Newbie can't find a signal

[phileFriendly]

Hi All-
I'm new to the world of satellite TV, and looking forward to enjoying a new set of tech. gadgets and TV channels However, right now I'm really struggling. My first mission is to get channel CCTV4 on G3C, and after spending a number of hours, I have yet to see anything but a blank screen on the TV. Here's what I have:

Equipment:
Vistar/Viacast 2000 purchased off of eBay
.9dB Ku band LNBF left over from an older analog setup
1m dish
$10 cheapie satellite finder meter from eBay

Location:
Seattle, WA

I show G3C at:
Elevation 29.3
Azimuth 145
LNBF -22.7
Magnetic deviation approx 18

Questions:

• I should subtract the deviation from the azimuth to get the value on the compass I should point at(e.g. 127 on the compass), correct ?
• How accurate do I need to be? I have a lousy tiny compass, so I can only get to within about +/- 5 degrees, is this a problem? I am also "eyeballing" the LNBF tilt and Elevation. Is this uncool? what's a good cheap tool to calculate these things accurately?
• Could my old .9 dB Ku band LNBF be my problem? Is there a difference between analog and digital or something? Is 0.9dB too lousy to get a digital signal?
• In the vistar setup menu, there is an entry for "LNB power" and one for "Symbol rate". How do I figure out what these values are? Using the lyngsat database I can get frequency, but I don't see any LNB power or sybol rate information. From another post on this forum I gather LNB power is also known as "polarity".
• Are the cheap satellite finders worth using/accurate? I can't really get much out of the meter (I was hoping it would really spike up in some areas, but no luck), but I don't really have a clue as to what I'm doing.
• I see a bunch of people look for a True South satellite. Do I need to do this if I'm not using a motor? The first goal is to just get a single channel on a single satellite working...

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[PSB]

Hello and WELCOME to the satelliteGuys.US FTA forum!

The 0.9dB will not help but it should work for now, it is definatly the weak link in your set up!

You just cant beat the Signal Quality meter on your receiver when pointing the dish, remember signal strength means NOTHING!

here are all the angles to the satellites from your area.

                        Seattle, WA 98199
          Latitude 47° 38.928'N Longitude 122° 23.784'W

                         Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m)    El  Skew
-----------------------------------------------------------------
                                 
