Help Needed

[Danny]

Hello everyone . Im new to satellites and im stuck at the momment on trying to get any signal from my dish. I have a 85 cm dish which has a single ku lnb on it i think its frequency is 11.30 ghz. I have my dish connected to my receiver which is a dreamax 480 (openbox x-810). Using my sat finder I have tried to pick up various satellites such as optus d1, c1 and b3, pas8 etc. No luck. Do i have to set the receiver to a certain frequency? Or adjust the LNB? Any help would be greatly appreaciated. Thanks.

[allstarnz]

Have a read around here, lots of advice.

A good place to start is

[Danny]

Thanks.

[beer4life]

Hello everyone . Im new to satellites and im stuck at the momment on trying to get any signal from my dish. I have a 85 cm dish which has a single ku lnb on it i think its frequency is 11.30 ghz. I have my dish connected to my receiver which is a dreamax 480 (openbox x-810). Using my sat finder I have tried to pick up various satellites such as optus d1, c1 and b3, pas8 etc. No luck. Do i have to set the receiver to a certain frequency? Or adjust the LNB? Any help would be greatly appreaciated. Thanks.

G'Day Danny,
As you seem to have discovered, not as easy as it may first appear.
Either set up your receiver where you can see the signal level from where you are adjusting the dish, or get a signal level meter to put in series with the co-ax feed at the dish. Available from e-bay etc for about $30.
1. Make sure your vertical mount (mast) is plumb. (Vertical in all directions).
2. Find the elevation from your location and set that on your mast mount.
3. Determine azimuth from your location. (Relative to True North).
4. Leave the dish a little loose so you can swing it L/R.
(Makes it easier if you put a clamp on the mast to stop the dish and mount sliding down as you adjust azimuth.)
5. Now go to your STB menu/ Antenna Setup.
(a) LNB type....... Standard
(b) LNB Local Freq....... 11300
(c) 22 KHz ....... Off
(d) DiSEqC ....... Fixed
(e) LNB Power .......On
(f) 0/12 Volt ........ 0 Volt
(g) TP ........ 12367 /V/27800 [Better to use this TP for setting up C1 as it is not on other nearby Sats.] (You need to have at least one valid TP.)
Now go to the dish, but remember that you are trying to point it at a Sat that is 36000 + Kms away and not much bigger than a household fridge.
(h) Adjust the STB Skew so that, when looking into the dish, it is twisted about 40 Deg clockwise. (This is a Preset Skew, common to all Optus Sats.)
(i) First try adjusting azimuth in very small increments no more than 15 Deg either side of where you previously set it. Next go to elevation. Takes patience and a modicum of luck.
(j) When you start getting any sort increase adjusting elevation, you can then tweak up all 3, in very small increments only.
(k) All peaked up, pat yourself on the back and check out that House Fridge. Sure to have a stubbie in it.
Kindest Regards, " The Druid ".

[Danny]

Must be stupid. Tried everything you said beer4life thanks for your reply. No luck. Starting to thinks maybe box firmware is out of date or something. The signal on the box reads the following:

(Lnb is set a 11300)

Level: ||||||||||||||||| -36 dbm

Signal/Noise: 0.0 db

Quality: 0%

Tried to update box firmware through serial cable but no luck either just says its connecting but nothing ever happens. don't know what to do Thanks.

[Danny]

Sorry for double posting before

[allstarnz]

is your sat finder actually getting hits?

technique goes something along the lines of:
get a compass, find the direction you're heading....
move in small increments on a plane left to right until you get a hit
turn your sat finder down just stop it beeping
refine the position
repeat for horizontal.

if you don't get a hit on the sat finder, you're definitely not getting anything on your set top box

[CoopsOz]

