Yesterday Was Not A So LUCKY Day

[avenger]

Well, yesterday the weather was nice so went on and installed and replaced the small Ku dish with my new Wingard 1M, GEOSATpro GS120 and the Invacom QPH-031, and also the Invacom SNH-031, used the microHD and the Fortec Lifetime Ultra, with no good results.

The pole is plumb, the motor latitude is set right and the dish elevation angle is right, and the compass reading is as close as possible according to the GEOSATpro GS120 manual and the Google findings for the motor settings for my area. Have all the required TPs per Lyngsat and the List.

BUT I am not able to get even a little blip of a quality signal for my home satellite 91W Galaxy17....Rotated the dish East and West ever so slowly, and still no quality reading at all.

Cleaned all the coax cable contacts, the motor is responding to the USALS commands, the LNBs signal value are good. So far I believe that I have done everything that is possible to do, but still no quality signal.

Any comments or ideas are always welcomed.

Thanks.

 

[Mikey11]

what is your own longitude?

you need to drive the motor to 91w using USALS before you aim....

you mention two different LNBs, im a bit confused as to your setup....

 

[Magic Static]

Are you hooked to a LINEAR port (L) on the Invacom, not Circular and using LOF 10750?

 

[gabshere]

i was thinking drop the elevation .... said motor but it should be dish, the motor should stay set like it is . (unless its the 1 where the setup information was incorrect )

 

[Vinnie]

Hello, newbie FTA'er here.

My guess is dish elevation. I recently completed my first installation using a Powertech DG380 motor, Invacom SNH031 LNBF and a GEOSATpro 90cm dish.

The chart that came with the motor said to set the dish elevation at 28.7 degrees for my latitude in Denver and after a considerable amount of time and growing frustration we were not getting a sniff of signal. Luckily I bought one of those inexpensive satellite finder meters and had an experienced installer helping me.

By raising the dish a whole 10 degrees to 39, we were able to find my true south satellite 105/AMC15 within a matter of minutes. I can't say how long it would have taken, or if we would have ever figured on a 10 degree difference in elevation, had I not had someone there who's been into the hobby for many years and is patient along with that handy sat finder meter available.

Hopefully this helps.

Cheers,
Vinnie

 

[bruin95]

Another thing is to make sure the receiver is set to an ACTIVE transponder on that bird. If not, you'll never get a quality reading, regardless of whether or not all your other settings are correct. This seems to be the one thing a lot of people overlook when setting up a dish.

 

[Mikey11]

Another thing is to make sure the receiver is set to an ACTIVE transponder on that bird. If not, you'll never get a quality reading, regardless of whether or not all your other settings are correct. This seems to be the one thing a lot of people overlook when setting up a dish.

yes....very good point

 

[avenger]

Answer to questions are as follow:

1. My Longitude is 089.75W, Latitude is 30.17N according to my G.P.S.... Started, reseted the motor for 91W Galaxy 19, which is my home satellite ( 89W Galaxy 28 does not have many TPS, except for the Test Channel 10....Tried both LNBF as well as the two STBs/receivers during the scanning and setup.

2. Hooked/connected to Linear port of the QPH-031 and using LOF 10750

3. The motor Elevation is set per motor manual instructions to 30 degrees Latitude (Dish Angle Table).

4. Have not lowered or raise the dish elevation/angle, it is set to 25 degrees per motor manual installation instructions. May have to play with the dish Elevation settings. Could the motor manual and the Dishpointer both be wrong in refference to the Motor and Dish Elevation for my area LOL!!!

5. Have tried different TPs, and no luck.... I am leaning toward question #4 dish "Elevation".

P.S Tried to Edit the thread tittle to "Not" instead of "No", could not changed it after posting.

Thanks.

 

[Vinnie]

Answer to questions are as follow:

...

4. Have not lowered or raise the dish elevation/angle, it is set to 25 degrees per motor manual installation instructions. May have to play with the dish Elevation settings. Could the motor manual and the Dishpointer both be wrong in refference to the Motor and Dish Elevation for my area LOL!!!

.... I am leaning toward question #4 dish "Elevation".

...

Thanks.

That was the case for me, too. Both the motor manual and dishpointer.com said 28.7 as the dish bracket elevation setting which leads me to think the GEOSATpro dish bracket elevation setting differs from other models when used with a motor. This is pure conjecture, though, as I have not compared different dish models and their bracket elevation settings when paired with a motor.

 

[Mikey11]

Answer to questions are as follow:

1. My Longitude is 089.75W, Latitude is 30.17N according to my G.P.S.... Started, reseted the motor for 91W Galaxy 19, which is my home satellite ( 89W Galaxy 28 does not have many TPS, except for the Test Channel 10....Tried both LNBF as well as the two STBs/receivers during the scanning and setup.

