New to FTA-18 transponder help please

[tgc001]

I'm new to FTA, I've pointed dishes at Echostar for 15 years. Could someone help me identify the best transponders for me to look for on Galaxy 18? I've spent several hours pointing and barely adjusting the dish and can't get anything.

EL. 35.4
azimuth 235.8
skew 42.1

from 33.16, -86.70

Thanks,

 

[Ironsides]

11720

11720 or 11800 both are verticle, 12078 is really strong on me for some reason, you need a decent Ku Linear LNB.. either Universal or Standard, Standard being the prefered by some.

If you can aim at Echostar 121 and hit it then you are very very close...just down a couple of degrees and right...or if you are near me that would it...LOL!

Galaxy 18 is hard to hit, use very small movements and take your time it will come, all good things come in time!

It would help if you would include dish size, lnb type, receiver type and model...your receiver settings...Such as LNB type, DiseQc, 22hz and such...

Others may be able to help you better..

Sadoun's website has a pretty decent sat finder located on their site...Try it, it might give you something different..

 

[boomer_106]

I've used this post alot to help me fine tune my dish

http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/85225-i-need-strong-transponder-aim-my-dish.html

 

[Wescopc]

If you give us your location, we can tell you how far to rotate the dish on the mast from 119 or 121. I have, in the past, mounted a naked circular legacy LNB and located 119 - mark the clamp and the mast, remount the linear LNB and rotate dish to the west. In Oregon it is about .080" from 119 on a 1 5/8" mast.
Bob

 

[turbosat]

Where are you located, coordinates are very close to mine!

 

[tgc001]

I'm south of Birmingham, AL. I bought a Fortec Star Dynamic Receiver, a Winegard 30" dish with a TechSat Tracker II+ LNB.

TechSAT TRACKER II+
TechSAT TRACKER II+​

 

[Wescopc]

123W will be .031" (1/32") or .061"(1/16") to the west of 119W & 121W respectively. So when you find either 119 or 121 - mark the mast and the clamp and then move the dish to the west such that the marks are 1/32 or 1/16 of and inch from alignment. You should then find 123W with your linear LNB. Then tweak slightly for elevation.
Good Luck,
Bob

 

[turbosat]

tgc I'm just over the mtn from Trussville, send me a private msg (click on my name) if you don't have any luck, might be able to come set it foryou. That receiver doesn't have a very good signal meter for setting up satellites.

 

[Mr Tony]

I thought the Dynamic did have a decent meter?

 

[turbosat]

If its like the one on the Merc2, and they're supposed to be the same box, all I've found on mine is a little round wheel-like display with leds that light up. And they're pretty small to see also.
I've looked around the menus and didn't find anything better, was a big reason mine went back in the box.

Edit: I have made a discovery--the Mercury 2 has a SIG button on the remote, THAT meter works ok!! Never noticed that on the remote
before (buttons so damn tiny lol). Now if I can figure out a way to delete empty tps, I would use this rec more!!

 

[tgc001]

I'm not familiar with many systems but the meter is a double bar across the bottom of the screen one for strength and one for quality. It sort of reminds me of the Dish Network meter.

 

[turbosat]

I never had looked that close at it, I just bought it for a backup receiver, hehe.
I believe it has a tone on it too, like those dish receivers do (or used to have anyway).

 

[Wescopc]

I never had looked that close at it, I just bought it for a backup receiver, hehe.
I believe it has a tone on it too, like those dish receivers do (or used to have anyway).

MII is a good machine for alignment of a dish, the tone helps a lot and the quality bar covers the width of the screen. Glad you found the "signal" button, works much better then the "circle of dots".
Bob

 

[Tron]

I'm not familiar with many systems but the meter is a double bar across the bottom of the screen one for strength and one for quality. It sort of reminds me of the Dish Network meter.

Signal strength will show even if the dish is pointed at the ground, it indicates a good connection with the LNB. Quality is what you are looking for. Also remember to select an active transponder (like 11720 or 11800, where the bulk of the Equity channels are), or you won't get a quality reading.

Setting skew (twisting the LNBF or skewing the entire dish, depending on model) is necessary for linear satellites such as G-18. If skew is not set properly, you may not get any signal quality at all.

 

[tgc001]

Thanks to all

Guys,

Thanks for your help, I finally got around to getting my dish set to 123W. It was tough, for those interested in the performance of the receiver..... I believe the response time on the signal meter was so slow that I would not wait long enough for the signal to register; even aiming at 119W. I ultimately had to setup my old Dishnetwork receiver and aim at 119. I hit it right of with the old receiver connected. From there I changed receivers and picked it up on the Fortec Dynamic. I then began to bump to 123, and it only took a few minutes.

Thanks again for the information.

 

[Anole]

strong transponders

At the top of this and every page, is a tab called "The List!".
It has Strong Transponders listed for most of the birds.

I didn't see anyone suggest this resource.

 

[guapoharry]

Yah, Those high power satellites are much easier to find.

And, they make finding nearby low power satellites more of a pain, IMO...

 

[eurosport]

I never had looked that close at it, I just bought it for a backup receiver, hehe.
I believe it has a tone on it too, like those dish receivers do (or used to have anyway).

I found this out by accident on my 9200HD by pushing the "sig" button TWICE on the remote! (It scared the $*&# out of me too!)