first time set-up

[StraightEdge]

Yes I am referring to the Mexican site triple LNB for 99/101/103

 

[Rafaelccs]

Yes I am referring to the Mexican site triple LNB for 99/101/103

?where are you located?

 

[StraightEdge]

I'm in Edmonton, Alberta. I have the 1.2 meter DTVKAKU Alaska/Hawaii dish and LNB but still have issues with HD signal strength. I'm hoping to find a solution and a 2.4 meter dish should work but I don't think I can use my current LNB

 

[Rafaelccs]

I'm in Edmonton, Alberta. I have the 1.2 meter DTVKAKU Alaska/Hawaii dish and LNB but still have issues with HD signal strength. I'm hoping to find a solution and a 2.4 meter dish should work but I don't think I can use my current LNB

So you have lock on Ka signals? How low are they?

you might try with a cheapper 1.8 m with your current DTV KAKU Lnb; as the antenna has more gain it has narrower beamwidth so aiming is more challenging and might require a bit of skills

I have a good friend in Idaho that manufactures very high quality offset fed antennas

 

[Rafaelccs]

I never thought it was a hoax, I doubted you would be able to get it up and running with the equipment you were using.

I was googleing arround and found that this has been discussed here before in 2010

http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/218107-Finally-HD-Channels-in-Mexico-City

 

[vixens]

yes, I agree with you, it's only the 101 from the "99" LNB which is the potential problem and I expect you are correct, the modification probably consists of breaking the power track for the 101 LNB (and maybe the 103 LNB) on the LNB circuit board. Not a major issue I would have thought for an electrical engineer. But getting the LNB already modified might be worth it for piece of mind.

As you say, he might not get a good enough signal on Ka even with the special equipment but it's the only way I think it MIGHT work.

Good news and bad news (2 lnb set up: 101W and 103W in Belize with 8 foot Prodelin !

* Good news: it was easy to find the 103W just by holding the lnb in the right positions.

I used the 103(cb) which comes in very strong with a quick self-made LNB holder. Easy to find just by holding it in place by hand.
Signals are at 74 and above.



In general there is excellent hope to continue.
View attachment 90438


* Bad news: the 103(ca) has extremely low reception numbers. i had no time to play around for a long time.

The 103 lnb seems to be in best position when it touches the 101 lnb, causing the 1o1 lnb to slightly go out of position. Therefore 101W has suffered some loss.

I have now some HD channels . . . great.
But I have lost several 101W SD channels due to a slight loss in reception, which causes the failure of some or all odd tps on 101W.



My lnb holder is not ideal but I could not wait to continue.


My Q: in Dishnetwork you have SD and HD channels at the same number, next to each other and you can choose the same channel in SD or HD.
on Directv --so it seems-- the SD channels disappear once an HD channel has appeared, no double choice eg. ESPN SD and HD.
Right ?
Espn in now only in HD but so weak that there is no reception. The Espn SD has totally disappeared.
Should that be ?

Thanks,

 

[Rafaelccs]

Why are you using RG 11? Is the cable run so long?

I saw you have several other antennas, probably you could use a single antenna per orbital slot and get more stable levels, of course first you must try your best with a single 2.4 m......good thing you got Ka!!

Good luck!

 

[vixens]

yes, I have 100 to 150 feet run from the dishes to the house and I opted for RG11, waterproof and underground.

I am using my second 2.4m dish for Dishnetwork 119, just to get some relatively unimportant 4 or 5 tps, most of 119 tps are anyhow too weak to lock in.
I have thought about it to use a separate dish for each Directv sat.

After I have received the correct Diplexers in the mail i can check on 99W and how strong reception will be.
I might do it earlier by just disconnection 101W and rather feed in 99 into the switch.

If 99W turns out similar to 103, I would have to use three (3) separate 2.4m dishes . . . I have only 2 - 2.4m offset.
Satbeams tells me that they (99 and 103) are very similar in reception and strength but testing can proof otherwise.

The other antennas are for Dishnetwork 110 (1.8m) and 119 (2.4m) and some C-Band . .. German stuff DW etc.
I still have an avail./unused 1.8m offset which I used for Bell Canada before it got disconnected/moved. Correct, I should try my one and unused 1.8m in center focus for 101 or 103. Good idea.

It's hot out there in the back, between the jungle, no breeze but mosquitos and sandflies. I am sitting under the shade umbrella as much as I can
but I am determined.

