USALS "bumping" with Viewsat Extreme?...

[giraffejumper]

Thanks to the guys here on satellite guys - especially turbosat - I finally got my motor running and running nicely! Even though I have heard that the extreme was not good with motors. I now know otherwise.
I have an sg2100 with a 2076 winegard and viewsat extreme.
I set it up on my true south sat - AMC3 - and peaked it as good as I could.
However - when I used USALS to set it to AMC3 first - I put in a latitude and longitude that I had written on a piece of paper.
When I successfully got it running and picking up very well on other sats, I threw away the paper.
Today I went to help a guy set up his dish and took my viewsat with me because it is a great satellite meter.
We got his motor set up and running perfectly thanks to all I have learned here.
When I got back home - I did a factory reset and put in the lat and lon - and realized that I discarded the sheet of paper.
I went to look it up on the net and got SEVERAL different answers as to what they were! Are the tectonic plates constantly shifting here or what?
So I put in what I thought it was originally and could not hit the satellites as good with USALS.
So I tried changing the lat/lon settings a bit and still could not get it on the sat like I had it.
How close do the lat/lon settings have to be to run USALS?
If I use diseqc ("installer" on viewsat), I can nudge it over a little bit and get it on optimal signal/quality.
Is there a way to nudge it to optimal, and then get USALS realigned from that point?
Because when I save the position with diseqc and then click on the channel, it doesn't automatically go to the sat like USALS does.
The book isn't much help on the matter either.
If anyone knows how to make this work - please let me know - because I have FINALLY come so far!
Thanks again to every one on here!
-phil

p.s. also, does anyone know how to make the optical cable work so I can watch the PBS channels with sound. I can't seem to find the setting and it is plugged up doing nothing!

 

[WyrTwister]

Thanks to the guys here on satellite guys - especially turbosat - I finally got my motor running and running nicely! Even though I have heard that the extreme was not good with motors. I now know otherwise.
I have an sg2100 with a 2076 winegard and viewsat extreme.
I set it up on my true south sat - AMC3 - and peaked it as good as I could.
However - when I used USALS to set it to AMC3 first - I put in a latitude and longitude that I had written on a piece of paper.
When I successfully got it running and picking up very well on other sats, I threw away the paper.
Today I went to help a guy set up his dish and took my viewsat with me because it is a great satellite meter.
We got his motor set up and running perfectly thanks to all I have learned here.
When I got back home - I did a factory reset and put in the lat and lon - and realized that I discarded the sheet of paper.
I went to look it up on the net and got SEVERAL different answers as to what they were! Are the tectonic plates constantly shifting here or what?
So I put in what I thought it was originally and could not hit the satellites as good with USALS.
So I tried changing the lat/lon settings a bit and still could not get it on the sat like I had it.
How close do the lat/lon settings have to be to run USALS?
If I use diseqc ("installer" on viewsat), I can nudge it over a little bit and get it on optimal signal/quality.
Is there a way to nudge it to optimal, and then get USALS realigned from that point?
Because when I save the position with diseqc and then click on the channel, it doesn't automatically go to the sat like USALS does.
The book isn't much help on the matter either.
If anyone knows how to make this work - please let me know - because I have FINALLY come so far!
Thanks again to every one on here!
-phil

p.s. also, does anyone know how to make the optical cable work so I can watch the PBS channels with sound. I can't seem to find the setting and it is plugged up doing nothing!

Download Sat Finder

http://www.arachnoid.com/satfinder/SatFinder.exe

to install a Java Script . If you do not have the Java runtime package installed , go to

java.com: Hot Games, Cool Apps

Type in your zip code & it will give you your latatude , longitude and angles for most / all the sats visable from your location .



Do not know how inportant the latatude is . But you can tweek USALS by changing the longitude .1 degree at a time , either east or west , until you max out the signal quality .


Wyr

 

[turbosat]

Think you still have to enter those PIDS manually to get the PBS channels' sound. Lyngsat has them listed, or did. Not sure butyou may have to create each channel manually with the viewsat to add the PIDS to each channel, I forgot how I ended up doing it.

 

[giraffejumper]

Do not know how inportant the latatude is . But you can tweek USALS by changing the longitude .1 degree at a time , either east or west , until you max out the signal quality

I think that did it! Thanks!
It ended up being a WAY different longitude than I thought it was supposed to be.
So someone tell me if this logic is correct: As long as you set the usals to max out on one satellite with longitude, it doesn't really matter if your settings are the same as what a gps might say your location is.
Because once again it is hitting these sats with precision and automatically going to them now!
And the quality is even better now that I tweaked it like you said. I went point one past the setting and the quality meter started going down, so I knew I had found my number!
I made sure to WRITE DOWN THE NUMBERS IN MY MANUAL so when I do a factory reset that I don't have to do all this again, until I move. But then EVERYTHING will have to be done all over again!
Thanks,
-phil

p.s. thanks turbosat. I am still messing around with the motor and haven't had time to mess with that cable yet.

 

[gabshere]

ac-3 usually have to be outputted to something that will decode it
most of the receivers won't decode it.... some of the newer & hd units will.
if you have a sterio system that can handle it or a surround sound system or even a set of Sonic Voom Headphones

if you are outputting to something that will decode ac-3 and still not getting sound some dvb units you will have to setup the audio to output ac-3 so then check audio output in your dvb units setup.

hope this helps

 

[giraffejumper]

ac-3 usually have to be outputted to something that will decode it
most of the receivers won't decode it.... some of the newer & hd units will.
if you have a stereo system that can handle it or a surround sound system or even a set of Sonic Voom Headphone

I have it running directly into a stereo receiver that decodes ac3 wonderfully for my dvd player. Maybe there is a setting that I can't find in the extreme that turns this on like in my dvd player.

