Coax Cable connections

[lilleyen]

As posted elsewhere (in error it seems), I'm a total newbie to the FTA scene.

I have an Invacom Quad polar LNB with 4 posts on it, two C and two L, for Circular and Linear, I assume.
(using a 36" circular dish)
I'm guessing this would be called a universal LNB?

I have connected one cable from the left C post (looking towards the LNB), to one post on my 4 into 1 switch and one cable from the left L post to the same switch. The single outlet from this switch in connected to the appropriate post on the SG2100 motor. (do the different voltages listed beside each post matter?)

The cable from the other post on the motor goes to my VS 9000HD receiver.

The only time I was able to get a really strong signal while up on the roof (using my generic signal finder), was when I disconnected the L cable from the switch and connected it directly to the signal finder as opposed to connecting the single out cable from the switch which has both the C and L lines connected to it.

Does this mean that I shouldn't be using both C and L posts from my LNB?

Would only linear reception get all the FTA channels I would really need in North America?
(I'm in southern Ontario)

The reason I'm asking is I've tried about 4 gazillion azimuth/elevation combos so far and got nothing except about 900 Echostar paid channels which are of no use to me.

My other suspect is my switch. It came with the receiver and looks a bit cheap to me.
I have read about some better quality switches making a lot of troubles go away.
Could I be on the right track with this idea?

All suggestions or help welcome.

(I'm afraid I'm going to wear all the gravel off my roof shingles before I get this solved.)

[desrever]

You don't want to use a signal finder behind a switch. The signal finder as no means of activating the switch.

[lilleyen]

Well, not just the signal finder, I either used the 8 cell battery pack that came with it, or the coax cable atttached to my receiver on the other side of the signal finder to supply the needed power.

Just purchased a Swiss made Axing 4 into 1 switch on the way home tonight. Much better quality than the one supplied with the Viewsat receiver.

Raining steadily, can't try it out.
Also got some good info on my elevation and motor angle settings from a local installer. Back to the roof!
We'll see what's next...

[lilleyen]

You don't want to use a signal finder behind a switch. The signal finder as no means of activating the switch.
Can you elaborate?

[desrever]

Well to put simply when doing your first setup hook the receiver directly to the signal meter then to your lnbf.

Now the rest depends on the sat you want to hit circular or linear connect to
the correct spot depending on the sat eg. Galaxy 10 would be linear.

Now get your strogest signal with the signal meter then scan.

Make sure your receiver is not setup to use a switch.

After you have a nice strong signal then go from there reinstall the switch.

It will be easier to find out if you have a switch issue or not.