SG2100 and 31" Dish Help - Yet another...

[Surovich]

I've read alot of great discussions on FTA setups and it has helped me alot, but I need more individual help ... I hope -

I'm in the Buffalo NY area (Depew to be exact 14043) and Im trying to point my SG2100 with my 31" FTA dish true south which should be +12 (so 192) and my other settings are :

Ive figured my long/lat : 42.9050 and 78.7041

So my Elevation is 47 and my Declination is 23.40.

Im using a Standard KU LNB.

My pole is perfect (Using a DTV one with the level inside) and I figured my South sat is AMC5, but no matter what I do I cannot my Sat meter to get above 6. When I have no signal I get 4-5, when Im in the location I think I need for AMC5 I can get a 6 reading, but in the software I get no lock.

Im using the Twinhan PCI card and the software that came with it. I have also tried mytheatre but no luck.

Any ideas?
Thanks!

Scott

 

[PSB]

Hello and welcome to the SatelliteGuys.US FTA area!

Everything looks good above, I use the below coordinates to find AMC-5

Kuen-TV

DFreq : 11742MHz(V) SR : 11.110 Msps

Are you using a satellite meter (forget it) or the signal quality meter on the computer/TV.

I would use the latter.

 

[iammike]

Try ProgFinder. It's not the most user-friendly piece of software, but it's sole purpose is for dish pointing with PC cards. You'll also want to be sure you've got a good satellite table for AMC5. I'm at work and can't send one right now, but you can look at Lyngsat for info. 11742 V SR 11110-3/4 should be a good one to test with, KUEN-TV is on that one. Utah educational programming, woo-hoo.

 

[Surovich]

Thanks for the reply.

WOW! So I did find the right settings - I guess thats good and bad since I can't get a signal on that sat. I was using a signal meter, used them all the time for Direct and Dish setups (been awhile, but they worked great for that). I could try to use the software that came with the Twinhan, it does have a meter on it - I tried that alittle yesterday but no luck.

So AMC5 is my south sat then.... Time to fight some more with it tonight.

So you use TP1 and tune into the Utah Education Network (from your specs I gather) - Thats the TP I was on when I tried to get a signal.

 

[Surovich]

iammike,

Yeah I connected Progfinder, but it could have been old - Ill check the TP settings tonight when I try, yet again, to get a signal.

Thanks!

 

[PSB]

If you are using a Universal LNBF the signal meter you use for DBS will never work, even if you use a Standard LNBF, the KU signals are much weaker than DBS satellites so you will keep landing on the much stronger DBS birds.......you will get it, good luck!

 

[Surovich]

Thanks Pete ... I remember my first Dish with a skew - that was rough - Now they are cake.

In progfinder it has settings for LOF1 of 12500 and sw 12700 LOF2 0 - Are these correct for my Standard KU LNB?

For TP1 on AMC5 it has 11740000 - v - 11110

Lyngsat says 11742 for the TP. I would think ProgFinder is correct.

So Ill go with the progfinder if these look good.

 

[Surovich]

oooooo - Progfinder II is nicer than the Progfinder I was using.

Now the Parameters say :

LOF1 : 9750
SW : 11700
LOF2 : 10600

These are different than yesterday - do these look good?

 

[iammike]

oooooo - Progfinder II is nicer than the Progfinder I was using.

Now the Parameters say :

LOF1 : 9750
SW : 11700
LOF2 : 10600

These are different than yesterday - do these look good?

Those look good to me. One thing I found very annoying with ProgFinder was that it didn't seem to look for a quality signal for very long. I'd make adjustments to my dish and ProgFinder wouldn't show any quality, but if I would reselect the same transponder quality would show up. It seemed like you had 10 or 20 seconds to get quality and then it quit looking. Once you get quality, it works pretty well for fine-tuning though.

 

[Surovich]

Thanks! Ive seen odd things with Progfinder as well - I hope with this new information I can get AMC5 tonight. (Not that theres anything I want to watch on it, but I need it to start)

I have another question - Progfinder says AMC5 is at 40 elevation. My SG2100 is at 47 and my Declination is 23.4ish. Dont these add up to 63.4? Maybe somone could quickly explain this??

 

[Surovich]

Ah, maybe this is my issue?

OK, Gave up on the computer for the signal and picture and I got a Pansat 2500 clone so I can get a good meter reading. On AMC5 I have a 95% Signal and 0% Quality (I know, Signal means nothing - Quality is EVERYthing).

I have the right coordinates but I just started reading some more. Even though I have a SG2100 motor and a Winegard 31" dish, do I need to skew the LNB to get AMC5?

Anyone know the skew for 14043 (Buffalo, NY) for AMC5 ?

Thanks!
Scott

 

[Shawn95GT]

http://www.arachnoid.com/satfinder

This will give you everything you wanted to know about azmuth / elevation for sats from where you are.

With the motor you do not Skew the LNB (the whole dish Skews).

With a fixed dish the skew from your zip is +0.3 which is almost neglidgable .

 

[Surovich]

Bad LNB?

Could all my issues be a bad LNB? Ive never had such an issue pointing a Dish before, you would think I could get at least AMC5 to give a quality.

I have a dual polarity Standard LNB and on my Pansat 2500 I have Standard selected with :

LNB Freq : 10750
22K : off
Diseqc : off
Skew : 0
TP : 11742 V 11.1110

These look good to me.... Tomorrow Im going to take the motor off and point to Galaxy 10R to see if that gives me anything.... This is getting annyoing to me now

 

[PSB]

All looks good to me, its a good idea to remove the motor just to be sure. I guess you have tried both ports of the dual LNBF.

Bad LNBF happen, but not a lot! Most problems come from over tightening your connections (Iceberg) hand tight and quarter of a turn more, thats it!

 

[Surovich]

Its only a signal LNB - Rather than remove the motor can I set it to a degree that would be straight?

 

[PSB]

I guess you could set the mounting pole as low as it will go and try that just to check the (single) LNBF, but you also want to by pass the motor if you are going through that.

You are going straight to the LNBF for pointing true south when you did the set up right?

 

[Surovich]

Yes I did - Direct to LNB .... Going to work on it more tomorrow - tired of being on the ladder all day

 

[PSB]

Tell me about it ..... Tomorrows another day. Good Luck!

 

[Mr Tony]

Ive figured my long/lat : 42.9050 and 78.7041

So my Elevation is 47 and my Declination is 23.40.

Pete,
didn't you say the elevation on the motor matches the latitude? Wouldnt it be 43 on the motor?

 

[Shawn95GT]

His numbers are dead on what my SG2100 calls for.

Shawn