Please - need help in Oregon

[PDXCat]

he has it hooked up to a meter

 

[Mr Tony]

oh s&#t what was I thinking...most meters see DVB and Shaw is DCII so his meter wont work that way

hang tite...lemme find you better transponders that his meter will see


AnikF1 (107.3)
11933
H
5859

AnikF2 (111.1)
11867
V
10000
22k ON

 

[joshuals]

Question for Iceberg....

any idea why we get a 78% strngth level but 0 quality level?

I understand about the ebno & where to find it, but under Options 6-4 (System Status on the DSR-315), line D is "signal quality". Line C is "signal strength, line D is "signal quality", and it's in the high 70's on my unit

What's the relationship between the ebno & the "signal quality" number?

Maybe the OP is referring to line D in the quote above?

 

[Mr Tony]

I understand about the ebno & where to find it, but under Options 6-4 (System Status on the DSR-315), line D is "signal quality". Line C is "signal strength, line D is "signal quality", and it's in the high 70's on my unit

there is actually 3 items
signal
quality
ebno

on the 505 ebno is on Line C.

What's the relationship between the ebno & the "signal quality" number?

ebno is to fine tune the dish to get optimum signal. When I do a Shaw install I always ebno # aim. I'll give you an example

One time I aimed a dish for Shaw. I used my FTA box to lock the signal on one of the DVB signals and it shows 99 quality. Max right?
Unhook the FTA receiver and hook up the Shaw box and can still fine tune it via ebno # to get better numbers. I was kinda shocked myself

 

[joshuals]

OK....thank you, Iceberg....

I guess I sorta experienced the same thing in reverse.....I maxed the ebno at somewhere above 9 by tweaking the skew on the Pansat 5600, but never got the "signal quality" line to show much more than 80, even at the max ebno....

Well, nothing more from the OP....hopefully third time's a charm for him....

 

[PDXCat]

Nothing yet. Right now he's just shooting from the hip and "searching the sky". Doesn't look good, he brought his wife and promised her shopping on the way home and she looks impatient. Damnit, for a second i thought we had it too.

 

[bradleys]

Is your antenna located where you can get to it, like on a pole or low on the side of the house?

Does your site have line of sight to the satellites (no trees)?

When the guy leaves, go out and set your pointing parameters.

Then, adjust a couple of degrees at a time until you find the satellites with your receiver.

It sounds to me like the installers are spending all their time trifling with their tools.

This isn't that difficult.

I've setup my dish several times, and I live on a boat, so the aiming isn't even that precise.

I don't mean to sound impatient, but, ... golly.

Or, maybe your receiver is broken?

 

[Mr Tony]

Right now he's just shooting from the hip and "searching the sky".

thats a scary sentence right there....

we've given you and the tech enough info to at least get CLOSE to the satellites. I mean its been 4 hours since your post that he needed transponder info

What size dish? If its the 75e those are easier to aim than the 60e because the 75e has a screw elevation adjustment so you can make very fine increments of elevation

But damn the installer has to be close...145 azimuth is near SE without a compass (135 is dead SE) so if he's trying to aim the dish further west than dead south he wont get anything

 

[joshuals]

Well....here's the pointing data from Dishpointer for your village:

Elevation: 37.0°
Azimuth (true): 163.5°
Azimuth (magn.): 147.2°
Skew : 78°

I've confirmed this data with another website, and checked the magnetic/true azimuth correction....a little different from the data you had, but not that much......

I suggest, as bradleys states, that you try yourself if you can access your dish, and forget the installer & his meter. Use the signal meter in the receiver instead, and if you can't get the TV up near the dish, have someone watch the screen while you make the adjustments.

because the 75e has a screw elevation adjustment so you can make very fine increments of elevation

Per KuSat, this feature has been removed, at least on the newer dishes:
FALL 2009 UPDATE: The long elevation screw shown on the mount (left of the picture) is not included with the 75cm kit anymore. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. To adjust elevation on your dish, keep both elevation bolts "snug" and apply pressure at the base of the dish to make adjustments.

Also, check that your elevation is set correctly. The marker is the little white line, and NOT the bolt itself. If you have put the bolt opposite the correct number, the elevation will be incorrect.....this is also pictured on KuSat's self-install webpages.

IMHO if you were to read & follow KuSat's instruction webpages (as in "when all else fails, read the....."), you would be watching TV in a short time.......

 

[Mr Tony]

Per KuSat, this feature has been removed, at least on the newer dishes:
FALL 2009 UPDATE: The long elevation screw shown on the mount (left of the picture) is not included with the 75cm kit anymore. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. To adjust elevation on your dish, keep both elevation bolts "snug" and apply pressure at the base of the dish to make adjustments.

damn that sucks...that made adjusting very easy to do

 

[bradleys]

I'm glad I have an old dish with the elevation screw. That's typically the adjustment I make. My boat lies north-south, and my fuel tanks are in the stern. As I use fuel, the pitch forward increases. I'm able to make small elevation adjustments on the dish with that screw.

