If you take the STB back to where you bought it from for testing,
Ask them if they could scan in the channels on Optus C1 for you,
You could then take a small TV onto the roof with you & when you move your dish watch the TV screen for a picture, (move the dish slowly)
you could put it on a FTA channel such as the INFO 156 channel (or other FTA channel on Optus C1)
(You could also scan in the channels yourself if someone would let you use their foxtel dish for 5 minutes, but you would have to change the LNB settings to 10700)
Also remember that you are trying to hit a target the size of a small car from about 35000 km away, so it is a fairly precise alignment.
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Interesting, your mounting has one arc point and one swivel point (or that's what it looks like to me)Originally Posted by beer4life
With most dish to mast brackets, Elevation is on one side and Latitude on the other.
The mount i have for my dish has no fixed swivel point from which to adjust the angle, instead i have two arc slots.
This seems very inaccurate to me since i will first have to fix my swivel point and then adjust the angle. i suppose i should still be able to get it fairly close.
I'd love to be able to do this, it would save me so much time going up and down ladders
unfortunatley i dont have a tv small enough to take onto the roof.
As soon as i get the reciever back from the shop i'll be trying out all of your suggestions guys.
Thanks
Gareth-
Are you sure you have no swivel point?
My azure shine dish has the two arc slots but also has a dimple in the metal between the slots that fits into a hole on the second half of the bracket and that forms your swivel point. It is cruder than beer4life's bracket but does work.
Azure Shine Mast Mount.
There are more ways of skinning a cat than choking it with milk.
You will notice on this photo that there is a dimple between the two arc slots. That is the pivot point. Also notice there is a cutout hole showing graduations either for Elevation and/or Latitude.
You need to loosen all four screws (Two on either side) to adjust the Elevation.
Address: morley, perth
Latitude: -31.8957°
Longitude: 115.9046°
Satellite: 156.0E Optus C1
Elevation: 33.2°
Azimuth (true): 57.9°
Azimuth (magn.): 59.5°
You can click and drag the marker
It matters little, as it is the same setting, whether you set 32 Latitude or 33 Elevation. You may need to fine tune once you have acquired the Satellite.
I recommend that you use TP 12367 V / 27800 Symbol rate as it is unique to C1 and saves confusion with the other Optus Birds.
Soon we'll have you cooking for the YL.
Kindest Regards, " The Druid "................
gw1 (27-05-09)
An excellent suggestion! Inadvertently pointing to the wrong satellite (eg when using 12407V) is a very common trap.
This is May 2009. If you're reading this a long time in the future be aware that the frequency or symbol rate may have changed. The can be found by googling for "lyngsat optusc1".
Also you'll find that some receivers can't automatically detect the FEC and require you to specify it manually (along with the frequency, polarisation and symbol rate). If using the receiver as a signal detector for dish alignment you'll find the detection is more responsive if you manually set the FEC rather than leave it on Auto (because on Auto it cycles through all the FEC options looking for the correct one, which introduces a delay). At the moment for Al Jazeera English on Optus C1 it's FEC 3/4. That too may change in future so it may pay to check Lyngsat if you have problems.
Finally, be aware that Lyngsat also provide a .
Good luck, hope you enjoy the experience.
that's all the hills 65cm jobs have that foxtel use.
Leroy
Got the reciever back from the shop today and they have swapped it for a new one since the old one was buggered.
Seems like they have given me a different model hower (somebody went for me as i was unable to)
they have replaced my 4658X with a 4664X which operates from a 12v external power supply, fair enough.... same features, as long as it works i'm happy........i'm not happy.
The problem i am having is that i can not turn on the reviever with the LNB connected. Also, when i connect the LNB if it is already on it just turns off.
I can connect the LNB with the LNB power option turned to OFF, however as soon as i turn that option on the unit switches off.
I did have a period of about 3 mins where the unit stayed on after i changed the LNB power option to "on" and i was recieving a "strongish" signal.
The reciever is rated to power an 18v LNB which is fine for my Universal LNB.
The LNB is set to Universal in the reciever software.
I'm starting to think that this may be a firmware issue with the unit but i am unable to upgrade the firmware because i do not have an RS232 cable ( i thought you could upgrade the firmware via usb stick but i can find no mention of this on the strong website).
Have any of you guys experienced this???
Sounds like you have a short in the cabling/connectors/LNB.
If you do have a short, that's probably what killed the other box, so ensure you have no shorts in your cabling, connections and LNB, otherwise the replacement box may suffer the same fate.
BTW, the 4664X only has one card slot (eg: no slot for an extra cam, like the 4658X has) however, the 4664X does have PVR function.
Both the 4658X and 4664X can accept firmware upgrades via USB.
Shorted Co-ax.
Sounds like you may have a short on your cables.
Did you make them yourself?
You will need to use a multi meter to check for shorts.
Failing having one you may be able to visually check for any wire strands between the inner and outer conductors. Even the best of us manage to do that at times.
You could do permanent damage if you keep connecting it when it's like that.
Gareth, I have a 4658X, it worked out of the box without a problem.
