Installer can't find Intelsat701 Spot 2 Ku Band

**mtv** · 16-05-11, 02:50 PM

Originally Posted by Bizzibee

I did noticed that there was a kink in the RG6 cable when I was in the roof last weekend setting mouse baits. I straightened it out.

Usually, once a kink has been in a cable, just straightening it out doesn't fix it 'electronically'.

It may then look ok physically and electrical continuity is ok (as it still would have been with the kink) but it can effect signals considerably and satellite frequencies will be more likely to suffer.

This may of may not be the answer to your issue, but the entire receiving chain is only as good as it's weakest link (or in this case... kink).

**Bizzibee** · 16-05-11, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by mtv

Usually, once a kink has been in a cable, just straightening it out doesn't fix it 'electronically'.

It may then look ok physically and electrical continuity is ok (as it still would have been with the kink) but it can effect signals considerably and satellite frequencies will be more likely to suffer.

This may of may not be the answer to your issue, but the entire receiving chain is only as good as it's weakest link (or in this case... kink).

Hi mtv,

Thank you for your thoughts. I thought as much myself. I'll talked to the installer about this.

I got home tonight and my Wife told me that we lost all channels off the Satellite today at approx. 10am. I just checked again now and there is certainly no reception at all. The Satellite Finder Needle meter still shows Satellite reception, but there is nothing showing on the Pace Decoder. So either the Pace is stuffed, or the LNB is stuffed. I didn't get to the post office in time to catch them as I was late getting away from work.

Anyway if it's still out tomorrow when I get home, I'll try the Ultraplus 900HD miCro PVR Satellite Decoder from Leroy and see what happens.

Thanks again for you input guys!

Kind Regards

Mark

**viewer** · 16-05-11, 07:53 PM

Is your Pace receiver supplied by LBF?

If so ( and knowing you are getting your own off Leroy), wouldn't it be a possibilility to ask LBF to send you a second unit to test against the old one? I also note their web page mentions a pvr unit as well?

Good luck, we are all waiting to see what the problem is as well!

**mtv** · 16-05-11, 08:28 PM

With any digital signal... terrestrial or satellite, the critical factor, especially with marginal signals, is signal quality, which determines the reliability of reception.

A satfinder cannot and does not indicate signal quality, only signal strength.

Even the signal quality 'scales' in decoders are not accurate, but a guide at best.

A satfinder wouldn't show signal if it and the LNB weren't working, so they muct be getting power from the decoder OK, but that dosn't mean the decoder tuner itself is working as it should.

If the dish and LNB is aligned correctly, and there are no cabling or connection faults (the cable kink is a concern) then it's likely to be a decoder or LNB issue.

**LeroyPatrol** · 16-05-11, 08:38 PM

Geeze I hope this UltraPlus does the trick as you're building it up!!

It has a signal strenth screen in the menu so you will be able to better align your dish.

Leroy

PS Plus we all know you got it for the PVR functionality.

**Bizzibee** · 16-05-11, 10:27 PM

Originally Posted by viewer

Is your Pace receiver supplied by LBF?

If so ( and knowing you are getting your own off Leroy), wouldn't it be a possibilility to ask LBF to send you a second unit to test against the old one? I also note their web page mentions a pvr unit as well?

Good luck, we are all waiting to see what the problem is as well!

Yes the Pace is supplied by LBF. If the UltraPlus works in place of the Pace, I will ask LBF for a replacement Pace box. If the UltraPlus doesn't work, then there is a good chance the Universal LNB is stuffed. I will then ask LBF for a replacement LNB as they supplied the original LNB.

Don't need the PVR as I've purchased the UltraPlus 900HD miCro from Leroy.

Cheers!

Mark

**Bizzibee** · 16-05-11, 10:30 PM

Originally Posted by LeroyPatrol

Geeze I hope this UltraPlus does the trick as you're building it up!!

It has a signal strenth screen in the menu so you will be able to better align your dish.

Leroy

PS Plus we all know you got it for the PVR functionality.

Yes I hope that when I substitute the UltraPlus for the Pace everything begins working again. If not it would seem to me that the LNB could possibly be faulty. It's got to be either the Pace decoder or the LNB that is causing these issues we have suffered. Whatever was causing the issue has failed completely now it would seem. Which is a good thing...I hope. I've just arrived home from French lessons and still can't pickup nothing on the satellite receiver. Unless there is something wrong with all the transponders that LBF used on IS-701. I'm assuming it's working for everyone else.

