AFN Satellite Setup in Afghanistan

[ralphmagno]

hello,
thanks for the picks
now the first thing is the lnb.
notice in pic 2 that there is a degree marker on the top
look at where the 0 marker is on the holder is.
it should be ligned up with the 0 on the lnb .most of the newer lnb's should have a 0 marker on the top and both zeros should be ligned up.
your dish is a offset dish and to me it looks like it is pointed too far to the ground.
i will look at what it should be in your area and get back to you in an update.
ralph

 

[Lazarus]

Looking at pics 1 and 4 and even after trying to account for perspective and parallax error, the LNB doesn't seem to be directed towards the focal point of the dish.

 

[ralphmagno]

hello update
if you have a sig and lock you are there.exit and go to channel1 or 2 or 3.
if the box being new says" no authoration key " it means the box is not activated as of yet.
if the box is new and you activated the box on afn's web site and they send you a confirm it will start working in 20 min.
boxes do not come activated from the factroy.
go to the pentegon channel ch 8 and it is clear and will come in.
channel 0 is no channel and you will never get anything.
the lnb i see the pic and on the holder there is a 0 and pluss 20 and minus 20.
same on the lnb ,so both should be ligned up 0 and 0.
let us know the results will check back in a few hours
ralph

 

[ralphmagno]

hello again,
there are several frequencies on different satellites that transmit on the same frequencies.
one has the same symbolrate of 27.500.
but only one will give you a lock.
with the ca on you will get a strength on the desplay but no lock.
if the box is new you will get a lock but "no authoration key"
ch 8 penatgon will come in even if the box is not activated.
keep us informed
ralph

 

[bravekc]

for the lnb i had it at zero but i was able to get a increase in signal strength when i twisted it to the side i can move it u you guys thinks its a good idea but since i have a lock and a good signal think it be best to leave it.....as far as the box it should have been activated some marines came down and set it up months ago and was working then we lost signal and no one cared and everything got moved around and changed so now im just trying to get it back working.....is it possible that some one deactivated because it wasn't running?? ive tried to reactivate it but when i enter the tid and ua it says this box is on lease redirecting and it takes me to a afn log in page should i just register or is there already an account that i have to ask around to get the info or have someone thats in charge of this mess clicks away from pb turn it on? im not even getting channel 8 but its been a day since ive had the chance to mess with it so ill try again right now thanks so far hope fully u can help me

 

[ralphmagno]

hello,
ok if it was working then it is activated.
it would have to be off for months and need a refreshing signal.
ok back to the lnb can you please post a picture of the lnb with the 0 mark on the plastic holder as well as the 0 mark on the lnb to see what you have.
if the dish is not stright then a small twist say 3 degrees will make it so.
here is why.
your box is set on 13 v dc for vert pol.
if your lnb is twisted 90 degrees it is out of phase with the signal and it is now hor polerazion..
this is not what we want.
if you can see an afn dish near by that is working than you can see the general direction.
remember it should be an offset dish like the one you have.
a prime focus dish will have a different angle towards the satellite.
i can not understand how you have a lock and no channel 8 because the box will give a no lock if it is not looking at afn signal.
ralph

 

[bravekc]

Finally was able to get some info from another afn setup and their settings are the same as mine...but i cant just walk over to there hooch and check it out we are pretty remote and small so all we have is what u guys see.....they said their azimuth is 241 when i originally set up my dish i shot it at 246 but then moved it a bit so imma go recheck the azimuth right now and well see...also the didnt give me an elevation but they said it had a low take off angle...which makes sense to me because i can only get signal when the dish is angled like it is now as u can see the elevation is just about as low as it goes....here are some more pictures maybe u guys can see something that looks off i just have a feeling that it is something very very simple that im missing thank you much for the help so far hopefully well get it here soon

 

[bravekc]

ok i think that the pol is off after rereading your last post Ralph so imma go put the lnb back to zero then get the signal to lock again and ill let u know how it goes

 

[ralphmagno]

hello,
looking at the picks you have the d9865.
ok 2 things are wrong
pic 5 should sat vert and not horz.
pic 6 the lnb is twisted 90 degrees out of phase.
so here two wrongs are making a right. almost.
on the big arrow on the lnb should be pointing to 0 on the holder.
then fix the hoez to vert.
save the changes by pushing the grees save button.
now you should be ready for the alignment.
as you move the dish the signal strength will come up and it will lock.
once you have that your time and date should come up.
it should be in zulu time i think and the date will be today.
once you get a picture you can optomize the system by making a small adjust on the lnb 3 degrees right or left of center where the 0 is on the holder.
you are at 90 degrees and that is out of phase.
if it is locked that should be it.
the ca on the box should be on.otherwhise it will lock on to any other signal that is transmitting on the same frequency and we do not wat that.
will check back here later
ralph

 

[bravekc]

ok can u walk me through the prcoess of changeing the pol? i going into tunning/preset then hit the yellow button to got to preset then hit the yellow button again and hit LNB there i go to lnb power and i had it set to 13v but when i check the pol it says its still horz so i went all they way back and changed it to v-nit then i got the pol to say vert...but no signal lock..this doesnt feel like im properly changeing the pol i have a signal that is at 75 right now the LNB is now turned back to 0 on the dish but i dont have a lock it seems like this freaking set up hates me

 

