Setup help please

Dogz11 · 15-07-2008

Pole plumb in both directions, triple checked
Lattitude and longitude set in technomate 5400 ci reciever and near as dammit corresponds with London (i'm in woking and used info from dishpointer.com) so they're in the right way round.
Due south located with a rangefinder compass
Told reciever to go to Thor, which results in a very small burst of movement.

then...
Signal Level... 89%
Quality .... 22%

No picture.... get the bbc world channell up (no signal)... sit there and fine tune / move the dish east and west for ages in either direction no picture or signal quality still. Tried moving the dish up and down same, tried moving the motor around the pole same.

Strange thing is when initially setting it up we did at one point get a channel briefly, but nothing since .....

help please

**satelliteman** · 15-07-2008

Hi, you just haven't managed to locate your reference satellite yet.

Check line of sight in case of blockage.

You have not mentioned the Latitude/El motor scale adjustment. This needs to be set to your latitude OR if Elevation then 90 - Lat = EL

Satman

**rolfw** · 15-07-2008

Have you read the setup guide?

When you send the receiver to Thor, you then need to go out and fine tune the dish elevation and azimuth of the whole assembly, until you get the best signal on Thor.

Dogz11 · 15-07-2008

Position setting saved / set in Technomate

0.5w
51.3 N

have set the motor bracket at 52 dgrees, rough markings

Dishpointer says lattitude 51.316 Longitude -0.573,
elevation 31.3 (thor)
azimuth true 180.3 ?
azimuth marginal 182.7 ?
skew 0.2

**Robbo71** · 15-07-2008

Not, that it would make a great deal of difference, but why not set the motor to 51, as it is closer than 52, also 0.6W in the receiver instead of 0.5W.

The skew on the LNB should be set to zero.

Once you have done what rolf said you should be there.

Robbo

Dogz11 · 15-07-2008

yes i did read the setup guide, several in fact

i am a little lost as what the setting on the dish bracket itself ought to be ?

**Robbo71** · 15-07-2008

If you send the dish to 0.8W using USALS, monitor 11325H, and adjust it for max quality signal.

Without worrying about the figures, start with the dish face almost vertical (tilting up just a bit).

Dogz11 · 15-07-2008

the markings on the motor are poor in 2degree increments and have set it at nearer 51 than 52. i'll change the technomate setting to 0.6w

**satelliteman** · 15-07-2008

The Elevation will vary depending on dish type & design.
ie: the Penta looks a higher elevation of that to a Triax at the top of the arc.

If you want, you can work out a rough declination setting of the dish from the but as already discussed the markings are not always clear.
Use transponder 11.325h as your set up freq on receiver.

Dogz11 · 15-07-2008

pram....rattle....out

seriously though, checked the dish to bracket markings says..15 degrees, looks barely tilted, and this hasnt changed from when we had it working on a manhattan mount last year.

can put BBC world on screen (bad signal no picture) and get signal and quality levels on screen at same time but even with fine tune in either direction for ages i get nothing.

Does this help. tell it to go to hotbird, then tell it to go to Astra 28 and i noticed it flashed a blue and yellow strong signal which dissappears as it progresses towards Astra. Once at Astra if i change the satellites to Hellasat the levels go blue and yellow again, but if i scan it then tries to move to Hellasat and all is lost.

THere are some trees about 40 or 50m away which previously had no effect when the dish was set lower down, the bungalow is now a house and the dish approx 5m up. I suppose the top of the treesare about level with the dish. I do have much clearer line of site to the far West, any strong satellites i could use in that direction as a reference ?

AND a big thanks for all your help peeps

Dogz11 · 16-07-2008

Well been at this almost all the evening / night, best i have managed so far is to locate and save Astra @ 28 degrees, despite fine tuning forever to locate Hotbird both east and west i had no luck at all. In fact i can only locate astra which i suspect is probably the easiest of all sats to find. However i do get 97% signal quality & level on the technomate at Astra. I'm trying to get hotbird though for thai tv for the missus.

bedtime

**satelliteman** · 16-07-2008

If you have followed the set up guides carefully, there is no reason why you shouldn't have it working.

