horizontal but no vertical?

[lownote2]

Helped a guy out today with his Glorystar system. Could not get G25.. but pretty sure it's a bad lnb. I took the other one for AMC4 and switched them and it showed G25, although pretty weak. Anyway, I switched them back and tweaked AMC4 as high as I could. On his Fortec Mercury Star he was receiving a signal on most station of anywhere in the 70-80 range. All the Horizontal TP's were fine. I couldn't get any of the Vertical Tp's to show up. Pretty sure it wasn't the receiver, because even with my birddog meter hooked to the bullet LNB I was peaking the Horizontal tp's fine, but barely registering the Vertical tp's.
Do I need to change a setting on the receiver? Or is the LNB bad. Like I said, even the birddog barely read anything on the vertical side. Or is there a setting I am missing for aiming. I should think if the H-tp's are good, then the V ones should be as well?

Also, any good sites for figuring the settings of a dual lnb system for G25 and AMC4? Zip is 65803.
I can find the settings for each sat, but not for the combination of two.
Thanks all

 

[Glorystar1]

Were you receiving H and V on one LNBF, but on the 2nd LNBF only receiving H? Did the problem switch to the other satellite V channels when it was swapped? You probably noticed that most channels on AMC4 are horizontal, but many of the channels on Galaxy19 (Galaxy 15) are vertical. It is possible that an LNBF has a bad polarity, but it is very rare as the factory prequalifies the GEOSATpro SL1 stock to grade A rating. The customer may choose to send the LNBF in for testing. If it is faulty and within the one year warranty we will replace and return ship at no charge.

Do not change any settings in the menus. These are preset in the firmware.

There are not separate LNBF settings for each LNBF. One setting of the bracket rotation (skew) and a slight adjustment of each LNBF after the signals are peaked to optimize each satellite. It is possible that the LNBFs were being set to the LNBF rotation (SKEW) instead of only rotating the dual bracket?

Aiming coordinates are shipped with the system. If you wish to recalculate the LNBF setting use:
http://www.geosatfinder.com/

 

[lownote2]

Were you receiving H and V on one LNBF, but on the 2nd LNBF only receiving H? Did the problem switch to the other satellite V channels when it was swapped? You probably noticed that most channels on AMC4 are horizontal, but many of the channels on Galaxy19 (Galaxy 15) are vertical. It is possible that an LNBF has a bad polarity, but it is very rare as the factory prequalifies the GEOSATpro SL1 stock to grade A rating. The customer may choose to send the LNBF in for testing. If it is faulty and within the one year warranty we will replace and return ship at no charge.

Do not change any settings in the menus. These are preset in the firmware.

There are not separate LNBF settings for each LNBF. One setting of the bracket rotation (skew) and a slight adjustment of each LNBF after the signals are peaked to optimize each satellite. It is possible that the LNBFs were being set to the LNBF rotation (SKEW) instead of only rotating the dual bracket?

Aiming coordinates are shipped with the system. If you wish to recalculate the LNBF setting use:
http://www.geosatfinder.com/

No, I was only getting H on one LNBF, and unable to pick up any V of that same LNB. The other LNBF was dead, I couldn't pick up anything with it even when I knew that I had signal.
I'm not really sure what you mean about setting the LNBF's to the rotation instead of rotating the dual bracket?? I know the dual bracket has the settings on it and it rotates... which is what I set, but it was pretty close when I got there anyway and didn't need much changing. I checked geosatfinder before I went to help him, and 101 said skew should be +10 and for 99 it should be +7.4 so I figured somewhere between the two should be close.

 

[Glorystar1]

The chance of having one bad LNBF is rare, but exists. The chance of having two is pretty much non-existent. I would suggest reviewing the process in the Installation Guide.

Is the receiver activated with code 2020? Was the dish checked for warping or clam shelling? Is the face of the LNBFs slid 3/4" towards the reflector? IS the receiver or the meter being connected directly to the LNBFs or through the switch?

DO NOT rotate the individual LNBF (SKEW). Only set the skew on the dual bracket.

