Motorised System Installation Help

Telord74 · Nov 27, 2014

My usual Dish installer has gone to scotland to work until March, so i decided to try the install myself..

First of all my Co-Ords
51N *.*W

After taking my old motorised system down (I say taking down it was more like falling down) I purchased new motor, dish and lnb.
My motor set to 51 latitude, dish elevation 21 degrees, using USALS on my Amiko Alien pointing towards 28.2 E my signal Level 90%, signal quality 0%.

Here is the problem, motor turns to where USALS tells it i still get 90% signal level even when i point it at a satellite i cant possibly receive say 12.5 E, have tried another lnb and replaced all cables, still no luck plus tried a different receiver the other receiver says 23% and 10%. So I was hoping the good people on here might have a few suggestions..

skomedal · Nov 27, 2014

Did you zero the motor by aiming it at a sat. about due south of your location and fine tuning that, before scanning for other birds?

Regards

Lazarus · Nov 27, 2014

Welcome to the Forum.

The first thing to do is look at the Installation Guides here

However, the best thing you can do to prepare for accurate full-arc tracking is to use 1W or 5W for setting up (Not sure of your Longitude as it's starred out above.

So, use Go to Reference to send the motor back to Zero; Check that the Dish is mounted correctly using the faint line on the motor stub as a datum and that it sits square on the stub even as you tighten the clamps.

Then select 1W or 5W and the motor should barely move.

Then align to 1W or 5W in the same way as you would a fixed dish

ie Align for Azimuth by swinging the entire dish/motor around the mounting pole (won't need to go far) and align for elevation by adjusting the dish back plate only. Once you've got the optimum result, check Satellites further and further East and West in order to confirm tracking.

Lazarus · Nov 27, 2014

Oh, some pictures will help - to eliminate obvious howlers!

The non-varying readings you get suggests alignment is way off in either Azimuth or Elevation or, most likely, both.

sonnetpete · Nov 27, 2014

Telord74 said:
First of all my Co-Ords 51N *.*W

Could you confirm your location? I can find a Castletownbere at 51.6N 9.9W at the very tip of Eire. Normally it would make little difference for set up, but if you are located at a very Westerly longtitude you may be best aligning on the satellite at 8W which would be closer to your due south.

Terryl · Nov 27, 2014

Step one: make sure the mast is absolutely plumb, left to right front to back, this is important as it will affect your scanning of satellites on each end of the arc.

Step two: align the motor, dish and LNB to DUE South(180 degrees true) at your location, then once this is done you can manually jog the motor to the due South satellite from your location, (after setting the elevation correctly) why? Because the due South satellite may be off to one side a few degrees of exact due South.

Good and proper alignment is important it will affect how your dish tracks the Clark belt when you go looking for satellites.

Dishpointer.com has a due South app that will help you find the correct direction.

Telord74 · Nov 27, 2014

Just a quick question befpre i try this tomorrow..
As regards elevation my app says elevation for 5w should be 30 degrees should i rely on scale on dish or my inclinometer?

Telord74 · Nov 27, 2014

yes i am 9.9 W

Lazarus · Nov 27, 2014

I'd still use 5W as 7.3W/8W are fickle beasts. 5W is close enough and is a stonking great unmissable signal.

Use your Dish Elevation scale >>> Whatever you use, it's only a starting point anyway: You will still need to raise/lower a little to hit the Bird anyway.

Telord74 · Nov 28, 2014

another concern i have is how can i tell if my signal readings are accurate, i have an amiko alien and my signal level is always 90% even when not pointing at a satellite, i thought it might be the cable but when i move my cable to the fixed dish i get channels

i have entered 9.9w and 51n will send the photos next

Telord74 · Nov 28, 2014

View attachment 70284 View attachment 70284 View attachment 70285

Telord74 · Nov 28, 2014

still not hitting anything that i can see, it looks like when i'm aiming at a satellite my signal level is 90% as soon as i deviate left/right up/down it goes to 73%

skomedal · Nov 28, 2014

Forget the signal bar on the left concentrate on the quality bar on the right.

Regards

Mickha · Nov 28, 2014

Personally I would start from the beginning, check your pole is absolutely plumb, zero your motor, and dish, set your receiver up on USALS, then send your dish to a satellite you know, 8W, 5W, or even 0.8W.
It's a lot easier if you use a cheap satellite meter, £6-£10, to enable you to align your dish.
If you haven't got one, or feel you don't need one, try using dishpointer.com, put in your postcode, select your chosen satellite, e.g. Thor 0.8W, and zoom in on the map, to your house, and move the green icon, to your dishes location, and check the direction the line is pointing.

Telord74 · Nov 29, 2014

i don't see where the problem lies..
i installed my 28.2 fixed dish no problem, took a bit of fine tuning, had trouble distinguishing between 28.2 and 19.2 but i eventually got it. The problem here is why cant i receive 28.2, regardless of the other satellites if i could get any astra 2 signal it would put my mind at rest that at least everything was working and i could fiddle to get the rest but i am getting no astra 2 whatsoever which makes me suspicious of the cables as i replaced my single lnb for a quad lnb and still no luck.
So what i want to try is measure the azimuth and elevation on my fixed dish and replicate those measurements on the motorised dish. That should work right..
If there is no luck with astra 2 then there must be a fault somewhere...Right?

Mickha · Nov 29, 2014

Why not change the cabling over from your fixed dish, to the motorized one, to rule out any problem witht he cable, or connections, another thing a cheap meter would discover, as it lights up, when everything is working.
Some pictures, of your dish, and motor, would help.
Setting up a fixed dish is a lot easier than a motorized system but you should be able to get some signal quality, providing you're patient enough and adjust the dish slowly, including the elevation.
Do not get fixated on the elevation figures, instead look at the angle of your dish, which I assume is an offset and not a prime focus dish.

Archived-1 · Nov 29, 2014

This video might help, you need to follow it to the book, you will find your lat and long in the link below for you area, and if you click on the satellite you need to align to it will show you a rough idea were you need to point the dish to start with,
http://www.dishpointer.com/

This is what I would be looking at for my area,

Telord74 · Nov 30, 2014

OK Thanks to everyone here, whether it was luck i have so many satellites to choose from i don't know but when i got a professional with one of those expensive machines he managed to get me 28.2, 19.2, 23.2 and 13. He said that is all i need

Now i have 15 satellites, Does that sound right?

Here is what i did..

I tied a string to my lnb arm and got my partner to point the string due south.
Then when i looked at signal on tv there was nothing but when the motor was moving i could see the level going up and down as it passed satellites.
I then changed my latitude from 9.9w to 1.8w and everything seems to be fine.

You guys have been a great support, now i have the long laborious task of checking TP's as i reset me box and i think the tp's are out of date.

Mickha · Nov 30, 2014

Do you mean changed your longitude? By changing your longitude you've corrected for not setting up your motor/dish correctly.
As you are about 8 degrees out, you must have set the dish up on a different satellite to what you originally sent the motor to, thus your signal quality readings might be low, as your dish might not be tracking the arc correctly.
Can you please post some channel names, and signal quality readings, for the satellites at the furthest East, and West, e.g. 39E and 30W.

skomedal · Nov 30, 2014

Can you track and lock satellites other than these?

Telord74 said:
when i got a professional with one of those expensive machines he managed to get me 28.2, 19.2, 23.2 and 13. He said that is all i need

Sounds like the so called prof. did not do a good job setting up the dish only covering a 15 degree arc.

Just my opinion.

Regards

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