Installer says GloryStar system won't work!!!

[Glorystar1]

A new installer has been assigned to the job and is scheduled to be at CemGuy's home on Wednesday in the AM. If this installer has any questions, we will be available to provide assistance.

We anticipate that this will be a better experience!

 

[Mr Tony]

awesome to hear Glorystar1

So by Wednesday afternoon cemguy can be watching Glorystar

 

[Cemguy]

New installer arrived at about 11 AM, Left at 1 PM. Now watching Glorystar!

Thanks to Glory1, the Glorystar staff, the installer, the forum members, and, most of all, Our Lord Jesus Christ!

When the installer arrived he indicated that he hadn't installed a similar dish since about a year and a half ago but was able to successfully follow the directions for installation and aiming.

While signal levels on all channels are in the upper 80's, the best the installer was able to adjust for quality levels resulted in about 1/3 of the channels in the upper 60's, a little more than 1/3 of the channels in the upper 30's to upper 40's, and a little less than 1/3 of the channels in the upper 20's (mostly on Galaxy 25 I think).

Hope the quality issue won't require me to do more "tweaking" to get reception on cloudy days, etc. (I'm reluctant to try that on my own).

I'm going to attempt to add Cornerstone and Safe TV and see how the reception is on those channels. Any new channels since the 4/8 listing?

Thanks again!!!

 

[iceturkee]

glad to hear you got your problem resolved.

 

[Mr Tony]

Cemguy
Glad it worked out. I would check to see which channels are on the weakest transponders and note them.

Most are on the stronger transponders so it should work fine

Welcome to Glorystar

 

[Glorystar1]

We will be continuing to work with CemGuy's install team. The signal levels are still unreliable and we will work with them to optimize.

CemGuy- did the installer lay the dish on a perfectly flat surface to check for warping before assembling?

Are both LNBFs moved forward towards the reflector (away from the bracket) by approx. 3/4"?

We are close, but it can be better!

 

[shibby191]

CemGuy- did the installer lay the dish on a perfectly flat surface to check for warping before assembling?

This was my problem. I had done this but not enough. After I really went to town on it and got it unwarped my signals went up a lot.

Having said that GA25 is still the weakest in terms of quality reading but it's good enough for us anyway.

 

[Cemguy]

The installer did check for warp. Actually, I had checked the dish when I received it. I did have to flex it a couple of times to get it flat. When placed on the cement slab of our porch, there were no noticeable gaps. edges all seemed to be in contact with slab.

I measured the distance from the front of the LNBFs from the bracket at 3/4 inch. However, since the front surfaces of the LNBFs are a bit curved, it wasn't easy to get a really accurate reading. I would say they should have been within 1/16 inch of the spec.

This is the kind of thing I had to kind of stand over the shoulder of the installer to make sure things got done in accordance with the instructions. When installing the LNBFs the installer said the distance between the front of the LNBFs and the dish didn't matter. I knew that was wrong so I showed the installer the instructions and measured to adjust the fronts of the LNBFs to 3/4 inch from the bracket. The installer was going to leave them with the "tabs" right up against the bracket.

I'm pretty sure the installer didn't try adjusting that distance while aiming (although I understand that small adjustments of that distance might be appropriate to optimize the signal - is that true?), but he did try adjusting the skew of the LNBF assembly.

Overall, I think he was making pretty "coarse" adjustments (maybe that works with bigger dishes, stronger satellites?). Maybe I'm wrong, but I suspect that with the GloryStar system the adjustments should probably be as fine as possible in an organized manner?

Thanks for trying to get this straightened out.

I'm glad we have some channels we can watch reliably. I'm pretty sure that someone that really knows there stuff can get at least most of the others to an acceptable level.

 

[Mr Tony]

This is the kind of thing I had to kind of stand over the shoulder of the installer to make sure things got done in accordance with the instructions. When installing the LNBFs the installer said the distance between the front of the LNBFs and the dish didn't matter.

actually that is wrong. Depending on the LNB, some get pushed all the way back to the holder (as far way from the dish) but the geosatpro LNB's need to be pushed in. MIne is at 7/8" or so for optimum signal

I knew that was wrong so I showed the installer the instructions and measured to adjust the fronts of the LNBFs to 3/4 inch from the bracket. The installer was going to leave them with the "tabs" right up against the bracket.

that can cause bad readings....learned that the hard way

I'm pretty sure the installer didn't try adjusting that distance while aiming (although I understand that small adjustments of that distance might be appropriate to optimize the signal - is that true?), but he did try adjusting the skew of the LNBF assembly.

