New newbie...same old problem: 70% signal, 0 quality!

[suffering]

I have a 30in. dish. Powermax SG9120B DiSEqC H-H motor, a Sonicview sv-360 elite receiver with factory firmware. Invacom single (SNH-031) LNB. I made a temporary mount by adding 2 x 4's as feet to a roof mount tripod and secured with sandbags. This setup was pieced together from Craigslist and Ebay with only the motor being new...I kinda wish I would've bought a setup from a dealer at this point for the support. The mast is Plum. The motor latitude is set to my area (Milwaukee) latitude of 43.

From here is where I get confused. I am not sure of the motor angle, but the manual says declination of 6.6 for my latitude. If I'm aiming at 97 west would my elevation be the 39.5 minus the declination (6.6) for 32.9? I have tried elevations ranging from 30ish which is the lowest the dish can go before hitting the mount, all the way to upper 40's where a mount bolt hits the motor shaft. The most signal I have achieved is 70 but with 0 quality and no channels found on scan.

Problem 2?
From where I'm at in Milwaukee magnetic south is 183 degrees. 97w satellite is 196 degrees magnetic but if I zero my motor and select 97w with transponder 11874 my dish moves left instead of right. I have tried my longitude as both East and West in the Usals setup and the dish still moves left.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Today if I have time i am going to remove the motor and see if I can find 97w at 196.8 degrees and 39.5 elevation.

 

[Anole]

Today if I have time i am going to remove the motor and see if I can find 97w.

IMO, that would be the smartest thing you could do.
Ya didn't say if this was your first party, but I'll assume it is.
Learning the receiver and hardware is hard enough without complicating it with a motor.

Also, that LNBF you got is Universal, so be sure you set the receiver up accordingly.
That's 9750 and 10600 for the LO, -not- 10750!

Anyway, once you've had the system working on 97°w for a few days, and read some of the motor setup threads on the forum here, you'll be ready to tackle that motor again!

 

[upnatm]

Hi, Anole got his post in while I was writing this one. Here goes anyways.


According to dishpointer.com, your best "true-south" satellite is AMC-3 at 87W, at elevation 40.3 degrees.
I couldn't find any usable TPs from that bird, but Galaxy28 @ 89W will work for the next steps also.

Now, input your actual coordinates into USALS (Latitude: 43.0389° N, Longitude: -87.9065° W). You can
probably get by with 43.0N and -88.0W. (negative 88 deg. West)

Then tell your receiver to go to Galaxy28 @ 89W, a strong TP to use is 11787-H, 15915 3/4 (Keystone Test Card)

Next, go to the dish and set the elevation on the mount to your latitude (43). Don't tighten the bolts, just snug for now.

You are now ready to rotate the whole mount on the pole, back and forth to find the signal, keeping in mind that
the dish should still be pointing relatively south.

Found it? Now do some fine tuning to the elev. and pole mount to max out the signal.

When you are done, tighten the bolts enough to keep the positioning firm.

I think you should be able to find a bunch more birds now!

You may need to re-enter more accurate coordinates in USALS, to better tune the motor's movements.

I hope this helps, it worked for me when all I had was a 36" motorized dish.

Good luck.

 

[suffering]

Update: Tried resetting motor to 0, then inputting for 89W. Checked magnetic south (183 degrees) for my area. Checked that mast was plumb. My receiver did not have 11787 transponder listed so rather than edit, i just picked one that had more than 60% signal, hit the scan button....and the motor drove east instead of west again....way east. not sure if receiver firmware is bad? Not sure if I'm inputting longitude wrong? I need -87.89...does that mean east or west? Motor drives east in search of satellites that should be west under both settings. I know the guy who had the receiver before me was not using the box for FTA, but I have re-installed factory firmware. Giving up on motor for now but cannot aim dish without motor as the LNB arm hits the tripod leg. Need either taller mast to mount dish without motor, or need to figure out the proper elevation with motor and just aim manually. Any advice at this point would be appreciated. Should I scrap this setup and order a new motorized kit from a dealer? I hear my sonicview s-360 is junk for motorized FTA anyway? Is this project worth pursuing? Are there enough channels available in Milwaukee to make FTA worth while?

