motorised set up so far ...

greenhill

Hello all I have just set up my dish semi permanent at the moment
and I just wanted your thoughts before I set it up permanently
I live in Oxfordshire and have set up the dish I cannot gurantee the dish is perfectly straight (answers my own question)
but here are some of the stats i am getting

33e 77% signal strength
28e 86%
19e 89%
13e 90%
7e 84%
1.0w 87%

5w 94%
15w 84%
18w 77%- possible line of sight issue at the moment

I am guessing I am not following the arc correctly due to the temporary set up of the dish.?
When I set it up permanently I should get a good range of sats E and W
The progress is slow going but I think it will be worth it.
any advice would me very much appreciated.

Robbo71

Hi,

It doesn't sound too bad, since that is some of the sats you are getting.

What are you missing? that you think you should be getting.

Robbo

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rolfw

Sounds about right, bearing in mind that the signal strength readings on receivers are not calibrated and purely a percentage of whatever the receiver is set to read as 100%.

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Robbo71

Yes, I would be happy if I could get 70% on most of the satellites I look at, but I don't manage it though, but as long as they're above 66% the channels are viewable. 70% just gives me a little bit of rain margin.

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greenhill

Yes those are good figures but I cannot go further east or west
if I was on the arc properly I would get more range?

Robbo71

Ahh, OK, yes you should be able to go further east and west assuming that there are no obstructions.

Your arc is probably too steep or too shallow. If you send the dish to say 42E and 30W, see which way (either up or down) you need to flex the dish to get a signal. THe steepness of the arc is determined by the dish declination. However adjusting that requires the motor elevation to be adjusted as well.

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greenhill

Whoa ,whoa slow down big fella. You`re forgetting I am a newbie lets just take nice easy steps none of that technobabble.
If I go to 42e then raise or lower the dish, will that not affect thor? when I center the dish again?

Robbo71

Erm, Ok.

Firstly motorise the dish to 42E. Keep everything done up tight. Then try tilting the dish up and down and see which way you have to tilt it to get a good signal.


Repeat for a western satellite such as 30W.


This will tell you if you are too low nearer the extremes, or too high. ( or even too low one side and too high the other)

N.B , you are not adjusting or changing anything at this stage, just 'flexing' the dish and mount a little, just don't get too heavy handed with it.

Robbo

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Robbo71

BY the way, you may find this diagram useful:-

_http://www.geo-orbit.org/sizeimgs/adjarcsr.gif

Basically, if you find that your arc is too steep for example, it means your declination angle is to high, so the dish needs tilting up by just a touch, coupled with an equal decrease in the motor elevation angle. The two adjustments will cancel each other out at the top of the arc, but make it more shallow, so the dish is a little higher at the edges,which is what was needed.

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