FINALLY!

[FaT Air]

You're trying to do too much - too soon. try it this way: ONE DISH AT A TIME.
Step back, take a break, return when you're refreshed.
Been there done that with the dishes, a computer that's acting up, and [many] other projects.

 

[Stargazer]

I have had the troubles well in the past and took a break and finally got things to work. This allowed me to tune in satellites for others the FTA satellites that others could not tune in. Even made some money doing so, putting some of the money into better signal meters to continue doing so. It takes patience and time in this hobby.

 

[wildbill47]

The FTA stuff has not cost me much $$ I find scrap dishes and there are plenty around and a KU lnb with mount is only $10 and use a openbox hd receiver $70 and have TV. Still receive stuff on BUD and it has been up for years. BUD's can be found Free for hauling them off.

 

[Titanium]

And remember.... It's just a hobby! If you no longer enjoy it, plenty of other entertainment options.

FTA is great to play with. When you are no longer having fun, you did the right thing to put everything aside for a while save your sanity!

 

[rv1pop]

Hey Redhead,
You are just taking a break! A vacation! You KNOW you can do it. As the punctuation lesson says, "Woman with her man is worth nothing."

POP.

 

[rv1pop]

Hey Redhead,
You are just taking a break! A vacation! You KNOW you can do it. As the punctuation lesson says, "Woman with her man is worth nothing."

POP.

Oops that punctuation lesson was typo'd.... "Woman withOUT her man is nothing" is the way it should have read. Depends on where you put what punctuation marks. For me and my wife: "Gerrie; without her, Doug is NOTHING!"

And for those who know us - most do not want to be around me, without HER! EVER!

 

[turbosat]

Hey Redhead,
You are just taking a break! A vacation! You KNOW you can do it. As the punctuation lesson says, "Woman with her man is worth nothing."

POP.

LOL thanks for clearing that one up! I studied it for a few, while trying to determine where the punctuation should be, haha.

 

[Bongu]

Dee,

Dont give up. I tried sending you a PM a few weeks back but the PM wouldnt work from the PC. Problems I need to chase down. I wanted to know if you could give a Prof 7301 a good home. It has been well fed and cared for, but there is no place for it in my system anymore.

Send me a PM. Your meters are NOT obsolete. They work just fine. You dont need the latest and greatest meter to peak your dish, you just need self confidence and the tenacity to know you are near the right bird and that TP is there somewhere.

Take a break, consider my offer, tend to your pets, tend to YOURSELF, and we will anxiously await hearing from you when you return to this hobby.

ps I may even have a BLSA laying around looking to be used in a real system along with the Prof.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Ok., I took a few weeks off. I bought more cement and put another 80lbs sack on top of the other two. There is now probably 250lbs of cement on and in that pole. It's attached to the core of the earth now.
It does NOT move. It will NOT move. It's there until the sun burns out and the planet is engulfed in the fire of the dying sun. It's going nowhere.

I went out today and fiddled with it using my two meters chained together (see this post - http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/posts/3455691/ ) and I was able to get it tweaked a little better than it had been before.
But it's still not right and I still can't do the other dishes with them. So I'm getting a new meter (AI Turbo S2) next week and then I can get out there and set my dishes properly.

I still have to buy a new tuner card but that's going to have to wait now.

Now that I see Doctor Who Classic is coming to RTV I am inspired to get off my lazy streak and get my dishes back into working order.
Having a new, proper meter will help make this less painful.

 

[primestar31]

Lol! I put down 850 lbs of cement for a 6 foot dish...

Our soil is sandy loam though.

 

[Hockeynut]

Yes indeed Dee Ann a good meter will make life easier for ya...Good luck.

 

[TRG]

So I'm getting a new meter (AI Turbo S2) next week

I'm jealous. That is a sweet meter and I want one bad. Sadly the north of $800 price tag is a little out of my budget at the moment. Did you get a good deal somewhere? Used perhaps?

 

[Dee_Ann]

I'm jealous. That is a sweet meter and I want one bad. Sadly the north of $800 price tag is a little out of my budget at the moment. Did you get a good deal somewhere? Used perhaps?

Yeah, the price is crazy rough. They really price these things expecting that only pros pulling in big bucks to buy them.
Someone told me once that any tool that can make money for you is gonna cost you dearly. This is clearly the case here.

As for a bargain, no, I haven't found one anywhere.

I looked and found ONE used meter on Amazon but it's AS IS and there are no photos of it at all, no description of it's condition other than "Used - Like New".... Ha...

