Probs with 1 West

blackninja

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I just bought and set up a 60cm elliptical dish (Sky Zone 2) and seeing as I can get almost 100% signal on Astra 1 and Hotbird I thought I'd try some other satellites using a sat beeper.

I think there may be too much foliage in the way for 30 West (although its only a few thin branches) and I hear Sirius 5 East is notoriously hard to find with a smaller dish, especially for the ViaSat channels, so I thought I'd have a go at 1 West.

From Hotbird I moved the dish due South, which I believe is where the Sun is at 12 noon in the UK, and moved the dish arm up slightly (have I got that right?) The noise from the Sat Beeper went fairly high pitched, although no way near as high as it went for Hotbird and Astra 1. However when I went to the installation menu on my Smart Receiver, to fine tune, Thor 2/3 and IntelSat 10-02 - the Satellites at 1 West - were about the only satellites not on the installation list, and I'm not sure how I'd go about adding them.

Is there a way of getting round this? How strong should the signal be at 1 West - would it be better to find Sirius/Hispasat first?

Thanks in advance.
 

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Does your receiver have the option to add a satellite?

If you can scan a FTA channel on Thor and that will confirm if you have the dish positioned correctly.

1 deg west does have a pretty good signal and should be quit easy to find with the set up you explained.
 

rolfw

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The biggest problem with some of the Minidish LNBs, is that they have limited Skew adjustment, if you are trying to find any Westerly satellites, this may cause a problem. As far as I know Skyware is fine and can be fully skewed in either direction.
 

blackninja

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Thanks for the replies.

The LNB does have a skew adjustment, numbered 1-5. What setting should I have it at for 1 West?

There is an add satellite option. How could I alter the settings to cater this satellite to 1 West?
 

rolfw

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You need it as vertical as possible for 1W, the menu on the receiver should provide you with a list of satellites to add.
 

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rolfw said:
As far as I know Skyware is fine and can be fully skewed in either direction.
I have a skyware quad ( still in the box waiting to be fitted to my minidish ). It does look like it can be adjusted fully.
 

rolfw

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Not sure about the quad, but the single can be rotated in the collar.
 

blackninja

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Still struggling to find it. I cut a few branches down and tried rotating it but no luck. I'm getting a slightly higher pitched signal (although no way near as high as Astra/Hotbird) from the beeper so I think I may have found it but nothing's coming up on the receiver.

Having got nearly 100% signal on Astra and Hotbird I thought I could just about get Thor 1 West - it's coming up as '63' and the threshold for a picture is usually around '65' but no matter where I move it it still won't go up. Tried rotating the LNB but to no avail.

What height should the dish arm be at - how far above/below Hotbird?
 

rolfw

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If you download the Swedish Microwave Calculator from www.smw.se , you can see the elevation of all of the staellites from your location. The satellite at 1W, is 3 to 4 degrees higher than 19E.
 

blackninja

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Think I've accidentally found Sirius, which is supposedly a weaker signal (though probably only the European beam), but still no Thor. Will keep trying. Gonna start a separate thread on Sirius 'cos I'm now struggling with that! Is this normal 2/3 months into a Satellite experiment?
 

blackninja

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I'm still having no luck with a picture, although I'm pretty convinced I've found 1 West because the tone from the sat beeper goes up. I'd expect to get at least something because I can now get 94% signal strength on Hotbird (need to get about 65% on my receiver to get a picture).

I've moved all the twigs in the way so the only thing I can think of is this skew thing. This has confused me a bit - I can move the LNB collar connector for the coax cable around the LNB in 5 positions although the LNB itself doesn't rotate. Adjusting it doesn't seem to be doing much either - should it be moved as far clockwise or anticlockwise as possible?

(Sorry for sounding so thick but I'm thinking of getting an Opos card for my freecam and I thought it would be a good idea to find out whether 1 West was poss for Conax before splashing out.)
 

rolfw

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If you are looking at the LNB from behind, then the cable connector should be as far as it can go towards the vertical, that is anticlockwise.
 

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Hi blackninja,
depending on your location, you should only get the stronger satellites on 1 deg west using a 60 cm dish. The main problem in finding Thor is the elevation of your dish, most people forget to adjust the elevation sufficiently.
I live in the North West of England and I require a 1.2m dish to pick up sub tv and the other weaker signals but used to pick up the stronger channels on my old 80cm dish.
I found it easiest to use the old d2mac channel TV3, to locate the satellite, as this is only scrambled in d2mac and so you can see something instantly, I experienced all types of spurious readings with my signal meter and found it easiest just connecting up to an old portable B/W TV, and slowly moving my dish until I got a picture.
For full channel information I find this web site helpful
w w w.1-west.com
best wishes
Mickha
 

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hi blackninja
Put your reciver to Edusat on 11189V, 2143, 3/4, this is a FTA channel with one of the strongest signals on 1W, and as a recomended size of 50cm.
Most of the channels on 1W require an 80cm dish to recive them, but having said that its quite often possible to recive them with a smaller dish
 

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if you want to try for 5E have a go for the Ukrainians. They are about as strong as you get off Sirius.
 
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