Noob looking for advice (2).

[dirtyshame]

I have been trying to integrate my Pansat 3500S into my C-band C/ku system. The C and ku LNBs are about 18 years old and are mounted on a Chaparral feedhorn. The receiver is a Uniden Ultra.

My Latitude is 32.316059 N.
My Longitude is 93.888138 W.
My near South satellite is IA-6 (T6).

I bought a SG-095 signal meter that is okay for locating the satellite but useless as far as fine tuning it. Anyway, I didn't need it to locate the satellite because I pick up PBS on C-band transponder 8.

I ran a "smart-search" on the ku LNB an turned up quite a lot of digital channels, most were scrambled, but among those that were not is ABC News Now. After selecting that channel I nudged East and West to get the maximum signal level (that's when I discovered that the SG-095 was useless for fine tuning).

I got my signal Level up to 82% and the Quality bouncing between about 49 and 70. Sometimes the signal would remain "locked" in for long periods but at other times it would "unlock" after only 10 or 15 seconds.

When I bought the C-band set-up there were no digital signals that I remember and the advertising said that ku band was the coming thing, so I bought the feedhorn that had both. There never was any good stations on ku so I didn't mess around with it much. As I remember it the few channels I could get were very hard to tune in. The TPs did not always match what they were on my receiver. I MAY have had noise even then.

Now for the question: With a strong signal level of 80+ is it reasonable to assume my problem is a noisy ku LNB or could it be an alignment problem?

Do they make a LNB for MPEG that will fit the Chaparral feedhorn?

Old John

 

[Shawn95GT]

Now for the question: With a strong signal level of 80+ is it reasonable to assume my problem is a noisy ku LNB or could it be an alignment problem?

Do they make a LNB for MPEG that will fit the Chaparral feedhorn?

Old John

Sure - 4DTV is digital too! I haven't seen any ultra low noise figure ones for the WR-75 flange but the big dish LNBs are available with a much better stability number. I have a Norsat 4106a Ku LNB on my CalAmp feedhorn and from what I've read it's about as good as then come. It is a 0.6 Noise Figure LNB and is 150 khz stable.

 

[dirtyshame]

Shawn:
Does it sound to you that my problem is a noisy ku LNB?

My LNB is older than 4DTV.

Old John

 

[Shawn95GT]

It's really hard to say. I would guess yes judging only by the age of the LNB. This would be better asked in the C-band aera as there are a lot more big-dish guys over there and to be completely honest I've only had my little 5' BUD up and running for a couple months now.

I had to fabricate my feed supports from scratch and I'm still tweaking to get my Ku as good as I'd like. My arc is close but I think there is still room for improvement. I was betting on the 5' prime focus out performing my 26x36 offset dish on Ku but that isn't quite the case yet .

Shawn

 

[dirtyshame]

Shawn:
Since you had to fabricate the feed supports it may be that your LNB is either too close or too far from the center of the dish. In my mind I see the beam from the satellite reflected back into a pinpoint at the correct distance. Too close and the beam is too wide, and, likewise if it is too far.

I haven't the foggiest notion of how one calculates such things though.

I may be better off to buy one of the Invacom .3 dB LNBs and set up a separate system just for the ku-band signals. I have an old Primestar dish that I can use if I can get the bracket problem licked. I have read the posts about the problem and I believe that I can copy their efforts.

As you can imagine I wanted to keep the switching and etc. to a minimum and with my 10 feet Channel Master dish I thought I might have to attenuate the signal. But the noise is too much for the digital receivers. With such a strong signal level I doubt that the problem is elevation. I guess it could be the coax cables though.

Old John

 

[voomvoom]

How do you have the Pansat hooked to the Uniden Ultra? If it's not hooked up right, that could be your problem. Assuming your Uniden Ultra is already programmed to move your dish from sat to sat, all you need is to correctly slave the Pansat to the Uniden Ultra and you should be in business. Of course it could be your ku lnb, as you have suggested. Have you tried your C-band lnb? Does it work? You said you picked up ABC News Now, to me that says your ku lnb is working. The Pansat has an excellent meter in it you could use. Try it.

Al

 

[dirtyshame]

How do you have the Pansat hooked to the Uniden Ultra?

I Have both LNBs connected to an A/B switch with the output going to the IF input of the 3500S. Just below that is an IF loop through that goes to the Uniden IF input. The Pansat ANT input connects to my rooftop VHF antenna. The TV OUT goes to the ANT input of the Uniden.

