OTHER X2 Mini and Hughes Net Dish not receiving anything

[xf021209]

I played with FTA many years ago and still have a BUD with a 4DTV receiver. I decided to jump back into FTA but have run into some issues. My setup is an X2 Mini receiver, a Hughes Net Gen 4 dish and LNB, and I also have a Strong HD LNB (universal). My main target has been Galaxy 19, but no matter what I do I'm not getting anything. I know the X2 Mini is working because I can use my old Dish setup and LNB, point and pull up the Dish network. The couple of non-scrambled broadcasts come in fine. I've tried both the Hughes LNB and the Strong LNB and get nothing on any sat but especially Galaxy 19 since that's the sat I would like to receive from. For the Hughes LNB I've set the freq. to 10750. The Strong takes 10.7 to 12.75 so I also set it for 10750 and am selecting Single using either LNB. I've also tried universal for the Strong LNB, but still haven't had any luck pulling anything in. I'm using a cheap satellite signal meter near the dish to try and get a lock on a satellite. I was able to lock onto one satellite using the Hughes LNB according to the signal meter, but I don't know which it was. The X2 Mini came back from the blind scan as no programs found even though several times during the blind scan signal strength hit 90 and quality hit the high 80's. There are several posts on the site about using the Hughes LNB for FTA and that there's no issue with doing so, however most of those mention removing the transmitter from the LNB. I've opened the Hughes LNB but to be honest I'm not sure what I'm looking and what should be removed. Any help in figuring out what I'm overlooking would be appreciated. Please see the attached photos.

Thanks,

Todd

 

[77TA]

If the Strong lnb is an sr-1000 the LO frequency should be set to 9750/10600 since it is universal.

As far as aligning the dish I would recommend that when you find a transponder and don’t know what it is peak the dish to that transponder. It is very likely that when you peak on it you will be able to rescan and get a different transponder to scan in that will have a channel that you can look up to see what sat you are on. If that doesn’t work you should still be close to being on the arc and bunping the dish a little left or right is likely to find an adjacent satellite that will scan a channel in.

 

[xf021209]

Thank you 77TA for the suggestions. The Strong is an HD SRT L729. No spec sheet in the box it came in. On the side of the box is:

HIGH DEFINITIAON
UNIVERSAL SINGLE LNBF
HD SRT L729
Input: 10.7-12.75 GHz
Output: 950-2150MHZ
Noise Figure:0.3db

(cell phones make this so much easier these days!)

And thank you for the suggestion on how to figure out which sat I have the dish pointed to. I certainly didn't think about doing that. I'm going to give that a try this morning and see if I can get more information. Thanks again.

Todd

 

[Arion]

The Hughesnet Gen4 dish is for KA band and your attempting to use it on KU band. That dish is designed to be used with the OEM LNB. Mating a different LNB to the dish can work but the focal length is probably going to be off and it's not ideal. Would be best to start off with a real KU band dish and an LNB holder designed for the dish. Also seriously consider getting a real signal meter which is almost a must if your going to get serious with the hobby at some point. That way you know what satellite your pointed at and can peak the dish before you even go inside to your receiver. I understand that your doing this on the cheap and playing around but it's not an ideal setup for someone with limited experience just trying to get it to work. It can be done but likely to be frustrating as your discovering.

 

[xf021209]

Thanks Arion, that's what I needed to know, if Gen4 was Ka or Ku. Now I understand the lack of being able to pick anything up. I hear you on the sat meter and will most likely place an order today for something much better. As for the dish, yes it's frustrating but at the same time I'm a tinkerer so playing around using it is ok too. I've got about 6 weeks before my trip to a remote part of Colorado where any TV reception is zilch, so if playing around with the Strong LNB with the Hughesnet dish gets to be a bother or I run out of time then I'll do as you suggest and purchase an FTA dish. I enjoy trying though so I'm going to play with it for awhile. Now knowing the Gen4 LNB is KA I might as well toss it or put it on ebay for a few bucks to see if anyone else can use it. Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

Todd

 

[77TA]

Here is the spec sheet. The LO frequency should be set to 9750/10600.
View attachment SRT L729.PDF

 

[. Raine]

77TA is correct, the low should be 10600 here in the U.S. You can use universal 9750/10600 or just plain 10600, either will work. The X2 Mini is DVB-S only, so keep in mind you wont receive DVB-S2 signals. Plenty of DVB-S on 97W though.

What size is the Hughesnet dish? If it's over 30'' you're probably good with that, although you will probably have to mess with finding the focal point, as Arion stated. Which, if your picking up some transponders, then I'd think you must be on it or close.

And Welcome to SatelliteGuys!

You can look on Lyngsat, The List, at the top of this page, or Sathint, and try to match up the transponders that you're receiving to tell for sure what Sat you're on.

 

[FaT Air]

You could make a jig/guide out of cardboard that locates the front faces position of the center OEM LNBF assy. Have it attached to the LNB support arm. Remove the OEM and fashion the bracket for the Strong LNBF to place it in the same position/orientation. Hopefully it's close enough to get a hint of signal and tweak from there.
Universal LNBF settings:
Universal, LO Frequency 9750/10600. 22Khz normally automatic/unselectable.
OR Standard, LO freq 10600, (22 khz has no effect if no 22Khz switches) For the 11700 to 12700 band

 

[FaT Air]

You'll have to enter active transponders into the receiver, to watch for Quality, while aiming the dish. There's been changes, most likely, since that receiver was built (default transponder list) so entering a few from this may help out. Galaxy 19 (97W) Ku-band channel guide -- Mar. 25 update

 

[xf021209]

Thanks everyone, this info is very helpful. It's been years since I've played with my BUD and even longer with FTA. The Hughes dish is 26" in height and 36" width. The X2 mini shows LNB Fre1, LNBFre2 and then Frequency. Since LNBFre1 is defaulting to 09750 and LNBFre2 is defaulting to 10600 I'm guessing these are low/high settings? The Frequency is defaulted to 11789. Am I understanding this right? An FTA dish is on its way but I'm so close with this I can't stop playing with it. I forgot how addicting finding birds is!

