Help with C band satellite dish install (Any help would be appreciated)

[MN_Vikings]

I think I have the wiring figured out. Tonight I was finally able to get out there and hook things up. When I used the remote or receiver I was able move the dish with the actuator when I changed satellites. When I changed channels I could sometimes hear the motor in the LNB making a noise. Would this be the LNB's changing polarity?

I'm having trouble uploading photos again....

 

[MN_Vikings]

Here are the current photos.



Everything appears to be hooked up and working but I could not aim the dish or pick up any channels.

The 3.5in od post I concreted in is level and plumb.

Here is a photo scan of the site check paperwork from the former owner that lives 2 miles away almost direct south of me. According to Dishpointer.com snapshot my direct south satellite is Galaxy 25 93.1w degrees.





For the polar angle he has written down 45 degrees. When I bought the setup from the guy it sounded like he had not used the equipment in over 10 years so there may be more or less satellites now. Note on the paperwork he has the Highest satellite written down is G3 177 1/2 compass degrees and 38 1/2 degrees polar angle. This would be my southern satellite correct? Does anyone know if I should be using the G3 satellite or if it is still transmitting?



When I mounted the dish on the mount I lined up the line on the dish with the 45 degree angle as referenced in the above photo. Is this correct to line up the mount and the dish to use 45 degrees or should I be using a different angle? Also when I turn the dish to for aiming purposes should I try first to get C-band or Ku-band? What is the easiest? I live in Bloomington MN zip code 55420. I tried my best with a compass and protractor but no luck. Any pointers would be appreciated.

 

[northgeorgia]

Is it just me, or is that receiver analog? I know you're using to move the motor it in place of a G-box positioner, but thought I read you had a dreambox? I don't see it connected. Not much left in analog on C-band, from what I understand...

 

[T4Runner]

Too many cooks may spoil the soup, but I can't help myself...

Look at http://www.lyngsat.com/Galaxy-3C.html and you will see there are only a couple transponders with channels on them that are designated as FREE. TP numbers ten and twenty-four. So although your due South satellite is @93W, it's all news feeds that do not transmit all the time.

Rotate the dish with the motor back and forth at the high point to determine the high point of the dish, Then click from your high point to the West a few clicks (how about 7) to get to where 95W should be.

and THEN start moving the whole polar mount on the pole to see if you hit anything on 95W.



Posted Using The New SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[MN_Vikings]

Yes, sorry for the misunderstanding I have 2 C-band satellite dishes and 2 receivers. One a 7.5ft black C\Ku mesh dish with an Toshiba analog receiver and the other a 6ft solid white dish from Sadoun that I just purchased a dreambox clone receiver for. I also have been unsuccessful in aiming the Sadoun 6ft dish/ dreambox clone and wanted to get the 7.5ft black mesh dish with an Toshiba analog receiver working first. Once this is done I will start on the sadoun 6ft dish/ dreambox clone.

 

[MN_Vikings]

Thanks T4Runner, I will give 95W a shot. Question should I be trying for C or Ku and what channels should I attempt to get a signal on?

 

[northgeorgia]

Oh I see. Maybe someone else can chime in, but I don't think you'll find any analog at 93W. Can you get 131W? I think C-Span is up there in analog... Otherwise, maybe you could slave the dreambox onto the Toshiba? Tons of digital signals you should be getting with the 7.5 ft, but the poor Toshiba can't decode (nor recognize) them.

Yes, sorry for the misunderstanding I have 2 C-band satellite dishes and 2 receivers. One a 7.5ft black C\Ku mesh dish with an Toshiba analog receiver and the other a 6ft solid white dish from Sadoun that I just purchased a dreambox clone receiver for. I also have been unsuccessful in aiming the Sadoun 6ft dish/ dreambox clone and wanted to get the 7.5ft black mesh dish with an Toshiba analog receiver working first. Once this is done I will start on the sadoun 6ft dish/ dreambox clone.


View attachment 90517 View attachment 90518

 

[T4Runner]

You can disregard my comments unless you have a digital satellite receiver slaved to the analog dish mover. I thought you were connecting a digital sat receiver to the old analog receiver?


Posted Using The New SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[MN_Vikings]

T4Runner,

I will try for 131W and just printed out a snapshot from where I live to 131W from dishpointer.com to help me out. Question, I want to be able to get to all the satellies on the arc, If I use 131w as my sothern satellite will this affect other satellites when the dish is moved across the arc on both sides? I purchased a 4X4X4 multi switch and a few Disq swiches so I think I will be able to connect them both (Toshiba analog and Dreambox digital) recievers to try to get anything. I think I have a second TV I can bring out to hook both of them up. Unfortunetly the Toshiba analog does not have an on screen (tv) satellite meter but the Dreambox does. I also purchased a USB satellite receiver I will connect to a laptop computer so I will have 3 receivers to use. I have a busy weekend but will try to give it a shot and post my results. Almost forgot to ask. Should I use the 45 degree angle setting where I connect the dish to the mount as I described a few posts above?

