Hoping for "Hope": Superdish & Lifetime Ultra

[chulew]

I have a used Lifetime Ultra that I got off ebay which was being used with a DishPro500 dish dual lnbf. I uploaded the latest firmware from Fortecstar.com which atcually set the FW to an earlier version??? I believe I have a Superdish 105. It says "SuperDish" and HDTV on the big lnb. The DP lnbf is mounted to the right of the big one when looking at the dish (is that how you tell it is 105?). I am connected to the small DP LNBF, not the big LNB - is this right?

I am trying to pick up Hope, LLBN, 3abn (11822 H 5.7) from AMC4 and I've read that it can be done with some tweaking or painful programming on the reciever side with TP set to vertical or something and subtract horizontal freq from 25600Mhz? I don't really understand this and I guess I'm looking for what specifically I need to change in the setup screens.

I have my dish set as follows for zip 27106:
AMC 4 101.0W
Az(t) 212.6 (compass direction)
Elev 42.7
Skew 25.8 (dish rotated clockwise 25.8 degrees from dead even. The sticker for skew reads 90 when the dish is dead straight so am I figuring this correctly? The dish only goes down to 30 on the sticker which is -60?. If 90 is even and 30 = -60, then 115.8 is what I want the sticker to show right?

The guide I've been using (http://www.adventistsat.com/downloads/programming_ultra-adventist_channels.pdf) assumes a standard 30" dish with a single lnbf. At least a few people have posted that the Superdish does the job. It seems like there are a whole bunch of ways in the setup menus to measure if I'm getting signal so which one do I want after I tweak the receiver to use the Superdish?

Does anyone have this setup or know how to tweak the Fortec Ultra?

 

[Mr Tony]

Welcome

I have a used Lifetime Ultra that I got off ebay which was being used with a DishPro500 dish dual lnbf. I uploaded the latest firmware from Fortecstar.com which atcually set the FW to an earlier version??? I believe I have a Superdish 105. It says "SuperDish" and HDTV on the big lnb. The DP lnbf is mounted to the right of the big one when looking at the dish (is that how you tell it is 105?). I am connected to the small DP LNBF, not the big LNB - is this right?

It sounds like a 105 SD. The LNB that goes straight down the dish arm is the one you need to aim with. thats the KU LNB

I am trying to pick up Hope, LLBN, 3abn (11822 H 5.7) from AMC4 and I've read that it can be done with some tweaking or painful programming on the reciever side with TP set to vertical or something and subtract horizontal freq from 25600Mhz? I don't really understand this and I guess I'm looking for what specifically I need to change in the setup screens.

I have my dish set as follows for zip 27106:
AMC 4 101.0W
Az(t) 212.6 (compass direction)
Elev 42.7
Skew 25.8 (dish rotated clockwise 25.8 degrees from dead even. The sticker for skew reads 90 when the dish is dead straight so am I figuring this correctly? The dish only goes down to 30 on the sticker which is -60?. If 90 is even and 30 = -60, then 115.8 is what I want the sticker to show right?

If you are standing behind the dish, the skew would be turned clockwise (so the left side of the dish is higher)

As for the frequencies, with a DishPro LNB it is screwy. What I would do is set the LNB LO as 10750 and just do a smart scan

If you have the dish aimed properly, you should be able to see KUIL Fox on
11706 freq
V polarity
2170 symbol rate

VERY strong signal.

Once you have that locked in, do a smart scan. That will find the transponders and take care of the oddball frequencies. Just scan vertical only

 

[chulew]

Thanks Iceberg! I almost had it. I guess the little stuff like connecting to the correct LNB and not having the skew bass ackwards makes a little difference. Perhaps even connecting the RG6 to the receiver would have an impact as well. I must have spent an hour last night and was about to call it quits and tear it down when I realized the brain fart. Still should'a called it quits at that point but I had to fiddle another 45 minutes in the dark. I will attempt the above tonight.

