SatSig topic:

HELP, HX Install problem in Iraq

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Nov 9^th, 2007 at 2:28am

I'm currently in Iraq at COB Speicher and am trying to get this SAT dish aligned. I have tried to do what you prescribed for SGT Herra in the Forum, but to no avail. The best I've gotten so far is with a Polarization of -41, Azmiuth reading 234 or so ( supposed to be 228.4 MAG N), and I have the elevation as yourecommended 34.1 Degrees or damn close ( used you 10 1/16th inches Guide). With these settings I reached a 71 on the Horizon SAT meter. but can get no higher and have no Q rating on it. What am I doing wrong? Could really use your help. I can send pics of the assmebly if you need them to give a better pic of set up. Please take a look at them and give me and adivce you can.

Nov 9^th, 2007 at 10:34am

Dear Erik

I have seen you posting on the Sat Sig forum , first can you tell me if you have the latest version of software for the Horizon meter and did get “sat found”

https://www.bentley-walker.com/documents/doc100.zip anyway here is the link for the softwrae, please make sure you have this version and let me know if you got sat found or not ?

Best Regards,
Anthony Walker

Nov 9^th, 2007 at 11:02am

Well done Erik =))

actualy about an hour after that posting I got it dialed in, lil inexperience, lil inpatient should be good now.

Nov 12^th, 2007 at 2:20pm

Lampe, could you tell me what you did to get it to work. Any tips? I am also in COB Speicher and could never get HX working on an Andrews 1.2m with bracket. I have a 1.2m prodeline dish coming and I will try again with that.

Nov 12^th, 2007 at 3:06pm

Vega, determine your az, el and polarisation here:
https://www.satsig.net/maps/satellite-dish-pointing-iraq.htm

Add +3.5 deg to the polarisation angle. The adjustment required is positive for Iraq and the W3A satellite to the south west.

If you have an Andrew 1.2m dish, send photo to confirm assembly. The HX downlink signal on W3A satellite at 7 east is Horizontal polarisation, so the polarisation starting position is with the LNB at the top. The polarisation adjustment required is +, which means a clockwise rotation, while you face towards the satellite.

This image above shows a new 1.2 f/d=0.8 Prodelin dish with mode match feed and HX terminal as in Iraq, aimed at W3A satellite at 7 East. The entire dish is rotated 45.5 deg clockwise for polarisation, while facing the satellite. Set the pol adjustment angle exact for your site. Add +3.5 to the calculated result.

If you havn't got an inclinometer to apply to the polarisation plate behind the Prodelin dish then the measurements are revised as follows:
Elevation=33 deg. Distance=26.7 cm.
Elevation=34 Distance=26.4
Elevation=35 Distance=26.0
Elevation=36 Distance=25.7
Elevation=37 Distance=25.3
Elevation=38 Distance=24.9
Distances are in cm. Hook the measuring tape over the edge above the top of the elevation screw T bar and measure down to the underside of the cross piece above the lower nut. The distances assume that the main azimuth bolt is reasonably tight, but loose enough to permit azimuth movements. If too loose, the dish sags down a bit and you need perhaps 5mm shorter distance to pull it up.

Alternatively read how to make an inclinometer.

Best regards, Eric.

Dec 8^th, 2007 at 1:39pm

Eric,

I aligned the Prodelin dish just fine and I get 80 dB and 0.000x BER on two different sat meters. The problem is, the Hughes HX modem software tells me I have a signal strength of 15, like the cable is not even connected. This HX modem seems to be very poorly designed.

In the HX setup and registration, I confirmed the values of: 7Deg East for W3A, Freq 11222 in setup but status screen gives 1122 Mhz, Symbol 5000000, LNB 22khz Switch off, DVB S2-ACM, KU/QPSK Frew band, Receive Horizontal and transmit vertical.

On the modem all I get is a blinking power light and a LAN light. System info screen gives this:

Site ID: Not_Commisioned
Serial# xx
Software Date Sep 15th 2006
Software Release 5.3.0.28
Transmit Radio Wattage: 2 watt
Transmit Path: Satellite
Outroute: Primary
Long: 7 east
Receive freq: 1122 Mhz
Symbol Rate: 5 Msps
Rec Pol: Hor
Trans Pol: Ver
22Khz Tone: Off

I get the same signal strength when I don't even have a cable connected as when I do have the receive cable connected (15). Like I said, the same cable and everything gets a super strong signal on the meters from W3A. How is this even possible? Is it possible Bently Walker sent me a defective modem? Is there anyhing you can think of that would cause such a descrepancy?

