Dish mover hint for low signal transponders

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supwiddiss
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Dish mover hint for low signal transponders

Post by supwiddiss » Sun Nov 18, 2018 7:34 pm

I scanned 131W. Noticed I wasn't getting some transponders showing in Dreamset. A friend suggested I "bump the dish a few clicks and watch in signal finder". Sure enough, a few clicks and the transponders that were weak peaked to match the strong ones. And then the strong ones got weaker.
For a bit I settled for a happy medium. Then the snow flew and signal went kablooie. So to watch a channel on this tp...4 clicks this way, 4 that way for another tp. Total bs.
I set a preset in the positioner for strong tp's in one position, a preset for ones peaked in the other position. Now what? How to get the dish to move that few clicks? Ahhh. Back to my blindscan brainstorm. Make a new sat in satellites.xml with only weak tp's. Then assign it a new diseqc in tuner setup. As Kelly Bundy said...."Wa-La"!
Hey it's my first draft and needs to be tweaked. But it works like a peach. Mind the duplicates.

<sat name="131.0W C-band AMC 11" flags="1" position="-1311">
<transponder frequency="3720000" symbol_rate="30000000" polarization="1" fec_inner="4" inversion="2" modulation="2" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>
<transponder frequency="3760000" symbol_rate="30000000" polarization="1" fec_inner="4" inversion="2" modulation="2" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>
<transponder frequency="3780000" symbol_rate="30000000" polarization="0" fec_inner="4" inversion="2" modulation="2" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>
<transponder frequency="3790000" symbol_rate="12400000" polarization="1" fec_inner="5" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="3808000" symbol_rate="15800000" polarization="1" fec_inner="4" inversion="2" modulation="2" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>
<transponder frequency="3860000" symbol_rate="30000000" polarization="0" fec_inner="4" inversion="2" modulation="2" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>
<transponder frequency="3880000" symbol_rate="30000000" polarization="1" fec_inner="4" inversion="2" modulation="2" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>
<transponder frequency="3900000" symbol_rate="30000000" polarization="0" fec_inner="4" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>
<transponder frequency="3928000" symbol_rate="14323000" polarization="1" fec_inner="4" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="3995000" symbol_rate="19510000" polarization="1" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4020000" symbol_rate="29270000" polarization="0" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4040000" symbol_rate="29270000" polarization="1" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4060000" symbol_rate="29270000" polarization="0" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4075000" symbol_rate="19510000" polarization="1" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4092000" symbol_rate="9760000" polarization="1" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4100000" symbol_rate="30000000" polarization="0" fec_inner="4" inversion="2" modulation="2" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4120000" symbol_rate="30000000" polarization="1" fec_inner="4" inversion="2" modulation="2" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4140000" symbol_rate="19510000" polarization="0" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4160000" symbol_rate="30000000" polarization="1" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="2" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>
</sat>
<sat name="131.0W C-band AMC 11 *" flags="1" position="-1312">
<transponder frequency="3780000" symbol_rate="30000000" polarization="0" fec_inner="4" inversion="2" modulation="2" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>
<transponder frequency="3790000" symbol_rate="12400000" polarization="1" fec_inner="5" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="3880000" symbol_rate="30000000" polarization="1" fec_inner="4" inversion="2" modulation="2" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>
<transponder frequency="3995000" symbol_rate="19510000" polarization="1" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4020000" symbol_rate="29270000" polarization="0" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4040000" symbol_rate="29270000" polarization="1" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4060000" symbol_rate="29270000" polarization="0" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4075000" symbol_rate="19510000" polarization="1" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4092000" symbol_rate="9760000" polarization="1" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
<transponder frequency="4140000" symbol_rate="19510000" polarization="0" fec_inner="3" inversion="2" modulation="1" system="0"/>
</sat>
</satellites>

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Re: Dish mover hint for low signal transponders

Post by fatso » Mon Nov 19, 2018 12:58 am

Check to make sure your feed is centered and/or the reflector is not warped. You shouldn't have to bump the dish east/west to lock transponders on the same satellite.
12ft Mesh Dish
C-Band Enthusiast since 1983

supwiddiss
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Re: Dish mover hint for low signal transponders

Post by supwiddiss » Mon Nov 19, 2018 7:34 am

Done all of that. Surprisingly for a 12ft fiberglass antenna that is many years old, string lines crossed meet with very little gap.
My lnbf would cock in the scalar when tightening the set screw on the button hook feed. So I drilled and tapped the scalar for 2 extra set screws.
At first I did find I was under illuminating the dish. Took some more time to peak the signal. Looks good now.
Looks like I'm already in a fringy footprint for 131.
My issue is only really on 131W. A guy I know asked me if I was getting channels on a transponder because he had a problem with them.
I went to that tp and didn't have anything. You should see my geography. 131 shoots right over trees in the distance. They're on state forest land.
Spending a few years rooming with bubba in county doesn't sound good.
My friend was the one who suggested bumping the dish mover a few clicks. Sure thing, signal on the 'dead' tp locked.
I would have never known. But the thing is, other sats could use a bit of the same for some tp's.
Buying a new dish isn't an option. Making electronics play nice is my forte'.
And, it works!

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