Smart Search picking up some TPs only

[DAvidK]

Hi, I'm new to FTA and I've run into a problem that I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere in this forum - or maybe I'm just unfamiliar with the lingo...

Anyway, my equipment is fairly standard:
old Starchoice dish, 76 cm, supposedly a Winegard
standard LNB (CalifAmp, LO 10.75, KU 11.7 - 12.2, noise .75dB)
Pansat 2500A
Microyal H2H positioning motor

My coordinates in Kelowna, Canada are 49.9 degrees north, and 119.5 degrees west

The problems is that I can receive certain transponders on a given satellite, but not others. As an example, on AMC-4, the signal quality on TP frequency 11971 and 11934 are over 75%, 15-20% on 12020 and 11781, 10% (with fluctuations saying 100%) on 11822 and 11983, but nothing on the two TP frequencies that I am interested in, 11860 and 12120. Lyngsat and global-cm.net say that there are FTA channels on these frequencies. By the way, I get the channel LLBN just fine on 12020 with only a 15% signal quality. The V/H settings appear to be correct on all the frequencies.

Now, I don't think that this has anything to do with scrambling, as I pick up scrambled channels (no picture, just an acknowledgement that the channel exists), or dish pointing ( I think, as I get over 75% quality with some frequencies). The same situations occur with other satellites as well.

Does Pansat's smart search scan the entire frequency spectrum or does it merely search select known frequencies? Do I need to manually input some frequencies? Or, is my LNB bad? I just hope that it isn't a pointing issue as ice and cold makes getting on my roof somewhat unpleasant.

Thanks.

DAvidK

 

[Wholeshoe]

What is the Diameter of your dish?

Some days some transponders come in good and other days they don't.

I so not even see 11971 and 11934 as listed transponders on http://www.lyngsat.com/amc4.html

Maybe there is a problem with your LO setting of your LNB, that info will be on the box it came in. It would also explain why you frequency reading that your blind scanning in appear to be off. What programs are you seeing on each frequency? This info will help us in trying to dertermine what your watching regardless you what frequency your receiver thinks it is.

Wholeshoe

 

[Mr Tony]

Welcome David!

Your dish should be fine. The SC 76cm dish is the standard 76cm that most of us use

Make sure your LO frequency is 10750. The 2 frequencies you list that have no signal (11971 & 11934) are close to the analog feed ones. (11980 & 11940). These require an anlog receievr and honestly, I havent seen anything on those in a long time with my analog receievr. They are used for news upklinks and may be on for less than 5 minutes at a time. Not worth it in my mind


I do know the 2 transponders you are talking about (11860 & 12120) should scan in no problem. The Pansat will pick up any transponder that is active. Heck, mine picks up TP's, only to have nothing there.

You might want to manually enter it. I have a 1500, so it may be different

Go to instalation, enter password
go down to Edit satellite/TP (on mine, its right below smart search)
select AMC4KU and hit OK
go down to edit TP and hit OK
select "new" and enter the parameters from Lyngsat (12120 V 30000) and the other one.

back yourself out and you can go to "Scan TP" and just scan those 2 to see what happens

Both of mine scan in at about 50 quality in Minneapolis, MN

 

[PSB]

Latitude 50° 0.000'N Longitude 119° 0.000'W

Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m) El Skew
-------------------------------------------------------------