An interesting thing occurs when the Uniden is turned on---it overides the Pansat. Normally I use the Uniden to move the dish to the satellite and to set the polarity and skew, then I switch it off and the Pansat takes over. The signal LEVEL is usually in the high 70's or low 80's but the QUALITY jumps around from about 45 to 59 and sometimes as high as 70. Then suddenly it will UNLOCK. When this happens the LEVEL reads about 2 counts lower than it had been. All I have to do is flip the Uniden ON for about 1 second and that somehow jars the Pansat into relocking on the signal again. Sometimes, if I wait long enough, it will relock on its own. It flickers a lot like it is trying to relock whether it makes it or not.

I sent a note to Pansat Direct just asking for better instructions on how to operate the 3500 but they did not have the decency to answer. I have learned most of what I need to know on these forums.

The C-band FTA works okay.

OLD JOHN

 

[voomvoom]

Normally I use the Uniden to move the dish to the satellite and to set the polarity and skew, then I switch it off and the Pansat takes over.

Don't know if you have noticed it or not, but when you turn off the Uniden the polarity should be on one of the polarity's (either horizontal or vertical) and you will only be able to scan on that polarity. Because the Uniden should be controlling the polarity. Even with it on that would still apply. I guess what I'm getting at is when you shut it off it probably goes to the same polarity by default each time. So, if you have always shut it off first before you do a scan, you probably haven't even scanned the other side (polarity) yet. And if you have scanned the other side with the Uniden still on and you shut it off, you will lose that signal because the default will change it when you shut the Uniden off. Just a thought.

Al

 

[bryansr]

I Have both LNBs connected to an A/B switch with the output going to the IF input of the 3500S. Just below that is an IF loop through that goes to the Uniden IF input. The Pansat ANT input connects to my rooftop VHF antenna.
OLD JOHN

My suggestion is to GET RID of ANY switches on the COAX to the LNB'S and experiment with the LNB setting in the Pansat Installation menu. Use AV inputs for both receivers if you can. If you only have 1 AV input use it for the Pansat.

Bryansr :

 

[sksatellite]

I Have both LNBs connected to an A/B switch with the output going to the IF input of the 3500S. Just below that is an IF loop through that goes to the Uniden IF input. The Pansat ANT input connects to my rooftop VHF antenna. The TV OUT goes to the ANT input of the Uniden.
An interesting thing occurs when the Uniden is turned on---it overides the Pansat. Normally I use the Uniden to move the dish to the satellite and to set the polarity and skew, then I switch it off and the Pansat takes over. The signal LEVEL is usually in the high 70's or low 80's but the QUALITY jumps around from about 45 to 59 and sometimes as high as 70. Then suddenly it will UNLOCK. When this happens the LEVEL reads about 2 counts lower than it had been. All I have to do is flip the Uniden ON for about 1 second and that somehow jars the Pansat into relocking on the signal again. Sometimes, if I wait long enough, it will relock on its own. It flickers a lot like it is trying to relock whether it makes it or not.
I sent a note to Pansat Direct just asking for better instructions on how to operate the 3500 but they did not have the decency to answer. I have learned most of what I need to know on these forums.
The C-band FTA works okay.
OLD JOHN

Have both LNBs connected to an A/B switch. You are lucky if your A/B switch did not burn down this way.

 

[sksatellite]

And the setting to the whole system is wrong as well. One of the host from this forum, I think is MIke, check his website, there should a place to mention the setting on this.

 

[dirtyshame]

I have decided that the LNB is bad. May change it later, but now I am retrofitting a Primestar dish to an SG-2100 HH. Wish me luck!

Old John

 

[PSB]

Good Luck!

Maybe you have seen this it may help.....

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=23072&highlight=Primestar+sg2100

 

[dirtyshame]

Thanks Pete,
Yes I have read that thread over and over and even printed it out so I can have it handy. I have another idea for the mount and if it is successful I'll tell you about it then.

Old John

 

[SatBandit]

What will this get

Just got a really cool looking lnb from a buddy. It's a NORSAT 7000A series. Here is the info I know about it.

GM6921

7900

.08db

58 gain

11.7-12.2 GHz

And the best I can tell it's a Ku lnb, right?

What exactly can I use this for. I have the coolsat 5k and sg2100. Will this lnb work for fta? It's mounted on a 32" dish so I am hoping this thing will at least do something for me.
Thanks in advance. I know someone will have all kinds of info on this thing. I can't wait to plant this thing in the yard if it will work.

 

[PSB]

Sounds like a Standard LNBF, let us know how it works for you, will work GREAT for FTA.

L.O. 10750