I saw some photos on Craigslist of some Superbuddy 29 meters that people listed as "Perfect condition" and "Like New" and they were beat all to hell. It looks like they dragged them behind their truck to and from work every day.
The condition of them was horrible and there is no way I would buy them even at a massive 80% price break.

I'm totally put off by the Amazon deal not having any photos at all and zero description. The seller is not even an established seller, it says "Just Launched" and there's zero feedback.

Yeah, I could take a huge gamble to try and save $150 but I'm not comfortable with that so I would rather just go ahead and buy a brand new one that's untouched in a sealed box with a warranty.
It will cost more for sure but I'll have the peace of mind. Also, I take very, very good care of things and I guarantee you that even 5 years from now this meter will still look like it's brand new.

There is a list of dealers on the AI website so I'm going to go through the list this weekend and try to track down the best deal. I doubt I'll get any price break on the meter, I expect it's gonna be full retail from any vendor so what I'm shopping for is who can give me the most reasonable shipping (fast but not gouging me, I want 2 day shipping) and not charge me sales tax. If I can get it shipped 2 day for under $20 that would be awesome. But $50 for 2 day? No way.

Someone out there will be willing to work with me on it I'm sure. I figure there aren't a lot of people beating the doors down to buy these things.

Seriously, I'm bloody sick of messing with dragging STB's and TV's out into the yard. I'm sick of the stupid, OLD meters I have that no longer do me any good.
I'm sick of standing in the hot sun for hours messing with that BS and never really getting the dishes set right. And you can't tweak a dish with an STB, you can find a satellite and mostly tune it in but you can't fine tune it.

I just want to get these things set right so I don't have to mess with them any more. And I want my dad to be able to get his PBS without having to call me every time.

 

[Magic Static]

The AI Turbo S2 is a great tool. But it takes some doing to learn it's functions and what they mean to you. Do take the time to peruse the menus and locate the different settings. Hook it to a dish that works good so you can see some expected results. It was not "Plug and Play" for me at all. It took awhile to figure it all out. But I know you can do it. I saw you program that KPT966

 

[Dee_Ann]

The AI Turbo S2 is a great tool. But it takes some doing to learn it's functions and what they mean to you. Do take the time to peruse the menus and locate the different settings. Hook it to a dish that works good so you can see some expected results. It was not "Plug and Play" for me at all. It took awhile to figure it all out. But I know you can do it. I saw you program that KPT966

Yeah, I wiped it clean to factory defaults which left it with the same capabilities as a raw potato.

I went through and made a list of all the satellites that I might possibly ever take a look at.

Then I came up with a naming convention because it requires separate entries for KU and C band.

I wanted them all in order as well.

So in the meter I designated them by position, then name, then band type.

72 AMC-6 KU
83 AMC-9 KU
87 SES-2 C
87 SES-2 KU
89 G28 C
89 G28 KU
91 G17 C
91 G17 KU
95 G3C C
95 G3C KU
97 G19 C
97 G19 KU
99 G16 C
101 SES-1 C
101 SES-1 KU
103 AMC-1 C
103 AMC-1 KU
105 AMC-18 C
107.3 AF1R C
107.3 AF1R KU
111.1 AF2 C
111.1 AF2 KU
121 G23 C
121 G23 KU
123 G18 KU
125 AMC-21 KU

After I created all the names I had to program each satellite entry for the proper LO for C or KU.
Then I had to manually enter each and every transponder and frequency, one at a time according to the sathint page which seems to be a bit dated in places.

I HATE blind scanning with this thing because if I'm on the wrong satellite (it does not ID) then it fills the thing up with rubbish.

If I think I'm on 101 C but I'm really on 99 and I blind scan, it fills up the 101 entry with wrong stuff and it's a PAIN to clean it up.
I really hate this stupid little meter. It's just soooo mickey mouse. Not to mention, it's 100% incapable of recognizing S2. And it is also 100% incapable of doing pay stuff like Dish and Direct. Not that I care about Direct but since I am a paying Dish subscriber I would LOVE to tweak my Dish dishes too.

In it's day this little meter was OK but a lot has changed since then.

Oh, and then there's the problem with the tiny little screen. You can NOT see it in sunlight, period.
There are no brightness or contrast adjustments on it at all. In daylight it's utterly useless.

As for the Birdog, I tried to program it but you have to use their clunky, ancient website utility.
It only has 16 slots. Actually it has 32 but if you put an entry for each polarity then it's 16.