*** All Satellites 61W - 160W ***

EchoStar 3 61.5W 116.0 96.6 11.7 -35.3
Rainbow 1 61.5W 116.0 96.6 11.7 -35.3
Brasilsat A2 (incl. 5.8 deg) 63.0W 117.3 97.9 12.6 -34.8
Brasilsat B2 65.0W 119.1 99.7 13.7 -34.2
Brasilsat B1 70.0W 123.7 104.3 16.6 -32.3
Nahuel 1 71.8W 125.4 106.0 17.6 -31.6
AMC 6 72.0W 125.5 106.1 17.7 -31.5
Galaxy 12 74.0W 127.5 108.1 18.8 -30.7
SBS 6 74.0W 127.5 108.1 18.8 -30.7
GOES 12 75.0W 128.4 109.0 19.3 -30.2
AMC 5 79.0W 132.4 113.0 21.4 -28.3
DirecTV 3 81.8W 135.3 115.9 22.8 -26.9
Nimiq 2 82.0W 135.5 116.1 22.9 -26.8
Brasilsat B3 84.0W 137.6 118.2 23.8 -25.7
XM Roll 85.0W 138.6 119.2 24.3 -25.1
AMC 9 85.0W 138.6 119.2 24.3 -25.1
AMC 3 87.0W 140.8 121.4 25.2 -24.0
Galaxy 11 91.0W 145.2 125.8 26.8 -21.5
Nimiq 1 91.0W 145.2 125.8 26.8 -21.5
Brasilsat B4 92.0W 146.4 127.0 27.2 -20.9
Telstar 6 93.0W 147.5 128.1 27.6 -20.2
Galaxy 8I (incl. 1.0 deg) 95.0W 149.8 130.4 28.3 -18.8
Galaxy 3C 95.0W 149.8 130.4 28.3 -18.8
Telstar 5 97.0W 152.2 132.8 29.0 -17.4
Inmarsat 2 f2 (incl. 1.7 deg) 98.0W 153.4 134.0 29.3 -16.7
Galaxy 4R 99.0W 154.6 135.2 29.6 -16.0
DirecTV 2 100.8W 156.8 137.4 30.1 -14.7
DirecTV 1R 100.8W 156.8 137.4 30.1 -14.7
AMC 4 101.0W 157.0 137.6 30.2 -14.5
DirecTV 1 101.0W 157.0 137.6 30.2 -14.5
AMSC 1 101.1W 157.1 137.7 30.2 -14.5
DirecTV 4S 101.2W 157.3 137.9 30.2 -14.4
AMC 1 103.0W 159.5 140.1 30.7 -13.0
Solidaridad 1 (incl. 2.8 deg) 103.5W 160.1 140.7 30.8 -12.6
AMC 2 105.0W 162.0 142.6 31.1 -11.5
G-Star 3 (incl. 11.5 deg) 105.0W 162.0 142.6 31.1 -11.5
G-Star 1 (incl. 6.0 deg) 105.0W 162.0 142.6 31.1 -11.5
MSAT 1 106.5W 163.9 144.5 31.5 -10.3
Anik F1 107.3W 164.9 145.5 31.6 -9.7
Anik E1 109.2W 167.3 147.9 31.9 -8.1
DirecTV 6 109.8W 168.1 148.7 32.0 -7.6
EchoStar 6 110.0W 168.3 148.9 32.0 -7.5
EchoStar 8 110.0W 168.3 148.9 32.0 -7.5
Anik E2R 111.1W 169.7 150.3 32.2 -6.6
Solidaridad 2 113.0W 172.2 152.8 32.4 -5.0
Morelos 2 (incl. 4.4 deg) 114.9W 174.7 155.3 32.6 -3.4
XM Rock 115.0W 174.8 155.4 32.6 -3.3
SatMex 5 116.8W 177.1 157.7 32.6 -1.8
Anik E2 118.7W 179.6 160.2 32.7 -0.3
DirecTV 5 119.0W 180.0 160.6 32.7 0.0
EchoStar 7 119.0W 180.0 160.6 32.7 0.0
EchoStar 5 119.0W 180.0 160.6 32.7 0.0
EchoStar 9/Telstar 13 121.0W 182.6 163.2 32.7 1.7
Galaxy 10R 123.0W 185.2 165.8 32.6 3.3
Galaxy 5 125.0W 187.8 168.4 32.4 5.0
Galaxy 9 127.0W 190.4 171.0 32.2 6.7
Telstar 7 129.0W 193.0 173.6 31.9 8.3
Satcom C3 131.0W 195.5 176.1 31.6 9.9
Galaxy 1R 133.0W 198.0 178.6 31.1 11.5
Satcom C4 135.0W 200.5 181.1 30.7 13.0
GOES 10 135.5W 201.1 181.7 30.6 13.4
AMC 7 137.0W 203.0 183.6 30.2 14.5
AMC 8 139.0W 205.4 186.0 29.6 16.0
Inmarsat 2 f3 (incl. 1.9 deg) 142.0W 209.0 189.6 28.6 18.2
EchoStar 1 148.0W 215.9 196.5 26.4 22.1
EchoStar 2 148.0W 215.9 196.5 26.4 22.1
TDRS 9 (incl. 7.4 deg) 151.0W 219.2 199.8 25.2 24.0
TDRS 10 (incl. 6.2 deg) 151.0W 219.2 199.8 25.2 24.0
EchoStar 4 157.0W 225.6 206.2 22.4 27.0

Hope this helps also!

 

[DAvidK]

Better...

Thanks for the quick relplies, Wholeshoe, Iceberg, and PSB.