Thanks,

Todd

 

[xf021209]

Success

I'm there guys! Got Galaxy 19 coming in.



Now to build a mount for the LNB as I'm on the fringe for TP9 and a couple others. Most have a signal quality too low to decode. Two reasons for that. First, I'm using a jery rigged mounting for the LNB and also now that I have the dish properly pointed, I see a tree in the way. I'm sure if leaves were on the tree I'd get nothing. Thanks again for everyone's ideas, suggestions, and info. Glad there's no newbee bashing too!

Todd

 

[xf021209]

FatAir - Exactly the solution I came up with and did. Works like a champ! And thanks for the guide. I did a manual scan and saw the TP9 was giving me a fairly good signal. Took the LED TV outside along with the X2 mini and started aiming. Got a quality above 40 so I knew I could get something. A little more work and 50+ came in. Not great but enough to prove that it will work. Now to build a real mount for the LNB, cut the tree down or move the dish. Move the dish is most likely going to be easier Thanks!

Todd

 

[phlatwound]

Maybe old news to you but did you know that your (offset) dish is looking about 22 or 23 degrees higher than it "appears" to be?

Dishpointer has a deal that will tell you approximately how high an obstacle (the tree) your dish can "see" over if you can locate the pointer close to where your dish is located.

There are methods using the location of the sun also that will give you a real good idea of the sats actual location in the sky also.

You may not have to whack that tree after all.

 

[FaT Air]

:up :up
US Naval Observatory sun moon azimuth

 

[xf021209]

Maybe old news to you but did you know that your (offset) dish is looking about 22 or 23 degrees higher than it "appears" to be?

Dishpointer has a deal that will tell you approximately how high an obstacle (the tree) your dish can "see" over if you can locate the pointer close to where your dish is located.

There are methods using the location of the sun also that will give you a real good idea of the sats actual location in the sky also.

You may not have to whack that tree after all.

Yes, I was actually trying two different methods for the LNB. The first was with 5 1cm mirrors on the top, bottom, bot sides and center of the dish. I placed a magnetic bolt extractor in the center of the dish and aimed at the sun. When the shadow from the extractor disappeared I knew I was pointing directly at the sun. Then I held my hand out and found where the five reflections of the sun converged. I placed the LNB there. The success was low though. I wasn't using a strong enough pole to hold the LNB well enough for adjustments. I fell back to using the stock offset pole. That worked out much better and I was able to pick up TP9 fairly quickly. I've played with Dishpointer a few times but since I don't plan on leaving the dish where it is currently I figure it's no big deal. I'll just move the dish to the far side of my yard which has a much more un-obstructed view of the southern sky. I also use Satellite Director (www.zekitez.com) on my Nexus 7 to point the dish. It's a rather nice program and has helped a great deal. This entire project is two fold - first to get my aunt and uncle some sort of TV while they are in a very remote part of Colorado this summer. The second reason is I'm getting tired of paying for umpteen channels of nothing. Combining HD over the air, FTA, Netflix, and Vudu as well as RedBox I think I'll have more than enough to watch at a greatly reduced monthly cost. I may even get my BUD up and running again. I enjoyed it and the 4DTV receiver worked very well. I have a C/Ku LNB on it but never did get the Ku to work. Other life priorities got in the way over the last five or six years so I lost what knowledge I had with sat reception. Being an amateur radio operator (N7TRK) I might get into using the dish's for that too one of these days. Got to have a hobby when I retire (in 9 years ). My retirement property is at just above 7000 feet in the remote part of Colorado I mentioned above. Completely off grid so low power, cheap systems is the way to go. I'm really surprised at just how small that X2 mini is. No frills, but $24.00 and it works like a champ. Really something else.

Todd

 

[Arion]

And if you like to play with LNB's and all the various settings that is where a decent meter will come in handy. You can move the jury rigged lnb around in the holder to get the best S/N level and then peak your dish as well or vice versa. Once you have that down it's time to add a motor and go from there. Problem is for a lot of people that they don't have the 'drive' to make FTA work for them. They expect it to be like a pizza pan dish. To really get into FTA you have to grasp the technology a little bit more and not be afraid to experiment and obviously you enjoy something like that so this is something you can have some fun with.

 

[xf021209]

The difference between an Apple user and a Linux user! FTA is certainly not an out of the box instant functioning system but the rewards in just accomplishing getting a picture are great. Not to put down those that don't want to spend the time, it's just a different set of priorities and enjoyment. It's like with my truck. As a teenager I was constantly tuning and fiddling with it. Today I just want to turn the key and go....OK so I still do my own oil changes and minor repairs The meter I have is literally garbage, so a nice meter is on the list. I'll search the site as I'm sure there are some recommendations posted for the different quality/feature meters available. Already have a motor and with a good meter I may even get Ku to work on the BUD!

Todd