2. Hooked/connected to Linear port of the QPH-031 and using LOF 10750

3. The motor Elevation is set per motor manual instructions to 30 degrees Latitude (Dish Angle Table).

4. Have not lowered or raise the dish elevation/angle, it is set to 25 degrees per motor manual installation instructions. May have to play with the dish Elevation settings. Could the motor manual and the Dishpointer both be wrong in refference to the Motor and Dish Elevation for my area LOL!!!

5. Have tried different TPs, and no luck.... I am leaning toward question #4 dish "Elevation".

P.S Tried to Edit the thread tittle to "Not" instead of "No", could not changed it after posting.

Thanks.

leave the motor set to your latitude, never change that.....you will have to fine tune/adjust the dish elevation

 

[Conky]

as a last resort you could always try getting the circular sats since they're easier to find. you got the lnb for it. your fortec should have some circular sats/freq on it's list. use 11250LO. Once you get a few of them it should only be a matter of fine tuning to get the linear satellites

 

[SatelliteAV]

The GEOSATpro dish is typically accurate to within 2 degrees. This does not change on or off of a motor.

Make sure the assembly of dish elevation bracket is using the correct Scale "A" configuration for 10 - 50 degrees (top carriage bolt using the hole stamped "A" on the mast clamp.

I thought that the 380 was 30 degrees minus the declination angle taken from the back of the install guide.

 

[KE4EST]

P.S Tried to Edit the thread tittle to "Not" instead of "No", could not changed it after posting.

Fixed it for ya

 

[Vinnie]

The GEOSATpro dish is typically accurate to within 2 degrees. This does not change on or off of a motor.

Make sure the assembly of dish elevation bracket is using the correct Scale "A" configuration for 10 - 50 degrees (top carriage bolt using the hole stamped "A" on the mast clamp.

I thought that the 380 was 30 degrees minus the declination angle taken from the back of the install guide.

Hi there - first of all I just want to say I'm a big fan of SatelliteAV and GEOSATpro. I'm new to this hobby and pretty amazed by the excellent support of your products and the frequent microHD firmware updates. I love the 90cm dish and microHD I bought and am looking forward to purchasing the new GEOSATpro receiver when it's released.

In regards to the the dish assembly diagram and the DG 380 manual. We were actually a bit uncertain about assembling to the A configuration. If I recall correctly (it's been a couple of weeks), the A on the mast clamp ended up being upside down in order for it to fit into the elevation bracket. Everything went together fine though with the long bolt running through the hole in the motor arm as it should.

Also, the manual that came with the motor looked to be for the DG 380. We used the table in the printed manual. I bought the motor from Sadoun Satellite Sales and one thing I noticed is the PDF downloads with the title SADOUN_DG240... Both the printed and downloadable manual say 35 degrees minus declination.

At my location 40 degrees north the motor elevation bracket was set to 50 degrees with the adjacent cells showing 35 minus 6.3 declination equaling a dish bracket angle of 28.7. The motor's elevation bracket was left at 50 degrees per the manual.

Anyhow, we figured it out. Everything works great and I'm a happy camper exploring FTA satellite TV!

Here's a picture of the elevation brackets taken shortly after the install if it's helpful.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Thank you for the kind words! We simply try to provide the best customer support possible. Period!

Thank you for the photo. I can tell that you assembled it correctly. Glad that you were successful in installing the motorized system.

Now it is time to enjoy your new toys!

 

[Vinnie]

Thank you for the kind words! We simply try to provide the best customer support possible. Period!

Sure, thanks again and keep up the great work!

Best,
Vinnie

 

[avenger]

Well, tried this morning to get the new dish setup to work, moved the dish up as much as 10 degrees and all the way down ,moved it side to side and still no quality signal nor any satellites found.

I have no idea what the problem is. How much can the dish elevation be off, with this new setup.

Is anyone using the same equipment/hardware as me, and what deviation from the motor and dish elevations are working for you.

Thanks.

 

[primestar31]

1/8th of an INCH movement too fast in any direction is enough to completely MISS a KU satellite!

Buy or borrow a CIRCULAR lnb for Dish Network. Install it at the focus point of your dish. Set your receiver for the proper lnb lo for whichever one you have. Aim for Dish's satellite 110W.

See if you can get that one. You should be able to get this one using a kitchen BOWL for a reflector, much less a standard KU dish! Once you have this satellite locked in, replace the Dish lnb with the linear one, change the LO, and have at it for others.

 

[Magic Static]

I remember aiming my first motorized ku dish. I had an Invacom QPH031 also. I didn't have a meter or STB, I was using DVB cards. Well I finally dug out an old Dishnet receiver and hooked it to a circular port on the LNB and lined the dish up with the stronger Dish signals. And then the weaker FTA birds were easier to find

 

[Mikey11]

Well, tried this morning to get the new dish setup to work, moved the dish up as much as 10 degrees and all the way down ,moved it side to side and still no quality signal nor any satellites found.

I have no idea what the problem is. How much can the dish elevation be off, with this new setup.

Is anyone using the same equipment/hardware as me, and what deviation from the motor and dish elevations are working for you.

Thanks.

what transponder are you selecting for 91w?.....that is the most important question right now