Nubee can't get it to go !

[Houston]

Hello, got a question:
Am absolutely nubee with Sat equipment, and trying to install a “kit” for the first time.
Got everything hooked up, and the dish pointed toward Intelsat-5, which is right above me (N29.6/W95.5). Did the Calc via Globecast Calculator, and it gave me 178 deg az, and 55.4 deg ele, which includes a –5 deg Mag Dev, and have the LNB with no skew, which I have repeatedly checked (all).
The Sat Meter hardly indicates anything, and the Level bar on the setup screen is reading about 59%, with the Quality at 0%. Tried moving Az and Ele from a little to a lot, with good response from the Sat Meter in a couple areas, but Level drops to about 42% and the Quality is still 0%.
I just don’t understand why I can’t get ANY Tp/Channel on the TV from ANY position I point the dish. Any ideas? Thanks up front.

 

[PSB]

Welcome to the SatelliteGuys.US FTA forum!

Please let us know as much as you can about your system, what receiver/dish/LNB....

 

[sksatellite]

Day before, I was at a customer home trying to get 93 T6, got it and then loss, and never able to get it back, tracked the higher satellite G3 R and T5, got 55 signal quality on G3 CCTV4 and 79 signal quality on T5 MAC, and T6 looks like is just a bit under the tip of the tall tree, if the dish could raise a bit higher, signal is no problem.

 

[Houston]

UOO, i'm not sure that i'm doing this right but...
Have a Traxis DBS-1500 / Hot Dish 75 - Spitfire ASC-321 LNB. standard Post mount right now, but will get a motor later. Am trying to just get any satallite to come up on it, but can't, even when i'm pointing toward T5, which is right above me (N29.6/W95.5).
Am really on a shoe string budget, Retired on Social Security, and i've GOT to get rid of Warner Cable per month, or i'm going to get hungry real quick!
I know there's a billion things that could be out of place, but it i have rechecked the AZ and ELE many times, and still get from 45 to 55% Streigth, with 0 quality.
Got 15 VAC at the end of the RJ6, so i know the LNB is getting Voltage. Geez i hope i won't have to have a pro come over, that cost a lot, sure would appreciate any advice you could give me
Thanks up front,
Houston

 

[WyrTwister]

UOO, i'm not sure that i'm doing this right but...
Have a Traxis DBS-1500 / Hot Dish 75 - Spitfire ASC-321 LNB. standard Post mount right now, but will get a motor later. Am trying to just get any satallite to come up on it, but can't, even when i'm pointing toward T5, which is right above me (N29.6/W95.5).
Am really on a shoe string budget, Retired on Social Security, and i've GOT to get rid of Warner Cable per month, or i'm going to get hungry real quick!
I know there's a billion things that could be out of place, but it i have rechecked the AZ and ELE many times, and still get from 45 to 55% Streigth, with 0 quality.
Got 15 VAC at the end of the RJ6, so i know the LNB is getting Voltage. Geez i hope i won't have to have a pro come over, that cost a lot, sure would appreciate any advice you could give me
Thanks up front,
Houston

Look on the LNBF & read the LOF or LOFs of the LNBF and type that info into the proper setup menu .

Spend $ 10 - 20 for a sat meter on ebay .

Put it inline with the LNBF . Start sweeping the dish east & west , up & down , whyle watching the meter . The receiver will have to be on & powered up . When you peak the dish , blind scan it & if you get channels , compare the channels to what you find on lyngsat.com .

If you do not have blind scan , start scanning IA 5 and the sats east & west of it .


Wyr

 

[partyharty]

Crazy question but it might help quite a bit. Is the pole (post) you have the dish on plumb? Did you check it AFTER you put the dish on it? If its not it will cause you all sorts of problems until you get it set right

 

[Houston]

