HELP ME and I will help fellow FTA users for years to come!

[worthydaydream]

There might be too many variables to this and I might just end up calling the pros for a setup.

ok so, I went to setup this satellite connection, thinking it would be all easy because there are sooo many satellites in the sky. Turns out... nothing... nothing... and more nothing!

Background:
-I have a Pansat 2700A reciever. (New.. no programming done on it at all)
-I have a Television
-I have a DirecTV 18" KU band dish NEW
-I have the included direct TV Dual LNB NEW (I plugged my coaxial cable into the left port)
-I have a "Satellite Finder" NEW thinking this would solve all of lifes problems.
-I have a 50 foot RG6 Coaxial Cable NEW
-I have a 6 foot RG6 Coaxial Cable NEW
-I have a 50 foot RG59 Coaxial Cable (one year old)


NOW, first things first, I obviously underestimated the amount of cable I would need since the dish was well over 50 feet away from my house. Therefor since I bought this RG59 Cable a year ago (Working) and have a Satellite finder which requires two cables anyways.... for testing purposes, I plugged the RG6 in one end and the RG59 in the other.

Picture:
|Satellite|-----RG6----|Satellite Finder|-----RG59----|Receiver|

Question: Can I do this? Would there be problems with compatibility between the RG59 and the RG6?

Now, moving right along, no matter where I setup the satellite, the signal on the Satellite finder was coming up somewhere in the range of 0 to 1. With my view being 99% clear and the amount of satellites in the sky you would think I would find something.
I do belive the satellite finder works, the pin does move around from zero to one, and makes a sound when I plug the coaxial cable into it.

Are my calculations correct:
I used a webpage to find a satellite:
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Satellites/Satellite-List.htm

and randomly choose a satelite located
91.0°W Galaxy 11

I also found my latatude and longitute through google
--Brockport NY area--
Latitude = 43.1939, Longitude = -77.8568

Then I entered in this information to this webpage:
http://www.satsig.net/ssazelm.htm
(since the satellite asks for "Satellite orbit (deg E)" and this satellite is located west... I entered a negative measurement... right?)

sooooo on that webpage I entered:
{First box} -91 {Second box} 43.1939 {Third Box} -77.8568

This gave me all the general dish info required to setup... the only problem was no signal! I have included some pictures of things to maybe clarify any information. I would greatly appreciate any help and once I get this working... I will dedicate my life to helping other innocent future FTA users! :gg


:confused:
Other questions a new person asks themselves:
Do direc TV dishes work with a FTA setup?
Do direc TV LNB's work with a FTA setup?
Does my Pansat reciever need programming before my signal finder will detect a satellite?
Do I need a Television AT ALL for testing purposes when I have this signal finder? (The instructions on the signal finder never mention a TV being required so I did'nt bother to carry that outside)
Is there a way to scan multiple satellites on this pansat receiver or a way to set it up without scanning the hundreds of possible satellites trying to pick up a signal?

Am I even going about this the right way? Does anyone else have a similar setup living near Brockport NY and have some advice for me?

Any other variables or information you wanna toss in there... go right ahead and I will search for the desired info...
Thanks!
Cody

[worthydaydream]

oops forgot the pictures:

2636 <--- Satellite Meter
2637 <--- 44 degrees... right?
2638 <--- Southern Sky... All Clear.

[worthydaydream]

2639 <---- Pansat reciever in the ON position
2640 <---- I don't really know much about other alignment requirements, there weren’t really bolts for all that. But I think I should have been finding some signal none-the-less

[ebms1]

There might be too many variables to this and I might just end up calling the pros for a setup.

ok so, I went to setup this satellite connection, thinking it would be all easy because there are sooo many satellites in the sky. Turns out... nothing... nothing... and more nothing!

Background:
-I have a Pansat 2700A reciever. (New.. no programming done on it at all)
-I have a Television
-I have a DirecTV 18" KU band dish NEW
-I have the included direct TV Dual LNB NEW (I plugged my coaxial cable into the left port)
-I have a "Satellite Finder" NEW thinking this would solve all of lifes problems.
-I have a 50 foot RG6 Coaxial Cable NEW
-I have a 6 foot RG6 Coaxial Cable NEW
-I have a 50 foot RG59 Coaxial Cable (one year old)


NOW, first things first, I obviously underestimated the amount of cable I would need since the dish was well over 50 feet away from my house. Therefor since I bought this RG59 Cable a year ago (Working) and have a Satellite finder which requires two cables anyways.... for testing purposes, I plugged the RG6 in one end and the RG59 in the other.

Picture:
|Satellite|-----RG6----|Satellite Finder|-----RG59----|Receiver|

Question: Can I do this? Would there be problems with compatibility between the RG59 and the RG6?

