Installation Help

[Lawxlb]

Hi people,

Today I mounted my dish with dark motor. I have a Solo2 (running latest BH image). I also have Catseye CL loaded. I flicked to BBC World News on Thor 0.8, angled dish accordingly (elevation, azimuth, skew) and after much effort, no success.

Do i really need an expensive meter to find a satellite? (bearing in mind I was using a basic compass, which did however seem to be working fine. Also, a cheap SLX meter. Which didn't really seem to do a lot tbh!)

I set up tuner A correctly (I believe) and haven't currently touched tuner B. When I flicked to BBC World news, the motor did automatically turn to 1W (proving cable is good). I then aligned dish with compass to correct azimuth and adjusted dish elevation with protractor. I would swear blind everything is pretty much spot on and tried tweaking a millimeter at a time, but to no avail.

Is there anything else I have to do to channels or tuner in set up before I can receive them? I have no sub card at present, so I assume BBC World is FTA?

All help much appreciated..

[simon 2003]

yes it is fta ,if it was me id have your solo2 on positioner setup menu with bbc freq entered and move the dish with very small adjustments at the dish (not motor) and get someone to tell you when the signal bar moves presuming you have good line of site, if you have the azimuth set right should be just east and west adjustments ,simple but effective

[Mickha]

Does you cheap meter have an adjustment control? You usually turn this until the meter reads 5, or about half way, then gently adjust your dish to get it to move to 10, adjust the controller again, until the meter reads 5, then move the dish again, to get the maximum reading.
Keep doing this until you get a picture, or a strong enough signal to scan in some channels, on your receiver.

[echelon]

no you dont need an expensive meter, I use a cheap one that makes a whistling noise and the pitch goes up when it finds a satellite, but you cannot tell which one so I have a sat box with bbc world news selected and the signal and quality bars showing, and a small portable tv scarted from it (the sat box has a current preinstalled channel list that you know is working, like catseye`s list in your case)

the meter tells you when you are on a satellite, the box and tv show you when you are on the correct satellite as the channel clears and the strength bars show high readings, fine tune as necessary

ps:- you are looking for true south here, not magnetic south, just make sure you have locked off the motor at your latitude, then adjust right and left on the motor pole mounting u-bolts and dish up and down on its elevation adjustment until you get bbc world news which is fta as you surmised. the dish is likely to be plumb, almost vertical so not canted back or forward

[skomedal]

you are looking for true south here, not magnetic south

And AFAIK the lnb has zero skew on a motorised setup that is zeroed onto a sat due/near south of your location.

[port06]

Hi Lawxlb,
Have u had any luck yet in finding BBC world...
Tried to message you but have not sufficent posts to date...
If still no success, as echelon suggests , tv & receiver out beside u at the dish location....( for us part time installers)..
tv volume set well up the scale...As previous post..dish looks almost vertical from side view when on most southerly sat
at 1 west
slight movements east or west with dish slightly slack on the pole...dont turn the pole for this east or west bit........
when best signal is found.....tighten clamp nuts evenly ( Not just one fully & then the other) ....Keep a close eye on
the tv to make sure of no signal loss during clamp tightening....also be careful not to damage or scrape ure new stb.....
and not on a rainy day.............Good luck.

Cheers, port06

[Bbigfoot]

Hi lawxib,

I use the VU+ meter to set dish.
Select BBC 1w, go into Menu,
Signal meter.
Have someone tell you when
it displays a Quality signal.
(Blue bars shoot up)
on Solo2 signal meter.

BF.

[Lawxlb]

Thank you everybody for helpful advice..

So when you guys are suggesting my dish should be pretty much vertical, you mean basically a 12 o'clock position (no elevation at all)? By the way, I have dish mounted at the end of my garden on a pole (it's definitely 100% plumb) and according to an app on my phone it states I need dish at 30.9 elevation for Thor 0.8 (motor locked at 39, as stated in manual).

Thanks in advance!

[echelon]

Thank you everybody for helpful advice..