 

[turbosat]

Be sure you set the latitude for north and longitude for west in the US. It might be hard to discern in some receiver's setup screen.
Motor going the wrong way sounds like you have e long entered into it someplace.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Suffering,

First of all, the SV360 is quirky when using it for motorized FTA as you suspected. The fact that it drove the motor east when it should have gone west or vice versa is what reminded me of my experience with the 360. I believe that the firmware resident in your receiver is not factory firmware as you perceive it to be. Either that or the factory firmware is not good from the start. I cannot go into details of how to correct this as I did not spend too much time on the receiver personally. I was frustrated and loaned it to my brother who got equally frustrated with it, but he managed to learn a lot more than I had patience to do.

I don't know what firmware works best, but I do know that there is a definite procedure to "clean" the system out to allow new firmware to be installed. If you don't follow the procedure exactly, the 360 will act like a hacker box and wants to locate DN or BEV satellites only. The best I can explain it is that the receiver's firmware has incorrectly mapped the satellites in its "look-up" table. It therefore wants to drive the motor to 110 or 119 or to 82 or 91 before it goes anywhere else. Does this sound like the response that you are getting from the unit?

You can manage to get this box to work, so I am told, but I did not have the patience nor the time to experiment with it to figure it out for myself. I gave up and threw in the towel.

If you want to ask around I know that some of the members here have more knowledge on the subject (this SV360 receiver) than I do. But, that is up to you to decide. It is a fair receiver if you can get past this, but I think you can do better for less money and less work and fewer headaches.

I truly do not like to post a negative report on any component, but I must give you a "heads up" on this one because I think that the receiver is the root of your problem. You will either have to learn how to FIX it or give up on it.

If you can locate on E-Bay a Coolsat 4000, 5000 or 6000 at a dirt cheap price (less than $50) and play with that you will be more impressed with this hobby. These receivers have limitations, as they won't process signals beyond the standard definition (SD) stuff, but they are excellent to learn on. They are user friendly. Put the 360 in the closet until you learn the ropes with one of these early Coolsat models first, then collect all the information on the 360 and bring it back out of the closet when you feel comfortable or brave. Please trust my judgement here, I don't want you to give up on the FTA hobby and so I will always try to steer you in the right direction... At least to the extent that I know best.

RADAR

 

[suffering]

Update, but no good news

Gave it another try today. Updated the sonicview s-360 with the factory firmware from their website. Process was very fast giving me the impression that the version I had was the same as the one i downloaded. I may try the cleaner program in the future but do not see any reason at this point. Set usals to correct north latitude and west longitude and motor STILL drives east instead of west to hit 97W which would be west of Milwaukee's 183.6 South at 196.8W. Motor did seem to make a reasonable short east movement to AMC3 87W which should be about 1.3 degrees east of me. Overall still a failure to get any signal quality or any channels on a scan.

Removed motor. Installed a slightly longer pole to allow for aiming without hitting LNB arm on tripod. Mast is very very close to plumb. Checking with magnetic angle meter and level, got it within one degree on the meter, level according to the level.
Tried aiming at:
97W Galaxy 19 at 196.8S, 39.5 Elevation, 9.6 LNB skew. TP 12177...67% signal, 0% quality, no channels on scan.
89W Galaxy 28 at 185.2S. 40.3 Elevation, 1.2 LNB skew. TP 11787...65% signal 0% quality, no channels on scan
87W AMC3 at 182.3S 40.3 Elevation. -1.0 LNB skew. TP 12040...66% signal 0% quality, no channels on scan.

