Help Me.......Please

[Diamond Jim]

I have been struggling for four days now trying to get the BUD realigned after a major storm hit our area, a tornado touched down less that two miles from the house. I know the procedures for aligning a dish, but what I don't understand what is happening. My main objective to to secure and lock a good signal for the S2 RTV channels on AMC3. No problem, took me about 5 minutes to accomplish that. Then I go to AMC7 and the GCI S channel is gone. I mess around on the dish some more and GCI comes in as strong as it ever was. I go back to AMC3 and the S2 RTVs are missing. I readjust and they are fine go back to AMC7 and you guessed it, no signal. I am sure that I am aligned OK, it's the LNb adjustment that concerns me. I move it until RTV comes in, then no GCI, I move it to get GCI, then no RTV. What am I missing here?

 

[rv1pop]

Two things jump up into my mind, and I know next to nothing.... 1. Dish shifted on pole so not on arc elevation etc.
2. Dish has gotten warped AGH! That one I have had.

 

[linuxman]

Hey Jim,

I have had your feelings of frustration, anger, and exhaustion. Mostly at myself for ever trying to make something "better", when I should have left well enough alone.

You didn't cause your problem yourself, so you don't have to be angry for trying to fix something that was not broken.

So my advice is to first of all, shake yourself, and get your confidence back. You can do this, because you have done it all before.

Start at the beginning.

1. Make sure the pole is plumb and the dish has not been warped as Pop said.
2. Set the skew on the LNBF for your True South Satellite, if that is AMC3, fine, if not set it for your True South Satellite, then don't touch it again.
3. Make sure the f/d ratio is set correctly.
4. Make sure the focal length is set correctly.
5. Make sure the declination is set correctly, then don't touch that again.
6. Set the elevation correctly for your True South Satellite.
7. After all that, then swing over to AMC3 and tune elevation, and focal length until you have the best signal.
8. Then you can swing over to AMC7 and try for your signal there.
9. Do not adjust for elevation while on AMC7, but you can twist the dish on the pole and try and bring it in that way.
10. If you get the signal on AMC7, then move back to AMC3 and see if you still have that.

From that point it is merely fine tuning between the 2 satellites for best signal.

You've been in this hobby a long time, and I know you can do it.

 

[Diamond Jim]

Fred,

I have been twisting and moving until I am blue in the face. A friend of mine that is a former installer has checked out the plumb and most of that stuff and said everything looks fine. I think it's just down to hitting the sweet spot.

 

[linuxman]

You're not going to believe this, but it is the truth as God as my witness.

I was having a real hard time trying to bring in the "sweet spot" on my perforated Birdview dish when I first put it up. The Birdviews don't have any screws for setting the elevation, so you just have to try and hold it while watching the meter, and have the two "holding" bolts just loose enough to let the dish move up and down, but tight enough so that they will hold while you put the heavy tightening on.

I was getting frustrated, and things weren't going very well for me that day, and I finally just asked God to help me. A small gust of wind blew up and put the thing dead on in the sweet spot, I tightened it down, and thanked Him for his help.

I know many won't believe that it happened, or will have some explanation, but as I sit here writing today, it did happen just as I said, and I'm sure it can and will happen again.

 

[Diamond Jim]

Fred, I believe you. I went through all of the satellites one by one and I only have trouble with two. The PBSs on AMC 21 dropped to a low of 35%, still coming in fine, from a high of 73%, I am getting no signal at all on the S2s. AMC7 has no signal what so ever. I changed the LNB focal point and I think that may be the problem. I am going to try to readjust it tomorrow, even though I am a little gun shy. My true South is G17 and I am getting Sports Ca, REELZ, both FXs and the Big 10 Net in the hig 80s to low 90s.

 

[turbosat]

My bet is on the east/west alignment (azimuth). I've been there and done that, and when you have two sats at opposite ends of the arc that bug you, in my experience it usually is tracking a bit too far to east or west. You have to get it where you can get some video on 137, then push up or pull down on the dish edge while looking at the signal levels, to tell which way to adjust. Can be frustrating to fix.

 

[SATisfied]

You're not going to believe this, but it is the truth as God as my witness.

I was having a real hard time trying to bring in the "sweet spot" on my perforated Birdview dish when I first put it up. The Birdviews don't have any screws for setting the elevation, so you just have to try and hold it while watching the meter, and have the two "holding" bolts just loose enough to let the dish move up and down, but tight enough so that they will hold while you put the heavy tightening on.

I was getting frustrated, and things weren't going very well for me that day, and I finally just asked God to help me. A small gust of wind blew up and put the thing dead on in the sweet spot, I tightened it down, and thanked Him for his help.

I know many won't believe that it happened, or will have some explanation, but as I sit here writing today, it did happen just as I said, and I'm sure it can and will happen again.

I can't tell you how many times I've done the same thing.... not just with tweaking a dish, but just about anything I'm working on that is giving me problems. All I can say is He hears and answers quickly.

 

[Diamond Jim]

My bet is on the east/west alignment (azimuth).

Jackpot. You nailed it Brother Turbo. Sunday evening I went through all of the satellites east to west. All of the eastern were fine, but I started loosing strength after AMC1. I had something on those satellites, with analog on DVB all the way to AMC11, then nothing on AMC7. Monday morning I had a hunch, I went out and loosened the bolts and moved it just a hair, I mean I just barley touched it and the GCI channel popped in at 60%, which is damn good for AMC7 at this location. My main concern was did I lose anything to the east? I am to proud say that all is well and the S2 channels are coming in at 66% with no problems.

Thanks to all for your suggtions and comments.

~Jim~

 

[turbosat]

Glad you got it, DJ. That one little aspect of cband dish-aiming can be a headache. If you've had c-band for years, you know what I mean. If you haven't=well, you just found out. Moving the dish on the pole juuussstttt a little bit, can be difficult to do.
Mine 10' is still going ok, but as soon as it quits being 95-97 degrees every day, I have to get the husky out and cut down a few saplings that are blocking half of 137 for me. I love the redbuds but they grow like kudzu here!