Help Required 1m motorised install

[gdf68]

Finally got hold of a piece of scaffold, so can reinstall my setup
Wall is not very flat but found a section but I have got to the the K bracket at the top to get it level
T bracket will be at bottom , is that ok.
Then attach the mast before installing the T and levelling it all.

Once I have this done
Does it matter which order you put the motor and dish on the mast as long as bang in the centre.


Oh once again cheers Alex

 

[a33]

For a motorized setup, the mast must be absolutely plumb east/west-wise; so invest in that!
North/south plumbness is not really important, as the north/south angle of the rotation axis is eventually set with the motor elevation.

I would guess putting motor-at-zero and dish and LNB-arm exactly in line would be easier when you first put the motor on. But in principle, the order doesn't matter, I would say. I'm not quite sure why you ask, what procedure you are thinking of?

Greetz,
A33

 

[jeallen01]

FWIW, the installation order is mostly a matter of what is the most practical for the motor & dish combo in question for the installing person.

With a small and lightweight combo it may be practical to mount the dish on the motor before mounting the motor on the vertical pole, but with motors and dishes that are relatively "heavy" then you'd probably mount the motor in the pole and then the dish on the motor.

NB: don't under-estimate how heavy and "ungainly" to handle a dish already mounted on a motor can be!

 

[gdf68]

Thanks guys , yeah will only be me installing so I'll go the light weight route of motor to pole ,

Was only asking because watched a few vids and the pdf on here shows the other way.

 

[cyberham]

I support what jeallen01 said. Having just gone through this again, if you can get away with mounting the dish onto the motor first in a convenient location (like while sitting down!), do it. I did my 1-metre dish this way. My motor has a downward-pointing motor arm, so mounting the dish on the motor after the motor is on the pole can be awkward if doing alone.

 

[gdf68]

It's raining here currently trying to suss out the dish elevation
Motor digipower SG 2100A ( moteck clone) I think
So I have set the lat 53.5 & 37 elevation but not sure what the dish should be set to

My old TM 2300 was 22.4 in the manual

Dish pointer ( motorised setup) for L91EN say elevation 30°

Any idea

 

[jeallen01]

It's raining here currently trying to suss out the dish elevation
Motor digipower SG 2100A ( moteck clone) I think
So I have set the lat 53.5 & 37 elevation but not sure what the dish should be set to

My old TM 2300 was 22.4 in the manual

Dish pointer ( motorised setup) for L91EN say elevation 30°

Don't confuse the motor elevation number in the motor spec and dish declination figure in the dish spec sheet or in the dish manual (if there is one!).

NB: dish manufacturers often kept/keep to the same declination figure for whole ranges of dishes - so, if you can't find the spec for your specific dish, but you know who made it, then the spec for a slightly smaller or larger dish from the same mfr should give a good guide for what yours should be.

 

[gdf68]

I have my old TM manual which possibly isn't relevant here the settings say my lat53° equates to 37° on the motor and a declination angle of 7.6 thus gives me 30° -7.6 for dish angle set to 22.4
no arrow on dish just a nut.
Would the digi use the same

 

[jeallen01]

Having used neither your motor nor your new dish, I must leave other people to advise/comment.

 

[a33]

Dish pointer ( motorised setup) ...

Of course choose "Moteck SG2100" there...


Edit: the outcome " Dish elevation: 22* " is not in fact the dish elevation, but the 'dish elevation scale number'.
Alas, ambiguous and incomplete terminology will not help people understand motor setups better....

 

[gdf68]

Thanks




So same as my old motor dish angle 22°

 

[gdf68]

Found a 2100 manual and it says
elevation scale number angle on dish should be 40° minus declination 7.55 , there fore dish angle should be 32.5°

I'll try both this and the dish pointer info but if any one

 

[a33]

The 30* or 40* values refer to the angle in the motor shaft.
You can easily see/measure what angle would be the proper one: 30 or 40.

 

[gdf68]

Sorry for what may be a dumb question, it was 15 yrs since I did this setup , and it's been 2 yrs off the wall,
Motor set to zero
I have set all the angles and attached the motor to the dish centered
Now when I attach to the mast centre do I look to point it true south or as long as it's plumb and at 0 I then go to 0.8w on the reciever and then rotate it east/west until I maxthe signal.

 

[cyberham]

The latter. If all is as you say, then you should immediately get at least some signal from 0.8W. I have the same motor though I think mine is original Digiwave Moteck. Its good feature is it has a reset button which, if the motor ever goes insane and seems not to do what it should, you can reset it and all will be normal again. Though you lose your custom motor positions in the motor memories.

 

[a33]

By the way.
Have you ever read about the "modified motor angles"?
They follow the Clarke Belt better than the 'normal', traditional angles, and are about 0.6 degrees different for your latitude.
I'm afraid dishpointer doesn't give these better angles. And also many motor manuals don't (but some do!).

In your case, for LAT=53.45, they would be:
Motor axis elevation = 35.9 (latitudescale: 54.1) [instead of 36.55 / 53.45]
Dish declination offset angle = 7.0 [instead of 7.6]

Normally, using these angles, would mean having to do even less fine-tuning on your motor setup.

Sorry I (we) didn't bring this up earlier.

greetz,
A33

 

[gdf68]

Ok I have used the modified motor settings you stated, what about the receiver end does it stay 53.448

 

[a33]

Very good question!

In the following post I reasoned that with modified motor settings, you might also need to enter the modified latitude angle for the USALS calculation: USALS Notebook

However, as I wrote there, the difference in effect of the modified latitude angle on the calculated rotation angle was so small, that it is hardly noticeable.
So in theory I think the modified LAT-angle should be used in USALS, but in practice it doesn't matter much, I would say.
That is why I usually don't address this point.

But you were clever to think about this consequence!

At some point I might pick up modified angles again, to compare several calculation ways, and their consequences. That is for the long term, though.


Greetz,
A33

Edited.

 

[jeallen01]

Very good question!

In the following post I reasoned that with modified motor settings, you might also need to enter the modified latitude angle for the USALS calculation: USALS Notebook

However, as I wrote there, the difference in effect of the modified latitude angle on the calculated rotation angle was so small, that it is hardly noticeable.
So in theory I think the modified LAT-angle should be used in USALS, but in practice it doesn't matter much, I would say.
That is why I usually don't address this point.

But you were clever to think about this consequence!

At some point I might pick up modified angles again, to compare several calculation ways, and their consequences. That is for the long term, though.


Greetz,
A33

Edited.

W.r.t. the elevation and longitude/"rotation angle" settings, it's actually quite difficult to make very fine physical adjustments to either - 1 degree adjustments are probably the "finest" adjustments that most people can make, and in many receivers you can't enter anglular settings to finer than 0.1 degree.

Therefore, I suspect that your comment "So in theory I think the modified LAT-angle should be used in USALS, but in practice it doesn't matter much" is pretty much the reality of the situation.

 

[gdf68]

I've give up for the day.
Pole mast is plumb both on spirit level and 0.00 on sat plumb app on mobile was really pleased to achieve that.
Set motor to zero with goto 0 on receiver
Used the modified settings from a33
Attached motor to dish bracket centred
Then attached to the mast centred minus the dish
I had previously removed dish to paint so rather than try and put it all on the mast by my self I thought I'd leave the dish off as easier to hold , then I screwed the dish back on .
Now on receiver sat finder went to 0.8w no signal and no signal on any sats.

I remember in the past if the wind had blew off line and on my initial setup I would let the dish travel from 30w to 39e and I would get signals when it went past the sats but upon trying this time I get no signal as it moves.