28.2E, 19.2E 16E 13E 1W fine, all other W sats no signal

ksada2

Hi Guys,

I am trying to duplicate the setup I have in Holland for my parents in the UK. Ie Dreambox 500, Moteck 2100A motor and an 80cm dish (whereas I have 60cm in NL).

Just as in Holland, I entered the co-ordinates of the location, and told the Dreambox to use the Goto X function, and sent it to 19.2E, found the signal and fine tuned it with a signal meter. 28.2E works spot on, 16E, 13E and 1.0W also, all with signal strength of around 91% and BER 0.

All satellites work impeccably in Holland, however beyond 1.0W there is no or little signal and a BER in numerous thousands. The only sat I want beyond Thor is 30W.

It sounds typical of an unstraight pole to me, but the spirit level says it is fine.

If you look at the picture I am posting you see the setup with the dish at 19.2E, and when I move it to 30W it points roughly between the end of the roof line and those trees. The trees and the neighbouring building are approximately 20-25 metres away.

To try to find 30W I temporarily moved the dish a few degrees east and west via the motor menu, and also varied the inclination of the dish, all to no avail.

I'd be really greatful if anyone could offer any suggestions.

Attached Images

IMG_7653.JPG (127.3 KB, 25 views)

rolfw

I would start from scratch, set the motor latitude to your parents' latitude and then depending on what your parents' longitude is, set up on the nearest to due South satellite.

I really cannot understand what the attraction is to setting up on an off centre satellite, as it invariably leads to these sort of results..

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ksada2

I don't really understand why starting on Thor would make a difference, would you mind explaining please? Howcome the same procedure worked so perfectly in Holland?

rolfw

I didn't say starting on thor, but starting on your nearest Due South satellite, why on earth would you want to do otherwise?

If you are winding the dish out to nearly 50% of its easterly travel, any adjustments are not strictly horizontal or vertical and any adjustments made, if slighty out will be wildly out when sending the dish to the opposite extreme, do it in the centre and any errors are likely to be less prejudicial to overall arc accuracy.

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2cvbloke

It'd be nice if they put a satellite up at 0 degrees to make setting up motors a lot easier...

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rolfw

Not for me, I live on the 1 degree line.

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Robbo

Another reason why you should setup on your nearest due south is that if your arc is slightly too shallow or too steep, when you align on the middle of the eastern arc for example it could work really well, just for the eastern sats,.
But unfortunately it could be at the expense of the western arc.
Wheras if you set up at the top of the arc any error on the motor elevation is split between both eastern and western arcs and less likely to cause a problem.

Turok

Hi!!
Setting up a polarmount north/south position should always do with the most western or eastern satellite.
If you set it up on the most western or eastern satellite you get much better tracking of the polarmount.

Robbo

I agree, but both western and eastern extremes need to be checked to ensure that you are actually on the centre of the arc (east-west). Because if you are not centred, adjusting the motor elevation (the/north south position or latitude) could make matters worse.

rolfw

This isn't a polarmount we are talking about Turok, it is an H to H motor and firstly needs to be set up for due South, yes then check your Eastern and Western arc at the extremes, but don't start with them, as it just makes for a much longer job, as many a thread here will testify to.

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ksada2

I'm pleased to say it's solved!

Before I wrote this thread yesterday I made one last attempt to pick up channels from 30W, to no avail. So I realigned the dish back to 19.2E and left it.

This morning I was curious to try 30W with the intention of nudging it east or west with the receiver controls.... and low and behold I didn't need to! 30W is now giving 92% signal and 0 BER!

Thanks for your help everyone. PS if anyone has ideas for my Quad LNB preventing the motor from moving let me know!

Cheers