Cheers!

Mark

**Bizzibee** · 17-05-11, 12:05 PM

Hi Guys,

Well we got up this morning and had reception of all channels on the three transponders, and everything appeared O.K. Again I'm not sure what's going on. But had nothing from 10am yesterday until we went to bed last night at 10:45pm.

Anyway I picked up the UltraPlus 900HD miCro Satellite Decoder from the post office this morning on my way to work. I'll plug that in when I get home tonight and see how things go over the next few days.

I'm still none the wiser about that causing these issues.

Cheers

Mark

**Bizzibee** · 18-05-11, 11:40 AM

Hi Guys,

Well I installed the UnltraPlus 900HD miCro PVR Satellite Decoder last night. The package I have from LBF states they they use these three KU band Transponders from the Intelsat 701 Satellite .

TRANSPONDER_FREQUENCY__IF FREQUENCY__POLAR____FEC__SYMBOL RATE__TONE 22KHz

CAL 1_______11610 MHz___1860 MHz______H-18v_____3/4___45000_________Off

FTV_________11174 MHz___1424 MHz______H-18v_____3/4___23150_________Off

CAL2________10995 MHz___1245 MHz______H-18v_____3/4___45000_________Off

According to the UltraPlus 900HD miCro Satellite Decoder, I get the following signal strength for the following transponders (off my 1.2metre Satellite Dish), which appear to be constant. I waited before posting these until I was sure they remained constant:

71% Signal Strength on 11174 (H) 30000
35% Signal Strength on 10995 (H) 45000
13% Signal Strength on 11610 (H) 45000

Not sure why there is a difference for the symbol rate on 11174 MHz. The UltraPlus says 30000, but LBF say 23150.

See LyngSat for details on Intelsat 701:

Leroy said that he wasn't sure that the signal strength meter was accurate through the universal LNB because the figures he got when he tested the UltraPlus 900HD miCro on his 85cm Satellite Dish were a fair bit different compared to the UltraPlus 980HD miCro that he tested at the same time. Leroy warned me that the firmware in the UltraPlus 900HD miCro most likely needed tweaking for use with the universal LNB has has been done with the UltraPlus 980HD miCro since it was released.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Kind Regards

Mark

**LeroyPatrol** · 18-05-11, 12:16 PM

Hi Mark,

I'm sure the levels aren't accurate with that firmware because when I saw them I hooked up a 980! As mentioned the Universal LNB isn't showing correct signal levels where as the 980 is fine. So with this in mind you can't really compare signals on TP's. This has been reported and will be corrected in a firmware update. 10700 LNB's are fine.

More importantly though are the pictures fine with no break ups as this was almost the primary reason, next to having a PVR for going down this road?

Cheers,
Leroy

**Bizzibee** · 18-05-11, 12:47 PM

Hi Leroy,

Thank you for your post.

Originally Posted by LeroyPatrol

"....More importantly though are the pictures fine with no break ups as this was almost the primary reason, next to having a PVR for going down this road?"

As reported in this thread, I have had a few reception issues after the installation. However as also reported in this thread, I had no reception from any transponders on Intelsat 701 from Monday at 10am until early Tuesday morning. I don't know if it was a issue on my end, or a Satellite outage. I asked LBF via email, but they haven't replied to my question. I don't know if anyone else had issues or it was just me. But I will monitor our service and see how things go.

Originally Posted by LeroyPatrol

"...I'm sure the levels aren't accurate with that firmware because when I saw them I hooked up a 980! As mentioned the Universal LNB isn't showing correct signal levels where as the 980 is fine. So with this in mind you can't really compare signals on TP's. This has been reported and will be corrected in a firmware update. 10700 LNB's are fine..."

Yes as discussed with you during our telephone call, I will be waiting for a firmware update to address this signal strength issue. Once I have a more reliable indication of signal strength, I will have an idea about the dish alignment...I hope!

Hopefully these reception issues will be a thing of the past.

Kind Regard

Mark

**Bizzibee** · 18-05-11, 12:54 PM

Leroy,

Just one other thing you might want to tell the UltraPlus Firmware Team (apart from the issue signal strength meter through a universal LNB). When I insert the smart card, it says that it is initialising the card, and the scrambled channels become viewable. However if you go to the utilities menu, it shows no card being in the card slot. Is that a bug or the fact that I don't know what I'm looking for or doing?

