Hi everyone, I have a fortec 33" dish as well as a pansat 3500s receiver. I am located in Gaithersburg, Maryland. I had problems locking the signals of any satellite...forget about any quality... I endup having to call a satellite guy to install it for me. Unfortunately after 5 hrs of trying...the guy said he was able to lock but signals goes on and off all the time. He claims that the dish I have maybe good for west coast but for east coast...it is just too small and that I may need a bigger dish. Any advise will be great. Thank you all. Oh...by the way...this maybe a stretch...any way to get any C band stuff on a dish of my size?
Pansat 3500 question
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No chance of getting C-band with such a small dish. I have experimented with a 40" dish and did manage to have some success with digital C-Band signals.
Its always a good idea to ask your installer if he has EVER done a FTA installation before, and what kind of satellite meter he uses. If he says he uses a small TV DO IT YOURSELF!
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=83906&highlight=40%22+dish
Its always a good idea to ask your installer if he has EVER done a FTA installation before, and what kind of satellite meter he uses. If he says he uses a small TV DO IT YOURSELF!
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=83906&highlight=40%22+dish
marcosyh said:
I think we need a little more info...
1. Is your system motorized?
2. What kind of LNB do you have? (Make & Model)
I am on the east coast as well and started out with a 33" Fortec dish with no problems. I would suggest trying another LNB if you have one.
the satellite guy that came to fix my satellite...supposely had FTA for years and is from a firm called "clear communications", he uses a machine to calibrate and lock the signals. We were able to get about 70% to 80% in signal strength but only about 10% in quality and it goes on and off. I basically looked through every single step he went through...after all...satellite installer charges a ton of money...wanna get my money worth. Bottom line is...is it true that being in the east coast...I may need to get a bigger dish than those in the west coast to lock on the same satellite...like the T5 or the AMC6. is there any trick or any thing that I can get short of possibly needing a bigger than 33" dish?
OK, We'd still need to know exactally what LNB you have, Make and Model, but we'll start with what we know...
If you don't already have a signal meter, you should get one. The link below is for the SF-95 from Sadoun and it's an essential peice of equipment to have.
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/Accessories/Meters/SF-95-DSS-FTA-Satellite-Signal-meter.htm
Your true south satellite is: AMC5 @ 79.0W (Could also be SBS6 @74.0W)
Your location is: 39.6N, 77.2W
Your Motor Elevation should be 39.1
Your Dish Elevation should be 38.9
Is your mounting pole perfectally plumb, (Check 3 sides)?
Have you tried locking onto a satellite without the motor? (Remove motor from the pole and just use the dish)
I would remove the motor and just use the dish and aim for Intelsat Americas 5 at 97.0W then do a blind scan and see what you get. IA5 is a great test sat as it has good transponders.
If you still don't get good quality, I would try a different LNB.
If you don't already have a signal meter, you should get one. The link below is for the SF-95 from Sadoun and it's an essential peice of equipment to have.
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/Accessories/Meters/SF-95-DSS-FTA-Satellite-Signal-meter.htm
Your true south satellite is: AMC5 @ 79.0W (Could also be SBS6 @74.0W)
Your location is: 39.6N, 77.2W
Your Motor Elevation should be 39.1
Your Dish Elevation should be 38.9
Is your mounting pole perfectally plumb, (Check 3 sides)?
Have you tried locking onto a satellite without the motor? (Remove motor from the pole and just use the dish)
I would remove the motor and just use the dish and aim for Intelsat Americas 5 at 97.0W then do a blind scan and see what you get. IA5 is a great test sat as it has good transponders.
If you still don't get good quality, I would try a different LNB.
Sounds to me like it might be a motor alignment issue. You should be able to find SOMETHING on any one of many satellites that would give you a higher signal quality than 10, even on a 24" dish.
When you say "FTA dual standard" LNB, do you mean a dual output (two F connectors), or is it the Invacom QPH LNB that has both circular and linear outputs?
If you have an old DirecTV LNB, you might try mounting that on your dish and see if you can get the FTA signals on 110w and 119w. There's NASA and plenty of music on 119w, and GOL-TV (soccer) is on 110w. That way you can see if your alignment is in the ballpark.
When you say "FTA dual standard" LNB, do you mean a dual output (two F connectors), or is it the Invacom QPH LNB that has both circular and linear outputs?
If you have an old DirecTV LNB, you might try mounting that on your dish and see if you can get the FTA signals on 110w and 119w. There's NASA and plenty of music on 119w, and GOL-TV (soccer) is on 110w. That way you can see if your alignment is in the ballpark.
I think this installer may have been pulling your leg. I am down the road a piece, outside of Richmond, VA and got ooddles of quality when I was using a Fortec 33" dish.
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