Now, moving right along, no matter where I setup the satellite, the signal on the Satellite finder was coming up somewhere in the range of 0 to 1. With my view being 99% clear and the amount of satellites in the sky you would think I would find something.
I do belive the satellite finder works, the pin does move around from zero to one, and makes a sound when I plug the coaxial cable into it.

Are my calculations correct:
I used a webpage to find a satellite:
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Satellites/Satellite-List.htm

and randomly choose a satelite located
91.0°W Galaxy 11

I also found my latatude and longitute through google
--Brockport NY area--
Latitude = 43.1939, Longitude = -77.8568

Then I entered in this information to this webpage:
http://www.satsig.net/ssazelm.htm
(since the satellite asks for "Satellite orbit (deg E)" and this satellite is located west... I entered a negative measurement... right?)

sooooo on that webpage I entered:
{First box} -91 {Second box} 43.1939 {Third Box} -77.8568

This gave me all the general dish info required to setup... the only problem was no signal! I have included some pictures of things to maybe clarify any information. I would greatly appreciate any help and once I get this working... I will dedicate my life to helping other innocent future FTA users! :gg


:confused:
Other questions a new person asks themselves:
Do direc TV dishes work with a FTA setup?
Do direc TV LNB's work with a FTA setup?
Does my Pansat reciever need programming before my signal finder will detect a satellite?
Do I need a Television AT ALL for testing purposes when I have this signal finder? (The instructions on the signal finder never mention a TV being required so I did'nt bother to carry that outside)
Is there a way to scan multiple satellites on this pansat receiver or a way to set it up without scanning the hundreds of possible satellites trying to pick up a signal?

Am I even going about this the right way? Does anyone else have a similar setup living near Brockport NY and have some advice for me?

Any other variables or information you wanna toss in there... go right ahead and I will search for the desired info...
Thanks!
Cody


one thing id like to say .... your dish is pointing too high .... im from the south @ 30 90 in NOLA.... i think the thing is that your mount ... or pole is not plumb to the ground... for your setting @ 44 to be correct your pole need to be leveled ... plumb to the ground.... a way of doing this is to take a level & put it on the front & one side of the pole ...(with the dish off) to make sure that the pole is straight up & down or plumb to the ground...doing this will make your dish arm point lower to the horison .... making your dish point closer to the arc of the sats....

[sailor28650]

First of all your dish mounting bracket pole should be vertical with a ruler (and a level across the top of the post) to the ground. From your picture it is nearly horizontal to the ground. At the angle in the picture your only going to collect rain:eek: . Next, its not a great idea to mix cable's. RG59 should be the cable used. The LNB & dish your trying to use will not work with with Galaxy 10 as its a C-band sat:( & the direct LNB is a circular LNB only good for viewing:
Nimiq 1 & 2 (91 & 82);)
EchoStar 7 & 8/10 (119 & 110):(
Direct (bird's):mad:
For true-FTA viewing you will need 1.2 meter or 3.94 feet dish with a linear LNB:D .
Check lyngsat (which can be found through google) for available sat's (in America's), anything in with a 4 digit frequency is going to need a BUD dish 6' or larger dish (most recommend start with an 8' dish). All 5 digit frequencies are KU.
Then you need to verify Encryption type because not all are supported such as PowerVu, Videoguard, MPEG-1.5, Digicipher 2, etc:( . DVB being your only guarantee & that is subject to change.
Last thing your going to need is patience, it is a hobby:) .
Hope this helps,
Sailor
Things of interest for new hobbist:
Google
Lyngsat
Read, read & more reading

[worthydaydream]

Thanks for the help so far! I won't be able to test some of this till tomorrow since I work a pretty stready work week.
It's too bad you say my satellite dish is too small, when I read previous to buying the dish I was informed "the small 18" dish are for ku band signals" and "the larger dishes are for C band signals". I figured since there were so many ku band signals now days, I would not need a huge dish taking up my yard.

I never heard a thing about Linear, or BUD.

Thanks again and I will post my next move! :)

[sailor28650]

Just for a little more info for you BUD is Big Ugly Dish.

[WhiteKnight]

This is what your problem is you need to go to a roof top or the side of the house will work. Then point the dish down farther, and that is what your problem is. i own a C/S 6000 and I did the same this as you did when I first started doing FTA.:)

[worthydaydream]

darn my dad said that too! he kept saying "check out the neighbors dishes they are almost on the horizon"

But I went to this webpage and calculated azimuth and all those numbers... so I figured my angle was correct. It's so confusing for me!

I'm back at college and probably won't continue this project for a while...

But thanks for everyones advice and hopefully I can finish this project next year. Your help will not be forgotten!