SatSig topic:

Can't get above 29 satellite signal level on HX50 in Q-West Iraq

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Aug 15^th, 2008 at 7:50am

I purchased a HX 50 Dish from Wafa that arrived earlier this week that goes on the W6 satellite at 21.5E. So far all we are able to get is a maximum of 29. Most of the time it is at 15 and will range between the two. Sometimes it will be 29, we will cycle the power through the modem and then it will go back to 15. I got the RPR from WAFA and entered it into the system. Wafa verfied that it is programmed correctly.

I tried getting help from WAFA with little luck. Here is the email I sent them. All they responded was confirming that we did not need to change the polarization by rotating the dish itself.

"We have been having trouble getting a signal strength above a 29. Most of the time it either sits at 29, or sits at 15. We can get numbers between 15 and 29 sometimes.

I have some questions concerning polarity and what it is supposed to be set at. When the feed cone is attached to the feed assembly, is it supposed to be attached at horizontal or vertical polarity. In other words are the 2 marks supposed to be parallel with the LNB, or just the single mark?

What is the polarity of the feed cone assembly itself. Standing between the feed assembly and the dish, how far do we rotate the feed cone assembly. Do we rotate it counter clockwise until the LNB is facing almost as far down as possible (down and to the left)? There are other people around with dishes that have theirs like that.

Lastly, is the polarity of the dish itself supposed to change? Do we need to ajust the 4 big bolts on the back of the dish and rotate the dish any? I am not of the impression that we do."

There are many other dishes nearby. I have attempted to mirror what their azimuth/elevation is to no avail.

We also noticed last night that the power led on the modem is constantly blinking. The manual says that that means that the modem is operating off of fallback.bin and that unplugging, waiting 10 sec and restarting should fix it. We tried that both with it all connnected and all disconnected to no avail. Elsewhere in the manual it says that the modem may need to be replaced. Could this be a part of the problem and how do I fix it?

This is what the computer says our elevation and angle should be.
Dish elevation= 42.6, Azimuth= 209.5 (magnetic compass), Polarisation= 27.1

Aug 15^th, 2008 at 9:05am

Dear Landon

This is Bentley Walker , we have many other customers on Q west , we will broadcast to them to see if anyone locally can contact you and offer assistance , in menatime I need your email adress please ?

I will ask my support team to see what advise we can offer , do you have a Satellite meter or spectrum analiser , one thing the angle of teh dish reflector will be the true angle to the Satellite LESS 18.5 degrees , this is because its an offsett dish so you point it down towards the ground by 18.5 degrees from the true agle to find the Satellite ....

Best Regards A Walker

Aug 15^th, 2008 at 9:59am

I just made sure that the single notch, and the 5 0 5 are lined up with the LNB, and then the LNB is pointed directly away from the feed pole. I then rotated the dish itself by 27 degrees on the back. I adjusted the elevation and slowly tried the azimuth and all I would get the whole time was a 15. Is my LNB or modem broke?

Aug 15^th, 2008 at 10:44am

I very much doubt if your modem is broke , what are you using as a meter to line up the Dish , do you have an analiser ?

Aug 15^th, 2008 at 10:48am

This reply is regarding assembly and polarisation only.

The feed horn and spacer tube are specific to the antenna and must always be installed with 505 and single tick mark exactly away from the feed arm. The fat lump on the throat must be directly towards the feed arm.

Polarisation is affected by the way the filter assembly is attached to the spacer tube and by the large rotation scale on the back of the dish. You can set these up any way you wish - it will work fine as long as you understand that you can rotate the dish through 360 deg. If the starting position is with the LNB at the side that is vertical nominal polarisation starting position. If you have the LNB at the top or bottom then that is horizontal polarisation starting position.

To set the adjustment angle use the scale at the back; clockwise, while facing towards the satellite, is positive.

If you have the feed arm at the bottom and the LNB at the top you have horizontal polarisation starting position. Turn the giant polarisation scale 90 deg and you have the feed arm at one side and you have vertical polarisation starting position. The beam stays pointed at the satellite all of the time. It is easy to check either polarisation, just turn by the initial +27.1 deg adjustment and then add or subtract 90 deg.

Best regards, Eric.

Aug 15^th, 2008 at 11:54am

No, we do not have a spectrum analizer or a meter.

Aug 15^th, 2008 at 2:45pm

You are not likely to line up the dish without meter or analiser and its difficult without one, please let me have your email adress I will see if anyone can help

Aug 16^th, 2008 at 9:05am

We just locked in at 91% last night. We ensured that all of our parameters were correct. Our feed assembly is installed such that the single mark and the 5 0 5 are lined up with the LNB, then all of them are pointed opposite of the feed tube. We then pointed the azimuth and elevation (the elevation will be relatively high, if there are other dishes you are comparing it to, be careful because a lot of them are pointing to W3 at 7E and are parallel to the ground). We got about 29 at that point. We made fine tuned ajustments to the left and upwards (there are a lot of satellites in a line). We got a 30 which means we were on the right satellite. We made some more adjustments with elevation and the azimuth. We instantaneously made the most success by changing the polarization by rotating the dish itself on the back with the big scale (it will look like the azimuth changes, but it doesn't because it is an offset dish).