Dec 8^th, 2007 at 1:46pm

I forgot to mention that 15 was my "peak" number in the HX modem software. If I moved the dish in any direction the number would actually decrease. Considering 15 is suppose to show that you have no connection at all, I though that was strange. 15 corresponds to the "peak" alignment I had with the sat meters and nothing I did would get it above 15. This makes absolutely no sense.

Dec 8^th, 2007 at 3:48pm

When the display is showing numbers less than 30, the display means noise like power is being received and the demodulator is unlocked. If the number peaks up when you move the dish then you are pointed at a satellite (or possibly the sun), but the receiver tuning parameters do not match up correctly. With a very high power (but wrong) satellite the reading will stick at a maximum of 29.

Readings under 30 are typically due to wrong satellite, wrong frequency and symbol rate parameters typed in or wrong polarisaton.

See here for my set up of HX50 VSAT terminal plus image of my input screen display.

Once the demod is locked onto the carrier the meaning of the display scale changes and it jumps into the range 30 - 100. It now means signal quality. Numbers approaching 100 are possible in Iraq.

I suggest you have only one coax cable connected from the LNB to the modem (SAT IN) until you are seeing a peaked up signal quality. Then power OFF at the AC mains plug. Connect up the transmit coax cable to the IFL connector on the BUC. Then power ON at the AC mains connector. Take care never to disconnect the low voltage DC power connector between the power supply module and the modem or either of the coax cables when the power is on.

Hope to get you working soon.

Best regards, Eric.

Dec 8^th, 2007 at 7:51pm

Eric,

My polarization is correct. My dish looks exactly like yours in your picture. I double then triple checked the settings entered into the modem. They are as Bently Walker prescribed. Using the sat meter I peaked up pretty great. Using HX W3A at 9.75 Ghz, I got up to 80 dB and 99% on the second quality bar. Could I ever get such a reading if I was pointed to the wrong satellite?

If I turn on the modem right here on my desk with no cables attached, I get a reading of 15. If I plug in the modem to the peaked signal LNB, I still get a reading of 15. Using the exact same cable as I did with the sat meters. If I then move the dish ever so slightly out of alignment, the signal will go from 15 and actually drop to a lower value and eventually zero.

There is only three possibilities I can think of. One: I am pointed at the wrong satellite. I don't know how I could be getting such a stellar signal from a W3A 9.75 Ghz config if it's the wrong sat, but maybe you could explain more into that. Two: Bently Walker has given me wrong modem initilization parameters. Thridly: the modem hardware and/or software is damaged in some way.

Any more light you could shed on the solution to this trouble is greatly appreciated.

Dec 9^th, 2007 at 8:11am

Ok, I just started the HX modem up once again here on my desk with no cables attached. I went to the System Status screen and this is what is displayed:

Signal Strength: 15
Receive Status: Reciever not locked to a signal _RxCode 3)
Transmit Status: Transmitter unavailable due to receive signal problems (TxCode 6)
Software download status: Waiting for first heartbeat message.
Commision status: Decommissioned (No Keys)
TCP Acceleration Status: Disabled.

Then I go to advanced commisioning options -> Antenna Pointing -> Next -> Display Signal Strength -> Locked at 15 and says Status: The Receiver is not locked.

The window says Elevation 34.2, Magnetic Azimuth 228.5 and Polirization 40.8. That is what my dish is set at besides Polarization which is 44.3 for Eutelsat.

Bently Walkers help desk is telling me I am pointed to the wrong satellite. Once again, can anyone tell me if it's possible for me to get an 80 dB signal with 99% quality using the HX W3A 9.75 Ghz file on a sat meter and be pointed at the wrong sat?

Dec 10^th, 2007 at 9:21am

BW here, IT Support have spotted the problem its the frequency and symbol rate thats wrong , if you change them now you should get signal, please always liase with our support team and we will post this information on this site as well =))

Dec 10^th, 2007 at 9:43am

Sorry, my info was not up to date. The carrier symbol rate and frequency was changed this past weekend.

New modem frequency has moved slightly to 11243 (x100kHz)

Symbol rate is now 8000000

I have deleted several (now confusing and irrelevant) posts above and am trying to update several other older posts elsewhere.

Best regards, Eric.

Dec 11^th, 2007 at 3:56pm

Eric,

Thanks again for your help. As soon as I typed in the new parameters, I instantly got a 95 signal strength. I hope that is fairly good. I just wish BW had given me the new parameters before I wasted many hours this weekend trying to figure what the heck was going on Wink

. I guess some things slip through the cracks.
Steve over at BW had to unblock me but now it's running pretty good. On the office 2000 corporate I was seeing about 180 Kbytes/sec download. I mentioned to Steve about a display error with the HX web settings page and he is aware of the error about displaying wrong settings.

-James