AFN Satellite Setup in Afghanistan

[gmcclintock]

I still haven't found a local tech. that has ever used Eurobird. They only use hotbird here. I'm on my own with this one, so far...

Every time I move my dish left or right my signal level gets worse. Are you having the same issue?

I haven't found a tech either, but I have heard of a guy but he is on vacation at the moment lol...

As far as moving the dish I guess I will have to say yes, my current position is where I'm getting maximum signal levels, Lock, and some signal quality (1-2) and if I move it right or left up or down I loose all that.

 

[gmcclintock]

If you dish is on Hot Bird, move it to the right (when stood behind it) very slowly, your signal will get worse before it gets better. A few centimetres is all that's needed. Also, you need to slightly nudge the dish upwards.

The Dish was never on Hotbird its a new installation everything is being done from scratch.....

Did you reconfig your box like in the vid on that web site mate you need to put freq settings in then line dish up

Yes I did reconfigure it exactly like the video and downloaded documentation....


I must thell you guys thought (since I've used a sat meter on this setup before) I thought it was the meter giving me false reading so I contacted the manufacturer and they confirmed that I'm using the correct, most up to date firmware and configuration for the eurobird 9A satellite. So if the meter locks me on to that satellite then I should be on the correct satellite, but I didn't use it today per your (you guys) recommendation, I just wanted to point that out to you becuase I think I will try using it again tomorrow.

 

[carl James]

can anybody share a seccessful hookup in Afghan

 

[martinuk]

Do you get a picture with no sound ? you get anythin at all or just blank screen
if you get blank screen but the signal there could be on wrong sat mate.
i had this last night when looking for a sat signal was there but blank screen in end it was different sat i was on 4e

 

[Analoguesat]

can anybody share a seccessful hookup in Afghan

One of the camps asking for help here reported success a couple of days ago - although they got a local in to realign the dish for them - and discovered they had the coax from the dish in the wrong port on the back of the receiver as well!

Cant remember if it was Iraq or Afghanistan.

 

[gmcclintock]

Do you get a picture with no sound ? you get anythin at all or just blank screen
if you get blank screen but the signal there could be on wrong sat mate.
i had this last night when looking for a sat signal was there but blank screen in end it was different sat i was on 4e

Yes its a blank scrren, that says channel 0 not available. I've heard the "wrong satellite" arguement before and I tried moving the dish left then right trying to find the "Right" satellite and couldn't get a lock or a better signal. So I ended up moving it back to where i'm getting the highest signal, a Lock, and some sig quality. All i'm saying is if the settings are entered correctly into the decoder it shouldn't lock on to the Wrong/Incorrect satellite, am I wrong for thinking that? if I am I refuse to accept that without an explanation why it would do that.

 

[ralphmagno]

hello there is no channel 0
if you are there you will get nothing.
if you have a lock go to channel 1 or ch 8.
if you get the pentagon channel you are there.
channel 0 will give you nothing
ralph

 

[Analoguesat]

"This is the final boarding call for Mr Magno. Air Afghani final boarding call for the Kabul flight"

 

[ralphmagno]

hello,
haha
far service call
ok.
the afn box will not lock on anything just the afn signal.
if you got a lock and a 2 quality you are there.
there is no ch 0 it will be blank screen.
go to channel 8 and see if you have the pentagon channel.
it if a free to air,i can see why no one watches this channel.
thats why it is free.
again ch 0 will give you nothing
i will chack again later,
ralph

 

[gmcclintock]

hello,
haha
far service call
ok.
the afn box will not lock on anything just the afn signal.
if you got a lock and a 2 quality you are there.
there is no ch 0 it will be blank screen.
go to channel 8 and see if you have the pentagon channel.
it if a free to air,i can see why no one watches this channel.
thats why it is free.
again ch 0 will give you nothing
i will chack again later,
ralph

Ok wonderful news, I knew I it was impossible to lock on to a different satellite with the correct settings. Anyway I am aware of the channel 8 thing (remember I mentioned that i've been on the phone with the AFN Help dest jokers) I am not getting anything on any of the other channels, you seem to know a little more about he AFN system that some of the others on here so can you tell me how to do a channel scan if that is even possible.

 

[ralphmagno]

hello,
i install afn systems here in naples.
and it has been crazy here.
there is no need for a channel scan that will never work
all you need to do is set it up and when you get a sig lock and quality you got it.
post some picks,how big is your dish.
how old is the lnb/
how long is the cable run
if you can see another afn dish set up close by it will give you a general direction.
if you do a scan and not on a satellite it will scan for ever.
if you set it up like the picture you are doing good.
as you move the dish and find that frequency the signal may go to 65 or 70 and get a lock. then stop and look at the channel 8 and see if you get it.
i have been doing afn since the decoder came out and i have repaired some power supplied as well.
post some pictures of the lnb and the dish as well so i can see what you have.
you should have at least a 1.6 meter or bigger.
ralph
retired USAF

 