So when you guys are suggesting my dish should be pretty much vertical, you mean basically a 12 o'clock position (no elevation at all)? By the way, I have dish mounted at the end of my garden on a pole (it's definitely 100% plumb) and according to an app on my phone it states I need dish at 30.9 elevation for Thor 0.8 (motor locked at 39, as stated in manual).

Thanks in advance!

from the side the dish will be almost vertical , or plumb, like holding a protractor with its straight side plumb and its curved side curving from 12 o`clock to 6 o`clock on one side only, and although your dish info may say 30.9 mine is more like 27 degrees here so dont take that figure as gospel, especially as the dish will be an offset type with its own degrees to factor in, motors usually have elevation on one side and location (latitude) on the other side, same with dishes too, so make sure you have used the correct scale and the correct details for your latitude

so assuming those figures you used are correct, and the box has been sent to 0.8w thor for bbc world news, the pointer on the motor will be near but not actually on the zero mark (an fta channel on 5w is more likely to be using your zero mark like mine is)

then its a case of trying to aim it true south (and not magnetic south which will be several degrees off) by moving it left or right slowly until those bars pop up on bbc world news on the tv (with your box set as explained by another owner). when found, stop a moment and check the signal strength and quality, and also mark the pole and mount with a fine tipped black marker pen to find it again should you need to. then fine tune it until you peak those signal bars, by moving left/right and moving the dish elevation slightly up or down from its 30.9 value. when you have peaked it, lock everything up and keep checking those signal bars as you tighten the nuts.

then use the marker pen to mark off the elevation on the motor, the dish elevation and also mark the pole as well, making sure you have reference marks on all the mounting brackets. that way its easy to find where you started from if you try to tune further and mess up your endeavours

once bbc world news on 11862H 28000 has been found, check the fta channel MUSIC CHANNEL on 11900H 2800 as well, and also test a vertical fta channel like bTV-1 on 11247V 24500, all should be good signal and quality. then if its tight you can start checking fta channels on the rest of the arc, from 30w to 42e inclusive. concentrate on FTA channels through all of this, forget about scrambled channels until this installation is 100% correct

nb:- as skomedal correctly pointed out, the lnb has NO skew when pointing due south at thor

ps:- my darkmotor booklet shows 30.9 degrees dish bracket angle is a latitude of 24 degrees and elevation of 66 degrees, so are you sure that is your correct details that you posted for YOUR latitude ?

a motor elevation of 39 in my booklet translates to a latitude of 51 degrees, and a dish angle of 27.6

start with your latitude in your booklet, then check the dish bracket angle etc

[Lawxlb]

Cheers echelon.. You're a star!

This probably sounds really dumb, but with my elevation set to 30 (or even 27 as you say), the dish isn't going to be vertical?.. More like a 1 o'clock position. Or am I not using the protractor properly? The markings on the dish bracket are not readable, so i'm using an app called 'smart protractor'. I know this isn't ideal, but thought it should get me vaguely in the right area?..

[echelon]

I wouldnt worry too much as long as its near vertical from the side to start with, so not leaning back and not canted forward (not much anyway)

you will be moving the motor mount on the pole left and right, and the dish up or down until bbc world news is found, then fine tune as I said

you can then mark everything up yourself, just ensure the motor elevation is correct, either using its elevation markings or using its latitude markings

most motors have elevation on one side and latitude on the other, and dishes usually have 2 sets of markings, one on either side

the important thing here is to set the motor elevation correctly for your latitude, then the other 2 are both variable anyway (left/right/up/down)

[Lawxlb]

Cool.. Thanks again buddy

[Lawxlb]

Install update!

I now have Thor 0.8 (sig 90%) and also a few others (namely Astra 28.2 around 89%). So proving everything aligned and working ok. However (deep breath), I am not getting anything on 30W (def have clear line of sight, according to dishpointer app). 39E (as think 42E is obscured by house roof) is showing 0, then flicks up to 15% every now and then.

To confirm, mast is perfectly vertical. Elevation is correct (39 in my case. London area). Back of dish lined up with motor correctly.

