 

[willie8605]

That is exactly!! what is happening with mine as well. I would try to slowly move it from side to side and I see the quality jump to 50....and it goes to zero when I let it go. I will try to see if I can twist the dish to make its reception better. Otherwise I will change it to a circular dish.

Does the Q signal jump to 50 while the dish is moving? If so, then you should be able to get the signal without messing with reshaping the dish. When you are moving it side to side, you have to do it VERY slowly.

I wouldn't really recommend trying to reshape the dish, especially an elliptical one. You will never be able to get it back to its true shape and it may be closer now than it will be after you try to reshape it. I said that my first dish was warped, and it was, but I took it down for a reason. First, its Q was 0. I tried to reshape it and its Q went up to 30-35 on a strong TP. I put up a new composite dish that isn't warped and the Q on the same TP is 65-75.

If you get a circular dish make sure it is at least 31" in diameter. Elliptical ones work just as well. I would check craigslist and freecycle.org before you make any purchases. I got 2 elliptical dishes for free on freecycle.org

And I am not familiar with those dishes but from what I have read so far, it seems that the LNB on your dish is a standard LNB, not circular. However, in the thread mroodey mentioned above Iceberg says something about the LNB only having H polarity. If this is true, you need to check the polarity of the TP you are trying to find and make sure it isn't V polarity. If it is, or if you also want something on a TP with V polarity, then you may need a new LNB. Again, I'm not sure about that so be sure to check into it further before buying anything!

 

[willie8605]

satenow - How's the setup coming along?