Effect of the recent winds

[jazzmanthe]

Hi All,

Just wanting a general view on issues I have after all the recent windy weather.

The dish was clear moved by the +100mph winds we had in Scotland, so I got the repair guys in, the original installer now having retired and the dish was reset. This was after a considerable amount of playing about, I must say.

When checking the arc, we have found a few "strange" things.

1) If moving east to west, its quite difficult to get a lock, but if moving west to east, you have no problems in finding the sat & locking.

2) on 0.8/1W I'm finding that some of the transponders are fine, but others which worked fine before the gales, are now as dead as a dodo

Now!!!

I'm thinking that the motor, a TM2300, has been damaged, guessing the gears have finally given up after 3 years of gales etc. Doesn't help that while I have a great clear view, I'm at the top of a hill. That I can take as just the normal wear and tear it would suffer from.

The one that is really puzzling me is the missing transponders. Could this be related to the motor having a bit of play or is the LNB on its way out? The thing is, its fine on all the other sats 4E to 53E.

Any ideas thoughts please.

Thanks

John

PS, should say that 26E need a fine tune every time you move to it.

[dick b]

yeah it sounds like backlash in the motor if its alright in one direction but not the other.If your in a really exposed position it may pay to get a 36V system set up but they need a Vbox to control the motor and a lot more setting up as well as being more expensive,a heavy duty polar mount and acutator can be up to £200 + dish to suit.you cant use usals either the V box only accepts 1.2 commands as far as I know(I"v never set one up)as to missing TPs could be an alignment/skew problem.

[jazzmanthe]

Thanks for confirming what I feared with the motor, but its given a great service over the years, so I'm not complaining, too much!

I thought it that it would be something along those lines for the LNB. I might put up a new one when the motor is being replaced.

Any suggestions as to one with the best sensitivity?

[dick b]

I found this guide for backlash adjusting on TM type motors some time ago(I"ve never tried it)but you may like to give it a go if going to scrap the motor anyway. as to LNBs youll get a different answer from everyone you ask.I think the technomate series are as good as any although I have an invacom on one dish at the moment.to be honest I"ve also tried one from Lidl that was £4 and I cant tell much difference between that and the dear ones.

[jazzmanthe]

Thanks for that, does seem a bit more of brute strength rather than a light touch.

Know what you mean, classic case of six of one and half a dozen of the other! You pick one that work fine and never say, but pick a problem and everyone knows.

[Nutsandbolts]

Hi. A quick tip if your motor is picking up the EAST sats and not the WEST its usually because you need to raise the dish slightly up on the motor tail. Also make sure you have correct frequencies for the satellites otherwise you will always get the NO SIGNAL message.Regards.