The pointing numbers for Aumsville, OR are very similar to Seattle. My elevation is a bit more horizontal because I'm a few hundred miles north. My latitude is within about 1/2 degree, as is the resultant azimuth. I just checked my dish. The position of the dish almost exactly matches the numbers presented by dishpointer.com.

 

[QCK]

Just use the receiver to adjust the dish. A lot of installers really get messed up trying to use the a sat finder for Shaw Direct. Use the dishpointer settings, go to channel 299 and then you should only have to make minor adjustments. It should not me that hard to set up.

 

[joshuals]

thats a scary sentence right there....

It sure is....the sky's a big place.....

damn that sucks...that made adjusting very easy to do

Yeah....I bet they saved $0.15 per unit by making this modification......:rant:

My boat lies north-south

Please tell someone who lives on the desert how you keep the boat oriented north-south while at the same time that the fuel is being used .......

he brought his wife and promised her shopping on the way home

Not with your money, I hope........

Or, maybe your receiver is broken?

That would be another thing to check.....if he's connects the dish to the receiver and the receiver to the TV, and goes to the receiver's signal meter screen, and has a signal of zero, that would indicate that he's getting no power to the LNB, wouldn't it? Possibly a receiver problem or a connector problem?

On the other hand, if power is being sent from the receiver to the dish, he should get a signal strength of 10 or 20 even if the dish is not correctly pointed, isn't that so?

 

[bradleys]

Please tell someone who lives on the desert how you keep the boat oriented north-south while at the same time that the fuel is being used .......

Well, some of the fuel usage is when I'm out driving the boat around. However, on the "desert" theme, we have nine months of cold weather in Seattle, where I have to run my furnace. It runs on diesel fuel. Right now the temperature is about 50 degrees with 5-10 knot winds. Seattle does get hot in the summer. The high temperature often way up into the high 70's or low 80's. We've even been over 100. Three times. Ever.

Tee hee.

Canadian Satellite content follows.

We've had a lot of wind today so my boat has been rocking quite a bit. Even with all the rocking and movement, I still haven't lost satellite lock. I've been watching Dish Network and Shaw Direct, and that applies for both. So, there's clearly something else going on with the OP's system. The aiming simply isn't that sensitive. That's one of the reasons for small dishes - they're not sensitive to aiming. I note my 1-meter dish that I use for Dish Network 129 is much more sensitive than either my Dish 1000 or my Shaw Direct 75e. Iceberg has some big dishes - it would be interesting to know how close those have to be.

 

[joshuals]

we have nine months of cold wather in Seattle, where I have to run my furnace. It runs on diesel fuel.

Yaahhssss...my neighbor is a "snowbird" from someplace called Ocean Shores....is that near where you have your boat? He comes down here to soak up our winter sun instead of running his furnace

The high temperature often way up into the high 70's or low 80's. We've even been over 100. Three times

Now that is enviable!!!:up

Back to the topic....

Even with all the rocking and movement, I still haven't lost satellite lock

I hadn't realized the system was that flexible.....but then again, my house is pretty stable...

there's clearly something else going on with the OP's system

I agree. As Mike Kohl of Global Communications once told me, make sure you ask your installer if he has Star Choice experience....if he doesn't, move on to the next name in the yellow pages and don't spend your dollars for a non-experienced person to learn how......

Hopefully the posters on this forum can help the OP get through this....I can feel his pain.

 

[PDXCat]

Great news guys. Thanks for everyones help yesterday. It at least gave my guy hope and after 5 hours he found it. Got an 88 reading for strength so it looks good. We are at about 150 feet from the house but he said I could get boosters for about $10 to make sure it works. It was pretty tough though, it has to be pretty much exact or its a no go. Most of the guys down here are use to C band and this guy said the C band is a lot stronger than ku band and he thinks Shaw needs to switch. I don't care, I got the signal and now I'll be ready for some CFL action!

 

[QCK]

Great, thanks for the update! People use that size dish in Mexico, so you are just fine in Oregon with what you have.

And don't forget, Tigers Eat 'Em Raw!

 

[joshuals]

Great!!! Glad it worked out!!!

Happy viewing....

 

[PDXCat]

A little problem - hopefully. The directions I've been given are sketchy at best. I have signal strength of 84 at the house. What do I do next? Everything I read says to go to 299 and follow instructions prior to activation. When I go to 299 it says no data available. Any thoughts? My instructions ask for an Ebno value - how do i get that?

 

[QCK]

You need to get your broker to activate the receiver.

For Ecb go to "Options" then pres 6 - 4- 7. Beside your signal strength on line "C" will be your Ecb/No: x.x