Picking bird on multi-lnb install

[SATire]

Hi again folks, HNY to everyone.

So, it's time to get on the roof and get rid of my motor as its been acting up. I considered buying a new motor but have a multi-LNB tree setup I purchased last year. I finally gave in and purchased a meter.

Now I'm ready to do this but my very first question is, how do I pick which satellite I should be aiming at as my main one first?

All of the LNB's are matched, universal KU's. The dish is a 39" offset.
I am at Lat 34.5 N / Long -112.5 W - Elevation 43.8 and my most Southern position is around 91W or 93W.
In MN, my LNB setting was 0 but here in AZ, it's quite different at -28.1 which is another confusing factor for me.

Anyhow, any help would be appreciated.
BTW, the meter I am trying out is called a SatLink 9606.

Thanks.

 

[phlatwound]

I have never done any multi-LNB setups so I can't really help you personally...but this thread has a TON of info.

Long read but I bet you can get a lot of ideas here:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads...rc-With-Fixed-Dishes/page3?highlight=prodelin

 

[Anole]

- is this a new system?
- more info on dish & LNBFs, please?
- how are you switching between satellites?
- how many LNBFs?
- just a single receiver?
- pictures, please?

Normally, I would expect dual-output, Standard LNBFs, for future expandability...

As for skewing the dish (if not round), and initial placement of LNBFs, we can help .
(numerous threads in the past - Phlatwound posted a very good example above)

 

[SATire]

Hmm, not receiving the subscription post notices.
Anyhow, receivers are KU, not sure which I'll use yet, a rack mount GEOSATpro or a traxis dbs3500. Probably the rack mount.

The dish is roof/pole mounted and I've removed the GS2100 motor since it's gone bad.

LNB's are standard universal, DMS International GK411-60. I have 5 or 6 but I'll probably only put 2 to 4 up IF I can get this working.
Right now, I decided to start with 91W so my true South is 145, elevation is 43.8, etc etc.

I did get signal the very first time I installed this, without even using a meter I got the motor/dish dead on signal which was lucky.
However, since then, the motor died and since it's died, I can't find a signal at all.

The problem I seem to be having to start with is that I am using a 39" offset dish and cannot seem to find enough info to know what the tru elevation should be. Satfinder gives me 43.8 but since it's an offset, it should be something else right. A calculator I used tells me 56.2. Just not sure.

 

[SATire]

Well I finally got it set to 91W at least. So now I'm just trying to figure out how to set more LNB's.

 

[carlospr43]

Using 91W as main you can just move it slightly to the left (from behind) lowering ABCnews feeds quality a bit and catch some of 89W as KETV ABC at night. On top of 91W side by side you can get 93.1W for the Azteca feeds and catch the football games while on season. An finally on top of 93.1W side by side you can get 97W with a ton of channels including Ebru TV, Smile of a child, fightbox, punch tv, KTV2 etc etc. The exact location will depend on your location so you will have a lot of time to play around!!:excited:

 

[Keith Brannen]

If it was me, I'd do 91, 97 (centre), and 103.

 

[SATire]

I have to do some more research or testing. I pointed to 91W, got a good signal, locked it in. Before I quit, I messed with a second LNB but didn't see a signal once so gave up. In the house, I hooked up a receiver, did a blind scan and low and behold, I got tons of channels, so what ever RT is on, that's a bird I seem to be picking up. Weird.

 

[SATire]

If it was me, I'd do 91, 97 (centre), and 103.

What I'm looking for is RT for sure but my main fix would be the live news channels.

 

[danristheman]

I watch RT all the time on Gal 19 97w its a good satellite for a lot of decent channels to watch.

Dan Rose

 

[Keith Brannen]

What I'm looking for is RT for sure but my main fix would be the live news channels.

Your second LNB is definitely on 97 if you are getting RT. 91 has the live news feeds and usually they are fairly strong (I get them on a 60e, four degrees off-centre, at one time I did have it on a 80cm, six degrees off-centre). 103 also has live news feeds.

Considering that there are so many channels on 97, and some of the transponders can be weak, is why I would put 97 at centre, and 91 six degrees off-centre. On my 80cm I did have 97 at centre and 103 off-centre, but wanted to boost the signal on 103. When I moved 103 to centre, some of the transponders on 97 dropped considerably now being 6 degrees off-centre, to the point where I didn't feel there was enough margin in case of weather changes. In the end I compromised by putting both off-centre, with 97 just slightly closer to centre than 103. That worked well, boosted 103 to satisfactory levels, while loss on 97 was minimal.

Of course, your larger dish will help, depending on your EIRP levels for the satellites you want, and you may not want 103, and may want 83. In that case, you can leave it as is!

 

[SATire]

It's too cold to go up there for at least several days now but in the end, I locked the center to 91W and set a second LNB by hand, looking for signals and finding none. I locked the LNB in place then got off the roof. When I scanned, I found all of those 97W channels but none on 91W hahaha. Too weird.

So the suggestion would be to make 97W my center LNB and locked position then? I can do that next time I get up there. Of course, I'm almost sure I'll have trouble again.

I'm trying out a SatLink WS-9606 meter and need to read up on it. I wasn't able to find a setting that would allow me to hear a signal by simply moving the dish or LNB around. I could hear signal once I locked into 91W though but I want it to tell me when I hit ANY signal.