Yet again! No horizontal on ses 1 at 101

[tiredold]

I replaced the LNB with a Titanium dual (incredible), new coax, realigned feedhorn. Everything worked great!! Signal 91, quality 84 (on horizontals) 40 on verticals. That is until I noticed today. Two recievers. One shows nothing on horizantals, the other shows 91, but both show 0 on quality. Everything is good on satellites on either side. Rescanned, cursed, everything I can think of. No joy. I would appreciate any help.
Jeff

 

[arlo]

Shoot me a satellite that you get with different signal levels on H & V transponders.
Give me the frequencies and polarities. Where abouts do you live?
Can you switch to display decibels? If not, no biggie

 

[Conway]

I do know if you are upgrading from a C1PLL the 0 skew arrow is opposite.

 

[tiredold]

I am in Toronto Ontario Canada. Upgrading from a BCE dual output? Before all transponders came in at 91% strength. Now some of them are fluctuating from 40% to 90%. But what has me stumped is 91% strength and 0% quality. 5G? Every other satellite works as it should.

 

[mikekohl]

I am in Toronto Ontario Canada. Upgrading from a BCE dual output? Before all transponders came in at 91% strength. Now some of them are fluctuating from 40% to 90%. But what has me stumped is 91% strength and 0% quality. 5G? Every other satellite works as it should.

Your 91% strength reading confirms that you are operating the system, but not really much more than that. If you have a similar reading on the other polarity, but have a fair to good Quality reading, that is where you should be adjusting and monitoring. Quality reading often differs between H and V, so peak one of them for highest reading and then go to the opposite polarity on a transponder assigned to it.
Balance back and forth until both have something more. Fine tune dish up and down as well as left and right to get highest reading on your strongest side. Once there, go back to optimizing each polarity separately until they are fairly balanced in level. Good luck!

Mike

 

[tiredold]

How would I fine tune the polarity? Change the skew of the LNBF? I tweaked the east-west quite well. The sats on either side work really well. Tonight the verticals are pixelating and breaking up as well. Same problem I had before changing everything.

 

[arlo]

Better hurry. Warm weather is adios. I live 90 miles south of Buf.
Before everyone gripes. The photo attached is the jig I use. Nuttin' fancy. 2 paint can tops that telescope into each other with a wrap or so of tape to take up the slack. And the dimples in the center to poke a few holes and stick a dowel in. You could use a measured and cut fiberglass driveway marker stick. I used wood. And. It's RF transparent.

When I setup a big dish. Paramount. Aim the lnb at the dead knutz center of the dish. Make absolutely sure that the dowel does not protrude into the lnb anywhere close to the probes inside.

Everything works around getting as best of a signal with the lnb aimed at the dish center. Do what is needed to your aim to get the best possible signal. Even if you have to move the lnb around a touch to get the first hint of a signal to let you know you're close to an aim. Tweak the dish position until the lnb is aimed as close to dead center.

Mike says it! You tune to a horizontal (or vertical) transponder. Get get your signal strong as you can.
In/out a bit with the lnb. Left/right on the skew. As strong of a signal as you can get. Snug the 3 bolts a little. Do not crush the lnb waveguide throat. Watch your signal as you snug it up. It will waver. Do what you need to do to keep the signal high. Sharpie the lnb and scalar (super fine point) so you have a reference mark.
If the lnb is sloppy in the fixture. Try a few wraps of aluminum hvac duct tape. Helps shore it up and the screws something to dig into.

Switch to the opposite polarity on a transponder. How's your signal? Lightly loosen a holder bolt and without moving the lnb in or out. Turn it in the holder/scalar left ot right and see if your signal increases. Peak it. Snug it down again.
Pay attention to your sharpie mark. You only want to turn the lnb. And again. Watch the signal when you snug the perimeter bolts/screws. BTW. I file the ends of the stainless screws on mine flat. Less tendency to walk he waveguide.

Switch back to the other transponder (opposite polarity). Make a tik mark with the marker where it currently is.
Then lightly loosen the lnb and see if turning it left/right a tiny bit increases the signal.
Since you're in the unknown land I'll give a few transponders on 101 you can use that seem to have close to equal signal strengths.

Don't fight aiming your lnb on a prime focus dish that is not aimed directly at a satellite. It takes a lot of time.
Then you can work on your tracking with elevation/declination. Just got done doing the finals on mine. I get the elusive 115 I looked for like Pluto. It's weak. But I snagged it.


TP SNR

4005V 84%
4020H 89%
4030V 76%
4048V 83%
4060H 77%
4080V 80%
4100H 81%
4120V 80%
4140H 65%
4160V 87%
4180H 90%


....."happy hunting, mr. vick!"

 

[tiredold]

Thank you, very interesting. But I thought this was not necessary for a LNBF. I will try going up again. It was a little tweaking with the LNBF that got the horizontals. I think the LNBF may have moved in the holder. I think 101 is super fussy. It takes me 2 days to drag the cherry picker into position. I just put it back on the trailer.