Thanks again, Tom

 

[FaT Air]

I want to be able to get to all the satellies on the arc

Got to start at the satellite closest to your longitude. Set dish to it's highest with the actuator. Angles as shown in the picture I previously attached. see here http://theho.web.fc2.com/BUD/9525/ Or here http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/222234-BUD-manual?p=2282480#post2282480 for more.

 

[T4Runner]

T4Runner,

I will try for 131W and just printed out a snapshot from where I live to 131W from dishpointer.com to help me out. Question, I want to be able to get to all the satellies on the arc, If I use 131w as my sothern satellite will this affect other satellites when the dish is moved across the arc on both sides? I purchased a 4X4X4 multi switch and a few Disq swiches so I think I will be able to connect them both (Toshiba analog and Dreambox digital) recievers to try to get anything. I think I have a second TV I can bring out to hook both of them up. Unfortunetly the Toshiba analog does not have an on screen (tv) satellite meter but the Dreambox does. I also purchased a USB satellite receiver I will connect to a laptop computer so I will have 3 receivers to use. I have a busy weekend but will try to give it a shot and post my results. Almost forgot to ask. Should I use the 45 degree angle setting where I connect the dish to the mount as I described a few posts above?

Thanks again, Tom

Simply, no, 131W is too far away from your due South. the arc is set up as Anole said with the closest Satellite to your Longitude first. Think of it like a clock face with 12Noon as your due South Satellite and top dead center. You are getting an "A" for attitude, but jumping too far too fast from my perspective. It took me several hrs to get my due South set and locked because I had never done it before. Then it took 2 months of off and on tweaking to get it aligned on the arc. Take your time and use the dreambox clone if possible to find your satellite closest to due South first. Then everything else will fall into place. I had to walk away from my install several times to sit and stare at it...

 

[MN_Vikings]

T4Runner,
Thanks again for all your help, I spent another 4 hours today and still no luck and have finally contacted a Satellite installer off craigslist to aim my dishes next Saturday. I previously went to his place about four months ago and purchased a used Direct-TV LNB from him and he showed me his FTA setup. Hopefully I can learn from him what I did wrong and the tips and tricks for getting these Buds aimed and will post my results... I'm not giving up yet!!!!!!

 

[T4Runner]

T4Runner,
Thanks again for all your help, I spent another 4 hours today and still no luck and have finally contacted a Satellite installer off craigslist to aim my dishes next Saturday. I previously went to his place about four months ago and purchased a used Direct-TV LNB from him and he showed me his FTA setup. Hopefully I can learn from him what I did wrong and the tips and tricks for getting these Buds aimed and will post my results... I'm not giving up yet!!!!!!

Great. Be sure and let us know how it turns out.


Posted Using The New SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[MN_Vikings]

It has been two weeks since my last update and I have made some progress. I found that I cannot upload photos to this site through Internet Explorer and Firefox works so just in case anyone has trouble uploading photos in IE use FF.

My craigslist satellite installer guy came over two weeks ago and helped me out by aiming both my dishes my direct southern 91.0 W satellite. He also discovered that the original Chaparral C\Ku-band LNB on the 7.5 ft black dish was not giving out a signal and possibly bad.

I replaced the outdated Chaparral C\Ku LNB with a BSC621 combo C\Ku band LNBF.




Unfortunately the BSC621 combo C\Ku LNBF is incompatible with my old Toshiba analog receiver as the voltages are different and there is no 22khz signal and you need some type of polarizer control to change between Horizontal and Vertical frequencies. He also said there a very few if any analog signals left so installer suggested I purchase a traditional used/cheap FTA receiver to get me started as the Dreambox clone menu is complicated to setup. I found on ebay and for $50.00 I purchased a coolsat 6000 receiver. I also purchased a vbox satellite dish motor mover as the Coolsat 6000 receiver does not have a built in dish controller/mover like the Toshiba analog receiver does.

 

[MN_Vikings]

The Coolsat 6000 receiver was easy to hook up and the setup menu was a lot easier to set up than the dreambox clone and on my first blilndscan search of 91.0 degrees west I picked up a few channels. I found I initially hooked up the vbox motor wires wrong and when the receiver sent a signal to go east it moved west. This was easily fixed by switching the wires. The coolsat 6000 also has a LNB loop out so I'm able to slave the Dreambox clone receiver to the coolsat 6000.