• Connect the receiver directly to LNBF #1 (on the right side when standing in front of the dish) and place the receiver on 3ABN. Find and peak.
• Connect the receiver directly to LNBF #2 (on the left side when standing in front of the dish) and place the receiver on TBN. Bump the dish left/right /up/down to peak.
• Place the receiver on The Word Network. Peak for weaker signal.
• Power off the master poawer switch or unplug.
• insert the DiSEqC or 22KHz switch
• Repower the receiver.
• Place the receiver on The Word Network. Fine tune LNBF #2 rotation and front to back to peak signal quality.
• Place the receiver on Gospel Music Television Network. Fine tune LNBF #1 rotation and front to back to peak signal quality.

 

[lownote2]

The chance of having one bad LNBF is rare, but exists. The chance of having two is pretty much non-existent. I would suggest reviewing the process in the Installation Guide.

Is the receiver activated with code 2020?

Not sure on that one.... will have to check. It's been installed since last April and was already active when I got there, just missing almost every channel.




Was the dish checked for warping or clam shelling?

Again... it was already installed so although it didn't look warped I didn't check, but when I go out again I definitely will, but I still don't see how I could be getting only horizontal with a good signal but not getting vertical. I agree that the chances of two bad lnb's would be extremely rare. Don't know if I'm missing a setting somewhere on the fortec star or what would cause that. I am pretty sure the other lnb is bad though.


Is the face of the LNBFs slid 3/4" towards the reflector? = Yes

IS the receiver or the meter being connected directly to the LNBFs or through the switch?

Directly to the LNBF

DO NOT rotate the individual LNBF (SKEW). Only set the skew on the dual bracket.

• Connect the receiver directly to LNBF #1 (on the right side when standing in front of the dish) and place the receiver on 3ABN. Find and peak.
• Connect the receiver directly to LNBF #2 (on the left side when standing in front of the dish) and place the receiver on TBN. Bump the dish left/right /up/down to peak.
• Place the receiver on The Word Network. Peak for weaker signal.
• Power off the master poawer switch or unplug.
• insert the DiSEqC or 22KHz switch
• Repower the receiver.
• Place the receiver on The Word Network. Fine tune LNBF #2 rotation and front to back to peak signal quality.
• Place the receiver on Gospel Music Television Network. Fine tune LNBF #1 rotation and front to back to peak signal quality.

Thank you for being so helpful! Don't know when I'll get out there again, but I WILL get him going. Like I said... currently AMC4 is coming in great on all the H transponders, but I'm not getting anything on the V either with the birddog or at the receiver. I'm a bit thrown off there.

 

[rv1pop]

Every time my dish went warped, because of the wind, I would first lose one polarity on one lnb and then most everything on the other LNB. So I would definitely string check for warp. In the cold weather and snow that I lost TBN mix on G19 and most of AMC4. I climbed the ladder to look at the dish and there did not seem to be any snow on the lnbs and very little if any on the dish. When the sun came out for a few minutes suddenly, the signals came back. I do not know if there was ice or a cold warp on the dish, but I got most signals back.

 

[ANIMA]

Is there a known history of this antenna warping in the wind ?

 

[Glorystar1]

The dish has no issues with standard winds, but rv1pop lives in an area that gets hit with incredibly strong and consistent winds. He recently posted that a 120mph + gust took out a wall that supports some of his dishes recently! He owned one of the original dishes without the LNBF side support arms. Updating his dish to add the side support arms has helped in his battle with the extreme winds.

 

[rv1pop]

The dish has no issues with standard winds, but rv1pop lives in an area that gets hit with incredibly strong and consistent winds. He recently posted that a 120mph + gust took out a wall that supports some of his dishes recently! He owned one of the original dishes without the LNBF side support arms. Updating his dish to add the side support arms has helped in his battle with the extreme winds.

Wall in bad shape. Dishes appear OK. No visable damge. Did not get the generator started to power up the TV. (can not run the TV off the small inverter.) The garbage cans that were fastened behind the wall ended up at the neighbors fence -- a mile away!