Thank you both for replying !,
But yes, i set the Lo Freq in the Setup of the Receiver, though it wasn't al that easy, i had to select a Normal KU to get the cell to accept the entry, which was 10.750, the Traxis Receiver only had another "Normal" cell, that wouldn't give me a place to enter the Lo Freq.
But yes, i think i mentioned having a Sat Meter in my first post, and have tryed to "peak" just ANY sat available in view, but even it is acting very strangely, i get a better signal strength pointing the dish toward the house, rather than up to where i KNOW T-5 to be. This is really exasperating, but i guess the experience will be helpfull. I have plumbed and leveled the mount, though it's not in it's perminmant loacaton yet, could it be the Sku of the LNB possably, but i didn't think i would have to adjust it much, given that t5 is almost right above me.
Thank both of you for your responses, and any further help will be appreciated.
Houston

 

[WyrTwister]

Thank you both for replying !,
But yes, i set the Lo Freq in the Setup of the Receiver, though it wasn't al that easy, i had to select a Normal KU to get the cell to accept the entry, which was 10.750, the Traxis Receiver only had another "Normal" cell, that wouldn't give me a place to enter the Lo Freq.
But yes, i think i mentioned having a Sat Meter in my first post, and have tryed to "peak" just ANY sat available in view, but even it is acting very strangely, i get a better signal strength pointing the dish toward the house, rather than up to where i KNOW T-5 to be. This is really exasperating, but i guess the experience will be helpfull. I have plumbed and leveled the mount, though it's not in it's perminmant loacaton yet, could it be the Sku of the LNB possably, but i didn't think i would have to adjust it much, given that t5 is almost right above me.
Thank both of you for your responses, and any further help will be appreciated.
Houston

Is your LNBF a Standard ( LOF 10750 ) or a Universal ( LOF 9750 AND 10600 AND SW 11700 ) ? My sat meter is crazy on a universal LNBF .

Wyr

 

[Tron]

Houston, is there a way for you to take your receiver and a small TV set out to the dish with you? This makes a far better "sat meter" than anything other than a $400 Birddog (and IMO the Birddog's only better because it can ID the satellite and is more portable )

 

[Houston]

Wyr, WOW i'm not sure just what it is!, you might look at www.traxis.us/ which is the only place i've been able to find the specs on my Spitfire Standard KU LNBF, Model ASC321, distributed by DMS International. The box it came in, lists the LoV well down in the list of settings, and when I run the Sat Scan, it starts up about channel 15 or so, I don't think i'm even getting Low V out to the LNB, wierd !

Tron,
I gues i finally did something right, but I saw the "F" connector "TV out" that one, and had a little BW TV which i tryed just what you reccomended. The Screen which has the Streigth/Quality bars showed up on it pretty good, but given how slow they respond, my Sat Meter seemed to be better. Even then, using it, i'm still not able to get T5 or any other close sat to give me any picture. You/anyone know how I might test my LNB to see if it's really doing something ? I am getting 15VAC to it, so i know that the Receiver is putting out voltage.
Again thank both of you for helping.
Houston

 

[WyrTwister]

Wyr, WOW i'm not sure just what it is!, you might look at www.traxis.us/ which is the only place i've been able to find the specs on my Spitfire Standard KU LNBF, Model ASC321, distributed by DMS International. The box it came in, lists the LoV well down in the list of settings, and when I run the Sat Scan, it starts up about channel 15 or so, I don't think i'm even getting Low V out to the LNB, wierd !

Tron,
I gues i finally did something right, but I saw the "F" connector "TV out" that one, and had a little BW TV which i tryed just what you reccomended. The Screen which has the Streigth/Quality bars showed up on it pretty good, but given how slow they respond, my Sat Meter seemed to be better. Even then, using it, i'm still not able to get T5 or any other close sat to give me any picture. You/anyone know how I might test my LNB to see if it's really doing something ? I am getting 15VAC to it, so i know that the Receiver is putting out voltage.
Again thank both of you for helping.
Houston

Receiver should output 13 VDC & 18 VDC depending on polarity . ( Or close to those values . )

Wyr

 

[Houston]

Is there any way to test a LNB, like i've said before, i'm getting about 15 vac at the end of the RJ6, but is there anything else I can do, to verify that the LNB is ok.
Would it give me 45-55% Strength with 0% Quailty if it were bad?

 

[Zero]

Houston,

I May be dumb....please check if you connected the cable to LNB port and not Loop out. I had done this and was not able to get H polarity TPs.

