Trouble shooting the ALDEN Automatic Satellite dish

These instructions should help if you have NO SIGNAL with an ALDEN automatic satellite dish

The physical dish

First inspect the dish to see if it has been damaged or deformed by impact with a branch or high winds during your travels, even the smallest deformation can cause signal failure, parts are available from us and it is easy to fix. 

The settings

Assuming there is nothing wrong with the mechanical side of the dish, we can move on to the settings. 95% of all errors are caused by the user changing the setup which was programmed by our technicians during installation. Please do not change settings on either the TV or the black SSC box, the only buttons the user needs to push is the ON/OFF buttons 

If you have already pushed all the other buttons and altered the settings on your TV or your SSC box then you can carry on reading.

Please start by checking that the dish has a clear path to the North, check that there are no obstacles blocking the signal pathway, from the dish to the satellite in the sky

Finding a signal with an ALDEN Onelight dish should be very easy because it is fully automatic.

This model requires a SSC box, which has built in software to control the dish motors. The software has been specifically programmed for New Zealand and for this model, If the dish is physically sound and you have no signal then the most likely cause is that someone has unwittingly changed the settings and therefore the dish is no longer receiving the correct information.

The correct procedure to use this system is to turn off your TV or Sky Box, the dish should shut down when it gets the message that the TV is "OFF", now turn "OFF" the SSC box before you start traveling, if you forget to do that the dish will shut down by itself when the engine is started. Once you arrive at your new destination, turn "ON" your SSC box and then use your remote to turn "ON" the TV. If you had forgotten to turn "OFF" the SSC before you traveled the dish will go in lock down for safety purposes, to rectify this, turn "OFF" your TV or Sky Box, then turn "OFF" the SSC Box, wait till the dish has finished shutting down and the then turn "ON" the SSC box again. Now turn "ON" your TV or Sky box using the TV remote. The system should have reset itself and you should now have a picture.

If not, we go into more detail from here, please read the following steps to resolve any issues:

1. The ALDEN Onelight dish has been designed to start searching when the TV is turned "ON", with your remote. The dish will not be activated if the TV does not require satellite signal, for example when the TV source is set on DVD, AV HDMI, Media or PC. To activate the dish the source must be on DTV (Digital TV) for it to work.
2. If you have a separate Sky Box connected to your TV then the TV source will be set to AV and the dish will be waiting for a command from the Sky Box not the TV, so if the Sky Box is turned "OFF" the dish will get no signal and it will not search automatically.
3. First ensure that the SSC Box is turned "ON", the green light should be on, see image below
4. Now turn "ON" the TV or Sky Box, the display on the SSC box should now flash OPTUS D1.1. DO NOT PUSH ANY BUTTONS WHILST THIS SCREEN IS FLASHING BECAUSE YOU WILL CHANGE THE SATELLITE SETTINGS, If you have already accidentally changed the settings (move on to step 5)
5. To change the Sat: program settings back to Optus D1.1 press the satellite UP button whilst the Sat: menu is BLINKING, (go back to step 4) this will give you various options, just keep scrolling up till you get back to Optus D1.1 and then leave all buttons till the screen stops blinking, the system should start searching for the correct Satellite after a few seconds. The screen will say OPTUS D1.1 Pointing OK!
6. If the ALDEN dish stays up after the TV or Sky box is turned "OFF", or does not go up when the TV or Sky box is turned "ON", then the settings have been changed or the dish coax cable is not connected to the TV. Start by pressing the menu button and scroll down using the Sat Down button to menu number 2."EXT Boot" -> press menu and ensure the screen says YES. Scroll down to menu number 3. "ANT. Status" -> press menu and ensure the screen says YES. Scroll down to menu 4. "Power Option" -> press menu and ensure the screen says YES
7. The next thing to check is that the SSC box is programmed for the correct Dish, sometimes people will unwittingly push buttons and change setting that should not be changed. Using the menu button scroll down to 7. "Mec. Antenna" Confirm that the system is set for this model OL2R for the white ONELIGHT dish or OL3F for the grey EVO dish, if incorrect then scroll down till OL2R or OL3F is found, set the system for the appropriate dish and the dish should receive the correct information from the SSC box.
8. Still no signal? Check the LNB angle is set to about 8 o clock for NZ
9. Still no signal? Check that the coax cable is not damaged or corroded, run a temporary coax cable from the LNB to the TV through the door way or window of your vehicle, (if there is no improvement we know it is not the cable or the LNB angle, however it could be that the LNB is faulty, replace the LNB with one that has the same code. The satellite coax cable should be connected to the F connector on the TV (a F connector has a screw on thread of approx 10mm) If the TV does not have a F connector it is not satellite capable and a satellite decoder will be required. Also check for short circuits inside the F connector between the earth and positive of the coax crimp
10. If the dish is locking in to a satellite, so in other words it is up, and looks like it is in the correct position, the SSC box will say "OPTUS D1.1 Pointing OK!" If you still have no signal then it must be the TV, unplug the cable at the back of the SSC box so that the dish has no power to shut itself down, now plug a temporary coax cable from your dish into your neighbor's TV to identify if it is in fact your TV that is playing up or if it is something to do with the dish. (if there is a picture using the neighbor's TV then we know it is your TV not the dish, so move on to step 12)
11. Confirm TV settings: Check "TV satellite settings" on your TV are still set correctly, that the LNB code on "Settings" is set on the TV and that it matches the dish LNB, The "LNB settings" will usually read 10.75 or 10750 and can be written either way.
12. Confirm TV settings: Check if the TV is set to "Satellite TV" not to "cable" or "digital Ext"
13. Confirm TV settings: Check "LNB settings", the LNB power should be ON / AUTO / 18 volt in NZ (if it is set to 13 volt it will not work as it will be looking at vertical transponders and we use horizontal transponders)
14. If all of the above has been done and you still have no signal then you will need to book the vehicle in with us to investigate further.