Also, not having had any experience crimping wires, on my first 2 installs I used Dick Smith Electronics (DSE) pre-packaged RG6 Quad shielded cable with pre-fitted F-connectors from Tandy Electronics. It comes in 10 meter, 6 meter and 1.5 meter lengths and has a ferrite clamp on each end to protect the signal from electromagnetic interference. Excellent quality product that can't go wrong, because, even a single "cross-hair" from the coax shielding is enough to short a badly crimped cable.
Also check that you haven't inadvertently left the LNB connection exposed to rain or other moisture. Are the F-connectors sealed with amalgamating tape? Is the sheath on the LNB connector fitted properly? These are small things that can ruin an otherwise good job if overlooked.
UFO
All connectors came pre-crimped, i bought a 20m length and a 1.5m length to use with the sat finder.
I used amalgamating tape on the LNB. I will go through and check for shorts etc, i'll have to wait till tomorrow to do that so i can grab my meter from work.
If the cable comes up fine then i can be pretty certain that it is a problem with the LNBF yes?
By exclusion, at this stage, yes.
UFO
Thanks for all your help guys, i brought my Meter back from work last week and tested the cable.
Cable tested fine but when i inspected the termination i noticed a renegade piece of the screen that was inside the fitting that must have been touching the copper core when you tighten it up.
Re-terminated it and all is sweet now.
Took me about 15mins to get it all setup and tuned in after that
Couldn't have done any of it without all of your valued support, thank you very much.
Well done!Thanks for all your help guys, i brought my Meter back from work last week and tested the cable.
Cable tested fine but when i inspected the termination i noticed a renegade piece of the screen that was inside the fitting that must have been touching the copper core when you tighten it up.
Re-terminated it and all is sweet now.
Took me about 15mins to get it all setup and tuned in after that
Couldn't have done any of it without all of your valued support, thank you very much.
A good outcome..... damn annoying though, when you'd purchased the cables pre-terminated... you'd expect them to be ok.
Most definatley. I didn't realise however until i started looking for problems that one end of the cable is crimped and one end has a screw on type connector. It was the screw on end that was buggered.
I unscrewed it to have a look at what was going on. Whoever tried to terminate it completely cut off all the braided shielding(apart from the lone strand caught in the fitting) and tried to clamp it onto the silver foil type stuff. After reterminating it myself i no longer had the lone strand and the resistance through the screen dropped by about 100ohms.
Bit dodgy if you ask me.
Thanks guys.
A valuable lesson on terminating Co-Ax cables.
G'Day Cobber,
I'm a little unclear exactly what you mean by "resistance through the screen dropped by about 100ohms."
If you mean from one outer casing to the same at the other end of the cable, it should be near enough to Zero Ohms, dependent on the length.
If you mean from the inner to outer conductor, it should be many MegOhms.
More than likely, the short on the cable is what caused the demise of the first STB.
I would strongly advise that you raise this with the retailer so that all their pre-terminated cables can be tested.
The problem may have arisen because you have little chance of properly fitting a screw on F6 fitting onto Quad Shield Co-Ax. A naive Junior may have been entrusted with the task.
It should be part of the installation check to test the cables.
Some advise:
When using the wire stripping tool, do 3 turns in one direction, then 3 in the opposite direction, then pull it cleanly away. By doing this it makes it easier to spot any loose strands of the outer conductor that may have wrapped around the inner conductor. It is still advisable to check with an Ohm Meter.
Kindest Regards, " The Druid ".......
One other thing to be aware of. If making your own cables you should trim the centre copper conductor so it's no more than a couple of millimetres longer than the end of the connector. It just needs to be long enough to assist with lining up with the mating socket.
If the centre wire is too long it can cause a short against the rear of the socket in some devices. I had that happen once when hooking up several LNBs via a multiswitch. I plugged in one LNB cable and everything stopped working; removed it and other LNBs worked fine. I tested the problematic cable with a multimeter and there was no short circuit. Finally I noticed that the centre wire was longer than usual. Once I trimmed it back with wire cutters the problem was solved.
Which reminds me of a story a friend told me years ago. She had once had a boyfriend who never stayed in a relationship for very long. It turned out the problem was he was way way too talented. As she put it, he would 'bottom out' and it was too painful for her to bear.
Hi Guys, i'm having trouble getting aljazeera on my strong 4663x box.
I have done a blind scan of C1 and pickup all the fox/austar channels, as well as imparja, win gwn etc...
I've gone into the menu and there are no channels coming up on 12367 V...
Signal strengh is at 97 and signal quality is at around 91, LNB skew has been adjusted for max strengh.
Fox Iq is working fine downstairs and have Aurora working fine upstairs.
When i manually scan 12367 V sig. strengh is around 90 and and quality is around 20.
Im using a sharp quad LNB and reciver is setup on universal and 10700...
What am i doing wrong????
Cheers for your help.
Basic Installation of Quad LNB.
G'Day Cobber,
Methinks you are only getting the H output from your LNB.
Exactly what have you got between your box and the LNB.
If a multiswitch, there is your problem.
When you sort that out I will tell you how to get AlJazeera.
Kindest Regards, " The Druid "......
Last edited by beer4life; 16-06-09 at 02:25 PM.
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