AsiaSat S3 Set-up at home

[Colcam42]

Hi all, new member, I am not too clever with satellite set-ups, I have for several years travelled with a portable dish for the old Optus Aurora on C1, now VAST and use a First Strike Sat finder. We bought this finder a few years ago because I thought that it would be fun looking at different satallites. Had/have a lot to learn. Meanwhile, back home my S-In-Law has obtained a large fibreglass dish, (about 2mtres) and a sat box that was elsewhere recieving AsiaSat S3.
Used Dishpointer to locate direction but am having trouble getting anything.
I have tried the pre-set values in the finder, 105.5E; F:03760; SR26000; LNB Lo changed to 5150 (new LNB) and LNB set 18 (h)
According to the transponder list, this is Globecast and has 19 free channels.
Tried using other frequency and SR rates off of the list, but only the above gives me any, though weak quality, decoder shows no signal, no quality on its set-up menu.
What would the easiest and best frequencies/SR settings would be best for me to try?
I have thought that setting the First Strike meter to any of the listed rates would eventually get me a lock-on, but only the above gives me anything.
Any (not rude) suggestions?
Col

[mtv]

G'day Col,

Just to confirm..... the same dish and decoder were working fine on AS3s previously and the setup has just been moved?

What area was the dish in previously and where is it now?

As you are probably aware, Dishpointer is only approximate and you'll still need to make adjustments to azimuth, elevation and LNB focal distance and skew.

I'm curious why you needed to change the LNB LO... as most C-Band LNB's have an LO of 5150.

What was the LO of the old LNB?

Setting the LNB up correctly may be your problem.

The focal distance (the in/out position of the LNB in the scalar ring) needs to be spot on, as does the skew (rotational angle).

You are probably familiar with these adjustments when setting up your portable dish for Aurora/VAST, however, the C-Band skew for AS3s will be about 40 deg different from that which your Optus sats skew was used.

Have you adjusted the new LNB skew and focal length correctly?

Is the signal path completely clear of all obstructions?

If you could post some pics of your dish and LNB, that would be helpful.

[Colcam42]

Hi MTV, thanks for replying, the dish assembly was moved from about 10 Km away. The change to the First Strike Meter default LNB setting was because the LNB on the dish is not Lo 10700, but the Lo 05150 as stated. (Assumed that this was the right thing to do).
The old LNB did appear to work at this site for about a minute then we lost the signal. Putting the sat finder back on and we found the LNB doing silly things to the readings. (signal strength fluctuating wildly) A new LNB was obtained after sending a pic to >>>>>>plus, who confirmed and sent the replacement. Replacement is giving a stable signal strength but quality only about 2.2.
I copied original alignment marks of of the old LNB drawn there by the original owner.
I guess that I can try to adjust the LNB but which of the transponder list frequencies should be best for trying????
I will take a photo and see if I can upload to the forum.
Cheers, Col

[beer4life]

Hi MTV, thanks for replying, the dish assembly was moved from about 10 Km away. The change to the First Strike Meter default LNB setting was because the LNB on the dish is not Lo 10700, but the Lo 05150 as stated. (Assumed that this was the right thing to do).
The old LNB did appear to work at this site for about a minute then we lost the signal. Putting the sat finder back on and we found the LNB doing silly things to the readings. (signal strength fluctuating wildly) A new LNB was obtained after sending a pic to >>>>>>plus, who confirmed and sent the replacement. Replacement is giving a stable signal strength but quality only about 2.2.
I copied original alignment marks of of the old LNB drawn there by the original owner.
I guess that I can try to adjust the LNB but which of the transponder list frequencies should be best for trying????
I will take a photo and see if I can upload to the forum.
Cheers, Col

G'Day Cobber.
The Ku Band uses higher Frequencies (5 Diget). whereas C Band is (4 Digets).
The Asiasat 3S uses C band for the channels of interest, therefor you are correct in changing the LNB to 5150.
However you do need to change the settings in the Satfinder and Decoder to 5150.
Then you need to adjust Focal length, Skew, Azimuth and Elevation as outlined above.

Kindest Regards, " The Druid ".