Just Went Live With FTA - Needing Some Help

[netbuilder]

First off I'd like to say how much I appreciate this forum. I have been scouring the internet and continually find myself back at this forum when finding the information I am looking for. As I said, I have been lurking for sometime and this is my first post so I hope I'm not making the normal rookie mistake of sounding silly.

I actually have several birds locked in right now and it is a great feeling to actually be watching something worthwhile on the big screen after many hours of research on this subject. If you'd like to see my setup (a little crude looking at the moment) you can view some pictures here: thenetbuilder.com: Free To Air Satellite

I started out having a single dish on the roof and it was such a pain dialing in the birds and many nights of BEEP, BEEP, BEEP I can still here that annoying sound in my head. I decided to build that platform mount and set the dishes on the ground. Man, is that so much easier to tune in now. Not to mention I can do it myself, the wife and kids are tired of helping me out - haha.

I also have been using a Pansat 3500SD and I love it's versatility and is very easy to setup and use especially for a newbie. This brings me to my question. If you have viewed my setup, I'm looking on some advice on what kind/brand of motor I should get for my Primestar dish that will allow multiple satellite reception including linear and circular LNBF. I was thinking about using that quad linear/circular model and mounting it on that P* dish and putting the motor on that to grab in the other satellites I'm missing.

I have been trying to pull in other birds like 101W, 105W, 107.3, or anything else really on that P* dish but I just can't seem to dial anything else in besides 97W at the same time. If I adjust each satellite individually I can tune them in but not using the modification bar like you see in the picture which is why I'm thinking about using a motor.

If you look at the DirecWay dish, I'm pulling in several DN birds and to my surprise I'm getting from 110W to 148W and a few birds in between. This was by total accident (pulling in 148W) since that is quite a span I must say. By the way if anyone is aiming at 148W with a circular LNB I'd do a blind scan if I were you because there are a few hidden channels out there worth checking out.

Anyway a little help on the dish/motor situation would be greatly appreciated and I hope my photos can help someone else out there.

 

[qwert1515]

What are you receiving from the Dish Network satellites?

 

[digiblur]

Looks like I spotted some of those ugly and worthless screw on RG6 connections.

 

[netbuilder]

qwert1515 - just the well known freebies (NASA, Angel, etc.)

digiblur - I told you it was a little crude at the moment. I didn't want to make everything perfect until I knew all this was going to work like I wanted it too. Thanks for the critique anyway

 

[Tron]

PLEASE do not mention any channels other than those listed on Lyngsat as FTA! This causes uplinkers to ENCRYPT!

http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-ai...t-post-feeds-finds-not-lyngsat-main-area.html

Mods or Netbuilder, please edit the above post to exclude channel references!

 

[Mr Tony]

taken care of

 

[kymics]

I have been trying to pull in other birds like 101W, 105W, 107.3, or anything else really on that P* dish but I just can't seem to dial anything else in besides 97W at the same time. If I adjust each satellite individually I can tune them in but not using the modification bar like you see in the picture which is why I'm thinking about using a motor.

Linear signals are tricky to get when they're offset to either side of center on the dish. I'm sure others have done it, but it will take some fiddling.

There are channels on 101W but there's nothing really to be found on those other sats so maybe you just need to try some other examples. G26 (93W), G3C (95W) and AMC1 (103W) all have at least one channel available on them if you want to do some testing on those as well.

I think the P* has to modified to take a motor, but once again I'm pretty sure it's been done before so just do some searching on the board. Maybe just add another dish to your array if you want to go the easy route.

 

[McGuyver]

I have been trying to pull in other birds like 101W, 105W, 107.3, or anything else really on that P* dish but I just can't seem to dial anything else in besides 97W at the same time. If I adjust each satellite individually I can tune them in but not using the modification bar like you see in the picture which is why I'm thinking about using a motor.

If you look at the DirecWay dish, I'm pulling in several DN birds and to my surprise I'm getting from 110W to 148W and a few birds in between. This was by total accident (pulling in 148W) since that is quite a span I must say. By the way if anyone is aiming at 148W with a circular LNB I'd do a blind scan if I were you because there are a few hidden channels out there worth checking out.

The DSS signals are very strong and can be picked up easily with small dishes such as DN, etc. The FTA FSS signals are very weak comparibly, therefore requiring larger dishes such as ideally a 36" or bigger.

The P* dish is not a true large dish, not tall enough for FTA FSS signals if you are trying to pick up multi sats, you can get signals from a stronger FTA sat if the LNBF is centered and the dish is pointed straight at the bird. I know this for a fact after trying it with my own large P* dish. The P* is perfect for DSS sats just like your other dish.

You'd be better off to get a 36" round dish for your FTA FSS sats and mount it on a motor, mine works like a charm, I can get every FTA sat in my arc range.

If you want a great deal on a dish for $50, check out the one on www,3ABN,org

 

[McGuyver]

Additionally.....

I modified my P* dish for the 110w & 119w DN sats for my subscription box, I mounted 2 circular LNBF's on the arm, the signal strength & reliability has been greatly enhanced.

 

[turbosat]

Nice engineering! That pipe strapping must be thicker than the stuff i have seen. and I hope nobody can see that primestar, if that's copper tubing and not brass, it will take legs and walk away! We got copper thieves down here who can actually smell it from 1000' lol

 

[netbuilder]

OK everyone I have been busy for a while but I do have an update. After several nights of frustration on my P* dish I have had a breakthrough. I finally went and bought a SG-2100 motor for my P* dish and it works great!

I have tuned in nearly all the birds so far on "The List" http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/


Once I get everything tuned in and organized I'll put some more pictures on my site to document the success. I did have to modify my P* dish mount by turning the bracket up-side-down. I also had to buy the 50mm accessory tube for the motor and place a 2-inch radiator hose over the top of that to make up the gap difference in motor and mount, but it works GREAT (and doesn't look too bad).

Thanks guys for the input...