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Thread: Best transponder for Foxtel dish alignment.

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    Default Best transponder for Foxtel dish alignment.

    What is the transponder of choice for aligning a dish for Foxtel?

    I am mobile in a caravan on holidays, and I am struggling to get my dish aligned at my current location.

    For completeness, my location and settings are as follows.
    Cudmirra, NSW
    AZ 9.4
    EL 48.7
    SK 7.7

    Any help appreciated.
    Rohan



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    The Dishpointer settings are only a guide, so you will need to adjust for the best signal.

    Try 12438 H

    If your LNB has the coax connector at the bottom with skew at 0 deg, then the connector should likely be somewhere between the 6 - 7 o'clock position as viewed from the front of the dish.

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    the phone app does a pretty good job of getting you on it check gps position first

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    Ok, I have got it working, but I’m a little confused as to how.

    I am using a SatKing SK-3200 and I tuned the signal strength for maximum.
    However I never got a lock, and I never saw any signal quality. I do remember when trialing all this at home, I did get a lock, and did see signal quality, along with continuous tones.

    So I am wondering why I couldn’t this time?
    Is it possible that I need to use a particular transponder that is unencrypted so it will lock for the purposes of dish alignment? Or am I off on a tangent?

    Cheers

    Rohan

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    Signal quality is directly related to LNB skew.

    You need to get that roughly right first, then tweak the dish for highest signal strength, then make minute adjustments to LNB skew again for the best signal quality reading.

    You asked about Foxtel, but the SatKing SK-3200 is pre-programmed for VAST... are you setting up a Foxtel decoder, or a VAST decoder?

    VAST is much harder to align than Foxtel, and you need a Vertical transponder. 12647 V

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    Yes I am setting up for Foxtel (although another camper has vast that I wanted to use the satking on as well).

    My understanding is I can just set up the satking with the appropriate transponders from both Foxtel and vast and just select the appropriate one as required. This is what I was led to believe when I bought it.

    Also, why does Foxtel or vast selection even matter? They are both coming off the same satellites so I would have assumed if I aligned the dish for one, I would also have the other. Am I misunderstanding something?

    Rohan

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    Transponders on the same satellite are not all configured the same.

    If you are setting up for both Foxtel and VAST, align the dish and LNB for VAST.

    VAST uses all vertical transponders and Foxtel uses both horizontal and vertical for various channels.

    Foxtel uses different encoding to VAST.

    As VAST signals are a bit more critical with alignment, especially LNB skew, it's best to align for them.

    The Foxtel signals should then also be fine.

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  • 07-09-21, 11:31 AM

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