Consider and carefully check the usual:

> Latitude/Elevation scale setting on the motor body
> Bracket/wall mount is plumb in all directions
> Latitude/Longitude on receiver under USALS setting is correct
> LNb is vertical at motor zero position
> Dish is centre on the motor shaft itself
> Your receiver is showing active transponders as already discussed

Check the pole and bracket is plumb with the dish & motor clamped to the pole, sometimes the weight of the two can throw it off a little.

**rolfw** · 16-07-2008

All I can say is to stop farting around with moving the dish, you are jumping the gun and wasting your own time.

Send the dish to zero, set your longitude and latitude in the receiver, send the dish to 1W and leave the receiver alone, aside from setting it to a receivable transponder for that satellite, then by swinging the whole assembly on the mast and adjusting the dish elevation only, find 1W.

Do not touch the motor controls on the receiver again until you have a good maximised signal on 1W.

Dogz11 · 16-07-2008

Just had a quick word with technomate, (was thinking about doing a factory reset...would that remove the patch ?) they said read the elevation setting on the opposite side of the motor to the lattitude scale and set the dish to that elevation !

Sound good to you ~?

**Topper** · 16-07-2008

Originally Posted by Dogz11

Just had a quick word with technomate, (was thinking about doing a factory reset...would that remove the patch ?)

In a word yes

should you do it

**rolfw** · 16-07-2008

Sorry, I give up, can't help somebody who won't listen.

Dogz11 · 16-07-2008

Sorry if i have upset you rolf, i do appreciate your help.
But as i said earlier i am unable to get any signal at all from Thor....possibly due to the tree line. So leaves me little option other than to try alternative methods, what else can i do.....

Have checked the setup, aligned the damn thing with a range finder compass, set my Lat & Long in USALS gone to THor ..NO SIGNAL !!

Found an alternative satellite Astra (fine tuned 97% everything) tried going from there to hotbird & thor zilch....

Following your exasperation i again:

have gone back to reference location used USALS gone to THor ..NO SIGNAL !! MOved motor around pole, moved dish NO SIGNAL !!

set the dish elevation according to Technomate tables for my lattitude, moved motor around pole. NO SIGNAL

I'll check transponder again, forgot about that

**rolfw** · 16-07-2008

OK apologies, take a photo of due South from the dish, let's see what is in the way.

**Robbo71** · 16-07-2008

I doubt very much if there is an obstruction, trees 40m away at the same height as the dish would definitely not cause a problem. But I agree, a photo would help.

Also Technomate's advice about the declination setting for the dish is incorrect as far as I know. The elevation settings on the other side of the motor are just 90-latitude.

If there are no obstruction issues, I'm wondering if the problem is just inexperience with lining a dish up. In which case I would reccomend having a practice at trying to find a few satellites on the arc manually at ground level.

**satelliteman** · 16-07-2008

Itching to see these pictures now

Once you have located your reference satellite........all will fall into place

Dogz11 · 16-07-2008

camera on charge, daughters school production tonight, i'll post them asap

Dogz11 · 17-07-2008

Pictures as requested, the dish is just below the level of the trees in the middle, due south is smack in the middle of the 2 trees either side, Astra is off to the left of the LH tree (if i remember rightly). Astra signal quality and level 97%. As i said earlier 18months ago the dish was in the same place though certainly lower down and all worked reasonably well.

**satelliteman** · 17-07-2008

If your getting Astra1 then you should be able to pull in Thor as it is higher on the arc.

From the look of it, those trees wouldn't cause a problem; they're too far away.

Satman

Dogz11 · 17-07-2008

I'm going to try the jubilee clip under the motor, which will make it easier / smoother to rotate the motor and dish around the pole.

At least i haven't reduced you to hysterics over my installation / setup.

Needs tidying up obviously and i'll do that once finished.

**satelliteman** · 17-07-2008

No I'm not in the picking mood, LOl

but I'm sure if I looked closely I could find a few.

Can't remember if your using a in line meter to set up or what?

You could set the declination roughly to what the manual says but not all dish Elevation brackets are accurate. My Penta dish is spot on to what it states in the back of the Moteck manual.

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