And even worse, for instance, the SES birds, it takes FOUR entries for each satellite to cover C and KU.
For the two birds I have to use eight slots in the memory.

And what's more, I have no clue if their configurations you download from them are current.
It does not tell you if you're downloading something that's 10 years old or 10 minutes old.
And we all know how they love to change stuff up on satellites, frequently.

And of course it does not do S2 at all.

Some years ago I requested a copy of the software for creating your own lists from scratch but I found it to be confusing and obtuse. I never had any real luck creating my own lists with their software.

The little KPT meter can not connect to a computer. You can't upload/download/upgrade it at all. You can't edit lists outside of the meter. You're 100% locked into it's own little world with it's tiny little matchbook screen and joy(less)stick.

Both of those meters are from a bygone era and are stuck in yesteryear for the rest of their little lives.

Once I get the AI Turbo S2 I think I'll put these meters up for sale in the SGUS classifieds section. Hopefully someone else out there might find them to be useful. I can't picture myself throwing them away.

 

[Dee_Ann]

It looks like this is going to be my best deal. It's a few $$ which is very helpful, no tax but the shipping is a bit more than I like.
It looks like it's United Package Smashers which I don't like. I would rather go with FedEx which I've had very good luck with.
I don't want the cheap ground shipping because that takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r.
UPS crushes and beats the cr*p out of everything. FedEx delivers in the morning, UPS delivers laaaaaaate in the evening.
But apparently you can't choose who you want them to ship through. I'm going to keep looking for a better deal or one that's close to this
but lets me pick the shipper. If I can get it delivered for under $900 that would be excellent.

 

[Stargazer]

I got a nice used Super Buddy 29 meter for $300 + shipping on ebay and it was not all beat up. It works great! Wish I had enough business to support getting the AI Turbo meter as that is a fine meter.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Ok, so yesterday I finally decided it was time to switch out the LNBF on my 10' dish with a new C1PLL I've had since the winter.
I bought two of them before it was ever announced that they would one day have a C2PLL.
Since I have the intention of having two C band dishes aimed at SES-1 and SES-2 and that each would stay parked there and that each one would be dedicated to just one network per dish, I wasn't too worried about limitations of having single polarity dishes.

I had a difficult time with the new LNBF because the skew markings on it are not the same as the one I took out. I do not know which one is proper though.
After a lot of contemplation I decided that I would ignore the markings and put the new LNBF back in place in the same orientation as the old one.

I used a 3x4 switch (or is it a splitter?) to be able to feed two wires from one LNBF. This will work just fine until I buy a few of the new C2PLL LNBFs.
I tipped the dish waaaaaay over and got on a ladder and it wasn't all that bad, except for the miserable heat.

While I was out there, I bolted an old chain to the dish so that it's impossible for it to have an accidental tip over. I had several of those a few years back.
And if there is a hurricane coming I can pull it tight so the dish will be locked in place.

So I tried to find the Luken stuff on 87 but I had no luck.

I suspect my dish is not at all properly aligned. Once I get my new meter I'll see what I can do about it.
So I swung it back to SES-1 and decided to leave this dish dedicated to MeTV.

I bumped it back and forth and discovered that I can be a LOT off and still get a rock solid signal with the PLL.
I found the middle point and reset the G-box programming for this new spot.

I got a SOLID, 90% / 70% signal. It was unwavering. Previously it would fluctuate a fair bit.

Question 1 is, is the 90/70 the best signal I can get with a MicroHD ?

Also, I found some new channels on the MeTV transponder. I know they have a backup for the main channel.
Did they also create a backup to Movies! as well? Movies! is now on the frequency that ThisTV used to be on and this unlisted channel is on the original Movies! frequency.

Later I am going to have some questions about how to do a proper C-band alignment but I would need to wait until I have the new meter.

Oh, and on SES-2, are there any old school non S2 signals in the C-band that I can find with my old non-S2 meters? Or is everything on there (in C-band) now S2?

Thanks..

 

[TRG]

Oh, and on SES-2, are there any old school non S2 signals in the C-band that I can find with my old non-S2 meters? Or is everything on there (in C-band) now S2?

There is an audio transponder @ 4043/03910 H that is non S2 and fairly strong. You might also try 4148/03910 H.

 

[KE4EST]

"0" is in the proper place on the C1-PLL, where most are 90 deg off, and who knows why. 0 should be point to the top center of your dish at its zenith.