Motorised dish - help please

[DMBoot]

Putting this here as I don't want to clutter up the install thread any more.

I just put up a motorised dish and after a few mistakes, I think I have everything right.

I've done the following.

Pole is vertical - checked with spirit level.

Latitude set on motor and angle set on dish

Dish mounted at right angles to motor.

Lat and long entered into DM800HD SE.

I'm using USALS and started by getting 70+ % on France 2 on 5 WEST = my longtitde is 5.9 West.



When I move to other satellites such as 13E, 19E and 28E, and scan, I only get some channels.

I know something is definitely wrong, because I pick up very few channels on 28E. I have Channels such as 5 USA with 100% SNR, but cannot get BBC NI at all. Setanta Sports 1 is at about 30% and no matter what I do with the dish I cannot get it above 34%, but on my fixed dish it is 83%

I been at this for about 3 hours yesterday and about 7 hours today checking and rechecking the setup.

Any suggestions other than go to bed and give up.

[mdt]

obviously something isnt quite right.. check the skew on lnb,focul point(forward/back in holder) also are the motor brackets at the back on the wall mount square/straight? also check that the dish is central on the motor spiggot and the bracket is square/straight aswell. if your certain that the pole is 100% plumb,lat on motor is correct and lat/long in usals aswell then its something making the dish come off the clarke belt as it goes around. i tend to assemble the entire thing at ground level then you only have to get the bracket square on at the back of the wall mount and ajust left/right and dish up down for signal. keep at it you will get it in the end,regards mdt

[DMBoot]

obviously something isnt quite right.. check the skew on lnb,focul point(forward/back in holder) also are the motor brackets at the back on the wall mount square/straight? also check that the dish is central on the motor spiggot and the bracket is square/straight aswell. if your certain that the pole is 100% plumb,lat on motor is correct and lat/long in usals aswell then its something making the dish come off the clarke belt as it goes around. i tend to assemble the entire thing at ground level then you only have to get the bracket square on at the back of the wall mount and ajust left/right and dish up down for signal. keep at it you will get it in the end,regards mdt

I think I have every right as you have detailed. Except .....

You may have something with the lnb mount. I ignorantly just stuck it in the holder and put it into the dish arm. I just checked and the holder was tight against the round receiver bit (name?) closest to the dish. Is the correct position marked on the lnb or it that part of the setup to get this distance just right? Too dark for me to start working at it tonight unfortunately.

Would that be why I pick up some channels from each satellite and not others?

[Dented Dish]

Dish alignment:

I would echo everything mdt said, the only thing i would suggest checking is that your bracket is plumb after you havemounted the motor and dish on it. I have found from past times that the weight of these may pull the mounting arm out of alignment. I have found it always pays to double check the alignment. Good luck anyhow.

[DMBoot]

I would echo everything mdt said, the only thing i would suggest checking is that your bracket is plumb after you havemounted the motor and dish on it. I have found from past times that the weight of these may pull the mounting arm out of alignment. I have found it always pays to double check the alignment. Good luck anyhow.

I am struggling to uderstand the problem.

My arc I think is ok, as I can pick up channels from 5W through 16E, 19E and 28E (and beyond). Just within each satellite, I cannot get all channels (transponders?), with the fact that so many are missing on 28E ringing the alarm bells and the ones that are there are 100% SNR?????

Maybe I need to delete the existing bouquets and rescan everything?

I'll try the lnb focal point this evening and maybe even try another lnb on the dish.

[Dented Dish]

Alignment problems;

It sounds like you may only be picking up the strongest signals from each sat. This can happen if your arc is slightly out (and can be confusing). Trying the lnb focal point is quick and the easiest starting point, from the fact that your getting some good signals would probably mean your lnb is ok. ( you may want a quick check to make sure you are getting both horizontal and vertical signals already though).

[dick b]

I think I have every right as you have detailed. Except .....

You may have something with the lnb mount. I ignorantly just stuck it in the holder and put it into the dish arm. I just checked and the holder was tight against the round receiver bit (name?) closest to the dish. Is the correct position marked on the lnb or it that part of the setup to get this distance just right?

make sure that LNB has zero skew to start with and if you start with it mid way in the holder(you can fine tune later if needed)that should be good enough for a result. you say your mounting pole is 100% plumb but as already stated dish must be be 100% central on the motor spigot,use the casting line to measure to the same point either side of dish. the dish elevation must be found by trial and error raising or lowering to get max signal

[DMBoot]

Guys, thanks for your help. At this point I feel like a right plonker, but I will post this for any other plonkers out there.

The problem was the lnb skew as suggested.

I ended up taking the dish down and it was only then I realised that the ZERO skew of the lnb was NOT with the cable pointing directly down. D'oh!

I rotated the lnb to what was actually ZERO skew as shown by the markings on the lnb, put everything back together, and bingo. EVERYTHING WORKS!!!

I will never get those 2 days back, but I can at least lay claim to the most vertically accurate pole mounted dish in Belfast.