It is becoming hard to find a competent C-band repairman anymore. Most Satellite repairmen prefer the easy money from small fixed dish systems. C-band systems can be time-consuming, and a whole lot more complicated than fixed Pizza dishes. For that reason, C-band owners need to either learn how to maintain their dish or know someone that can. Some folks with improperly aligned Dishes complain of digital breakup on several Satellites; G-1 HBO's, C-3 Nick, and AMC-4 digitals are all two Degree spaced with a lot of adjacent Satellite interference. As satellites get more loaded, increasing adjacent interference can degrade reception. Misaligned, damaged and undersized dishes will demonstrate problems. Digital breakup on any of the above transponders is an indicator that something is wrong with dish alignment, or system design. Consider it a red flag, something isn't right. A properly aligned dish should track all the CONUS American Satellites with good quality.
Super Tune
Super tune your dish on your weak satellite transponder. Always ignore the signal strength on digital channels, tune only using quality. Mark down your dish position and quality. Slooowly bump the dish while sitting on the weak digital transponder write down dish position and quality as you go. Bump dish one click, wait at least 10 seconds, or until the quality numbers settle. If it goes out of lock, wait, it might pop back in. Bump again, continue until the quality drops down by about 6 points from the high number. Make note of the quality, and dish position. Slowly bump it back past where you started and continue until quality drops to the same amount as on the other side. Find the sweet spot by splitting the difference between the sides. Do the same as above with the skew adjustment. You might have to go through all the steps several times. If you are still having trouble, it is most likely a problem at the dish. If you can't lock at all, try tuning on an analog or receivable digital channel first. One thing that throws people off when attempting to tune digitals up from no lock is the auto tune feature. Your 4DTV will start searching up and down in frequency, and also search other SRs and FECs after about ten seconds of attempting lock. Its best to first peak usable channels on the same satellite. You can shorten auto tune lock delays by changing to another TP and back.
Dish Inspection
Inspect your dish visually, check for foliage blocking the arc, sagging feed (buttonhook feeds especially), check that the feed horn is pointed directly to the center of the dish. Look across the side for warpage. Remove and inspect the (blue) feedhorn
Weather cap for pesky spider or wasp nests in the feed. Make a mark with a sharpie on the pole and mount, and then try to physically rotate the dish on the mounting pole. The mount and pole should not spin. Gently Lift up, and push down on the dish. There should not be much play. Use a level on the pole and mount; they must be 100% plumb. Most mounts have 3 bolts so you can make minor corrections. Inspect the mover for slop. While your there spray rustolium paint on rusty spots, slap grease on all moving parts, and arm. Check for corrosion on connectors. If a coax connector is rusted, cut it back until the braid is shiny, and put on a new F-connector. Seal up all outside coax connections with vapor rap, quality electrical tape, and Dielectric (PTFE) grease. This will keep moisture out for years.
Recently while removing a dish, I ask the guy why he switched to Dish Net. He said he had reception problems, could not find a repairman, and gave up for the free downgrade offer. He was pissed when he found out his C-band provider had received a $$ bounty for downgrading him. I did not have the nerve to inform him that the only problem with his dish was that the buttonhook pole on the Paraclips-12 Classic had come loose, and slid down six inches, which mechanically turned his 12 footer into a 6 footer :-0
Basic alignment tools
I read where a guy built a feed centering tool by gluing a small laser pointer to an extra blue feed horn cap. He put the lazerCap on and adjusted his feed to the center of the dish. Others have made focal point tools using telescoping car antennas. Skyvision sells several alignment tools. These tools can save you money the first time you use them.
Alignment Test
Now for the fun part, drag a TV set to your dish, so you can make adjustments, and visually confirm quality. Its not as good as a spectrum analyzer, but better than yelling back and forth with the Wife;-) If you use ribbon cable and have C-band only, there is probably an extra run of coax (Ku) that can be used on the existing ribbon cable. Hook that coax to your To TV connection on the IRD, and then hook the other end to the TV at the dish. You might want to buy an f barrel connector, and a chunk of terminated coax for the TV end to give you some slack at the dish. If you have problems seeing the TV screen in the sun, cardboard makes a good sun block. I prefer to align on analog Ku channels when possible, but you can try either analog, or the problem digital transponder. Do a few quick tests on the weak digital channel. If you have a buttonhook feed (one feed support from the center) try pushing it up a fraction of an inch with a broom stick, keep your head below the rim, hold steady, and wait for the quality to settle. If the quality goes up, its a saggy feed. Skyvision has buttonhook guy wire kits, or make your own. Next, stand below and in front of the dish, push up with your thumb, and hold still. If there is improvement the dish might be sagging or not positioned right. Next, pull down with one finger (the middle one). If you notice improvement with pull-down or push-up tests, you will need to download, print, and study this link (http://www.geo-orbit.org/sizepgs/tuningp2.html) page 3 has the info you will need to solve the misalignment problem. I have not met a dish yet that is not a little out of whack, including my own. Maladjustments can be easily undone by first marking threads, nuts and pole with a marker, paint, or fingernail polish before making any changes. After making each adjustment, test on four or more satellites throughout the Arc: East, South, and west. If you have Ku, use Ku for tuning, when possible. Make notes of signals strengths on each channel in the test. Check odd and even channels (H/V skew). You may see improvement on your weak satellite, only to find others that were good are now worse. Make slight adjustments, 1/4 or 1/8th inch pole rotations (use a level), and 1/4 and 1/2 turns on elevation nuts, and lastly declination. Write every move down on paper. It might take several hours, but once you see improvements across the arc, your hard work will be worth it. The Geo-orbit page can help with the diagnosis of alignment problems, and will help you to make the right adjustments.
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