I could really use some solid advice since I cannot even get channels without the motor attached. There is no obstructions, mast is plumb. I have 3 single LNB's (1 invacom universal, 2 reg Ku) and do not get any quality with any of these. Not sure where to go from here. As always, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Suffering,

I am sorry that I cannot be of more help in your enterprise here with the SV360. I did not spend enough time on that unit to become adept with it and therefore I cannot consult you with any explicit directions. I hope you keep trying with the clean-out procedure. My dilemna with the SV360 had its roots in the motor control and its quirks, however you should definitely be able to pick up signals from the satellites that you set up as single fixed point dishes. That worked for me so I know that it should work for you, also.

Beyond that, I really cannot speak on the operation of the SV360, but I know others can and will eventually. The best to you.

RADAR

 

[Tron]

When aiming the dish at a satellite, you must move VERY slowly. The slightest amount of movement can make the difference between maximum signal and no signal. It is far touchier than aiming a DBS (Dish Network or DirecTV) dish.

Remember that you have to be tuned to a live transponder on the receiver. Not all transponders in the list will be live. Check The List here at Satelliteguys to find an active transponder on the satellite you are aiming at.

DON'T TRUST compass readings. More often than not, something is interfering with your readings, or the compass is just plain out of whack. Best way to get the feel of where the satellites are is to find the satellite that is closest to due South of your location (for example, my longitude is 90.1W. Therefore, my closest to due South satellite is 91W). Aim your dish due South, then SLOWLY pan East to West, adjust the dish elevation SLIGHTLY, then try the pan again.

Dishpointer is your best friend.

Never trust the engraved elevation marks on a dish. These can be off by as many as 5 or more degrees.

Patience is the most important tool in this hobby!

Hope that helps, let us know when you find a signal!

 

[kooguy]

I am a newbie and been through your situation...I'll do my best to describe the procedure.

Make sure,
1. The mast must be stable. It should not tilt with the dish on it.
2. The mast must be 100% plumb. Put a level on top of the mast ensure all side are 100% level! This step is very critical.

3. A clear view of the of the south or at least minimal obstruction in respect to your targeted satellites.

I have three dishes (2x36"Fortec and 1x30" Winegard). Most of the elevation scale in my dishes are fairly accurate in relative to my location.

Based on my experience, I find that the dish pointer elevation is not always correct in relative to my location. Here is my elevation settings comparing with dish pointer for my location:

Satellite|--Dish Pointer-|-My Location
97W------|36.3-----------|-35
95W------|37-------------|-36
101W-----|35.9-----------|-35

So almost 1 degree off, that could mean no signal for me if I use dish pointer's elevation.

Keep things simple: My suggestion is start with no motor, no multi-switches, plain Ku linear LNB.

Let's pick 97W and use this strong transponder,12090/H/20000 3/4, which should already be in your receiver. So now, your receiver settings should be as follows for 97W for aiming purpose.

LNB Type: Single (assuming linear Ku LNB)
LNB Freq: 10750
22Khz : Off
DiSeqC: Off
Transponder: 12090 (make sure it is 12090/H/20000 3/4)


I see 196.8S, 39.5 elevation, 9.6skew on your post. So start off with 39.5 degree elevation, aiming you dish to 180 degree south (use your compass as a guide), mark the starting position with a marker pen in relative to the mast.

Move the dish gently like 1/16 inch at a time to the west. If you have moved the dish more than an inch from your starting position and still no signals then you need to adjust the elevation.

Elevation: since we don't know the accuracy of the scale on the dish, let's increase it by 1/2 degree. Let's set to 40 degrees and do one move sweep to west from the starting position.

If you still don't pick up signals then set scale to 39 degree. Do one more sweep. Keep reducing the elevation by 1/2 degree at a time and perform the sweep.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Anole]

So, you've never gotten any signals on this dish/lnb/receiver?
Maybe we need to go back to the basics...?

Tron and kooguy gave great advice above.
However, see my LNBF Local Oscillator comment at the top of the thread.

Don't know how similar the 360 elite and premium are, but this thread by Iceberg might give some help with the firmware.
Did I just "brick" a Sonicview 360 Premium??
Though, on most receivers, you can get the version numbers, so that should be a clue...