New to FTA satellite

johnson636

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Hello all,

I'm new to FTA and satellite tv so please excuse my if I ask questions that some may consider obvious.

If I point a dish at 248 degrees then how is it possible for the three LNBs to be pointing at different satellites? How do I go about aiming the LNBs individually? How do I know which LNB is pointing where. How do I measure to see if the LNBs are receiving the correct voltage or any voltage for that matter? How do I find out whether the LNBs on the Dire c TV Phase III are: normal, universal, or custom? KU-LIN, KU-Cir, or C-Band? The frequency Lof1, SW, and Lof2?

A STB's signal can be tested and adjusted by connecting the cable to the dish and while one person is watching the tv for a picture another person is adjusting the dish until a picture is found; Can something similar to this be done with a DVB-s pc card? I'm using MyTheatre 3.8 and the steps I'm taking are pointing the dish and then coming inside to adjust MT for a scan.

Now I know some may read this and see that I'm asking about pointing the dish at Dire c tv satellites without a subscription and thats true, but thats because its a Dire c tv dish and I just want to be able to point the dish at a satellite successfully whether I'm able to view the channels or not. If MT says the channels are scrambled, then that means that I've pointed the dish correctly and thats what I'm trying to accomplish first.

I have to crawl before I'm able to walk.
 

Analoguesat

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Although a dish picks up maximum signal when an lnb is at the prime focus of the dish (mounted at the end of the lnb arm) there is often sufficient signal collected from nearby satellites using offset lnb which are off axis from the prime focus. This is due to the high power satellites used these days - they are just chucking out so much downlink power its possible if the dish is big enough.

Most modern receivers do all the electronic switching management for you using a mixture of voltages and tone controls.
 

johnson636

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Thank you for your reply. Can anyone shed some light on the other questions in the post?

How do I find out whether the LNBs on the Dire c T V Phase III are: normal, universal, or custom? KU-LIN, KU-Cir, or C-Band? The frequency Lof1, SW, and Lof2?

A STB's signal can be tested and adjusted by connecting the cable to the dish and while one person is watching the tv for a picture another person is adjusting the dish until a picture is found; Can something similar to this be done with a DVB-s pc card? I'm using MyTheatre 3.8 and the steps I'm taking are pointing the dish and then coming inside to adjust MT for a scan.

Now I know some may read this and see that I'm asking about pointing the dish at Dire c tv satellites without a subscription and thats true, but thats because its a Dire c tv dish and I just want to be able to point the dish at a satellite successfully whether I'm able to view the channels or not. If MT says the channels are scrambled, then that means that I've pointed the dish correctly and thats what I'm trying to accomplish first.

I have to crawl before I'm able to walk.
I just can't seem to get any good results. This is very frustrating.
 

Analoguesat

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Sorry I dont know anything about Dire c TV lnb's. Google should throw up some technical spec answers.

Its far easier to align a dish with a receiver outside using a portable tv. It can be done running backwards and forwards although it will be slow and probably frustrating. You could leave it tuned into a known fta channel and turn the sound up far enough so you can hear it at the dish, or get the other half on a cell phone giving instructions as to what the signal bars are doing.

Good luck - and remember - move the dish slowly and only a few mm in any one direction at a time.:)

When you get it working mark the dish mounts with indelible ink, paint etc so if it moves you can put it back again later
 

johnson636

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Analoguesat said:
Sorry I dont know anything about Dire c TV lnb's. Google should throw up some technical spec answers.

Its far easier to align a dish with a receiver outside using a portable tv. It can be done running backwards and forwards although it will be slow and probably frustrating. You could leave it tuned into a known fta channel and turn the sound up far enough so you can hear it at the dish, or get the other half on a cell phone giving instructions as to what the signal bars are doing.

Good luck - and remember - move the dish slowly and only a few mm in any one direction at a time.:)

When you get it working mark the dish mounts with indelible ink, paint etc so if it moves you can put it back again later

I don't have a receiver, I have a DVB-s pc card. I probaly should have bought a receiver given there is much more support for them.
 

rolfw

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You'll probably find that there is quite a lot of support for DVB-s PC cards, but you will need to hit the US orientated forums, as some of the systems used are different from Europe, in fact even the terminologies are different. For example, the term FTA when used in Europe, means precisely that, Free To Air, unencrypted.
 

johnson636

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Found something interesting. A classmate of mine let me hold his RCA DRD222RD so I could use the signal meter function of the box. When I connected the box to my tv and proceeded to the signal meter, after entering my zip code, my coordinates were 188w elevation 50. At the signal strength screen it stated for me to move my satellite 3 degrees, so I went outside and moved it about 3 degrees. I come back inside only to find the box telling me the same thing, "move your dish 3 degrees. I went back outside and turned the dish as far right as I could and it still said the same thing. I disconnected the coax running from the dish to the box and guess what..........same thing. Does anyone know what my problem is and how I should fix it.

I read in the manual that when the signal gets stronger, the beeping sound speeds up to a continuous beep, is this so?
 

rolfw

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The box cannot tell you which way to move the dish, as it has no reference from which to base its calculation. You need to use a compass to get the rough azimuth, download the free calculator from www.smw.se, it will also give you the elevation from your location, then use the beeper on the satellite receiver to lock onto the satellite. It should get faster as you obtain more signal.
 
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