Learning Menu 7 on the Chaparral Monterey 100C

Menu 7 is your most important menu, and is used most often.

Here's what the Menu 7 looks like on-screen if you're watching the NASA Select Channel on GE-2, Channel 9.

Click on any link in the menu to get an explanation of it.

THE MENU LINE: [NASA W2 09 0]
This line gives you the following information from left to right:

• The network name for this channel if the receiver knows it. In this case, it's the NASA channel.
• The abbreviation for the satellite viewed. In this case, it's W2, which identifies GE-2.
• The channel you're watching. In this case, it's channel 09.
• The audio channel selected. If it's 0 as in this case, you're listening to the TV channel audio. If other numbers are present, you are listening to a radio network which is carried on the same satellite transponder that carries this TV channel. (See your manual for information.)

DISH POSITION:
Move your cursor to this line. As it says on the very bottom line of this menu, to change the dish position, you must first hit the [ENTER] key, so do it.

Now you see a screen like this:

You can change the DISH POSITION in any of three ways.

1. Enter four digits which represent the desired position.
2. Press the >Left or Right < cursor keys. This will physically move the dish left (East) or right (West). You will see the numbers change; continue until you reach the position desired.
3. If you are already seeing the desired satellite and just fine-tuning it for a better picture, press the [AUTOTUNE] key. This tells the dish to move back and forth and tune in the signal to its strongest possible value.

When you are done, press the [MENU] key twice to save the new setting. If you don't do this, it will be lost. If you don't like the result, press [CANCEL] and you will keep the settings you have.

POLARITY: If you see a three-digit number on this line, your system uses a Polarotor or Corotor. If it says HORIZONTAL or VERTICAL, you have a Bullseye-II feed horn. Either is OK, but you should know that the information on this line reads differently depending on the type of feed horn.

In either case, you can adjust the polarity in two ways. First, move your cursor to point at the line which says POLARITY, then:

1. Recommended: Press the [AUTOTUNE] key and the Polarity should adjust itself.
2. Press the > left or right cursor< keys. This will change the numbers gradually (in rotor systems) or switch the label from the current polarity to the opposite (H to V or V to H). If the readout is in numbers, you will see the numbers change gradually. If this field shows the word HORIZONTAL or VERTICAL, the switch will be immediate and you won't have to wait.

FREQUENCY:

This is the downlink frequency of the channel you are viewing. If you know the frequency of your desired channel, this is where you confirm it. If you want to change the frequency you are viewing, you can do it two ways, which are similar to those in Polarity above:

1. Recommended: Press the [AUTOTUNE] key and the Frequency should adjust itself. If that doesn't work, use method two....
2. For this option, you must know the desired frequency. Enter that frequency using the keypad. Note that the field reads 3.8800 GHZ. A C-band downlink sees 3880 MHZ, so the only difference in how your screen shows this number is where the decimal point goes. You must add an extra Zero to the numbers you enter - this fills the five-digit number field.

OTHER MENU ITEMS:

VIDEO LEVEL, BANDwidth, TI FILTERS and VIDEO INVERSION. There is little chance that you will need to change any of these. They are all best explained in your owner's manual; please refer to it for details.

There are a few additional menu items hiding down below the line which says Video Inversion. If you cursor downward, you will find them. They are all seldom-used items which are explained in your owner's manual.

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Copyright 1998, Albert E. Powell Jr., Ph.D. Please request permission to reproduce or re-use this document.