Do you have access to someone elses foxtel setup? If you can, take your box around there and plug it in.....that will tell you if the stb is set up correctly. Once you get a signal you may as well do a blind scan to set up the rest of the freqs. While its scanning make your self up a little tool, this tool is merely a length of wood with a hole drilled in the middle of it. Tie a piece of string to it and weigh the string down with a 1/2" nut or something similar. Now take your new "tool" out to your mates sat dish and place the wood on the dishes back plane, let the string hang naturally and mark where it falls with a texta. Some peeps will say "why don't you just use the elevation increments stamped into the dish bracket?" but from personal experience not all dishes (and brackets) are created equal. Now take your marked timber back to your house, hold it up on your dish and raise/lower until the string and line marries up. Once that's done you will only have to worry about the azimuth, remember that STB aren't as responsive as a spec an, once you move the dish (and only millimetres at a time) you must pause to let your set top box catch up.

[fromaron]

Must be stupid. Tried everything you said beer4life thanks for your reply. No luck. Starting to thinks maybe box firmware is out of date or something. The signal on the box reads the following:

(Lnb is set a 11300)

Level: ||||||||||||||||| -36 dbm

Signal/Noise: 0.0 db

Quality: 0%

Tried to update box firmware through serial cable but no luck either just says its connecting but nothing ever happens. don't know what to do Thanks.

If you follow ber4life instructions you will get pictures 100% guarrantee.
You need to check few things prior to the alignment though. Your signal level sounds a bit low, I might be wrong of course. Try to disconnect the coax cable from your STB completely and report back signal level STB shows.
Also, if you have your signal meter in-line, make sure it is connected right way, as the port marked as "LNB" to be connected to the LNB not to the receiver.

[Danny]

Disconnected cable from wall box read

Level: -81 dbm

Signal/Noise: Nothing

Quality: Nothing


With cable connected:

Level:|||||||||||||||||| -36 dbm

Signal/Noise: As above

Quality: As above

[CoopsOz]

That is a good indication that the lnb is working.

[Danny]

Thanks guys. So the LNB is working. Would like to retrace beer4life steps but the heaven have opened up with rain. When trying to update firmware on the box is a dial up modem required or just the serial cable. The cable goes from usb to serial.

[CoopsOz]

Just serial is all that is required. Those USB to serial converters are a bit hit and miss, you are probably better off using an older machine with a proper serial port (or a desktop). I'd hazard a guess that it won't be necessary to update the firmware anyway.

[Danny]

All working now. Picked up satellite you guys are awesome here at austech.info i have been coming here for years and you guys are always willing to help. Thanks heaps. Also special thanks to beer4life and coopsoz.

[Farmsky]

What's you location danny? There's no such thing as a preset skew.

[Danny]

Location is melbourne

[Farmsky]

Good show

[CoopsOz]

Happy viewing Danny

[Farmsky]

Do you have access to someone elses foxtel setup? If you can, take your box around there and plug it in.....that will tell you if the stb is set up correctly. Once you get a signal you may as well do a blind scan to set up the rest of the freqs. While its scanning make your self up a little tool, this tool is merely a length of wood with a hole drilled in the middle of it. Tie a piece of string to it and weigh the string down with a 1/2" nut or something similar. Now take your new "tool" out to your mates sat dish and place the wood on the dishes back plane, let the string hang naturally and mark where it falls with a texta. Some peeps will say "why don't you just use the elevation increments stamped into the dish bracket?" but from personal experience not all dishes (and brackets) are created equal. Now take your marked timber back to your house, hold it up on your dish and raise/lower until the string and line marries up. Once that's done you will only have to worry about the azimuth, remember that STB aren't as responsive as a spec an, once you move the dish (and only millimetres at a time) you must pause to let your set top box catch up.

Hi CoopsOz.

Nice technique, but this neat little tool relies on having identical manufactured dishes.

And those elevation scales can be pretty ruff indicators ie within somewhere between 0 - 5 degrees

Dish offset angle varies between manufacturers and even between dishes in their line up.

[CoopsOz]

Yeah I know, there are a thousand variables, both dishes need to have the same offset ect....but it does give you a ballpark start.