Traxis is a better recvr to aim for satellite. I like it better than Coolsat for this reason. You might have done this all, but ...
1. Make the pole plumb. (Assuming no motor is connected now)
2. Set the dish in correct Elevation and required skew.
3. Aim in IA 5 direction using a compass.
4. Get the recvr and TV near the dish, where you can see the screen while moving the dish.
5.Switch everything on! ( I was assuming that every unit was not powered up so far!)
6. In manual search mode, select a strong TP in IA 5.
7. Keep watching for change in Signal Strength, watch for increase in signal strength,, while moving the dish from east to west, with not more than 1/2° rotation. Signal strength increases you are near some satellite. It was about 74% in Austin, TX for me.
8. When you feel that Signal Strength is max, it is the time to play with inclination..very carefully!!!
9. You should get Signal Quality, peak it to max. I was getting about 76 to 78% with Traxis 1500 in Austin with 30" Dish and 0.5 dB LNBF
10. Scan the sat with network search "ON". If you get some channels, check it with Lyngsat to find out if you have hit the correct sat.

Goodluck!!

 

[Houston]

Additional Info:
When I got the Kit, i also ordered 100' of RG6, which i removed about 4' to get my Sat Meter inline. Could it be that the Traxis DBS1500 just dosn't have the punch to send a good signal out to the LNB, given that there's about 96' of cable, between the Receiver and LNB? Any comments?

 

[PSB]

100' of cable is not an issue. As long as the ends are good. If in doubt I would snip the ends and replace them!

 

[Houston]

Zero,
Yes, I do have the RJ6 in the "to LNB" connector, and thanks for such a detailed list, going to re-check everything AGAIN today
Pete,
Cable came in without connectors, and I ordered the RJ6 F connectors, got about 10 or so. Couldn't get those things to slip on the cable to save my life, and had to go to RShack, and get some screw on's, to get the cable in line. Think that may be the problem, the info on the Screw-On connector box, said they were ok for
RJ6 and i did check the Shield and Center Conductor for continuiety with Ohm Meter. No shorts and like i said before, i am getting voltage at the LNB.

Thank you both for your continuing assistance.

 

[techpuppy]

I went through some of this a couple of months ago so I share your frustration. I had a 89% signal strength no matter where I pointed the dish. One of the members here (I think it was PSB) told me to ignore signal strength and go for quality only. It was great advice. The elevation setting on my dish was not calibrated properly. So I took a small TV and the receiver out to the dish, set them up and used a shorter piece of coax to connect to the dish. I had thought that perhaps my LNB was defective because of the high signal level. As it turns out it was fine. As a test I turned off my receiver and disconnected the coax from the dish. When I powered up and checked the reception screen I had zero signal strength. I powered the receiver off again, reconnected the coax and had the 89% signal level again. That indicated that I was at least getting power to the LNB and something back. I checked the skew of the lnb and set it in advance. I programmed in a transponder for the satellite I was trying to get.

Then I carefully moved the dish back and forth about 45 degrees (to allow for errors in determining the exact direction). After each arc I would increase the elevation by a fraction and do it again. (I started with the elevation a little low as well). Thankfully my receiver has continuous strength and quality indications so I didn't have to wait between each nudge. Otherwise you'll need to wait for your strength/quality indicators to update. Completely ignore signal strength. Watch only for any quality indication. In my case the difference between having quality and not was just a small bump to the dish. It was such a fine adjustment that I was afraid I would lose it when I tightened the bolts. Then I adjusted the elevation for peak quality. The receiver began displaying a picture.

The advice I got from this site was perfect. It takes patience and possibly a bit of time. It also took a very light touch when moving the dish to find a signal.

 

[Houston]

Thread,
Thanks for the procedure, i'll try again.

 

[Houston]

Change the subject for a minute:
My understanding is that the lower Noise a LNB is rated at, is better, like the Invacom 0.3's. I happened across one on a site that was rated at 1.1 db !
Site is http://www.justfta.com/product_info.php?products_id=43
Are these guys really serious, the expect someone to buy that (apparent) piece of shhh ahh stuff!
Houston

 

[Game Master]

i had the same problem im still new at this paid some one to get it plumb which means perfectly perfectly is the key to have it straight and to set the first sat to ia5 and then you can take it from there