Installation Trouble

[laowai]

I just got a motorized kit from Sadoun. I'm trying to get a signal from Amc 5 @ 79.0W since that is the True South satellite for my location (longitude 79.227°W).

So far, I can't get any signal at all.

Here's my info:

Latitude: 37.430°N
Longitude: 79.227°W

Genpix Skywalker-1
DVB Dream 1.3c
Windows Vista
90cm Fortec dish
Invacom QPH031 0.3 dB Quad LNBF
Digipower SG-2100 Motor

Followed the Sadoun installation guide:

- clear line of sight
- perfectly vertical mast
- set latitude on motor to 37.4
- Fit the dish and motor on mast.
- adjusted dish's elevation to 30° - 6° = 24°
- Calculated True South for my location as 189°; Used compass to get in ballpark (though I noticed that when I held the compass near the motor, the needle pointed at the motor and not north! Is there a magnet inside the SG-12900? I managed to work around this.)
- Connected cable from Invacom linear port to LNB port on SG-1200 (for setup purposes, I'm not using a switch and just focusing on one connection at a time)
- Connected Genpix Skywalker-1 and opened DVB-Dream
- Confirmed that green light on motor is illuminated. Confirmed that movement commands from positioner program in DD will move dish.
- Set up DD:
* Diseqc type: none
* Port 1: 2810 - 79.0°W - AMC 5
* LNB Type: NA Legacy
* Lof-1: 10750
* 22 KHz: Off
* Uncommitted Switch Port: Disabled
- Scan channels: 'No Signal' on all transponders!!!

Any ideas?

I've tried tweaking true south azimuth, tweaking dish elevation +/- 5°, switching linear ports on Invacom, connecting Invacom directly to Genpix (bypassing motor)... but so far, nothing.

I also have a DN Dish 500 with twin LNB's aimed at 110/119. I tested the Skywalker with that and was able to get full signals (albeit encrypted) on both birds. So Skywalker, cables and DVB Dream seem to be in working order.

Can anyone see anything that I'm doing glaringly wrong from the above description? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[turbosat]

Does that lnbf have some kind of switch built into it, since it does circular and linear? It has to know how to switch between the 2 types, right?
I'd say, try it with the 22k on, maybe it switches between circ/linear that way.

 

[laowai]

Does that lnbf have some kind of switch built into it, since it does circular and linear? It has to know how to switch between the 2 types, right?
I'd say, try it with the 22k on, maybe it switches between circ/linear that way.

Thanks for the reply Turbosat. I took your suggestion and tried changing the diseqc settings in DD. I turned 22k on and off. I also tried setting it to "diseqc on" and mapping AMC 5 to different ports, and every other permutation I could think of, but no success.

Does anyone know what the proper settings would be for Invacom QPH031 Quad LNBF in DVB Dream?

 

[Tron]

Nothing in the clear on 105 except the "Congrats on the Superdish" screen, a couple of banner channels on 110 and NASA on 119...

Here's all you can legally get on 110/119w: http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-mpeg2-faq-s/34131-what-can-i-get-18-dish-dish-500-a.html

EDIT: This was a post responding to a deleted or moved question (which was OT)... Please disregard

 

[Wescopc]

laowai
First thing, remove the motor and set up the system aimed at one satellite only. Such as AMC 3 @ 87W. When you have the one satellite in your system and are comfortable with how to use it - then mount the motor and motor over to AMC 3 and do you alignment.
Yes there IS a magnet in the motor. A compass must not be near any magnetic material or energized wires to work properly.
Bob

 

[starman345]

When you connected to your DN500 system, did you change the lnbf lof setting in dvbdream? If so, what did you set it at? Version 1.3c is older, I can't remember how those settings go but with 1.4i which I am using now, to tune any linear signal I need to choose ku-circular, confusing, I know but that gives me a lof of 10750 and works. You can alslo choose "other" and type in the 10750 manually. It doesn't look right to me that you chose NALegacy as lnbf type, if I choose that it sets the lof to 11250(circular). Did you give Ku-circular a try when trying to tune AMC5? Don't worry about the 22khz on or off choice, it won't make any difference.

 

[laowai]

WOO-HOO! I did it! I got a signal on AMC 5!

For anyone who has the same problem in the future, here's how I did it:

I downloaded a module plug-in for DVB Dream called yTpSpeak. You can get it here:

DvbDream Community :: View topic - New Modules

This great little module continuously scans a chosen transponder and has a voice that reads out the level and/or quality ("zero... zero... zero...")

I positioned the dish as close to True South as possible using a trick I learned from pmb1010 at the Sadoun forum ("walk away from your dish towards 189, then turn around in front of your dish with the compass, and have 189 be behind you --- and then look at your dish, and the LNB arm should be pointing right at you." THANKS PMB1010!)

Then I opened DVB Dream and cranked up the volume on yTpSpeak so that I could hear the voice through my speakers from outside at the dish. I selected the transponder 12182,H,23000 because, according to posts elsewhere on this forum, it has the strongest signal on AMC5.

I went back out to the dish and started manually sweeping the dish east to west. No change, just a female voice droning "zero... zero... zero". Then I lowered the dish elevation a degree and swept again. "Zero... zero... zero." I lowered the dish elevation down another degree to about 22 deg (2 degrees below the recommended elevation of 24 deg according to the SG2100 manual). I swept west a little bit and the voice suddenly said "six five... six five..." indicating a signal level of 65. PAY DIRT!! After tweaking up, down, east and west for a couple minutes, I was able to get a maximum of 79% quality and signal on transponder 12182,H,23000. I tightened everything down and went back to DVB Dream. When I scanned again, I was indeed on AMC5 with a 89% signal on 11900,H,2170 (a Spanish language channel) and 79% on 12182,H,23000 (New York Net)!

Now... here's the only problem. The motor positioner in DVB Dream (run through Skywalker) does not accurately move the dish. If I enter "Goto angular position: 44.4 west" (which, according to the GAAPS Goto X Calculator should be the location of 119 at my latitude/longitude), the dish moves -- but when I check the motor calibraion I see that it only travelled about 30+ degrees! I verified that the hardware limits were not stopping it. I disabled software limts in DVB Dream. I set the motor back to 0 and reset it. I tried doing "goto" to an arbitray number (75 degrees), but this time the motor only went to about 60+ degrees.

Any suggestions?

 

[turbosat]

Cool, a talking signal meter!!

 

[starman345]

Dvbdream doesn't have native usals support. Get Mibi's plugin SS2diseqc v1.10 and input the raw diseqc commands the plugin generates into the diseqc menu in Dvbdream.