Thanks!

Kind Regards

Mark

**viewer** · 18-05-11, 01:21 PM

In case Leroy is busy, and until he responds, try this infoe he gave me...

Me....
Put it back in Ultra...zippo...nothing
Checked in the CAS setting, and it now does not even acknowledge a card in the slot.

Leroy..
You can't go by the CAS menu as that's the firmwares CAS menu where you are using the MCAS in the plugin menu. If you highlight the MCAS and hit OK on the remote then you will see the card details.
The M in MCAS stands for Multi as it supports all common access systems like Irdeto, NDS, Viaccess, Nagra etc etc

This only good if you have loaded the programme or it is pre-installed tho

**LeroyPatrol** · 18-05-11, 01:30 PM

thanks viewer. If MCAS wasn't being used you would see the cards in the firmwares CAS menu.

**Bizzibee** · 18-05-11, 01:35 PM

Originally Posted by viewer

In case Leroy is busy, and until he responds, try this infoe he gave me...

Me....
Put it back in Ultra...zippo...nothing
Checked in the CAS setting, and it now does not even acknowledge a card in the slot.

Leroy..
You can't go by the CAS menu as that's the firmwares CAS menu where you are using the MCAS in the plugin menu. If you highlight the MCAS and hit OK on the remote then you will see the card details.
The M in MCAS stands for Multi as it supports all common access systems like Irdeto, NDS, Viaccess, Nagra etc etc

This only good if you have loaded the programme or it is pre-installed tho

Hi Viewer,

Thanks for your post. Yes Leroy just PM'ed me giving me that same information you did. I thought I might not be doing the right thing.

Originally Posted by Leroy

"....That is correct as the CAS firmware is not reading the card the MCAS plugin is. If you go into the plugin menu and highlight MCAS and press ok you will see another menu. Press ok again and you'll see card info...

Thanks again!

Kind Regards

Mark

**jrmargi** · 19-05-11, 07:51 AM

I tried getting this sat in cairns previously, I am on the edge of the foot print at 39.5. It obviously must gradually pitter out, I had trouble getting the sat but might try again after reading this. I am no longer working away so have some time to spend on the dishes again.

**Bizzibee** · 19-05-11, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by jrmargi

I tried getting this sat in cairns previously, I am on the edge of the foot print at 39.5. It obviously must gradually pitter out, I had trouble getting the sat but might try again after reading this. I am no longer working away so have some time to spend on the dishes again.

Hi jrmargi,

Yes you certainly are on the edge of the foot print for Intelsat 701 spot 2. Recommended satellite dish size is 135cm according to the Satbeams web site. If you need a large satellite dish, I've seen some brand new 1.5m Ku Band Satellite Dishes (Auotsat Brand) on ebay for $90. Not too bad an investment to see if it would work.

Good luck with it. I hope you are successful!

Kind Regards

Mark

**Bizzibee** · 21-05-11, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by jrmargi

I tried getting this sat in cairns previously, I am on the edge of the foot print at 39.5. It obviously must gradually pitter out, I had trouble getting the sat but might try again after reading this. I am no longer working away so have some time to spend on the dishes again.

jrmargi,

You might have better luck when IS-701 is retired and replaced with IS-18. The new satellite has been delayed from it's planned launch date in June 2011 until either Aug or Sep 2011. Perhaps even as late as Dec 2011. Anyway the footprint and power level for IS-18 in this area are much bigger and better than the existing IS-701.

Intelsat 18 Ku Band Beam Spot 4 South Pacific

Intelsat 701 Ku Band Beam Spot 2

Intelsat 18 C Band South Hemi Beam Spot

Intelsat 701 C Band Beam Spot

Cheers!

Mark

**viewer** · 31-05-11, 01:31 PM

How are you getting on with this problem...keen to see how it is resolved?

**LeroyPatrol** · 31-05-11, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by viewer

How are you getting on with this problem...keen to see how it is resolved?

I ususally work on the no news is good news principal

One can only assume he's recording away happily with his new UltraPlus 900 he purchased. I'd be surprised if the dish alignment was the issue being a 1.2m.

......Leroy