11706 for KUIL? www.lyngsat.com/amc4.html lists it as 11708. Am I understanding this right that all the channels that have the "F" next to them are ones that I could potentially get? What about LLBN on 12020?

 

[Mr Tony]

Sorry. Each LNB has a little “float” where the frequency may be off my 1 or 2 especially on a blind scan. In my receiver, KUIL is logged as 11706.

I can get the rest of the stuff on AMC4 with no issues. 3ABN and Hope Network (and the other channels on those 2 transponders) are very strong

LLBN is at 12020 and is pretty strong.

Dont worry about having the skew bass ackwards. Done that many a times

 

[PSB]

LLBN TV is indeed FTA!

"11706 for KUIL? www.lyngsat.com/amc4.html lists it as 11708"

All LNB's are slightly off to each other!

 

[drhydro]

not having the skew bass ackwards makes a little difference.

When I set up my first Ku dish I had skew off by 90 degrees, took me a few to figure out why all my horizontal tps came in as vertical and visa versa

 

[chulew]

On the DP 105, ther are three or 4 cables and on the main LNB head there is a little pointed clear cover and a flat clear cover. Are there really three LNBs on the end of this thing or are the two main ones make up the primary LNB? Do I just use one of these center arm cables or both (there is IF IN and IF OUT on the receiver). Sorry for the ignorance. I tried both but may not quite have my dish pointing quite right.

 

[Mr Tony]

On the DP 105, ther are three or 4 cables and on the main LNB head there is a little pointed clear cover and a flat clear cover. Are there really three LNBs on the end of this thing or are the two main ones make up the primary LNB?

on the SD105 there are 2 LNB's built inside the housing which were for 105 & 110. 119 was "sticking off to the side"
Pull the back cover off and there might be some labels. You want the one that says "KU Band" or "11.7-12.2" on it.

Do I just use one of these center arm cables or both (there is IF IN and IF OUT on the receiver). Sorry for the ignorance. I tried both but may not quite have my dish pointing quite right.

plug the cable into the IF in (or satellite in) on the receiver

 

[SatelliteAV]

To scan in Hope Channel, Esperanza and the ATN/ACN channels (11983MHz), set the scan type to ALL. The uplinker uses a PowerVU encoder and it broadcasts a false encryption flag. You will not find these channels while scanning in the FTA mode.

 

[Mr Tony]

good point.

so thats why they show up as $ but they aren't? The uplinker is using different equipment

 

[chulew]

Ok, I'm up and running. The two encased LNBs had nothing indicating their bands but one is much larger than the other at the head. I used it and immediately got the KUIL Fox channel. Couldn't get in any of my desired channels though and finally figured out by looking at the lyngsat chart that they are all "H". So I skewed the dish 90 the other way and bam, there they were. The original skew I posted above was correct but since it was out of the labeled range for the Superdish, I figured I needed to compensate somewhere - no so. Superdish can't receive both H and V signals simultaneously (as far as I can tell). But I'm happy. Thanks for all your help.

Did I read somewhere that you can use a small dish (Dish or DTV - smaller than the standard 30" minimum) to receive one or very few of the stronger KU channels from AMC4? Like, maybe it depends on your location relative to the satellite?

 

[Mr Tony]

The SD will receive both H & V but the way the LNB is set up, all the frwequencies show up as Vertical (LNB is stacked)

Yes a few of us can get the stronger signals on AMC4 with a smaller dish & a KU Band LNB. I was able to get KUIL & 3 Angels pretty good (60+) on a Phase II dish (NOT the Phase III. Phase II has LNB's that can be removed)

Esperanza & Hope were on the threshold of the signal and the rest were KAPUT. I am in Minnesota where AMC4 is a little off my true south

 

[Mr Tony]

little more info on stacked frequencies

Stacked takes the H frequencies and "stacks them" on top of the V frequencies and makes them vertical. So when you do a blind scan the machine will see all the legfit V transpnoders then the H TP's at a real high frequency and are vertical. So you can get both transpnoders on the same LNB.