Help Needed With SES3

[Titanium]

John,

I am the first to admit that this issue officially has me stumped!

Do you have another STB that you could test? If not, I'll be glad to loan you one my many sample units so we can narrow down if it is the receiver or ???

 

[JFOK]

Brian,

I'm also at a loss, being in this hobby since 1991, I've always been able to successfully troubleshoot any issues I had in the past.
I'm going to recheck my connections behind my microHD and my 4DTV. I'm also wondering if some of the capacitors in the 4DTV (circa 1999) may be going, causing my poor skew issues. I have an old Fortec Star 986NA receiver I will try, to rule out the microHD.
Thank you for all your help and the very generous offer to send me one of your sample units to test with.
I'll let you know what I find.

John

 

[waylew]

Brian,

I'm also at a loss, being in this hobby since 1991, I've always been able to successfully troubleshoot any issues I had in the past.
I'm going to recheck my connections behind my microHD and my 4DTV. I'm also wondering if some of the capacitors in the 4DTV (circa 1999) may be going, causing my poor skew issues. I have an old Fortec Star 986NA receiver I will try, to rule out the microHD.
Thank you for all your help and the very generous offer to send me one of your sample units to test with.
I'll let you know what I find.

John

Do you have the current "X4"105w in your 922?If so,go to ch 900,get the music? Hit exit and then right arrow,adjust skew for the highest quality.Channel down one,should be 803,polarity will change,do you get a lock?Again adjust skew for the highest Q.Toggel between the 2 channels,does the polarity change,channels lock and quality maintain?
If so note your skew #s,now go to "W1"SES3 103w,toggle between ch 1 and 2,polarity change?Are the skew numbers the same,(just reversed as adjacent sat polarity reversed),if not adjust skew so the numbers match X4,just reversed.Basically all sats should have the same skew #s,just reversed for opposite polarities.
To check your LNB drift,while on X4 do options 6-0-5 right arrow to screen C,second line first number is lnb offset +or-,the lower the better.Third line last number (ebno ?can't remember what it's called),anyway the higher the better.Just an example,on my 12' it's +12.

 

[JFOK]

Do you have the current "X4"105w in your 922?If so,go to ch 900,get the music? Hit exit and then right arrow,adjust skew for the highest quality.Channel down one,should be 803,polarity will change,do you get a lock?Again adjust skew for the highest Q.Toggel between the 2 channels,does the polarity change,channels lock and quality maintain?
If so note your skew #s,now go to "W1"SES3 103w,toggle between ch 1 and 2,polarity change?Are the skew numbers the same,(just reversed as adjacent sat polarity reversed),if not adjust skew so the numbers match X4,just reversed.Basically all sats should have the same skew #s,just reversed for opposite polarities.
To check your LNB drift,while on X4 do options 6-0-5 right arrow to screen C,second line first number is lnb offset +or-,the lower the better.Third line last number (ebno ?can't remember what it's called),anyway the higher the better.Just an example,on my 12' it's +12.

I have the 4DTV 920...a real oldie from 1999. I inadvertently did a reset and was unable to get the last updated satellite tiles before Motorola left this format high and dry. I have no X4 tile just the original basic ones.
Thanks for your input, I will see what this 920 can do.

 

[waylew]

Sorry, thought you had a 922.You may be able to get "X4" with some finagling.Do you have the 105w position programmed in to the 920?Do you have the old KU "X4" tile in your sat list?If you do, program the old X4 in to the 105 position and see if you can find a channel that will get a DCII lock.If you can get a lock just let iit sit there for awhile and it may download the new X4 maps.If it does you should have the DMX music channels from 900 to 941.Of course there's always Mapmaster but you'd have to buy the USB cable for about $65.

 

[Radioguy41]

I'm also piggy-backing on a 4DTV for one of my FTA systems. Here's something you could check out. If the FTA receiver automatically scans both polarities then make sure the 4DTV is set to a Vertical channel. With the LNB power on the FTA receiver turned on, if the 4DTV is tuned to an H channel the FTA box will double lock both a vertical and horizontal for each channel. That's because the 4DTV is sending 18v to the LNB which overides the FTA box when scanning vertical (13v). Is that clear as mud?

If just scanning a fixed polarity (one at a time) then as long as the two receivers match (V or H) you're OK.

 

[primestar31]

Just get another positioner, and remove the 4DTV receiver from the setup completely. You don't need it anymore, unless you are actually still subscribing to a couple of channels? If you are also mostly using it to power your orthomode lnb's, just use a powered switch like I do.

P.S. Or, you could buy an ASC1 positioner from Titanium (or one of the authorized dealers), and use it for BOTH a positioner AND for powering your orthomode lnb's at full voltage.

 

[waylew]

Unless I missed it,where did he say he had an ortho? I was under the impression he's using a C/ku polarotor.

 

[primestar31]

He never laid out exactly what he has, or how it's wired. Which makes it all the harder to troubleshoot. I assumed he had an orthomode feed from some of the few clues he's feeding us, but I don't know for sure. Either way, he should still get rid of the 4DTV mashup with the FTA receiver to simplify things.