                                 
                     Intelsat 901   18.0W 259.3 240.4 -17.9 -41.4
                                 
                     Intelsat 603   20.0W 260.8 241.9 -16.6 -41.7
                                 
                            NSS 7   22.0W 262.3 243.4 -15.4 -41.9
                                 
                     Intelsat 905   24.5W 264.1 245.3 -13.8 -42.1
                                 
                     Intelsat 907   27.5W 266.4 247.5 -11.8 -42.2
                                 
                   Hispasat 1C/1D   30.0W 268.2 249.4 -10.2 -42.3
                                 
                     Intelsat 801   31.5W 269.3 250.5  -9.2 -42.3
                                 
                     Intelsat 903   34.5W  91.6  72.7  -7.2 -42.3
                                 
              AMC 12 & Telstar 11   37.5W  93.8  74.9  -5.2 -42.2
                                 
                          NSS 806   40.5W  96.0  77.2  -3.2 -42.1
                                 
                        PAS 6B/3R   43.0W  97.9  79.0  -1.6 -41.9
                                 
                           PAS 1R   45.0W  99.4  80.5  -0.2 -41.7
                                 
                     Intelsat 705   50.0W 103.2  84.4   3.1 -41.0
                                 
                     Intelsat 707   53.0W 105.5  86.7   5.0 -40.5
                                 
                     Intelsat 805   55.5W 107.5  88.7   6.7 -40.0
                                 
                            PAS 9   58.0W 109.5  90.7   8.3 -39.4
                                 
                         Amazonas   61.0W 111.9  93.1  10.3 -38.7
                                 
           EchoStar 3 & Rainbow 1   61.5W 112.4  93.5  10.6 -38.5
                                 
                 Estrela do Sul 1   63.0W 113.6  94.8  11.5 -38.1
                                 
                     Brasilsat B2   65.0W 115.3  96.5  12.8 -37.5
                                 
                     Brasilsat B1   70.0W 119.6 100.8  15.9 -35.8
                                 
                 Nahuel 1 & AMC 6   72.0W 121.4 102.6  17.1 -35.1
                                 
                            AMC 6   72.0W 121.4 102.6  17.1 -35.1
                                 
                        DirecTV 5   72.5W 121.9 103.1  17.4 -34.9
                                 
                            SBS 6   74.0W 123.3 104.4  18.3 -34.3
                                 
                            AMC 5   79.0W 128.0 109.2  21.2 -32.1
                                 
                          Nimiq 2   82.0W 131.0 112.1  22.9 -30.6
                                 
                            AMC 9   83.0W 132.0 113.1  23.4 -30.1
                                 
                     Brasilsat B3   84.0W 133.0 114.2  23.9 -29.5
                                 
                           AMC 16   85.0W 134.0 115.2  24.4 -29.0
                                 
                            AMC 3   87.0W 136.1 117.3  25.5 -27.8
                                 
              Intelsat Americas 8   89.0W 138.3 119.4  26.4 -26.6
                                 
                 Galaxy 11/Nimiq1   91.0W 140.4 121.6  27.4 -25.4
                                 
                     Brasilsat B4   92.0W 141.6 122.7  27.8 -24.8
                                 
                        Telstar 6   93.0W 142.7 123.8  28.3 -24.1
                                 
                        Galaxy 3C   95.0W 145.0 126.1  29.1 -22.8
                                 
              Intelsat Americas 5   97.0W 147.3 128.4  30.0 -21.4
                                 
                        Galaxy 4R   99.0W 149.7 130.8  30.7 -19.9
                                 
                            AMC 4  101.0W 152.1 133.2  31.4 -18.4
                                 
                            AMC 1  103.0W 154.5 135.7  32.1 -16.8
                                 
                           AMC 15  105.0W 157.0 138.2  32.7 -15.2
                                 
                          Anik F1  107.3W 159.9 141.1  33.3 -13.4
                                 
         DirecTV 6 & EchoStar 6/8  110.0W 163.4 144.6  33.9 -11.1
                                 
                          Anik F2  111.1W 164.9 146.0  34.2 -10.1
                                 
                    Solidaridad 2  113.0W 167.4 148.5  34.5  -8.5
                                 
                         SatMex 5  116.8W 172.4 153.6  35.0  -5.1
                                 
          EchoStar 7 & DirecTV 7S  119.0W 175.4 156.6  35.2  -3.1
                                 
  EchoStar 9/Intelsat Americas 13  121.0W 178.1 159.3  35.2  -1.3
                                 
                       Galaxy 10R  123.0W 180.8 162.0  35.3   0.6
                                 
                        Galaxy 12  125.0W 183.5 164.7  35.2   2.4
                                 
             Galaxy 13/Horizons 1  127.0W 186.2 167.4  35.1   4.2
                                 
 Intelsat Americas 7 & EchoStar 5  129.0W 188.9 170.1  34.9   6.0
                                 
                           AMC 11  131.0W 191.6 172.7  34.6   7.8
                                 
                        Galaxy 1R  133.0W 194.2 175.4  34.3   9.5
                                 
                           AMC 10  135.0W 196.8 178.0  33.9  11.2
                                 
                            AMC 7  137.0W 199.4 180.6  33.4  12.9
                                 
                            AMC 8  139.0W 202.0 183.1  32.9  14.6
                                 
                     EchoStar 1/2  148.0W 213.0 194.1  29.9  21.5

         Satellite Finder is (c) Copyright 2004, P. Lutus

Galaxy 10R @ 123.0W is your true south satellite. But as you pointed out without a motor you may as well go straight for your satellite of interest.

 

[PSB]

Lyngsat does show SR. Have a look at the below link.......

http://www.dmsiusa.com/charts.htm

 

[Mr Tony]

If you have a Viacast, make sure to add 3 zeros to the end of the LO frequency and frequency

so for CCTv it would be

0,1,2,etc
10750000
18
11780000
20760
off
off

 

[phileFriendly]

so for CCTv it would be

0,1,2,etc
10750000
18 <---
11780000
20760
off
off

Thanks for the tips on finding the symbol rate guys. How did you come up with the number 18 above for LNB Power (polarity)? Is it a coincidence that about matches my mag. deviation?

Also, any additional feedback on just how accurate I have to be in pointing at the satellite to get a signal? I'm hoping I can get maybe a weak signal a few degrees off, then vector in on it from there...

 

[Mr Tony]

14 is vertical
18 is horizontal

how much power is sent to the LNB (14 volts or 18 volts)

 

[phileFriendly]

14 is vertical
18 is horizontal

how much power is sent to the LNB (14 volts or 18 volts)

OK, that narrows it down to 2 options How do I know whether to use the vertical or the horizontal number? Is this based off the little bold H on LyngSat?

Thanks!

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Yes, Lyngsat gives you the polarity of each transponder for the satellite you are interested in. To answer some of your other questions:

According to the numbers PSB gave you, your elevation for Galaxy 3C would be 29.1 and your magnetic azimuth (direction shown by compass) would be 126.1. You need to be as accurate as you can. You will need to adjust skew as well which you can do simply by turning the LNB in the mount and looking for the best signal. The .9 is certainly not the best but with a 1 meter dish it may work ok. You do not need to worry about true south if you are not using a motor.