 

[shibby191]

The dish has no issues with standard winds, but rv1pop lives in an area that gets hit with incredibly strong and consistent winds. He recently posted that a 120mph + gust took out a wall that supports some of his dishes recently! He owned one of the original dishes without the LNBF side support arms. Updating his dish to add the side support arms has helped in his battle with the extreme winds.

This may be what my problem was (my posting on losing V on G19). When I "unwarped" the dish it got better. I don't have the support arms either. Are the support arms something I can order to add to my older dish?

 

[rv1pop]

One other side note --- Even AFTER putting the new arms on, extremely cold WX, seemed to cause either the LNB to quit working on one polarity, or the dish to flex toward the old warp. when the temp got above 15 degrees the signal came back in . I did realign the dish and reset the spacing on the LNB face to the dish surface distance and that boosted the signal considerably. Oh, yes, loosten the 4 bolts where the LNB arm bracket fastens to the dish and tighten them evenly (criss cross) to lock the dish to the bracket. This stopped a lot of attempted rewarp. Then adjust everthing on the lnbs and dish position.

I may have gone over this before -- if so, sorry -- but it did seem important to the subject.

 

[shibby191]

One other side note --- Even AFTER putting the new arms on, extremely cold WX, seemed to cause either the LNB to quit working on one polarity, or the dish to flex toward the old warp. when the temp got above 15 degrees the signal came back in . I did realign the dish and reset the spacing on the LNB face to the dish surface distance and that boosted the signal considerably. Oh, yes, loosten the 4 bolts where the LNB arm bracket fastens to the dish and tighten them evenly (criss cross) to lock the dish to the bracket. This stopped a lot of attempted rewarp. Then adjust everthing on the lnbs and dish position.

I may have gone over this before -- if so, sorry -- but it did seem important to the subject.

Sounds like what I'm experiencing. I'll know for sure once spring comes (be nice to get above 20 degrees sometime soon) and see if the issue goes away. I've got it so I can get a signal on all channels now but V on G19 is still pretty weak. I plan to take it all apart come spring and do a complete realign if the signals don't come back to pre-winter values.

 

[ANIMA]

Interesting ! The one I, have been working with has the side arms. But, didn't begin having any trouble until the weather turned off cold for the first time this year. With brainstorming we will figure this out for sure !

 

[rjc3895]

Sounds like what I'm experiencing. I'll know for sure once spring comes (be nice to get above 20 degrees sometime soon) and see if the issue goes away. I've got it so I can get a signal on all channels now but V on G19 is still pretty weak. I plan to take it all apart come spring and do a complete realign if the signals don't come back to pre-winter values.

I'm experiencing the opposite. I can get V on AMC 4 ku band with no problem, but I cannot get H at all. A few times, my blind scan picked up H frequencies, but the signal was too low to even register. Vertical frequencies are coming in at 80 - 90 percent signal strength, but H won't even register a blip. We have had temps in the teens to low 20's and heavy snow since the first week of January.

 

[Cemguy]

Maybe one of the "techies" can confirm or deny this, but it's my understanding that at least some LNB's have an internal component that actually rotates 90 degrees to to receive Vertically vs. Horizontally polarized signals.

If this is true could it be that, under certain temperature/humidity/etc. conditions, the rotation is hindered?

 

[Glorystar1]

No internal mechanical rotation occurs in an LNBF. All electronic voltage switching. 13vdc V / 18vdc H

Usually loss of horizontal signals is an indication of bad cables or fittings. Check all connections and test the voltage at the LNBF and verify that there is 18vdc +/- 10% on the horizontal channels.

Corroded fitting, bad coax or defective LNBF?

 

[elder]

No internal mechanical rotation occurs in an LNBF. All electronic voltage switching. 13vdc V / 18vdc H

Usually loss of horizontal signals is an indication of bad cables or fittings. Check all connections and test the voltage at the LNBF and verify that there is 18vdc +/- 10% on the horizontal channels.

Corroded fitting, bad coax or defective LNBF?

How can one check voltages without risking switch damage?

 

[Glorystar1]

Turn off the Master Power Switch on the rear panel if connecting or disconnecting a switch.

The switch will not be damaged when properly testing voltage at the LNBF fitting. Be careful not to short the connection.

How can one check voltages without risking switch damage?