Adding a Satellite

Adding a satellite is less work when you plan ahead. We'll show you how. You will proceed in five steps:

1. Pre-set the dish to give the new satellite proper characteristics.
2. Add the new satellite.
3. Make sure the format is correct.
4. Make sure the location is correct.
5. Fine-tune the new satellite's position and chanel polarity.

Important note about point #1 above: you should know that any new satellite you add will automatically become a copy of whatever satellite you are watching when the new one is added. You can plan ahead and use this to your advantage.

For instance, if you are adding a Galaxy C-band satellite, you should first aim your downlink at another Galaxy C-band satellite; if you're adding a Telstar Ku-band satellite, point your downlink at an existing Telstar Ku satellite before you add the new one.

If you need to review the differences between C and Ku satellites, refer to the document Why do C and Ku Bands on the Same Satellite Have Different Letter - Number Codes?

Example: here's a description of how we would add mythical Telstar 701, a new Telstar C and Ku-band hybrid satellite. The C-band version will become T7, and the Ku-band version will become W8. (The receiver requires you to give each one a different name because it thinks they're two separate satellites.) To use this example with real satellites, print this page and write in the information for your real-life task.

1. Point your downlink at Telstar 4, C-band (T4) and select that satellite.
2. Go to [Menu 9].
3. Cursor down to [Add New Satellite] and press [Enter].
4. By pressing keys in the keypad located in the heel of the remote control, name the satellite with one letter and one numeral; in this example, use T8. If the name you want is already in use, the menu will tell you "T8 already exists". If so, you must use a different name for your new satellite. When you succeed, the menu will tell you the satellite has been added
5. Look at the lines in [Menu 9] and confirm that the [Format] line says "4 GHZ", and that the [Sat. Type] line says Telstar. Since you were already looking at a Telstar C-band satellite, these should already be correct, because the receiver copied all the information from the satellite it was viewing. These are important! If they are not correct, cursor up or down to them and change them by using the left and right arrow keys.
6. Exit [Menu 9] by pressing [Menu] repeatedly.
7. Since you copied T4 to make T7, right now the new satellite is in the same location as T4. That won't do! Go to [Menu 7] and move your new satellite to its the correct location. Refer to the document Changing a Satellite's Position for the procedure.

Adding the Ku-side of Telstar 7 to your receiver uses exactly the same procedure, with three exceptions:

• Select a Telstar Ku satellite such as W4 to watch before adding W7; this will pre-set the receiver to the Telstar Ku-band format.
• When you are done in [Menu 9] and need to give the new satellite its position, give it the same location as T7; the position for W7 will be the same.
• After the dish moves to W7's location, be sure to [Autotune] the dish position, then [Autotune] the polarity as described in Changing a Satellite's Position. The final 4-digit position for the Ku-side of this satellite is often a few digits different from the C-band side. This is not a problem; it's normal.

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Copyright 1997, Dr. Albert E. Powell, Jr.
Please request permission to re-use or reproduce this document.