Quality Level Issue

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g13392

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Aug 8, 2008
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I purchased a TanTv dish and receiver, and after setting it up, the highest quality level I can achieve is 62. I'm located in NW suburb of Chicago, pointing to AMC4. It is currently setup for TP 11860. I read in other threads about 11822 being much stronger, but the receiver is pre-programmed, and I cannot change that (I think). Because the dish is located on the 4th floor balcony, with little wind, I get jitters on the signal. What are my options to improve the quality level? Can I purchase a more expensive LNB? Can the receiver be modifiec? Any input will be greatly appreciated.
 
What is the size of the Dish?
What is the Model Number of the receiver?
How is the picture?
Or, do you know at what point the Pic will break up?
 
I purchased a TanTv dish and receiver, and after setting it up, the highest quality level I can achieve is 62. I'm located in NW suburb of Chicago, pointing to AMC4. It is currently setup for TP 11860. I read in other threads about 11822 being much stronger, but the receiver is pre-programmed, and I cannot change that (I think). Because the dish is located on the 4th floor balcony, with little wind, I get jitters on the signal. What are my options to improve the quality level? Can I purchase a more expensive LNB? Can the receiver be modifiec? Any input will be greatly appreciated.

G13392,

What is the make and model of the receiver?

Is this motorized or just a fixed point single LNBF dish?

If some light wind is causing "jitters" in your signal or picture, I wonder how well your dish is aligned to begin with and how well it is anchored. It it obviously moving slightly, and all dishes will move a little. However, it may not be perfectly aligned to begin with.

If you tweaked the dish alignment (or the LNBF focal point or polarity adjustment), you might improve your signal quality to a level where you won't notice the "jitters" when the wind blows.

AcWxRADAR

PS: Sorry Lak, guess you and I were on the trail of the same quarry at the same time! :)
 
G13392,

You are in a good strong EIRP (signal strength) area for this sat. You should be in the 50 dBW zone according to Lyngsat which means that as long as your dish is 50cm or larger you should be good.

I imagine that your dish is probably larger than 50 cm, as that would only be a 20 inch dish. That's pretty small, I bet you have a 30 inch or possibly larger dish.

AcWxRADAR
 
The dish is 76cm, fixed point single LNB dish, and I have to get back to you guys on the model number of the receiver.

For alignment, I went back and forth with the azimuth, elevation, and LNB skew, and the best quality I got was 62. The order I adjusted was azimuth, elevation, then LNB. Is that the right order? Or does it matter? Any feedback on alignment will be appreciated as well.

The picture quality is good normally, but with the wind, or manually rocking back and forth, I lose the picture.

As for anchoring down, all the nuts and bolts are tight, but I think the problem comes from fact that it's a big dish. I'm thinking of putting an additional anchor tied to each side of the dish.
 
The dish is 76cm, fixed point single LNB dish, and I have to get back to you guys on the model number of the receiver.

For alignment, I went back and forth with the azimuth, elevation, and LNB skew, and the best quality I got was 62. The order I adjusted was azimuth, elevation, then LNB. Is that the right order? Or does it matter? Any feedback on alignment will be appreciated as well.

The picture quality is good normally, but with the wind, or manually rocking back and forth, I lose the picture.

As for anchoring down, all the nuts and bolts are tight, but I think the problem comes from fact that it's a big dish. I'm thinking of putting an additional anchor tied to each side of the dish.
 
G13392,

We better ask this of you as well... Is there a taller building than your fourth floor across the street or in line with this satellites line of sight?

If you are equal in height or higher, you probably don't need to worry about this, but let us know anyway, just in case.

AcWxRADAR
 
The dish is 76cm, fixed point single LNB dish, and I have to get back to you guys on the model number of the receiver.

For alignment, I went back and forth with the azimuth, elevation, and LNB skew, and the best quality I got was 62. The order I adjusted was azimuth, elevation, then LNB. Is that the right order? Or does it matter? Any feedback on alignment will be appreciated as well.

The picture quality is good normally, but with the wind, or manually rocking back and forth, I lose the picture.

As for anchoring down, all the nuts and bolts are tight, but I think the problem comes from fact that it's a big dish. I'm thinking of putting an additional anchor tied to each side of the dish.

G13392,

That size of dish should be just fine for your location and reception of this satellite.

How do you have the dish mounted on the balcony? Can you get behind the dish easily and put the TV set (or a portable set) near the balcony doors so you can watch the signal quality level while you stand behind the dish and grasp the outer perimeter of the dish and gently flex it up/down or left/right? This is a good and simple way of determining if you have room to improve your signal. If you cannot improve the reception in any direction, then your dish is probably fairly well aligned.

Then consider moving the LNBF in and out (away or towards the dish) and rotating it CW or CCW in its mount while monitoring the signal quality reading.

Although it sounds like you have already done this, it wouldn't hurt to try again on a very calm and clear day.

AcWxRADAR
 
G13392,

Is your TP 11.860 H with symbol rate 28.139 MS/s?