I set up using USALS. So zeroed motor, flicked to BBC World on Thor. This sent motor to 1W (or actually looked slightly further West according to scale on motor. Looked closer to 5W. I haven't adjusted any predefined settings in USALS btw), then tuned in to satellite. As i say, got 90% signal level & AGC - 41%.

Is it a case of just fine tuning now?

Any suggestions?

[echelon]

well, I did say that thor would appear to be about 5w on the motor pointer, which is probably correct

your NEW problem is that you are close but still not tracking the arc correctly and so missing the sats on the outer edges of that arc

so mark everything first so you can easily return anything you slacken off to where it is now as the starting point

then its a case of raising or flattening the arc, which may impact slightly on the sats you already have, as you have to compromise in order to get the full arc

so yes its a case of fine tuning, which is to slightly alter the dish elevation, or possibly to very slightly alter the motor elevation, these adjustments wont be much so be very diligent on this and try to get 30w and 39e, whilst still getting thor as you check one side to the other, passing through thor at the "middle"

so there you have it, you are close, just not close enough as yet, but small adjustments should fix 30w and 39e, obviously not 42e if the roof obscures the signal

my lad had a similar problem when we installed his, except his house blocked 30w , but an existing zone 2 dish on the side of his house fixed that problem using an existing 4 way diseqc switch ;)

ps:- the usals position on your receiver should be set to your longitude and latitude too, say 0.5w and 51.3N , in which case your motor should be set to around 51.5 and not 51 which may account for the incorrect arc (this may mean altering the actual motor elevation from 39 to say 38.5 approx)

[satpaul]

You have set the Dark Motor to 51 Degrees not 39

[TK4|2|1]

56253

This might explain what's happening


Sent using sorcery and the magic interwebs

[Lawxlb]

Thanks very much everyone for advice (ech, sp, tk). Thought it was just a case of fine tuning. Just checking I was in the right ball park, before I go altering all my settings.

What would be a good average signal for all satellites? 70-80%?

Also, what does AGC stand for (below SNR) or mean? I've tried trawling the net, but can't find an answer.

Cheers chap's..

[TK4|2|1]

It used to stand for Automatic Gain Control when I learnt TV repair.


Sent using sorcery and the magic interwebs

[echelon]

yep , deffo correct that , and SNR = Signal to Noise Ratio too

why they chose those definitions for a satellite box I will never know ! lol

but in simple terms

change SNR to SIGNAL by dropping the last 2 words

and change AGC to QUALITY

and BER = Bit Error Rate

you then have SIGNAL and QUALITY and ERRORS as the 3 main suspects

signal can be ambiguous as there is always some background noise , so good signal and good or excellent quality with little or no errors is what you are after

the amount varies from box to box , but 70% to 90% is always a good starting point on most boxes, and QUALITY is what you are aiming for

[digicon]

@echelon

those two are the wrong way round:

SNR (Signal to noise ratio) is the QUALITY of the broadcast signal

AGC (Automatic Gain Control) is the power of the signal

[echelon]

like I said , shame they dont use laymans terms like they do on most other boxes, saves the confusion , LOL :D

[Lawxlb]

Install now complete and looking good!!

I'm very grateful to all who contributed.. So thanks again..

Have a great signal level on all sats too.. 88% is about the lowest (of the sats I use mainly. i.e Astra, Hotbird, etc)!! Astra is 99%.. So very pleased indeed..

I now hope to put something back into the community by attempting to answer a few newbies (like myself) questions..

1 last thing.... I can't 'BlackHole Full Backup' to USB? Only gives option for HDD.. I'm sure I saw USB previously? All I've altered recently was a different skin, but wouldn't imagine that would affect my box recognising a USB stick?

[echelon]

I now hope to put something back into the community by attempting to answer a few newbies (like myself) questions..

1 last thing.... I can't 'BlackHole Full Backup' to USB? Only gives option for HDD.. I'm sure I saw USB previously? All I've altered recently was a different skin, but wouldn't imagine that would affect my box recognising a USB stick?

can only see HDD on my duo in vix 3