FTA Dish Alignment - Motorize your Dish

Receiver Repair Guides

Locate problems with FTA receivers and Dish alignment procedures by following categories:

Dish Alignment:

Single Dish = Need to adjust both Elevation and Azimuth (dish mount direction) You can request a Free Sat finder Calculator that will help with both the dish direction as well as the elevation adjustment for your specific satellite that you want to use.

Single Dish Motorized = This is the most complicated since the satellite arc needs to be determined before the initial setup - SG2100 Setup Instructions: will be very helpful in setting up motorized dish. The most important item to remember is that your local latitude = the motor setting (declination) When setting up using USALS remember to use the nearest satellite that is the highest in elevation arc and use those settings in your receiver labeled longitude and latitude. A helpful calculator for your use.

Multi Satellite Dish = Dish 500 (Dual Satellite) - Both elevation, azimuth and tilt (or offset on back side of dish) For most all of the dishes, would recommend a Budget Satellite Meter, which will save yelling at your wife, and eventually a divorce.

Request a Free Satellite finder Calculator for locating dish elevation and Azimuth directions:

FTA Receiver Repair Guides:

Receiver repair is divided in following Categories:

Dead FTA or No Visual Display:

This is one of the more common symptoms due to using clone killing software that makes the receiver appear to be off.  The problem is that the eeprom area (TSOP) has been written with  incorrect firmware (flashing) or a clone killing firmware which makes the unit appear dead. The unit can be most likely repaired and corrected at TSOP level.  See Dead FTA Receiver

Blank Channels with Searching for Satellite

Once again a common problem due to a firmware upgrade requirement - You need to check some of the more popular forums for specific info on your particular receiver.

Receiver is locked and Forgot Access Codes?

See codes section for FTA Lockout codes

Serial Cable Error

If you know for sure that the serial cable is the correct one and will not read or write then most likely the receiver has a damaged interface chip.  We can repair this type of problem at smt level and usual charge is $50 plus return shipping See Serial Cable Error

Jtag Problems

This category could be caused by hardware issues that are above and beyond the scope of this document - Please see our FTA Repair section for more information

Will be adding more information as issues occur