 

[JFOK]

Hi All,

Here's the latest...
I easily found my Fortec Star 986NA receiver last night, but had trouble locating the remote. Luckily I found that this morning.
Now I will see if my non SES3 issue is MicroHD related. Yesterday evening when I had moved the dish (with the MicroHD still connected) to AMC18 to watch the east coast feed of the NBC Nightly news, the transponder showed a strong signal and quality for a second, then went out with no signal or quality indicated. I tried all other transponders on that satellite and...nothing.
So I'll see later today, if its a STB issue.
To answer some questions...
jeepguy, I tried your polarity suggestion earlier and it didn't work...but thanks anyway
waylew, I wasn't aware that X4 was still sending out map tiles. Thought they closed up shop.
primestar31, I have been considering dumping the 4DTV and replacing it with a dish mover. I have a C/ku polarotor set up BTW.
The ASC1 positioner looks great and that's the way I'd go, but the cost is a little prohibitive for me right now.
Thanks again for all your help.

John

 

[Titanium]

Could you remove the feedhorn cap and watch the probe while someone inside adjusts the 4DTV skew setting?

If the servo doesn't move, moves erratically or moves to position then rapidly rotates back, the servo may be failing, the servo wire damaged or the servo wire group shield not properly grounded.

 

[JFOK]

Brian,

My BUD is about 20 feet off the ground, attached to the back of my house. This was something I managed to accomplish 16 years ago when I had a better back. There is no way I could get up there now to inspect it, that's why I'm hoping its nothing "up there." I was last up there to change LNBs and make minor adjustments about 5 years ago.
Eventually I hope to put it lower, since many of the trees that proved to be obstacles 16 years ago, are now gone.

John

 

[waylew]

It's also sounding to me like you're having a servo problem.If the UHF part of the 920 remote still works,you can go out and stand under the dish and should be able to hear the servo moving.Use like channels 1 and 2 and flip between channels.You should hear the servo go zip and stop,zip and stop.If it's making a constant "grinding" noise the servo is hitting one of it's stops and just sitting there.If it's not making any noise at all then it's not doin nuthin,bad servo,broken wire or no output from the 4D.
Oh and if the cap on the feedhorn is missing or broken you may have a family of wasps setting up house keeping in there.

 

[JFOK]

It's also sounding to me like you're having a servo problem.If the UHF part of the 920 remote still works,you can go out and stand under the dish and should be able to hear the servo moving.Use like channels 1 and 2 and flip between channels.You should hear the servo go zip and stop,zip and stop.If it's making a constant "grinding" noise the servo is hitting one of it's stops and just sitting there.If it's not making any noise at all then it's not doin nuthin,bad servo,broken wire or no output from the 4D.
Oh and if the cap on the feedhorn is missing or broken you may have a family of wasps setting up house keeping in there.

I will try what you suggested. I certainly hope its nothing underneath the feedhorn otherwise I'm s#*t out of luck
I just can't get up there anymore, to do repairs and the days of BUD repair men are long gone.

 

[waylew]

Make friends with somebody with a small bucket truck

Oh,I think the 920 had a uhf remote but I'm not sure,you might want to check first.
Also just to help in testing the 920,Cspan ch 7 analog is still on C3 131w and QVC ch 9 analog is still on C4 135w,both are vertical.

 

[JFOK]

Make friends with somebody with a small bucket truck

Oh,I think the 920 had a uhf remote but I'm not sure,you might want to check first.
Also just to help in testing the 920,Cspan ch 7 analog is still on C3 131w and QVC ch 9 analog is still on C4 135w,both are vertical.

Thanks...I'll check those channels to test my skew for vertical.
One thing I forgot to mention earlier was, last night I scanned the transponders on two different satellites with my 4DTV receiver. The signal strength changed with each odd and even numbered channel on both horizontal and vertical. That would indicate to me that the servo was working, if I'm correct.
Yes...a small bucket truck would do the trick

 

[JFOK]

Hi All,

Well through a little detective work and "some" BUD experience, being in this hobby since 1991, I've come to the conclusion that the Ku lnb has stopped working. When I try scanning the Ku side of a bird, all I get is C band transponders. The servo motor seems to be working okay.
If I could, I would replace both C and Ku band LNBs along with the servo motor, however, since I can no longer get up to the dish due to health reasons (its 20 feet up) and since there are no longer any BUD repairmen, I'm out of luck. So I'll just use this dish as is until the C band LNB totally dies, then unfortunately, end my BUD hobby.
To those who replied to my post, thanks for all your help.

John

 

[KE4EST]

Well if I lived near you, I sure would come by and help you out!
Maybe another member here is close by and can lend a hand.

 

[JFOK]

Well if I lived near you, I sure would come by and help you out!
Maybe another member here is close by and can lend a hand.

Thanks for your kind offer.
I'm open to all offers of help.

 

[Titanium]

I disagree with the diagnosis. Please correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't KU work on other satellite positions?

If C-band is scanned when KU is selected, this is a switching issue. Is the DVBS2 receiver slaved to the 4DTV with splitters and a DiSEqC or 22KHz switch?