Need some expert advice on sat 129 and T5 please..

[Jose Vega]

Hi Folks,
I needs some help to lock in Sat129 with my dreamlink T5.
I have the simplest poor man set up and locking (fixing) this 129 sat is killing me. I have 3 standard 18” round DTV dishes, standard LNB’s. 110 and 119 and 129 were locked and working fine for a very long time with blue bars and 90% or over signal and quality. 4 port standard Chieta Diseqc switch in use.
One day sat 129 went red on the signal meter and I cannot get it back using the simple techniques I have used before.

For a test, I have replaced the LNB (known good and tested on 110) , and bypassed the Diseqc completely. The dish is plumb, I have a clear view with no obstructions. According to sat finder 129 for my area US South, is Elevation 28.3 & Azimuth 247.3. No matter what elevation or position I use I cannot lock in 129 and get the blue bars and header in the display back. For this simple alignment exercise I use 1 coax line straight between the dreamlink and the single lnb.

I have reset the box to factory, I even re-flashed the firmware using bin version 1.06.00 – Feb 17 2016 & factory reset again.

I know the HD module is working as HD channels are fine with a quick test of sat 110.

The settings I am using to try and find 129 are simple and again, this technique worked years ago and was working up to this point:

Satellite = 129.0W Ciel 2
LNB Power = on
Lnb Type = Single
LNB Frequency = 11.250
LNB 22khz = off
Diseqc’s = all off
Legacy sw = off

Any other setting I should be using to lock in this 129 bird using this simple setup with a T5 ?

Perhaps my elementary tactics are no longer applicable.

Thanks in advance - Jose

[jedi]

28.5 is pretty low in the horizon to pick up with an 18 inch dish. I know some have said you can pick up 129 sat with an 18 inch dish but I always have problems - I can get a weak signal sometimes.
During this time of the year some people have problems with 129 as trees are starting to get some leaves.

Are you using a signal meter or just using your receiver to try to lock the signal? If you are using your receiver - which transponder are you trying to lock on?

[The Noof]

You may have a bad 8spk.

[Jose Vega]

Thanks for the replies. I think the 8psk module is fine as I get HD on 110 with no issues.

I have not tried to lock on to a particular transponder, just trying to lock it in under the Dish settings menu as I have in the past.
I guess I have been lucky as 129 has had solid signal for years in my area with an 18" dish.
Should I go into the manual scan menu and try transponder by transponder ? Which would you suggest ?
Set it to Turbo 8psk and then try to lock it in on that transponder ?

[JCO]

dish for 129 moved or bad diseq..
if your signal on other sats with other disshes is good, either a diseq or bad aim..

[Jose Vega]

diseqc is bypassed during the test, only 129 connected on a direct cable.

Definitely is an alignment issue. I like the idea of trying to lock in with the manual scan menu and a strong transponder with 8psk.
I have not tried that before, any suggestions on the best one to try and the settings ?

[JCO]

Hit any good transmiting transponder for the first aim.. then find a weak transponder in your area and tweak..

[Jose Vega]

Success !! Thank you, Thank you, all very much. I am back with 97 signal and quality on 129 with an 18" dish.
Happy dance in the back yard, neighbors think I am insane.
The transponder alignment method was the trick. For some reason my best elevation setting is 26 on a plumb mast.
I definitely learned something about my setup. Poor man rig lives !

[jedi]

Congrats Jose - you are one lucky man - even with a big dish I still have problems with 129 sometimes but I'm quite a bit further north and may have some tree issues