New To Fta

[Pittsville]

I am brand new to FTA but I used to subscribe to DTV long ago. One time I was receiving every other channel on DTV because I was using cheap defective coax.

I just got my FTA equipment and have been trying to find something to watch by hit and miss alignment. I taped the dish to a pole and I found a satellite (SBS6) but after moving the dish to the roof and pointing and tilting it over and over, I get nothing. The coax I'm using now is new, it looks good, it says it's RG6, but it's thinner than some other RG6 I have and I suspect it may have only foil, like the one that gave me trouble with the old dish.

Has anyone had any trouble with dish to receiver coax? I know it's important to use good coax. How likely is it that I could just aim in the general direction and find something? Could the problem and symptoms described in this thread be due to bad cable?

 

[PSB]

As long as its RG6 cable that should be good enough for now! With linear KU signals you have to be BANG on the satellite before you would get any signal quality.

Its best to pick a satellite to aim for, use a known LIVE TP. (transponder) and watch for signal QUALITY only as you point the dish. It may well be a good idea to get a small TV up at the dish while you are pointing the dish!


WELCOME to the SatelliteGuys.US FTA Forum!

 

[Pittsville]

Thanks.

Thanks. I am waiting on a motor and when I get that I will get serious about making the mount plumb, and aiming the dish. I don't have a full complete opening to the southwest sky but there's a pretty big gap between two trees that I hope will offer a few different satellites.

I have been looking at other dishes in my area and they all point generally to the south, but there is one in somebody's back yard that points in the opposite direction. Is it possible that this dish is receiving anything or is maybe an unused dish that got spun around the wrong way sometime?

 

[PSB]

There are no satellites to the north

 

[Tron]

I have been looking at other dishes in my area and they all point generally to the south, but there is one in somebody's back yard that points in the opposite direction. Is it possible that this dish is receiving anything or is maybe an unused dish that got spun around the wrong way sometime?

Ask him for the dish, chances are, he'll give it to you Usually, when a dish is pointed down or north, its not in use

 

[Pittsville]

38N 74W Mercury II, QPH031,90cm

I just got a Mercury II and during a power scan the quality meter will occasionally jump up real high for a very brief period, less than a second, just a real quick blip.

I have noticed it happens more when it shows a c band frequency on the screen and I think it may be happening when it changes bands, or satellites that it is scanning for.

 

[PSB]

Please keep all your posts on this subject here in this thread, THANKS!


You will get more help that way.

 

[Pittsville]

Thanks. I can use all the help I can get.

I was replying to a thread that started with a description of an apparent anomaly with the quality meter on the Mercury II in the other thread, noting that mine might be doing the same thing. I do have a question about it.

I have been trying power scans and I noticed that for the different satellites stored in the memory there are different LNB settings. Am I supposed to edit all of the satellites to the LNB that I have, and probably delete the C band satellites?

 

[sksatellite]

There are no satellites to the north

Oooooh yes, Santa Pole does has a satellite there but only for a month before X'Mas. Kee Kee Keee

 

[PSB]

Oooooh yes, Santa Pole does has a satellite there but only for a month before X'Mas. Kee Kee Keee

 

[Pittsville]

I checked further on the MII quality meter jumping and it does it randomly,a very brief jump up and down and pretty infreqent. I would say it is self-calibrating or something.

Other questions:I found a radio channel listed on lyngsat as free radio. Radio Polski. My audio is all chopped up. Also I connected a fiber from my receiver to my stereo but so far the sound only comes out the TV which is also connected. I turned on the optical output. Should all of the sound come out to the fiber or only certain types?

Also I think I am receiving Nimiq2 and AMC9 at the same time. Is there any legal way to block Nimiq2? I was pretty confused for a while until I realized that the satellites can use the same frequencies. So my search showed some strange results. I know I am receiving AMC9 and about 7 scrambles on another satellite. They show up on a few different satellites due to the same frequencies set up in the search I guess. If they were not scrambled could the receiver know the real satellite they came from?

Thanks for all the help so far. I read into the forums a lot tonight but I didn't see answers to these questions. The motor arrives tomorrow so you'll be hearing from me again. If not, then I fell off the roof.

 

[voomvoom]

Your fiber cable will probably only do digital (AC-3). You can hook the regular rca audio outputs to your sterio receiver, if your sterio receiver has a spare audio input. The AC-3 only works with AC-3 channels, and there are some up there, like the PBS mux on AMC3.
And about Nimiq2 and AMC9, well they are in virtually the same location, 83.0w. Nimiq2's L.O. should be 11250, while AMC9 should be 10750. There sholdn't be any interference between the two. Those channels you're getting are probably DATA channels, as there are several on AMC9, and they won't have a picture. So they're probably not scrambled, you just can't see what's not there.

Al

 

[warh0und]

...
Its best to pick a satellite to aim for, use a known LIVE TP. (transponder) and watch for signal QUALITY only as you point the dish....

what's the difference between a live tp and a non-live tp?
i thought a transponder was a transponder....

 

[PSB]

LIVE means its actually broacasting and will give you a signal (quality)

 

[Mr Tony]

you need a transponder that is up and working to pick up a signal. A TP that isnt live doesn't register any signal.

I've tried to aim a dish at a TP that isn't active....doesn't work very well

 

[Pittsville]

I want to thank everybody for all their help.

Today I was able to get the motor working to locate satellites. At first I was trying to locate the dish on my roof. I wore a path across the shingles to the dish and after many attempts with no luck I decided to try the dish on the ground to be able to work with it and get familiar with it without worrying about sliding down into the gutter. It works great on the ground! I didn't think I had a good view but what do I know?

So thanks to everyone for their help so far. I got a lot of good answers to my questions, and many more from reading previous posts and answers. I recommend a thorough reading of all back posts to every beginner. Most of your questions will be answered there, including some you haven't thought of yet.

 

[PSB]

Nice one! WELL DONE!

Now you just need to fix the roof