Overall, I think he was making pretty "coarse" adjustments (maybe that works with bigger dishes, stronger satellites?). Maybe I'm wrong, but I suspect that with the GloryStar system the adjustments should probably be as fine as possible in an organized manner?

DBS satellite are much stronger than KU Band (which Glorystar is) so you need to make very fine adjustments. I've seen signal go from awesome to nill by leaning into the dish. Thats why we need the bigger dish is because KU is lower powered satellites.

 

[Cemguy]

Here are the signal qualities I have so far:

AMC

20s
Impact TV

40s
Miracle TV
CGN
TRWAM
Bethel
Apostolic Oneness
CGN
Gospel Music

60s
ATN SVC2
ATN SVC1
3ABN Latino
Esperanza
3ABN English
LLBN
Hope




Galaxy

20s
Cornerstone
SafeTV
Spirit Word
LoveWord
Word Network (no pic/sound)
CNL Russian
Rodnoy (no pic/sound)
Telepace
Al Karma
ABN (Part) (no pic/sound)
Cancao Nova

30s
Daystar
TBN
Church Chan
God's Learning
Smile of a Child
JCTV
Emmanuel
TBN Enlace
TBN Russian
TBN Nejat
ABN

40s
Vision Heaven

 

[Mr Tony]

I think the LNB's need to be pushed in towards the dish as Glorystar1 noted. That will bring up the signal better.

on my Pansat 1500 which can have a wacky meter the TBN mux and the mux (group of channels) with SafeTV & Cornerstone are around 60+

 

[shibby191]

You can definately do better then that. 3ABN is *very* strong and should be in the 70s at least if not 80s. I can peak 3ABN to 90/90 but I back it down some to get the channels on GA25 to come in better.

I get mostly 50s in terms of quality on GA25 channels although there are some very weak ones. I'd say mostly 60/70s on AMC to the 80s on the real strong ones.

 

[Mr Tony]

sounds about right shibby

The AMC4 stuff except for the transponder with Gospel Music TV is usually pretty strong but you have to tweak for 97 too. I'll be happy when they replace G25/IA5/T5...thats an old satellite

 

[catkoko]

CAn you use the glorystar lnb on the old primestar dish? My local installer says the primestar dishes are heavier with a sturdier mounting system.. We get very high winds (have had 2 tornados) and he fells glorystar will move too easy. I could buy the reciver and the lnb and have him put it on a primestar for me.

 

[Mr Tony]

CAn you use the glorystar lnb on the old primestar dish?

not really. The Primestar dishes have their own LNB that bolts onto the dish. We have jerry rigged things (us FTA folks always rig up something) to the dish to make it work but the best LNB is the stock LNB. Otherwise you "gut" the casing off the LNB to make it fit in the groove. Since the case is just for show, no harm is done

My local installer says the primestar dishes are heavier with a sturdier mounting system..

Primestar used a 2 3/8" mast, Glorystar is 1 5/8" with 2 braces on it for extra sturdiness

We get very high winds (have had 2 tornados) and he fells glorystar will move too easy. I could buy the reciver and the lnb and have him put it on a primestar for me.

If you have the Primestar dish, by all means use it. You would only get one satellite (either G25 or AMC4) but them P* dishes get better signal since they're bigger. But if you go with the G* system, the mast and braces make the dish VERY sturdy. Right now we've got 35+ mph sustained winds (big rain/snow/ice storm coming through MN) and the G* dish is working great right now. Signals are still nice and good. I see the dish wiggle in the wind but wont move if properly installed

 

[shibby191]

I've never had problems with the Glorystar dish in high winds (70mph thunderstorms included) that aren't of my own making. And by that I mean is that I have my dish on a tripod and the dish will sometimes move but it's the pole in the tripod that moves. I've just been too lazy to fix it.

But you'd have no problems at all using the supplied mount and support arms. It won't move on ya.

 

[ShaneLinder]

not really. The Primestar dishes have their own LNB that bolts onto the dish. We have jerry rigged things (us FTA folks always rig up something) to the dish to make it work but the best LNB is the stock LNB. Otherwise you "gut" the casing off the LNB to make it fit in the groove. Since the case is just for show, no harm is done...

If you have the Primestar dish, by all means use it. You would only get one satellite...

if you go with the G* system, the mast and braces make the dish VERY sturdy. Right now we've got 35+ mph sustained winds (big rain/snow/ice storm coming through MN) and the G* dish is working great right now.

Couple of comments.

