Want to get a dish. What do you recommend?
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Yes, please give us full details. Do you have a ku dish that you can use?(That is not being used by your Dad for pay TV) Will your Dad allow you to mount and run cables to your TV? Which receiver did you say you had?
Do you have proper coax? etc? What about your living situation? In an apartment or in the country with acres of land that your Dad owns?
Posting threads saying you want to get into something and then saying ...but never mind I can't or won't...for whatever reason... People are going to think you are trolling.
Especially when you guess at how things work or stretch the truth on things, and post as facts!
You are young and have a lot to learn and we know that and understand. We were all young once, and at some point in life were in the same spot as you...Not really knowing much about this but wanted to learn.
If you too want to learn, help us to help you?
Do you have proper coax? etc? What about your living situation? In an apartment or in the country with acres of land that your Dad owns?
Posting threads saying you want to get into something and then saying ...but never mind I can't or won't...for whatever reason... People are going to think you are trolling.
Especially when you guess at how things work or stretch the truth on things, and post as facts!
You are young and have a lot to learn and we know that and understand. We were all young once, and at some point in life were in the same spot as you...Not really knowing much about this but wanted to learn.
If you too want to learn, help us to help you?
I can't add multiple quotes on mobile so I'll just have to do with one, but anyway...
Yeah so we actually got this Ku dish for $10 along with a Dish Network dish that we didn't need so we dropped that off at a recycling center. I don't know what model it is but I think it might be Winegard's 30 inch dish.
The coax is 50-foot going from the LNB to receiver and the receiver is the Freesat V7. I've heard about how notorious those are for failure and overall not good experiences in North America and after testing it and getting just 60% signal strength plus numerous other problems, I believe it. As of right now I'm saving up for the Amiko Mini HD265.
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Sounds like you are all set to get 125, 103, or 97 west just to get started but tell us what kind of LNBF you have. Your approximate location would be nice too.
A 60% signal strength is baseline. It means that your not aimed at a satellite. You can get a 60% reading by aiming at the ground. Pick yourself up one of the cheapie $10 to $20 satellite meters so you know that your on a satellite and then make sure your LNB is set up right. I.E. 10750 Ghz for a standard linear LNB or if you have a universal LNB then use that setting and once you are on a satellite do a blind scan and see what you get. Through a process of trial and error as well as by looking at the satellite charts you'll be able to determine which one your currently aimed at and then go from there. Without any kind of a meter [and the built in ones in the receiver pretty much suck] you can be out there moving the dish around for hours getting frustrated and never being on a satellite.
The easy peasy way to do it with one of those meters is just turn up the gain enough to move the needed about one third of a way up the scale and then raise the elevation up/down to peak the meter that way you'll know the elevation is close and then move the dish east/west until you get a max level. And then when you max it move the gain on the meter back again to mid scale and then start with the slow tiny movements up/down, left/right and you'll be on a satellite soon enough. Then you just snug down the bolts enough so it doesn't move and then try a blind scan to see what you get and go from there. My very first time about 15 years ago I tried on KU with a dish, receiver and TV and gave up after several hours. I had a local charlie/dave installer stop by with a meter and he had me locked on a satellite in two minutes with a meter.
Bottom line IMO you need a meter even if it's a bargain basement one to at least get you on a satellite.
Is that kinda like "Take a sh*t or get off the pot?"
I totally agree with this approach. That's how I got started, old Dish Network dishes with a linear LNBF, a cheap "squeak" meter, which I still use, and blind scanning on whatever squeaks
Note that the loudest squeaks often won't yield anything, because they might be DirecTV or the turbo modulated transponders on DN, which regular receivers can't get.
I think the easiest target in Ku FTA is 95W, at least from here in CT. Stronger signal than 97W. Once one satellite is found, the rest is mostly a matter of hopping to the next one.
Can't remember what LNBF it is but I'll check when I get home later
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Yeah I heard this before. It showed this on the receiver but the signal meter that we used appeared to work, but I don't know for sure if we were using it right.
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What brands of coaxial do you guys recommend for this?
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Sent from my SM-G955U using the SatelliteGuys app!
the brand does not really matter, but the type does matter to some degree. Stay away from RG-59, and use RG-6. Preferably quad-shielded. If the run is somewhat long (more than 50 feet), it's better to use solid-copper core rather than CCS (Copper-clad steel). If you're not sure, check with a magnet.
For really long length, RG-11 is best but expensive and a pain to work with.
Also, I have the Star Com SR-3602 Mini for my LNB. Is it good or do I need a new one?
Input: 10.70-11.70 GHz, 11.70 GHz-12.75 GHz
Output: 950-1950 MHz, 1100-2150 MHz
LO: 9.75/10.6 GHz
Noise Figure: 0.1 dB
Sent from my SM-G955U using the SatelliteGuys app!
Input: 10.70-11.70 GHz, 11.70 GHz-12.75 GHz
Output: 950-1950 MHz, 1100-2150 MHz
LO: 9.75/10.6 GHz
Noise Figure: 0.1 dB
Sent from my SM-G955U using the SatelliteGuys app!
There's a picture of my dish farm in my profile. You can enlarge it by clicking on it. I have about $500 in the whole setup including receivers. All 8 dishes were used and I have $20.00 and a little time invested in going after all 8 of them. Not sure where you're located, but there's probably free dishes all around you for the asking. I stay away from fiberglass c-band dishes. Too heavy to mess with and hard to handle.
I have a shelf full of receivers. (buy them to play with) If you're serious about getting into c-band or Ku, I'll let you have a GEOSAT PRO HDVR 3500 for $50.00 + shipping to help you out. They're selling on EBay right now for $150.00. It was only used a short time. Still in the box. Collection getting rather large.
that should be fine, as long as you set the receiver to use a universal LNB (9750/10600 with 22 kHz tone set to Auto), otherwise you'd be scanning the lower band which is almost unused in North America.
the fact that you mentioned that your receiver is showing some signal strength seems to indicate that the LNBF is working and that the coax you're using is ok too
again, i think your best bet would be to get one of those cheap meters, that goes a long way toward getting a rough idea as to where the satellites are, otherwise it's a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. Well worth the $7-15 that it would cost.
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