Good east and west sats for alignment? From PNW

[trscott]

What are some good satellites and channels for fine tuning my big dish. I am just south of Portland, Oregon with a good view of the sky down pretty low.

I just added KU and discovered that my dish was pretty far out of alignment. I fixed the feedhorn centering, and tightened up the guys, but that threw G1 out of reach. I discovered that I need more altitude at G1 by nudging it, but Gb and X0 are fine. So I need to carefully realign the whole dish.

Right now I haven't typically spent much time beyond G1 and GB but would like to find something farther east and west to use for alignment targets, and a good choice for due south.

Any recomendations?

Thanks!

 

[charper1]

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

 

[gizzer777]

Alignment

What are some good satellites and channels for fine tuning my big dish. I am just south of Portland, Oregon with a good view of the sky down pretty low.

I just added KU and discovered that my dish was pretty far out of alignment. I fixed the feedhorn centering, and tightened up the guys, but that threw G1 out of reach. I discovered that I need more altitude at G1 by nudging it, but Gb and X0 are fine. So I need to carefully realign the whole dish.

Right now I haven't typically spent much time beyond G1 and GB but would like to find something farther east and west to use for alignment targets, and a good choice for due south.

Any recomendations?

Thanks!

Hi...again this is dependant on your location. I am in Reno, NV (not too far from you) and my eastern view is somewhat limited by a house next door and past W7 to the west are some trees. I do not know if you are FTA or 4dtv , but by the sounds of it you have the ole C band. As you just found out, KU is more demanding than C band.

I used W3 (AMC3) for my east, G1 for the center (towards South) and W7 for my west targets. These worked fine for me. Generally you try for the furthest East, Furtherest West and G1 depending on where you are.

For 4DTV G1 IS THE SATELLITE...since the guide comes down on it for 4dtv. It also has a slew of the better Paid (HBO, MAX, STARZ) digital services on it, and still presents a good signal, old as it is!

I remember when I first put KU LNB up to get sat Internet...I also found out just how far off my BUD really was!

These settings are a compromise! I always tuned for a bit more strength towards the Center - center/west of my arc since that is where the majority of my programing comes in from. However, I still have good quality on W3 with my 8 ft BUD, which means that FTA AMC3 (KU) still does just fine!!!!
regards
jeff

 

[trscott]

Gizzer 777,

re: "I used W3 (AMC3) for my east, G1 for the center (towards South) and W7 for my west targets. These worked fine for me. Generally you try for the furthest East, Furtherest West and G1 depending on where you are."

So, are there particular channels on W3 and W7 that I will be able to identify to know when I've got these?

I was hoping for Ku sats so that I could get it more critically aligned. I've got a pretty good lock on everything from GB to G1 now, including X4, G5, G0, and a couple others.

I have a number of other sats programmed, but not entirely sure they're the right sats, because I either don't get any programs on them, or I haven't yet identified any channels I get, on any program guide.

Thanks!

 

[charper1]

I use both C & KU and I have no trouble hitting the entire NA arc from 72w through 139w. There is either nothing on of interest, non-CONUS or DBS on 61.5w - 70w and 148w so the 72w - 139w is really the entire NA arc to me.

 

[gizzer777]

Don't really remember

Gizzer 777,

re: "I used W3 (AMC3) for my east, G1 for the center (towards South) and W7 for my west targets. These worked fine for me. Generally you try for the furthest East, Furtherest West and G1 depending on where you are."

So, are there particular channels on W3 and W7 that I will be able to identify to know when I've got these?

I was hoping for Ku sats so that I could get it more critically aligned. I've got a pretty good lock on everything from GB to G1 now, including X4, G5, G0, and a couple others.

I have a number of other sats programmed, but not entirely sure they're the right sats, because I either don't get any programs on them, or I haven't yet identified any channels I get, on any program guide.

Thanks!

Sorry trescott, it has been so long, i do not rtemember what I used for tune channels. G1 was easy since I have subs on that bird. In fact even without subs, you can still tune to the message that a "sub is needed...."
I used the SPAM that Sup*** sent me on the w7 bird to tune that one!
(hey, the spam was good for something).

As far as the rest, I just picked up,a sat chart and went hunting!
Regards
Jeff

 

[Shawn95GT]

Now everything is gone on W7. At least anything reliable for pointing your 4DTV at it.

I too am dialed in from W6 (72W) through W7(137W) but unless someone re-claims that transponder space on W7 you probably shouldn't bother going West of C4 until someone does.

It kind of make it a pain for us folks is the Western US to dial in our arcs because the arc is lob-sided to the East.

If you want to dial in Ku, I'd pick up a DVB receiver and slave it.