Newbie in need of FTA help! - or - What am I doing wrong?

[mmecca]

It's working! Thanks Pete and David!

Hi Pete and David - thanks so much for your help!

I've got the motor hooked up and it is finding some of the other satellites (but not all). I'm seeing FTA stations on the following satellites:


91
87
83
79
74
101
97
95

So there are many satellites that I think I should be finding stuff on that I'm not - there are also many transponders that I think I should see that I can't.

Any ideas about that or is that typical / normal.

Thanks again for all of your help!

Mark

 

[PSB]

Glad you are getting some channels and satellites

Not all satellites and TP's will be broadcasting, the satellites to the extreme east and West you may have to use DiSEqC 1.2 to find and store their position.

Enter a LIVE TP. then motor east or west until you see signal Quality, peak the signal, number and store!

 

[mmecca]

Thanks Pete

Pete, I'll give that a shot! If I'm getting at least one transponder on a sat, is it safe to say that I'd be able to see any transponders on that satellite that are putting out a signal?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[PSB]

Usually yes, you may want to do some fine tuning with DiSEqC 1.2 on all satellites just to get the best signal quality you can get.

 

[WyrTwister]

I've got some watchable video - I think for tonight I'll try the skew thing - I think I'll also play with moving the LNB backward and forward in its mount (I think that will do something, but I'm not sure).

Then tommorow and the next few days, the motor goes back on, the angles get adjusted and I try again to find 79W. I think finding 79W this time will be easy as I now know how small the range off of 191 is (very small range). From there with the USALS, it seems easy, but none of this has been easy to this point!

I was surprised what a small amount of movement can affect your signal on the satellite - in some cases, I think it was as little as an eighth or sixteenth of an inch.

Thanks again, I'll keep you updated,

Mark

If it was easy , the women and children would be doing it & we would be stuck watching Opra on Over The Air TV .

This is a hobby , not quite ready for prime time , such as DTV & DN ( where the installet slaps up a dish and bamb , you got picture for $ 45 ++++++++ a month ) .

Hang in there , we all are rooting for you .

Wyr

 

[mmecca]

Thanks

Thanks WYR - It's pretty cool now that it's working. I'm the only guy in my condo complex watching feeds or Chinese television or whatever it may be.

I seriously wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of the people on this board.

I'm planning to make a donation so that this board can continue!

Mark

 

[Tron]

One thing you'll probably love is being able to see live newsfeeds. They're uncensored, and besides being able to see things that will not go out over the air, you'll see some hilarious behind-the-scenes stuff too!

 

[mmecca]

Having fun playing around with it

Hi all,

Just wanted to give an update (and ask more questions if I can),

I've been getting a kick out of the newsfeeds and watching Chinese TV. Tried fine tuning by moving the motor a little to the right and left - didn't get too much out of that. There are still whole sats that I can't see and my quality is real low. Is it normal for the quality to be so low?

For example, most of my TP's have quality around 30%. Shouldn't these be higher?

What things can I try to boost up my quality level?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Mr Tony]

the Captiveworks quality meter seems to be low but rock solid low

I have one and the signal on strong transponders is 65-70

You might want to try and move the dish ever so slightly up or down (if you've already tried the E-W movement and that didnt help). At least you know if you screw up, youi can move it right back

 

[PSB]

Make sure the LNBF is as far away from the dish as it can go in its holder. The LNBF should be straight up and down when on your true south satellite, the dish should skew its self when the motor moves.

Try standing behind the dish and pull gently on both sides of the dish, watch the signal quality. Very often it will then collect more signal. Some fine tuning may be needed after the above but it can help.

 

[mmecca]

Thanks

Thanks,

I think I'll get out there tommorow and try playing with both the azimuth and elevation a bit and see if I can improve things - am I better off working on a TP that has a very low reading or one that has a good reading?

The LNB is as far back as possible and not skewed in the holder (the motor does the skewing)

I'll give a shot with the azimuth and elevation "pulls" before I get the wrench out. I'll let y'all know the outcome.

BTW - Berg, I picked ut a Buzz S2010F after reading your review - just got it today. I wanted the blind scan option that I don't have with the CaptiveWorks. The quality seems even worse on there (and I seem to pick up fewer channels). Should I use one unit over the other to do my fine tuning?

Mark

 

[Mr Tony]

it sounds like something is off then. The Buzz seems to have a little stronger reading on the quality meter than the Captiveworks. Since you have both, I'd try them both

Yes do the "lean into the dish" theory. Thats what I do when fine tuning.

 

[mmecca]

One more thing . . .

Hi,

Since I now have two units (Buzz and Captiveworks), can I essentially hook these up in series by using the loop? Example - LNB into the Captiveworks, Loop on Captiveworks out to Buzz LNB in?

Mark

PS - Of course, I wouldn't attempt to use both units at the same time . . . just one or the other

 

[Mr Tony]

you can use both at the same time

If they are both on, the Buzz would only get the same polarity as what the Captiveworks is on. If the CW is off, then the Buzz can have full options

During college hockey season, I've had 2 set up like that both on. 2nd one just gets same polarity