33” FTA Dish for Orby?

[FTA4PA]

I Did it! The new LNB wasn't working. I popped the old one on, and instant signal! I checked the alignment and level 5 or 6 times with two phone compasses and it was dead on. I knew I wasn't crazy!

Great to hear! A good thing to do now is take a pencil or sharpie and make marks on the post and mount for azimuth, elevation and skew. That way if you do any fine tuning and have an accident you have a reference point to get back to.

 

[5Rounds]

I used to install D* and did over a dozen installs for friends and family. I knew I had to be close. FTA is a whole new ballgame.

I finally took the box out to the deck with a TV and used a short cable run. That's what finally worked. I think my coax coming into the house is too long. How long is too long? Do I need an amplifier?

 

[5Rounds]

I found a corroded connection under the house. Now it's working inside, too. The cable run is only about 100 feet.

 

[Titanium]

I finally took the box out to the deck with a TV and used a short cable run. That's what finally worked. I think my coax coming into the house is too long. How long is too long? Do I need an amplifier?

Been installing satellites for over 35 years and I wouldn't try aiming a KU satellite by compass only. Can only remember a few times over the years that the dish was aimed exactly at a target satellite when I hooked up a meter of connected the receiver. If I were to aim a dish directly at a satellite using only a compass, it would be luck and very little to do with skill!

Yes, you either need a satellite meter that displays Signal Quality on a selected satellite and transponder or have the satellite receiver and a TV set-up right next to the dish to watch the signal meter as the dish is slowly moved.

A good quality RG6 quad shield coax with solid copper center conductor should be good for 200' + run for the Orby TV set-up, but OTA terrestrial signals would be greatly degraded over that distance with the diplexers. Inline satellite amplifiers typically degrade satellite signals rather than improve with only a few exceptions. I only use a quality inline amp for runs over 300'. Best to use RG11 coax on long runs rather than use an amp.

Glad you found the bad connector and have your system up and running! Congrats!

 

[5Rounds]

Yeah, I had bad coax and a bad LNB. No wonder I had so much trouble!

 

[5Rounds]

I'm still getting breakups. I'm going to put in all new RG6 quad shielded under the house. BTW, here are some photos:

 

[Titanium]

Break-up? is the image breaking up into blocks or???

Does the break-up happen with the receiver and TV at the dish?

The signal reading looks good on this transponder. Orby TV uses two different transponders and they are not the same strength in my area. Is this reading with the channel tuned to the weakest of the two transponders for your area?

I doubt that the break-up is related to the coax, but anything is possible. The LNBF LO frequency may be drifting if it is older hardware. This is hard to diagnose unles you had a good satellite meter or a FTA receiver with blind scan.

Looking up the bottom of the LNBF support arm, are there any branches at that elevation angle or above? Any tree branches close to the line of sight with the LNBF support arm? It looks like the trees are on either side of the opening, but there is no reference to the LNBF arm in the photos.

The LNBF Skew should be set to approx. 34.5 degrees from TN. Did you rotate the LNBF skew to optimize the signal reading?

 

[5Rounds]

I took out all the old coax. It did have a cut through the insulation in one spot. I adjusted the skew when I had the TV connected outside. It didn't affect the signal much, unless I turned it in the opposite direction.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I took out all the old coax. It did have a cut through the insulation in one spot. I adjusted the skew when I had the TV connected outside. It didn't affect the signal much, unless I turned it in the opposite direction.

What brand LNB are you using? They aren't all created equal. I only use GeoSat Pro LNB's or Avenger LNB's in my setup. Can't go wrong with either and they are reasonably priced on Ebay.

 

[5Rounds]

The old LNB worked fine with the short cable run. I ordered a Geosat Pro for the longer run.

 

[5Rounds]

I got the coax run, but then a huge storm came up. I had to wait until the rain stopped to connect everything.

The signal strength dropped to 83 with 125' of cable, but the quality is still at 99. The old LNB is a Powersat, the Geosat Pro should be here Monday.

I'm impressed with the compression. Like others have said, the SD is very good. HD is slightly better, but it's hard to tell.

 

[Titanium]

BTW... The Orby TV regular STB has the Signal Level and Signal Quality meter labels reversed. The SQ meter shows ALC gain and the SL shows the Decoded signal Quality. Not sure if the DVR is the same way.

 

[5Rounds]

I also had some water in the old LNB. I shook it out and it worked. I remember people covering the old C-band feedhorns with 5-gallon buckets if the cover broke. Maybe I could use a plastic cup until the new LNB gets here....

 

[primestar31]

I also had some water in the old LNB. I shook it out and it worked. I remember people covering the old C-band feedhorns with 5-gallon buckets if the cover broke. Maybe I could use a plastic cup until the new LNB gets here....

2 liter pop bottles make good lnb covers. I cut the screw cap end off, and make slots up the side a little to fit over the lnb arm far enough to cover the lnbf.

 

[5Rounds]

Can I use an aluminum can? Just kidding. That would make a great prank, though...

 

[fireball517]

With the Winegard 76cm or GEOSATpro 90cm/1.2m dishes, it is very easy to determine if the reflector is bent or warped without disassembling the dish using a string test.

Using two, three or four strings, stretch them across the reflector's face, rim edge to rim edge at opposing angles. Wrap the string aound the back side of the reflector and tape. If there is a gap between the strings crossing in the middle of the reflector, the reflector is warped and the satellite signals will not be focused into the prime sweet spot where the LNBF opening sits. The strings should lightly touch where they intersect. If the strings do not lightly touch, disassemble the dish and test the reflector on the perfectly flat surface.

Thanks for this tip. In a rush putting up my new dish, I never even checked the warp so I took the dish and freed it from the arm 10 minutes ago and a few shakes later I've got a bit better signal. I wonder if that was in the assembly guide?

 

[harshness]

I wonder if that was in the assembly guide?

There's a YouTube video posted by one of the retailers that documents the shaking procedure.

 

[5Rounds]

I got the diplexer in and it works. I've lost a couple of OTA channels, though. I have an outdoor VHF/UHF amplifier, but I disconnected it. It puts DC into the cable. Will it interfere with the LNB voltage? Should I just get an indoor amp instead?

 

[harshness]

Consider running a second cable. Cable is cheap in comparison to amps and the associated fuss of diplexing.

 

[5Rounds]

The receiver only works with a diplexer. It's a pain for my wife and kids to switch inputs. I don't mind myself.