Motorized Satellite Dish Almost Set Up

[dick b]

I know you didnt take the dish bracket off but I"d re check that the dish is dead central on the motor spigot because it sounds like its slightly out.
I take it you reset the latitude on the motor (or didnt you move very far)

[DJSimo]

I know you didnt take the dish bracket off but I"d re check that the dish is dead central on the motor spigot because it sounds like its slightly out.
I take it you reset the latitude on the motor (or didnt you move very far)

Which way from above results, if not dead central do you think it needs moving, towards east or west?
I only moved about half mile so latitude is still the same.

[Nutsandbolts]

Hi. When you flex the dish did you tightened the clamp up?? Otherwise the dish will return to where it was before. Regards.

[DJSimo]

Hi. When you flex the dish did you tightened the clamp up?? Otherwise the dish will return to where it was before. Regards.

Dish was tightly clamped I only flexed dish to see which way affected signal?

[pedro2000uk]

Dish was tightly clamped I only flexed dish to see which way affected signal?

what did you hold to 'flex' the dish?

[DJSimo]

what did you hold to 'flex' the dish?

ERMM the DISH?????

[mdt]

are you using t+k,s or a L bracket?... i know you say the pole is plumb but it sounds like its out of plumb from what you describe. make sure the motor bracket is totally central on the wall mount and tighten the nuts in small amounts at a time going to each nut in turn. the motor bracket needs to be sitting square on aswell, regards mdt

[pedro2000uk]

ERMM the DISH?????

best using something that can't distort the face - usually part of the AZ/EL at the back depending on the make.. depends how tough the dish is - you could do it on some older dishes

[pedro2000uk]

...and tighten the nuts in small amounts at a time going to each nut in turn. ...regards mdt

spot on ... & keep the threads the same length ... the amount of times I've seen them cranked up all over the place

[Elric]

when i had probs gettin satellites i found that the motor wasnt
on center of the pole only off by a couple degrees,so i got the motor in the center while i was tightenin the nuts up i still had the sat beeper connected so i could tell if it was going off center or not

[dick b]

Which way from above results, if not dead central do you think it needs moving, towards east or west?
I only moved about half mile so latitude is still the same.

It just needs to be accurately centralised then if your mounting pole IS 100% plumb and the dish elevation is peaked on a sat of your choice and the LNB is also centralised ("0"degrees skew) you should track the arc ok on both H & V polarities.

[pedro2000uk]

Which way from above results, if not dead central do you think it needs moving, towards east or west?
I only moved about half mile so latitude is still the same.

the motor aim needs to move a degree or so to the west [on the pole] & the dish east the same amount [on the motor drive arm] using a meter & check & tweak the el/az etc.. when you've done it a few times to balance your arc ... [without stressing the dish face or motor]

but you should really investigate what caused you to aim it slightly east ... bent az/el or feed arm or bent dish face or thin pole crushed &/or bent pole clamps or longitude settings out in stb or setting it on '0' not Thor or motor needs reseting at zero or interference or object at 1w etc. etc. rather than just shove it all round a bit as something is wrong & it's best to put that right rather than compensate for it.

[DJSimo]

Today tried adjusting dish but gave up after an hour, so I took the entire dish down, whilst it was on the ground I could see one side of the motor was set at 52 and 50 on the other so reset this so they were both the same, I also took dish off motor and remounted it making sure it was central.
Put it back up peaked signal on 1? West, checked all other sats and getting them all from 53? East to 45? West.

Thanks for everyones help

[ramjet]

changed my motek motor to a darkmotor yesterday and added an inverto ultrablack twin lnb as well.

so the basic advice is correct

my pole was and still is 100% plumb using T-K brackets and a scaffold pole

I removed the td110 dish and laid it carefully on its back from the tiles to the ladders used as a prop

I removed the old motor , and put the darkmotor on the pole, using a clamp below it to keep it in position on the pole. the latitude was set and locked to my exact latitude

I then refitted the dish and changed the twin lnb , and used my spiderbox to send it to thor ensuring my usals was set correctly , and used the music channel to get the best signal both horizontally and vertically, locked the dish and motor up completely and checked all sats from 42e to 30w and everything was fine

so the moral of the story is set everything up correctly and it all falls into place with very little effort

[dennisone]

needing fine tuning information

hopefully the fine tuning information I think I need will be in the download. Have got many satellites east and west but too low signals on some (both sides of arc) and end up loosing signals if I do the declination angle only. pole verticals have been checked many times so can only assume that the problem is in alignment of the dish.