[ralphmagno]

hello,
ok good
if you have a quality and no lock it means you are looking a a same frequency on another sat but not afn.
there is a 12.341 vert on hot bird 13 degrees,it the dish is there you need to move it to the right standing in the back of the dish.
there is a 12.321 vert on 1 degree west if yolu are there then standing behind the dish you need to move to the left about 1 inch and up a tad.
here is what i would do.
1.take the satellite receiver to a known dish that is 100% aligned and hook up your dish.
see it it is set up correct and look at the signal strength and quality and make a note of the level.
see the dish size as well if they have a 1.2 meter dish and you have the same size of bigger yours has to work.
2. now that we know that the box is set up and working 100% now take it back and you can aligh the dish.
because if the box works ok there it has to work on your dish.
since you have a sig of 70 i would guess you are on hotbird. have some one look at the box display and stand behind the dish and move it to the left.
as you move the dish the level will go down from 70 to 55.as you move slowly the sig will start to come up and probably hit 60 then 65 peobably 68 and you will get a sig and lock.
let me know if this helps
if your pol is vert,13 volts and lo 2 on older boxes is 10.6 then you have trouble shot the system that the box is correct and not it is isolated to the dish.
ralph

 

[Brandon]

Hi. My Name is Brandon. I am currently deployed overseas in afghanistan. We are on a small cop and I am trying to get afn up and working. I am in no way knowledgeable about these types of things...but i can follow common sense. haha. I have a cisco 9865 box. I am trying to pull AFN so we can watch the games. I need to know where to put the dish. angels and elevation. also, the CORRECT values for the setup on the box itself. I keep finding values but for some reason they seem to differ and i can't get it set up. Thank you ANYONE for your help and hopefully i can get this up and running.

 

[Licinius]

You'll be able to pick Abu Dhabi Sports in Afghan as well =http://www.adtvnetwork.com/en/

 

[ralphmagno]

hello,
if you look on this thread there is a lot of information that i have posted.
2.5 feet dish is too small in your area.
here is some information.
dish should be 4 feet in diamater
box set up is:
frequency 12.341.
pol v
sr 27.500
net id 10

your lnb on the dish should say lo 9.750/10.600
on the display you should have a low level and not 0.
quality will stay 0 untill you find the bird with the signal.
if you get 0 signal it means the following.
your cable is broke or not set up properly.
the lnb cable from the dish is not going to the sat terminal in the back of the box it should be.
i have seen preople take the line from the dish and connect it to the tv in or tv out on the decoder.
the box sends a dc voltage to the lnb on the dish.
another good idea is look at another AFN set up in your camp.
this way you can see the general direction the dish must be pointed.
also if you can take your decoder and set it up at a friends working dish you can set it up and get a signal thats 1/2 the battle done.
if the decoder is new from the box it will not be working. it must be regestered on line.
most boxes stay activated for 5 years but all new boxed are deactived when new.
post some pictures of your dish.
i check this again in 4 hours
ralph
retired USAF.

 

[DragonSat]

Ok as stated in my first reply I said that the only way I/we are able to get a lock on the decoder is to change the LO Freq 2 from 10.6 to 10.8. Now what I want to know is why this is? also what does it represent? by changing it does that mean that it's the LO Freq of a different satellite and that is the one I'm locked on to? Those are my questions.

With the settings posted on the website no matter how we try we cannot get a lock, I'm sure we have to correct AZ and EL and skew but still can't get a lock.

It means either the LNB is goofed and operating 200Mhz too low meaning you enter 200Mhz higher to calulate the right freq, or the freq entered in the menu is also wrong 200Mhz out.

Or the Box tuner is goofed.

This thread is making me think i need to don my body armour and come and fix all these AFN dish, work is low in Naples now.

 

[ralphmagno]

wohello to all,
if this locks on the wrong frequency the lnb lo 2 is off frequency.
new lnb costs 5 euro.
i have rebuilt afn boxes and unless the tuner is blown up change the lnb and reset the frequency it will work.
all lnb's have have two LO'S. one generates at 9.750 the other at 10.600.
if the second lo has moved somehow it is probably old.
with the lo 2 at 10.800 are you geting afn????
if the answer is no then you are on the wrong sat and by accident looking at another transponder the system has locked on.
the pentagon channel is in the clear channel 8 on the afn box.
if you have a lock and geting the pentagon channel the lnb is bad.
let me know
ralph

 

[ralphmagno]

AFN Update
As some of you have read the stars and stripes as well as the panorama there have been articles about AFN decoders. It’s confusing for those of that are not techs. I called AFN in Germany on Friday to get some clarification on what they are trying to say.
As the government is now trying to save money, with the budget cuts they are trying to save money. It’s good that they want to save money. AFN via satellite is a digital service, it always has been so. They transmit standard definition MPEG-2. They also transmit one channel High definition MPEG- 4. This AFN sports in high deff. Has been transmitting for 2 years now. Old decoders will not pick it up at all. Only the new decoder that costs $365, in the NEX or the new ones housing give out will do so. AFN will be turning off one of its 3 transponders or frequencies on the satellite. All the extra channels that are repeats of the AFN prime, AFN Naples, Germany, Rota, and Aviano etc. will be shut off and any local news will go to the local AFN radio. That will be 12 redundant channels that no one really watches.
AFN does not have a date when the service will go 100% High Definition MPEG -4 and the older decoders will be useless. So since AFN doesn’t have a date as of yet, your old decoders that you find for sale will still work for some time to come. You can check on their site after the 4 th of June 2013 but what i found out friday is frequency of 11,804.25 v and net id of 158 moved from net id of 10.
I hope this helps all the community out there.
[SIZE=11pt]Ralph Magno Retired USAF[/SIZE]