There are both LNB, Desqc, and USALS settings in the the coolsat 6000 menu I still don't understand but through trial and error I hope to figure it out. When the coolsat 6000 is pointed to 95w I'm also able to do a blindscan with the dreambox clone and was also able to pick up a few transponders and a few channels. For some reason I'm able to pick up more channels on the Coolsat then the dreambox. On the dreambox clone there have to be several hundred menu setting combinations that affect the LNB's, switches, actuator, satellites, ect. and it also takes several hours to do a blindscan. I'm hoping to learn from the Coolsat 6000 and hope to apply the same settings to the dreambox. The last photo is of a blindscan search on the dreambox clone.

 

[MN_Vikings]

I also purchased a second BSC621 clone LBNF, separate C-band and Ku band LNB's for testing thinking the original BSC621 LNB was bad and also picked up a few multi switches and extra Desqc switches. What I don't understand is the skew and proper installation of the LNBF. There is a little arrow on the side of the LNBF and have read this should be in the 9'oclock position but do not know for sure. Also, my switches have inputs for either H or V and 18V or 13V. I read that when configuring the LNB's in the receiver settings the 22mhz signal should be set to off or 0 for C-band and 1 or on for Ku band. Does it matter which port on the either the switches the C or Ku wire should connect to when factoring in the H/V or 13v/18v settings? Last photo is my dual 60inch tv's in my living room...

 

[MN_Vikings]

Could anyone give me a few tips on correctly setting up the Dish settings in the Coolsat 6000 receiver menu to get the maximum amount of channels?

I have a BSC621 C\Ku band LNBF installed on my 7.5ft black mesh Dish with an actuator motor.



In the Coolsat dish menu settings here are my choices.



LNB Power: On or Off?

LNB Type: Single, Universal, OCS, OCS-DP, Legacy Twin 1 & 2, and Legacy Twin Quad 1 & 2.

LNB Freq: There are several preset settings like 5150, 9750, 10000, 10050, 10600, 10750, 11200, 11250, 11300, 11475, or manual entry.

22HZ: on or off or auto?

Commited: 1,2,3 or 4

Non committed: 1,2,3 or 4

Does anyone know the definitions of OCS, OCS-DP, Legacy Twin, and legacy Twin Quad?



Also could someone recommend which switch(s) and ports in the switch I should using from the BSC621 LNB? The BSC621 LNB I'm using is the one that has the internal switch you can install a jumper cable so you can only need to run one wire. I have two cables going to the bsc621 and connecting them together with one of my multi0switches and then going into the vbox positioner.

 

[MN_Vikings]

In the motorized settings menu in the coolsat 6000...



Frequency: I have 19 different choices from 3.720 to 19.132 both V and H. What should I set this to?

DisEqC: I have USALS, 1.2 or off. I want to use the dish mover so I assume my choice would be 1.2 or USALS.

One more thing, On my quality meter on this coolsat 6000 strongest I can get is 10% to 12% but When I do a blindscan I can pick up channels and get up to 90% signal quality. Same on the Dreambox clone, the signal meter does not seem to be accurate but when I do a blindscan I pick up transponders/channels i get 80 plus percent. Any ideas why the signal meters on both the Coolsat and Dreambox do not show accurate signal quality but I can pick up transponders/channels on different satellites with a blindscan with good signal?

 

[turbosat]

I haven't read the other 6 pages of this thread, but for the last two posts>if you have a Gbox or Vbox motor controller, someone else will have to help with that setup, no experience here. But your FTA box won't drive the actuator by itself. For the fta setup, you want 5150 for c-band sats and 10750 for Ku band satellites unless the 621instructions say different. . Yes you want lnb power ON for each satellite-it powers lnb.
Ignore disqec switch settings unless you are using one. OCS=one cable solution, the DP refers to dishnetwork lnbfs-the hacker crowd threw those in, legacy twin, etc all refer to hacking. Ignore those for normal lnbfs. If the 621 uses 22khz tone for switching, you'll need it on for ku band satellites. Hope this helps some!
edit: Ok I went back and read the other pages to see where you got to. When you scanned 91, or what you think is 91W, the freqs are way out of whack. For c-band, once you set the "LNB freq" correctly to 5150, you'll scan in frequencies from 3700-4200, not in the 7thousand range. For ku, lnb to 10750 (unless it acts as universal lnbf requiring 9750-10600 lnb freq) then you should get channels in freq range of 11700-12200 mhz for North American ku sats.

 

[primestar31]

You know you can pick up replacement c-band lnb's on Ebay for $13 total. I bought a few a month ago for future stash.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120358624759?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Also, to set your lnb properly, temporarily point your dish at true SOUTH (it's highest point) do this even if there's no sat there for your location. One this is done, loosen the screw holding the lnb to the scalar arm, and rotate it until the "0" arrow is pointed at either 9 o'clock OR 3 o'clock, depending on which works best for where your wires are. Think of your dish as a great big CLOCK when you are doing this. Use a level laid across the lnb from 9 to 3 so when it's at 9 o'clock, it's in effect perfectly level with the horizon. That way you should be set perfect for H and V, and it'll skew itself as the dish moves either east or west.