I am looking at that one now on 101.0 W AMC 4 and I am showing it with 69-70% quality in the Omaha, Nebraska area. Which should be fairly close to the same reception power (EIRP) that you would have.

Every once in a while it dances up to 86% briefly.

I also have a 76 cm dish and a clear LOS. My receiver is a Coolsat 5000.

Let me see if I can tweak my antenna just a bit and improve it.

RADAR
 
Start with Skew. You should be about 15 degrees Clockwise (right) when facing the dish, from behind the LNB. About 3 minutes after 12 o'clock.
Double check that all parts are assembled / seated properly.
Then peak Azimuth and Elevation, back and forth, up and down.

Did anything improve?
 
Ok,

On my Coolsat I can FINE step the motor about three clicks EAST and get it to be more stable at 87% quality in the 1.2 DiSEqC motor control mode. So, I am just a tad off on this one, but extremely close. It is still bouncing down to the 70% area, but it is a little better.

Edit: It seems to be getting a little better now for me in USALS and I think that is because the cloud cover is thinning. Is your sky clear today?



RADAR
 
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G13382,

If you can figure out how to select a different TP on your receiver, try looking at TP 11.821 H symbol rate 5.700. I am showing this one with 98% quality! You cannot get more maxed out on a Coolsat 5K than this! This TP is HOT!

I got a few other hot ones here... Try these also:

11.983 H SR 5.900
12.033 H SR 3.003
12.021 H SR 2.034

I can detect 98% on all of these. But, you will have to figure out how to select these TPs on your receiver.

AcWxRADAR
 
Thanks guys for all your replies. I'll try to comment on few now.

the dish is mounted to the balcony rail (pretty solid), and I can stand behind the dish while looking at the tv (about 10ft away). This is how I adjusted the alignment. Only thing I didn't try is moving LNB in/out. Have to give that a try.

The TP is 11860, but not sure of the sybol rate. From my recollection, that number looks familiar.

I'll have to play around with selecting a different TP, cause the 11822 has about 85%quality. I'll definitely get the model number for the receiver....maybe someone can shed some light in selecting different TP. Again, I remember seeing in other threads about the TP's being preset, and I can't change.
 
Thanks guys for all your replies. I'll try to comment on few now.

the dish is mounted to the balcony rail (pretty solid), and I can stand behind the dish while looking at the tv (about 10ft away). This is how I adjusted the alignment. Only thing I didn't try is moving LNB in/out. Have to give that a try.

The TP is 11860, but not sure of the sybol rate. From my recollection, that number looks familiar.

I'll have to play around with selecting a different TP, cause the 11822 has about 85%quality. I'll definitely get the model number for the receiver....maybe someone can shed some light in selecting different TP. Again, I remember seeing in other threads about the TP's being preset, and I can't change.

Sounds like a good plan, G13392.

When we know more about your receiver and LNBF we can think this through a little easier (I hope). Your results appear fairly similar to what I detect on my Coolsat 5K, so we have a reasonable comparison to go on here.

Great chatting with you about this today, but I probably better be thinking about getting to sleep pretty soon. I work graveyard shift (hopefully temporarily) and it is about night-night time for me! LOL.

If I don't get back on line tonight sometime, I will try to check in tomorrow morning around the same time as I was here today. Looking forward to hearing any new results with your issue. Good luck to you, if you do any more testing and research this afternoon or evening!

Gordy (AcWxRADAR)
 
Thanks a bunch, Gordy. Hopefully I will get a chance to play with it tonight and have something to post.
 
A 76cm dish is minimal for this transponder at this time. 11860 is the weakest transponder on this satellite. Dish aiming and LNBF skew (rotation) is highly critical.

Recently this transponder was moved from AMC 4 to AMC 2 resulting in a dramatic decrease in the transponder's signal.
 
Also each receiver reads different on the quality meter so 60 on one receiver may be the same as 70 on another ;)
 
The model number on the front of the receiver says ODA4000VA. Not sure of the manufacturer...says Skyline USA on the back, not sure if that's it though.

I tried to move the LNB in/out, but didn't make a difference.

I played around with the receiver setting some more, and got a little better understanding of it. It looks like there are dozen or so TP's, with 11822, 11860 being part of them. When I do an auto search on all channels, it looks like it goes thru all the TP's and finds the channels it can detect. I noticed three of the TanTv channels are also picked up by TP 12120 S/R 30000. The 12120 has quality level of 81. I went thru all the possible options of the menu settings, but can't seem to find the option to change the TanTv TP to use 11822. I'm more convinced that it's preprogrammed, and that it can't be changed.

I manually shooked the dish to immitate the wind, and the quality on TP 11860 seems to drop down to 50 or lower and lose signal (or intermittent/choppy), whereas 12120, as well as 11822 drops abit as well, but does not lose the signal.

Any more thoughts will be appreaciated.
 
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A very exciting FTA install for me this weekend...

BubahJim

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