A) my installer says he uses the Primestar dish with multiple LNBFs and is able to pick up the most of the arch without a motor. That is here in the tip of South Texas.

B) Here on the Gulf Coast we have had winds blow 60+ mph and my GloryStar dish has not had to be adjusted afterwards.

 

[Mr Tony]

Couple of comments.

A) my installer says he uses the Primestar dish with multiple LNBFs and is able to pick up the most of the arch without a motor. That is here in the tip of South Texas.

sure you can mount multiple LNB's on a Primestar dish. I have done it before. The drawback is its tough to get 4 degree spacing. I can get 5 but 4 is tough

B) Here on the Gulf Coast we have had winds blow 60+ mph and my GloryStar dish has not had to be adjusted afterwards.

thats good to know Shane. We had some wild winds Friday and the dish would wiggle but signal still nice and strong

 

[Cemguy]

The install company called, but I told them to wait until they could arrange for an installer that had successfully installed several Glorystar systems rather than send an installer as soon as possible.

In the mean time, I've tried to "tweak" the system myself. I wish I hadn't.

since most of the channels we watch are on Galaxy 25, I brought up the signal meter while watching Cornerstone TV. That was one of the weaker channels (quality in the 20's).

I started with the azimuth?? (is that what the side-to-side angle is called?)...the only improvement I could get, which actually, at the time seemed to be about +10% quality, resulted from movement of about 1/32" from the "as left" position.

I tried very small increments of elevation, but with only worse quality results.

I then looked at the "skew". I didn't seem to be anywhere near the +23.5 that was specified for my location. With tiny adjustments, I was able to get the quality up to about the upper 30's. I then tried the insertion depth of the LNBF. By moving it closer to the dish, a tiny bit at a time, I was able to get the quality up to a max of 40 (about 32-40 range).

Problem is, when I checked the other Galaxy 25 stations and the AMC stations, they were mostly worse.

I tried to get the "skew" back to where it was, and managed to bring some of the AMC station qualities back up a little, but then Cornerstone was back to about where it was and the rest of the Galaxy 25's seemed worse than before.

I tried adjusting the insertion depth of the AMC LNB, but to no effect.

So I figured I'd better try to get back to the "as left" by installer condition.

I managed to get back as close as I could to the "as-left" condition, with some positive results (more or less)

The quality has improved on many of the channels we watch most, which are on Galaxy 25. The quality on many of the AMC channels went down by about the same amount. If this is the kind of trade-off that's necessary (I suspect it is), then I wonder if even an experienced installer can improve the situation (I hope so, but if not, I'm willing to live with what I have and hope for the best even if it means losing signal in bad weather).

Here are the results of my "fiddling" with the setup:

Qualities before I "fiddled" with the "as-left" settings are in bold type in first column with channels in that category beneath. Qualities after I "fiddled" with the as-left settings are next to individual channels in bold type ("+" indicates "upper", "-" indicates "lower", "s" indicates "middle").

AMC

20s
Impact TV 30+

40s
Miracle TV 30+
CGN 30+
TRWAM 30+
Bethel 30s
Apostolic Oneness 30+
GCN 30+
Gospel Music 30+

60s
ATN SVC2 50s
ATN SVC1 50-
3ABN Latino 60-
Esperanza 50+
3ABN English 60-
LLBN 60-
Hope 50+

Galaxy

20s
Cornerstone 30+
SafeTV 30+
Spirit Word 30+
LoveWord 20+
Word Network (no pic/sound) 20+ (almost get pic/sound)
CNL Russian 20+ (no pic/sound)
Rodnoy (no pic/sound) 20+ (no pic/sound)
Telepace 20+
Al Karma 20+
ABN (Part) (no pic/sound) 20+ (no pic/sound)
Cancao Nova 20+

30s
Daystar 30+/40-
TBN 40+
Church Chan 40+
God's Learning 40+
Smile of a Child 40+
JCTV 40+
Emmanuel 40s
TBN Enlace 40+
TBN Russian 40+
TBN Nejat 30+
ABN 20+

40s
Vision Heaven 40+

Please let me know if you think an experienced installer can improve the setup.

Thanks,

 

[Cemguy]

Also, is there a LNBF1 and LNBF2 side to the DiSEqC switch? In other words, is it essential that the LNBF on the right when looking towards the dish be connected to the "#1" side of the switch and the LNBF on the left when looking towards the dish be connected to the "#2" side of the switch?

I didn't really check to see if the installer did that. Would it make a difference? If it were done backwards would that result in no signal quality or just less than optimal signal quality?

Thanks