Questions regarding my LNB - it is an old Starchoice LNB. It is a standard LNB with a LO of 10750, a frequency range of 11700 to 12200, a noise rating of .75dB manufactured by California Amplifier. The settings on the 2500A are correct for this LNB. By the way, is it worth getting a new LNB?

Anyway, I sat down and spent a few hours playing with the manual functions on the 2500A. I got a few more things to work. But not everything.

I realize now that though the smart search function is quite handy, it doesn't always manage to find every active transponder and channel. Manually loading the transponder frequency sometimes finds things that the smart search doesn't.

Lyngsat is quite helpful in that regard, but not complete. For example, AMC4 gives me the following:

11704 - KTEL
11708 - KUIL
11822 - 3ABN
12020 - LLBN
12060 - Hotelvision (sometimes it's clear - my receiver is clean, honest)

However, I can't get 11860 and 12120. I was hoping to get the ethnic programming, but I'm assuming that the channels are either scrambled (Lyngsat says that they're clear), or the signal strength is too weak for me to pick up.

I'm assuming that different transponders broadcast at different power levels and broadcast to different regions - resulting in some transponder frequencies coming in clear while others from the same satellite barely register. I also realize that sometimes the uplink sites experience bad weather and that satellite positioning is not perfect.

Oh well, if everything was easy, it wouldn't be as interesting...

One last question - How trustworthy are the elevation markings on the dish and positioning motor? If I am correct, different combinations of elevation settings on the positioning motor and dish can bring in a good signal from one particular satellite - but only one combination will scan the sky at the correct arc to bring in several satellites. I found the positioning motor's elevation markings less prone to error and used that as a reference and adjusted the declination on the dish, since the marker used to mark the dish declination works about as well as can be expected for the penny it cost to make. Is there a better way?

Thanks.

 

[Mr Tony]

Thanks for the quick relplies, Wholeshoe, Iceberg, and PSB.

Questions regarding my LNB - it is an old Starchoice LNB. It is a standard LNB with a LO of 10750, a frequency range of 11700 to 12200, a noise rating of .75dB manufactured by California Amplifier. The settings on the 2500A are correct for this LNB. By the way, is it worth getting a new LNB?

might help. I have a .5 and had a .7 (the old ExpressVu before they went like Dish did) and it worked. The .5 does work better

Anyway, I sat down and spent a few hours playing with the manual functions on the 2500A. I got a few more things to work. But not everything.

I realize now that though the smart search function is quite handy, it doesn't always manage to find every active transponder and channel. Manually loading the transponder frequency sometimes finds things that the smart search doesn't.

Lyngsat is quite helpful in that regard, but not complete. For example, AMC4 gives me the following:

11704 - KTEL
11708 - KUIL
11822 - 3ABN
12020 - LLBN
12060 - Hotelvision (sometimes it's clear - my receiver is clean, honest)

Hotelvision has been doing that

However, I can't get 11860 and 12120. I was hoping to get the ethnic programming, but I'm assuming that the channels are either scrambled (Lyngsat says that they're clear), or the signal strength is too weak for me to pick up.

both of these come in fine for me in MN....I know you are in BC, so it might be a little tougher

I'm assuming that different transponders broadcast at different power levels and broadcast to different regions - resulting in some transponder frequencies coming in clear while others from the same satellite barely register. I also realize that sometimes the uplink sites experience bad weather and that satellite positioning is not perfect.

very true...each TP can be different

Oh well, if everything was easy, it wouldn't be as interesting...

One last question - How trustworthy are the elevation markings on the dish and positioning motor? If I am correct, different combinations of elevation settings on the positioning motor and dish can bring in a good signal from one particular satellite - but only one combination will scan the sky at the correct arc to bring in several satellites. I found the positioning motor's elevation markings less prone to error and used that as a reference and adjusted the declination on the dish, since the marker used to mark the dish declination works about as well as can be expected for the penny it cost to make. Is there a better way?

Thanks.

sometimes the dish ones can be a little off. But if you can get the other ones then you are on the TP

What happens when you manually type in the info for those two transponders?

 

[PSB]

Your LNB could be better, I would get a lower noise model, they go down to 0.3 but they are costly, so anything around 0.5 and below would really help pull in the weaker signals, if used with a bigger dish all the better, I now recommend at least 90cm as it really helps pull in the low channels/TP. by simply collecting more signal.

After setting the motor elevation I never touch it again, any adjustments are then done with the dish declination. But as usual the settings are only as good as the mast/pole install, it has to be as level and plumb as you can get it, taking into account the weight of the dish and motor.