[gmcclintock]

hello,
i install afn systems here in naples.
and it has been crazy here.
there is no need for a channel scan that will never work
all you need to do is set it up and when you get a sig lock and quality you got it.
post some picks,how big is your dish.
how old is the lnb/
how long is the cable run
if you can see another afn dish set up close by it will give you a general direction.
if you do a scan and not on a satellite it will scan for ever.
if you set it up like the picture you are doing good.
as you move the dish and find that frequency the signal may go to 65 or 70 and get a lock. then stop and look at the channel 8 and see if you get it.
i have been doing afn since the decoder came out and i have repaired some power supplied as well.
post some pictures of the lnb and the dish as well so i can see what you have.
you should have at least a 1.6 meter or bigger.
ralph
retired USAF

Ok thanks for the information its night here so I am not able to get your any pictures of the Dish or LNB at the moment I can get your screen shots of the menu or anything indoors if you like, the cable run is less than 30 feet, I tried 2 different pieces of cable one about 10 feet and the other about 25 feet and they both gave produced degraded sig quality when I had the TV up on the roof I used a 5 foot cable and the sig level was 68-70 but when I brought everything down to my room and hooked it up to the 25 feet cable the signal dropped to 65-67 not that much of a difference but it was different. Tomorrow I will take pictures of the dish and LNB and post them, I think you may have something there though I suspect that the LNB might be the problem and I will try a different one tomorrow as well since we have a few new ones here. My dish is not that big I can tell you that for sure, but I had the same size dish in Iraq and it worked great so I don't see why it wouldn't here.

As far as there are no other working dish or AFN on this Base we all do NOT have AFN here we are all working hard to get just one system working, we purchased 3 new dish, Decoders, LNB's, and cables and tried them all and cannot get anything. We have 3 1.6 meter dish here and none of them will produce a signal lock only the smaller dish does so we are focusing on that dish at the moment we figure if we can get this one working then we can get the others working as well. Tomorow I was going to take a break from the smaller dish and work on the big dish to see if I can get this far with it, but I don't think I'll get anywhere with it the most frustrating thing I've ever done I would rather be in a firefight with bad guys than trying to get AFN on this camp. Anyway I'll get you those pictures so maybe you can tell me whats going on.

Well thanks for the valuable information I reall appreciate it

 

[Captain Jack]

My dish is not that big I can tell you that for sure, but I had the same size dish in Iraq and it worked great so I don't see why it wouldn't here.

Afghanistan is a little further away from Iraq, so the signal is quite a bit weaker there. See this footprint:

_http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/eb9a.html

Looking at the footprint, the absolute minimum dish size you would get away with is around 150cm across the shortest length but a 2m one is preferable.

 

[Lazarus]

Ah, yes. We have to go back as far as Post #16 for any mention of dish size.

It is somewhat fundamental.


What size is it, exactly?

 

[martinuk]

hes on the wrong sat and dish to small by the looks of it

 

[ralphmagno]

hello ,
welcome to afn 101.
here is some information.
dish size 1.50 meters diamater or bigger.
if this is a new box and has never been activated you will not get a picture right away.
new boxes do not come activated in the box.
settings on box
down link 12.34125
sym rate 27.500
fec 3/4
polar v or v fixed(h is wrong)
id 10
lnb 13 v(18 v or anything else is wrong)
lo 1 ..9.750
lo 2 ,,10.600
cross 11.700
lo select lo 2(lo1 is wrong)
active preset 1

when you find the satellite you should get signal 70 sig lock yes

notice the pic here this is an offset dish and the lnb on the dish is twisted clockwise 15 degrees off center
this is incorect skew for afn.

 

[ralphmagno]

next in afn 101 we have the offset dish installed

here is a afn offset installed this dish is 1 meter 39 inches in diamater.
your dish should look close to this config. in the north of europe the dish will look higher.
in the south it will look lower.
this dish is about 43 degrees if the pol is straight.
once you have a loc and sig stop.
not back out and look at channel 8.
if you get the pentagon channel you are there.
if you are using a small dish 39 inches in diam.
it will not work.
there is someone who is using a 1.8 meter or 6 foot and is geting it now.
they called a local and in 20 min had it running.
sen us more info and picks as well.
when you get a lock send the pictures as well so i can see.
ralph

 

[gmcclintock]

Update: @ Martinuk I don't think its possible to gain a LOCK on the decoder with the AFN Parameters read the eitire post and you will see the parameters that are in the decoder. I got those many times from the AFN webiste, the AFN Help senter, and from numerous members of this site. For example look at ralphmagno's post he like everyone else keeps posting the same settings which I already have.

@ Ralph I will be posting pictures later I am kind of busy today but I'll get up there and take the pictures for you all today. I have a new LNB and I also have a local resident coming in to assist me I will keep you all posted. Thanks again.

 

[ralphmagno]

ok thanks,
we will get this running.a guy in your area has one running.
he says the dish direction in magnetic north 246 degrees
ralph

 

[tvmanas]

Hey, AFN should come out to your location. contact them via email. 'afnafghanmaint@afghan.swa.army.mil' . Let them know that you need RG 6 cabling, give them an estimate on how much cabling you need.

Also the LNB might be having problems with the signal, try setting the reciever to H instead of V and then adjust the LNB to see if it will pull the signal.

tvmanas