My groundskeeper does not sweat at all but I, the white guy, I am wet allover like coming out of a sauna.
In winter it's easy but during summer heat I am just the sweaty gringo !

Plus: I have a job too

 

[Rafaelccs]

I'm not sure we have talked about this in the past, but I have a couple of comments only for others reading:

I strictly use RG 11 only when cable run is over 150 ft. (Any how you already have it laid out)
now days there are special RG 6 specially sweept up to 3000 MHz special for DBS.
if I have to bury it underground I always prefer to use special conduit and even consider flooded compund special coax cable.

I understand newer RG 11 also has a special model for DBS and with flooded compound as well.

rg11 will give you an expensive (arround $250 more per spool) peach of mind, but good for you.....
for longer runs I have used 0.500 cable flex and semi flex, and there are fiber optic solutions as well but they run over $7000 in average after all the labour, the last options only implemented when I have done MDU.

have you tried the birds on the eastern arc ( dish network) ?

?you don't need to wait for the diplexers to arrive for testing signal levels of 99w, just work with the sl3 and take reading only out of 99w this might give you a rough idea of the lnb location

 

[vixens]

have you tried the birds on the eastern arc ( dish network) ?

Not in a couple of years.
* 77W comes in extremely strong as it also has Dish Mexico on it. I think it's just local channels but nothing I can use.
* 73W used to be out of range
* 61W stopped working some 3 years ago when Dish re-arranged all satellites

I will have to try again to see if something changed.

btw. where is GolTV on Directv ? channel, sat, tp ?
I only see it on 119W which is out of reach for me.

 

[vixens]

The bracket is sold out, unfortunately:
http://www.cp-electronics.com/eng/proddetail.php?prod=BRACKET-99-103

btw. where is GolTV on Directv ? channel, sat, tp ?
I only see it on 119W which is out of reach for me, so I believe.

btw. where is GolTV on Directv ? channel, sat, tp ?
I only see it on 119W which is out of reach for me.

 

[sodly]

Being a machinest/welder-It does not look that hard to duplicate-out of PCV pipe and some steel tube
?Don

 

[vixens]

Being a machinest/welder-It does not look that hard to duplicate-out of PCV pipe and some steel tube
?Don

I have constructed my own bracket but is more difficult to move and fine tune.

 

[sodly]

If you duplicate it exactly should be no different??

 

[vixens]

Raf, I got a few hours in to test 103W on a single 1.8m dish.

This is what I got:
103W(cb) co-hosted 2.4m off-center (left, #1) ---- 103W(cb) 1.8m, lnb in focal center (right, #2)




103W(ca) co-hosted on 2.4m (left #3) ---- 103W(ca) on 1.8m in focal center (right #4)



103Wcb is quite similar.
On 103Wca readings have slightly improved on average but e.g. strangely some tps have gone down very strong e.g. tp 16 and 24.

I will see tomorrow if I can improve the 101W by a few points w.o the 103 Lnb touching. This touching seem to have influenced the 101 reception that the the guide would only download a few hours in the morning but did not work the rest of the day.

thanks !

 

[Rafaelccs]

Any pictures of the single lnb on the 1.8?

Remember that you have similar variables like in 101w you have two satellites @ 103w

Orbital Slot 103 w:

Ka-Lo: Satellite: DirecTV 10 (102.83 w) Tps: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14 (CONUS Beam)
Ka-Hi: Satellite: DirecTV 12 (102.76 w) Tps: 9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24 (CONUS Beam)

aiming and sharing the dish's surface will be paramount......

 

[vixens]

The 103Wcb was easy to find and to tune.


Following I concentrated all efforts to fine tune the 103Wca.

Here it is again both pics in one:
left 103W shared on a 2.4 meter (off-center with the 101W in the focal point) and on the right side using a single dish 1.8m and a SL3 lnb in the focal point.

I took one of the strong 103Wca tp and tuned it up, following I tuned one of the weak (ca) transponders to get readings up.
I did not pay any attention to the (cb) any more; they stayed up high anyhow.

 

[Rafaelccs]

Picture of your single SL3 @ 1.8 m offset fed antenna?

 

[vixens]

Does anybody know which 101W transponder provides the "guide" ?
The guide only seems to work/update between about 9am to 5pm (the time when 101W readings are stronger).

 

[vixens]

View attachment 90538 View attachment 90539 View attachment 90540
SL3 on six-foot off-set dish to feed 103W into the Zinwell 6x8 Ka/Ku switch