SatSig topic:

Problem aligning dish to W2A sat (10E)

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Jun 28^th, 2010 at 1:11pm

I need major help. I have been trying to align my dish to W2A satellite but the highest signal I get is 29 SQF. That was last week. Now I get only 15 SQF. The following is what I have;

Modem: Hughes HX50
Dish: 1.2m Andrews Dish with 17.2 elevation offset
2 watt radio P/N: 1500192-0123
LNB P/N - 1500287-0001 (NJR2784HH) Rev.B

Config Parameters from OIFNET (Hughes)
Satellite - 10 East (W2A)
Frequency - 16040
Symbol Rate - 15000000
LNB 22KHz - On
DVB Mode - DVB-S2-ACM
Freq Band/Mod - Ku Band 8PSK
Rec Pol - Vert
Trans Pol - Horiz
OTA Freq - 0

Long/Lat - 70E 34 N
Receiver LNB Type - TG 1024572 - 0001
Transmit Radio - 2 Watt

AZ - 250 degrees
EL - 16 degrees
Pol - 36

At one point it was pointed to the 21E satellite. The receive and transmits lights were on with 93 SQF. I had someone that had knowledge on configuring the modem to put in the parameters. At first the parameters wouldn't save. We used telnet and deconfigured the modem to clear out the previous parameters, inserted the ones given by my ISP (OIFNET), and power cycled the modem. The power light came on and started to blink at a constant. Nothing else has happen since. It still blinks on and off. My understanding is that it might need a config file to get it going again.

I have tried just about everything I could do to get my dish aligned.

My ISP insists that my config parameter are correct. If anyone can provide some input I would gladly appreciate it.

Charlie

[ some details removed by forum admin ]

Jun 28^th, 2010 at 1:44pm

Are you sure its a W2 A install, have you got the ESN number handy ?

Jun 28^th, 2010 at 4:17pm

Mr. Walker,

Please check your email. Thanks for your response.

Chuck

Jun 28^th, 2010 at 8:35pm

For W2A 10E, I calculate the polarisation adjustment to be +52 deg clockwise.

For vertical name receive polarisation start with the LNB sticking out on the left side (As viewed standing behind the dish and facing forwards towards the satellite in the sky), then turn the feed assembly +52 deg clockwise (As viewed standing behind the dish and facing forwards towards the satellite in the sky).

This assumes you really are supposed to be aiming at W2A 10E with polarisation, freq and symbol rate as above. Not sure about that.

Are you sure the W2 satellite is actually visible ? 16 deg elevation is quite low and you may be blocked by hills, buildings etc. 10 deg is the minimum recommended elevation for Ku band and above 25 deg much preferred as it reduces attenuation due to rain and signal level variations through warm humid air.

I have removed some details from your original post.

Best regards, Eric.

Aug 24^th, 2010 at 7:18pm

Mr. Walker or anyone else that can assist...

I'm having the same problem as Chuck but didn't see the fix to this problem listed in this thread.

After following the instructions to clear the modem parameters, the modem reset and is now constantly blinking the power light apx 60 seconds after power up and won't allow me to connect to the lan to upload a configuration file.

My ESN is 1864765

Please help!!!

Thanks,
Cliff

Aug 24^th, 2010 at 9:30pm

Dear Cliff

Firstly you need to point to Euteslat W7 at 36 degrees East not W2 , we have no HX Network on W2 , I have worked out some basic parameters but I need some information from you , such as your precise location and base if you are on one, now I am assuming that your in Afghan anyhow please email me back with the following answers but also CC following as I am travelling tomorrow

James@bentleywalker.com matthew@bentleywalker.com

Questions

1) Lat and Long of your location
2) Base address
3) Meter you are using to align the dish , do you have any other tools

If you get stuck we can probably get some help but first lets get the basic information then we can send you a config for the modem and pointing angles

Best Regards

Mr Anthony Walker
CEO
Bentley Walker
UK

Aug 25^th, 2010 at 4:28pm

Thanks for your attention...

I've resolved my issue by replacing both of our LAN cables in the office. They were intermittent at best due to someone rolling over it without our knowing it.

I'm actually live on the system as we speak and everything seems to be working as advertised except for my Accelenet software of which has never really worked with my computer... I can browse the internet without it activated (disabled) but as soon as I activate it and try to browse the internet, I just get a white screen for as long as 30 minutes one time and the progress bar was only about 75% full. I've turned off all firewall software and have even opend ports 1181 and 1182 to no avail...

Others are able to use the accelenet software with the exception of the last couple days as I think there's something wrong with the accelenet server now...

Thanks again,
Cliff

Aug 25^th, 2010 at 4:50pm

Dear Cliff,
Glad to hear that your system is up and working.
Do not hesitate to contact support@bentleywalker.com if you have any further queries.
Regards,

Aug 27^th, 2010 at 3:23pm

I'm also having some issues trying to aim my dish at W2A. I was previously on 7E W3A, but was told that I would be switched to 10E W2A for what ever reason. Anyway, I managed to get the dish aligned, but I'm unable to get a signal strength higher then 75. Previoulsy when I was on W3A I was constantly at 93-95. I was told by my ISP (OIFnet) that this is the highest I would be able to get because of some kind of update that was done on W2A. I've tried for several days fine tuning my dish and 75 is as good as it gets. I'm able to use the internet, but not even remotely close to the speeds I had before. My ISP tells me that signal strength doesn't affect speed of the internet, but I can tell from experience with this system that it does make a difference. There are 2 other people here at my site that I know were already on W2A and they went from 88-91 signal strength to 73-75 like me. Not sure what's going on here. Any advice from is much appreciated.

Aug 27^th, 2010 at 5:35pm

Even switching transponders on the same satellite, one can expect a different signal level than the one just vacated. Sometimes you get assigned to a transponder with a higher output, sometimes lower. The fact that you have two other vicinity users reporting the same receive level suggests no LNB or receive cabling problem at your end.

Assuming a digital connection, the ISP is correct. Until the receive signal dips low enough for the error correction to kick in (typically below 40), signal strength and throughput have nothing to do with each other. All else being equal, you should see no difference in performance between a Ku-band signal level of 75 and one of 95. However, switching satellites means more than just changing AZ/EL. You have to optimize POL for the new satellite as well. Inaccurate POL angles don't necessarily affect receive signal strength, but can affect performance.

Once the POL is confirmed optimized, you should next compare gateway server addresses with the two aforementioned users. That should be the router address listed on your System Info page. ISP server loading CAN have an effect on performance.

//greg//