Important Satellite News

Steps for Repointing Your Satellite Dish | Additional Notes

BJ HOMESAT NETWORK'S SIGNAL HAS MOVED

As we said in an earlier post on our website, we have been told by our satellite provider that we must move to a different satellite. We are moving from Galaxy 26 to AMC 15. To receive our signal from this new satellite, you will need to repoint your dish by following the steps below.

STEPS FOR REPOINTING YOUR SATELLITE DISH

1. Reset factory defaults.

NOTE: This step is very important to ensure your old channels are deleted before repointing your dish. If your old channels are not deleted, you will end up with 4 extra channels (5-8), and therefore, your existing timers will not work.

Press MENU, and the Main Menu will appear.
Select "Installation," and press OK.
If prompted for a PIN code, enter 0000.
Select "Factory Default" or "Default Settings," and press OK.
If prompted for a PIN code, enter 0000.
Select "YES," and press OK.
Wait while the receiver changes the settings. When complete, press MENU and proceed to the next step.

NOTE: Resetting the defaults will not delete your timers; however, you will need to reset your time zone in order for them to work properly. See Step 7.

2. Change the "Manual Searching" settings on your receiver.

Access the "Manual Searching" screen.

Press MENU, and the Main Menu will appear.
Select "Installation," and press OK.
If prompted for a PIN code, enter 0000.
Select "Service Searching," and press OK.
Select "Manual Searching," and press OK.
If prompted for a PIN code, enter (0000), and the Manual Searching screen will appear.

Note: You will observe the Strength and Quality levels while you align your satellite dish.

Input new settings

Scroll down once to the D/L Freq line and enter 11969. DO NOT press OK here.
You will notice that the Quality level drops to zero (00).

Note: The strength should remain at 50 or above. Do not point the dish if the strength drops to zero (00) or falls below 50. Contact Technical Support for assistance.
Leave the receiver on this screen while you make the adjustments to the dish.
The Quality level will reappear when you move the dish over to the new satellite following instructions below.
You will press OK to add channels in step 6 after you have peaked the Quality to its highest level.

View screenshot.

3. Mark your dish and LNB's current position.

Using a permanent marker, nail polish, or a scratch awl

mark the alignment of the mount with the pole (azimuth),
mark the side of the mount as it aligns with the degree marks (elevation), and
mark the alignment of the LNB with the collar (polarization).

View illustrations.

NOTE: If you have a Channel Master dish, see the following illustrations.

Pole | Elevation | LNB

4. Point your dish at the new satellite.

NOTE: The new satellite's name is AMC 15 @ 105 degrees west. It is 12 degrees west of the old satellite, Galaxy 26.

It is important that you have a way of watching the numbers on the screen after every slight adjustment because the new satellite is very close to ours.

Bring the receiver and a small TV near the dish, and connect the receiver to the dish with a short length of RG6 (6/U) cable. Or, wait and have someone relay the signal numbers after every adjustment.

Stand behind the dish and loosen appropriate bolts.

Use the following website to calculate proper coordinates for the new satellite: http://www.emantechnology.com/store/pc/LookAngle.asp . Be sure to choose 105° AMC15 as the satellite and search on city or ZIP code. Click on "calculate look angles," and use the values listed below the illustrations.

Note: You may want to run the coordinates on the old satellite for comparison. To do this, choose 93 W° -Galaxy 26 (IA 6/T6) as the satellite.

Raise or lower the elevation angle from the current mark based on the difference in elevation. The elevation will change only minimally in the central part of the US. Be sure to set the change in elevation first.

Examples:

Philadelphia, PA =lower 5 degrees
Portland, OR = raise 5 degrees
Tacoma, WA = raise 5 degrees
Dallas, TX = lower 1 degree
Pasadena, CA = raise 5 degrees
Miami, FL = lower 7 degrees

Slowly adjust the dish to the right using small increments. Wait 10 seconds between each adjustment to allow the receiver to register.

Quality should appear between 13-20 degrees to the right (or 1/4” to 5/16” on the pole, depending on pole diameter).

Note: If you pick up faint Quality that fluctuates wildly, adjust slightly to the right and slightly down, and you should pick up a good Quality from our signal.

Due to the difficulty of verifying the exact compass degree to which the dish is pointing, incremental adjustments are necessary. See above.

If Quality does not appear, double-check the azimuth using a compass and standing at least 15 feet away from any large metal object (including the dish).

If Quality still does not appear, make several adjustments in 1/32” increments to the right and/or left. Wait 10 seconds between each adjustment.

5. Peak your signal.

When Quality appears, your dish is pointing at the new satellite, but you need to peak the signal to maintain a reliable signal. All dishes and receivers should pick up Quality of 95 and above. It is best to have Quality over 99.

Be Careful. Only slight adjustments are necessary at this point.

Maximize Quality with dish adjustments.
- Make another slight adjustment in the same direction.
- Adjust until Quality ceases to improve.
- Maximize Quality in all directions (left, right, up, down).

Tighten down the dish mount.

Watch the Quality as you tighten the bolts to make sure it does not decline. Make necessary adjustments if it does decline.
- After the dish is tightened, you may want to put palm pressure on the back of the dish (left,right, up, and down) and hold it there until you can see if the Quality will improve in that direction.
- If Quality does improve in any direction, slightly loosen the mount, move the dish to that position, and tighten the dish mount down again.
Maximize Quality with LNB adjustment.
- Loosen the screws (or bolts) that hold the LNB collar together.
- Stand in front of the LNB looking at the face of the dish.
- Turn the LNB clockwise in 1/32" increments.
- Move away from the dish and check Quality after each adjustment.
- Continue making adjustments until Quality ceases to improve.
- Tighten screws (or bolts) on LNB collar.

View illustration.

6. Download your new channels.

Press OK to add channels.
Select "YES," and press OK.
The system will take a moment to save channel information. Press MENU to clear out of all menus when the process is complete.

Scroll through the channels to make sure you have Channels 1-4. Picture may appear immediately or take up to 3 hours to appear (while the system waits for entitlement).

7. Reset your time zone.

Press MENU, and the Main Menu will appear.
Select "System Settings," and press OK.
Select "Time Zone," and press OK.
Press VOL- to adjust the Time Zone setting to your correct time zone. Verify that the correct date and time for your local area appear below the Time Display box.
Press OK to save the new Time Zone setting.

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ADDITIONAL NOTES

DO NOT skip the "Reset factory defaults" step. This step is very important to ensure your old channels are deleted before repointing your dish. If your old channels are not deleted, you will end up with 4 extra channels (5-8), and therefore, your existing timers will not work.

Timers. Resetting the factory defaults will not delete your timers; however, you will need to reset your time zone in order for them to work properly.

Issue of D/L Frequency changing back to old numbers. If you go back into the "Manual Searching" screen after repointing your dish and the D/L Frequency has changed back to the old settings, this is not a problem and does not mean that you have lost the signal to the new satellite. Just exit out of the "Manual Searching" screen without making any changes and you will see your signal again.

The reason you are seeing the old frequency is that it is the default setting for the receivers. It is stored under "Transponder 01" and will show up first whenever you enter the "Manual Searching" screen. The new frequency is stored under "Transponder 02". To view, use the right or left arrow on your remote to change the setting to "Transponder 02" and the new D/L Frequency will be displayed. Again, this does not affect your signal, it is for reference purposes only.

Satellite name. The new satellite's name is AMC 15 @ 105 degrees west. It is 12 degrees to the west of the old satellite, Galaxy 26.

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If you have specific questions about this change, please email satelliteupgrade@bjupress.com.