Can't get a signal with Technomate 3000-D FTA.

PJTierney

Hi guys.

My family recently bought a Technomate 3000 D reciever and a Triax 60cm Zone 2 dish to go with it. On Saturday we put up the dish, connected all the relevant cables and came across a problem:

I'm getting a signal strength of 85% on the top bar, but only 5% for the signal quality on the bottom bar (this needs to be at least 40% according to the manual). I've tried several satellites and setups and I'm getting nothing other than the 85 and 5 percent.

I'm located near Ardagh, Co. Limerick in an area with little to no obscructions to the nearest mast (East).

Can anybody help me out?

stellarartois

You do know that satellite dishes are pointed at satellites and not at masts?

fish fingers

stellarartois wrote: »

You do know that satellite dishes are pointed at satellites and not at masts?

Couldnt be that, could it:eek:

stellarartois

PJTierney wrote: »

I'm located near Ardagh, Co. Limerick in an area with little to no obscructions to the nearest mast (East).

Looks like it im afraid!

PJTierney

I figured that, my bad

But anyways, still not getting any signal.

stellarartois

where are you pointing the dish?

PJTierney

I've got the dish pointed in the 'perfect' location, according to the signal tracker that a college technician gave me. (emits a pitch via headphones, higher = better etc.)

I'm currently using the Atlantic Bird 2 (8W) as that's the only staellite I seem to be getting a reliable signal on (90% strength, 80% quality). People keep telling me to use Astra, but I can't get anything no matter what I choose for that.

We managed to get some channels tuned in last night using the auto-scanner, but all we got were 11 channels from Turkey. Is there any way to restore the pre-installed channels? (so long as we can get BBC/ITV/Euroaport etc. I'm grand)

MenloPete

It may be in the perfect location for that satellite, but that's not the one you want. You need to swing East and up a little to get Astra2 on 28 East. Have a look at this:

Apogee

PJTierney wrote: »

I'm currently using the Atlantic Bird 2 (8W) as that's the only staellite I seem to be getting a reliable signal on (90% strength, 80% quality). People keep telling me to use Astra, but I can't get anything no matter what I choose for that.

We managed to get some channels tuned in last night using the auto-scanner, but all we got were 11 channels from Turkey. Is there any way to restore the pre-installed channels? (so long as we can get BBC/ITV/Euroaport etc. I'm grand)

Are you sure you aligned to 8W? What are the names of the channels that have been scanned in?

PJTierney

Okay, I tried some things again yesterday and am on either Astra 1 or Astra 2 (forget which), with a decent signal.

When I go into Installation > Satellite Setup I can pick whatever Satellite and then there are several other options:



There's Satellite, Transponder, LNB Frequency, LNB Power + a few more (this is from a manual for a different version of the reciever, but you get the idea).


Apogee, as I said, mainly Turkish language ones, with one of them being MTV Turkye.

So basically, I should link up with Astra 2 and see what I get then?

Apogee

If you are receiving MTV Turkiye in the clear and other Turkish channels, then your dish is probably aligned to Turksat 42E. Confirm by checking other channels in this link:
http://www.lyngsat.com/turk2a.html

Therefore, your dish elevation is too low (raise it by about 8 degrees) and too far east (move it slowly westwards).

http://sites.google.com/site/freetoairinfo/home/how-to-align-a-satellite

PJTierney

Kudos to you, thanks.

I'm now on the Astra 2 (28.2e) and picked up about 300 channels, but I still don't have the main English ones like BBC, ITV etc.

I assume there's some option for me to put in each channel manually now, given that there's a list of frequencies here?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free-to-air_channels_at_28E

byte

What channels are you picking up? Sometimes, people mistake Astra1 for Astra 2 due to their close proximity.

You could try a Scan with Network Search (NIT) turned on.

PJTierney

I'm on Astra 2, Astra 1 is 23E.

I tried keying in the codes in the link above for BBC etc., and still didn't get BBC/ITV etc.

PJTierney

Sent the following to technomate, hopefully I'll get a response. If anybody else can help out, please do

Hi there.

I recently purchased a TM3000-D (FTA) and a third party satellite dish, and installed both.
After some initial installation difficulties I got set up on the Astra 2 (28E) option and managed to get several FTA channels.

The problem I have though is that I have not been able to get many of the English language channels, such as BBC1/2/3/4, ITV1/2/3 etc.
According to this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free-to-air_channels_at_28E) for example, BBC1's frequency is 10773H 22000 5/6.
I added this in the Satellite Setup menu when selecting my Transponder and then pressed the Red button to search (for TV, FTA, Network On).
Once the search was completed I didn't get BBC 1, or anything similar.

I also tried the Advanced Search option to manually add a TP, but there was no option to select the 5/6 setting.

Is there anything you can tell me to do that would help?
Thanks in advance.

PJTierney

byte wrote: »

What channels are you picking up? Sometimes, people mistake Astra1 for Astra 2 due to their close proximity.

You could try a Scan with Network Search (NIT) turned on.

Getting stuff like RTL, and several other French/German channels.

Apogee

PJTierney wrote: »

Getting stuff like RTL, and several other French/German channels.

You are now aligned to Astra 19E. Mark the current elevation and azimuth of the dish, so that you know where 19E is.

The elevation is too high (lower it by 3 degrees) and the dish too far west (move it slowly eastwards).

The receiver is dumb and does not know which satellite you're aligned to. The same transponder frequencies are used across multiple satellites.

PJTierney

Apogee wrote: »

You are now aligned to Astra 19E. Mark the current elevation and azimuth of the dish, so that you know where 19E is.

The elevation is too high (lower it by 3 degrees) and the dish too far west (move it slowly eastwards).

The receiver is dumb and does not know which satellite you're aligned to. The same transponder frequencies are used across multiple satellites.

How will I know (from the satellite setup menu) that I'm correctly aligned to Astra 2, if it shows up good signals while on Astra 1 (even though Astra 2 is selected)?

I have the signal tracker attached to the dish, where I can plug in the headphones and check for signal strength, so basically I should move it enough to lower the tone (tracker emits a higher-pitched tone when the signal is strong) then raise it again.

Apogee

PJTierney wrote: »

How will I know (from the satellite setup menu) that I'm correctly aligned to Astra 2, if it shows up good signals while on Astra 1 (even though Astra 2 is selected)?

Either when you 1) scan in the BBC channels or 2) the BBC channels are preloaded on the receiver, and when they appear, you've got lock. The only other way is to use a digital satellite meter which can identify the satellite, but cost >€200.

PJTierney wrote: »

I have the signal tracker attached to the dish, where I can plug in the headphones and check for signal strength, so basically I should move it enough to lower the tone (tracker emits a higher-pitched tone when the signal is strong) then raise it again.

See youtube video from Tony below about 4 mins in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl-rawdjA0Y

Also, dishpointer will an idea of correct azimuth.
http://www.dishpointer.com/

PJTierney

Thanks again. I'll have a look at that video and try things out.

dxhound2005

You're at it for over a week now, might be time to get help from someone who knows what they are doing. Not being smart, it's just that you could waste a lot more time on trial and error.

PJTierney

dxhound2005 wrote: »

You're at it for over a week now, might be time to get help from someone who knows what they are doing. Not being smart, it's just that you could waste a lot more time on trial and error.

True, but I'll try a few more things before shelling out cash for an installer. I get the feeling that I'm just ligned up to Astra 1 instead of Astra 2, and a quick adjustment of the dish position should suffice.

PJTierney

Success! Picked up BBC, ITV and all that last night.
Thanks for all your help guys