Which is exactly what you said!:

if you are outputting to something that will decode ac-3 and still not getting sound some dvb units you will have to setup the audio to output ac-3 so then check audio output in your dvb units setup.

Thanks!
-phil

 

[WyrTwister]

I think that did it! Thanks!
It ended up being a WAY different longitude than I thought it was supposed to be.
So someone tell me if this logic is correct: As long as you set the usals to max out on one satellite with longitude, it doesn't really matter if your settings are the same as what a gps might say your location is.
Because once again it is hitting these sats with precision and automatically going to them now!
And the quality is even better now that I tweaked it like you said. I went point one past the setting and the quality meter started going down, so I knew I had found my number!
I made sure to WRITE DOWN THE NUMBERS IN MY MANUAL so when I do a factory reset that I don't have to do all this again, until I move. But then EVERYTHING will have to be done all over again!
Thanks,
-phil

p.s. thanks turbosat. I am still messing around with the motor and haven't had time to mess with that cable yet.

Here is my take on this .

Do not have a GPS , so can not say about the numbers they generate .

But use the numbers generated the java script . Input those numbers in to the receiver .

That should be correct .

Now , if your dish and / or motor are slightly off , you can tweek it in as described . But it will not pick up all sats , the best that the equipment can do . In fact , it may not pick up some of them at all .

The bend on the motor arm takes care of skew and elevation . If you are off very much east-west , skew and elevation will be off .

Wyr

 

[giraffejumper]

But use the numbers generated the java script . Input those numbers in to the receiver .

The thing is - I keep getting DIFFERENT numbers from the programs/websites/java scripts!
They are not that far off from each other, but far enough that I think it would matter.
And lets say - it says my lat is 33.29 and my lon is 86.58.
My receiver only excepts 3 numbers.
Which way should I round?
33.29 to 33.3 or just 33.2?
86.58 to 86.6 or 86.5?
I am not familiar enough with the software to know how exact it needs to be to put it right on track.
What ended up working for me right now is 33.2n and 87.3w.
But I originally set it up with another number.
So if I had set it up with a more correct one - it would be working better?
So far I have hit every satellite that I have gone for and the quality has been nice.
But I am a perfectionist and want to know it is as close to perfectly on track as I could get it.
But until I learn enough to get a little more advanced, I think this will do for now.
(ok, maybe not! you now have me doubting myself!)
Thanks,
-phil

 

[Larry1]

The Longitude and Latitude can be in either degrees, minutes,seconds or a decimal figure. If the figure is given in degrees,minutes,seconds and your satellite box needs a decimal figure, you will need to convert the values. Just remember, (like a clock) there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in a degree. A GPS unit should give you the same readings as the zip code lookup tables or even online maps.
In rounding numbers, what I do, if it is equal or over 5 I round up. Less than 5 I round down.

e.g. 78.37 --> 78.4
78.34 --> 78.3

Here is a good online conversion tool.

Convert Latitude / Longitude in Degrees/Minutes/Seconds to/from Decimal (FCC) USA

 

[WyrTwister]

The thing is - I keep getting DIFFERENT numbers from the programs/websites/java scripts!
They are not that far off from each other, but far enough that I think it would matter.
And lets say - it says my lat is 33.29 and my lon is 86.58.
My receiver only excepts 3 numbers.
Which way should I round?
33.29 to 33.3 or just 33.2?
86.58 to 86.6 or 86.5?
I am not familiar enough with the software to know how exact it needs to be to put it right on track.
What ended up working for me right now is 33.2n and 87.3w.
But I originally set it up with another number.
So if I had set it up with a more correct one - it would be working better?
So far I have hit every satellite that I have gone for and the quality has been nice.
But I am a perfectionist and want to know it is as close to perfectly on track as I could get it.
But until I learn enough to get a little more advanced, I think this will do for now.
(ok, maybe not! you now have me doubting myself!)
Thanks,
-phil

You may already know this , but Sat Finder Java Script gives you the numbers in degrees and minutes ( 60 minutes to a degree ) . Convert to decimal by dividing the minutes by 60 . May not make a lot of difference whether you round up or down .

I have to round the numbers I use for lat & long .

If you are getting channels off all the sats ( particulary the weak transponders ) , it is probably not worth worrying about .

Wyr

 

[giraffejumper]

You may already know this , but Sat Finder Java Script gives you the numbers in degrees and minutes ( 60 minutes to a degree ) . Convert to decimal by dividing the minutes by 60 . May not make a lot of difference whether you round up or down .

I have to round the numbers I use for lat & long .

Thanks! I am terrible at math and geography. Not a good combo for a sat nerd!
And I finally got my ac3 sound coming through on PBS!
It turned out to be an EXTRA setting on my stereo receiver OTHER than just "select input."
It HAD to be plugged into the DVD player slot for 5.1 and the coax had to be turned off and the optical on.
Live and learn.
-phil

 

[Watermonkey]

I find that using Google Earth works very well every time. Just something to consider...

 

[giraffejumper]

I find that using Google Earth works very well every time. Just something to consider...

Thanks! I will go there right now.........
-phil

 

[WyrTwister]

Thanks! I am terrible at math and geography. Not a good combo for a sat nerd!
And I finally got my ac3 sound coming through on PBS!
It turned out to be an EXTRA setting on my stereo receiver OTHER than just "select input."
It HAD to be plugged into the DVD player slot for 5.1 and the coax had to be turned off and the optical on.
Live and learn.
-phil

If you get a number like 30 degrees 15 minutes , divide 15 minutes by 60 minutes in a degree -> 15/60 -> 1/4 -> .25 , will have to either rounf down to 33.2 degrees or round up to 33.3 degrees . Probably will not make much difference , doubt if the equipment or the aiming is accurate to .05 degree ?

Wyr