Motorised dish problem - need help

thecaretaker · 29-08-2008

Well, I managed to set my dish up today.

Got the pole perfectly straight and put motor and dish arm in a straight line.

Used a compass and got south. I set up my Technomate 6900 to use usals and almost instantly got 1W without any problem.

Tweaked about all afternoon and evening until it was dark.

My problem is with 28.5E (freesat) I've got 99% of all the channels when dish moves to location apart from Sky News, CNN, Eurosport Zone thriller and Zone Reality. I've got 85 - 86% signal quality on most channels (OK, 77% on ITV HD) but I am missing these channels.

Also, I've not drawn much in on any other channels apart from 13E, 19E and 23E which I had tuned in from my previous static dish. I've got a few channels on 15w, 12.5w, 5w, 9e but can't pick up any other satellites past 28.5e

The only adjustment I haven't made is the bracket behind the dish itself. The bracket on the back of the dish I assumed had to be straight with the motor pole.

I can't be far off, but darkness set in and I had to give up. I'd been fiddling for about 6 hours and had enough to be honest.

What is the easiest way of adjusting the dish angle to the motor? Should I use 1W to watch the signal?

Using the signal meter on the TV, I'm sure I have the motor fixed to the pole to the best angle and likewise the up and down movement of the motor is set at it's best for all channels. The dish mount must be the only one I have not got right.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Am I barking up the right tree?

**Robbo** · 29-08-2008

Hi,

You need to follow the sticky guides here mate:-

http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellit...rised-systems/

looks at satellitemans for a quickie, and rolf's for a full guide.

Briefly:-

You have your pole vertical already, so that is good,

You have the motor on the pole with the front of it roughly south, Ok that is just your starting point.

Set your motor elevation according to your latitude.

Next, Send the motor to 1W using USALS (or your nearest due south satellite).

Then swing the motor and all round the pole, and tilt the dish for max quality signal on a known working transponder, for 1W, 11325H (BBC world).

That's it you should be finished.

Robbo

satellite

***pedro2000uk*** · 29-08-2008

you've dome great.. you're just a good tweak away from a spot on arc..
btw.. 28.5e & 28.2e... usually put in the middle 28.3 or 4 but even on 28.5 you should get them all...
what we do to really fine tune is to draw the curve on a piece of paper.. go to the dish with a meter &/or a screen in view with a meter on it.. and at each sat move the dish up and then down to see which way it needs to go ...up or down or OK at each sat.. mark it as a dot or dash in red say, join the dots up.. and also note if you need to be off USALS a bit (that is 19.2e is best at 19.5e etc... )
with that info you can work all fine adjustments out

btw.. did you input your long/ lat in the usals setup and did you set the motor to 1w to start the setup?

**rolfw** · 29-08-2008

What have you set the angle on the motor bracket to and what make is the motor?

thecaretaker · 29-08-2008

Answers to the many questiona:

It's a dark super H-H mount

Yes, I added my Long/Lat in the setup menu. 0.5W/50.8N

Yes, I set it up on 1w

I'll try to take a few photographs tomorrow and show you all how I've put it up.

Although it's not 100% set up correctly, the picture quality is noticable better. The upscaled SD channels are much crisper. Before with the other dish they tended to be on the soft side. I can only guess this is due to the better signal quality.

At least the channels I have got are coming from the correct satellites, so I know I'm almost on target. It is the extremes that I've not got (and the few missing 28.5 channels).

As for my fear of heights, Even though I am just about the ground floor window, I'm not brave enough to take both hand of the steps. It is very hard for me. A sparky friend help me put the bracket up and bolted the bits together. He left me to wire it up. Attaching the cable to the LNB was a challenge.

There is always tomorrow to play some more. So frustrating that the evening are drawing in so quickly and I had to stop work. I hate leaving things in mid stream.

Oh, missed one. As for the motor bracket angle, I don't know. When on 1w BBC news, I raised and lowered it until I got the best signal. Without looking, I can't remember what I originally set it to, but I have moved it off of that for 1w. I've tried moving it on those missing channels on 28.5e but not had any luck. That is why I think it is the dish angle bracket.

**rolfw** · 29-08-2008

What angle have you set on the motor bracket, a very important question.

thecaretaker · 30-08-2008

My head is spinning with all this, but I think I originally set it to 35.5 using the markings on the side. My latitude is 50.8. But I have moved it a bit. I can't see what I moved it to until the morning.

I don't know why (maybe read too many guides) but I'm finding this very hard. What should I set the adjustable bracket on the dish to the motor pole? Should that be 0 - same angle as the motor pole. I mean the bracket that you would normally use to put a fixed dish to a pole on?

**Robbo** · 30-08-2008

Setting the motor to 35.5 is definitely wrong.

Many motors are marked with a latitude scale on one side and an elevation scale on the other. Elevation is very simply (90-latitude). So set it to what it should be. ( 51 for lat or 39 for elev)

As for the the tilt of the dish, don't worry about it too much initially, just set it so that the dish just tilts up a bit. Then once the motor has been sent to 1W using USALS you can re-adjust the dish for max quality signal on a good transponder, whist also adjusting the motor around the mounting pole.

and if the guides are getting too much, just look at a very simple one like satelliteman's.

**rolfw** · 30-08-2008

The motor bracket setting is a fixed setting and should be set exactly to your latitude, or if it doesn't have a latitude scale, whatever the user handbook tells you for your latitude on the elevation scale.

thecaretaker · 30-08-2008

Thanks folks. I'll sleep on it and have another go tomorrow.

thecaretaker · 30-08-2008

I know it is early lol Took these at 6am just as dawn broke. Can you confirm that the setup looks correctly assembled to start with?

The dish is at 1w.

**Robbo** · 30-08-2008

Not got time to look at it properly, but noticed that you have used the mortar to put your bolts in. They need to go into solid brick.

**Mickha** · 30-08-2008

Which direction is the dish pointing in picture 1?
The first picture looks like there is a building blocking the dish with no clear line of sight, but it is difficult to tell.

***pedro2000uk*** · 30-08-2008

It does look as though you have cut yourself short on the east side there judging by the shadow of the LNB on that building and it's at 1w at that point.. so losing stuff off 28.5e and further is very likely.
(not that we've ever done anything like that ... er hum.. well not for years, just the odd invisible tree can still catch you out

).

You could play with it for a bit and get your arc spot on but that looks like you might need to relocate it to give a better east side.

thecaretaker · 30-08-2008

Well, I have been up and down the ruddy ladder all day. It's not just an 28.5 east problem.

I've got a good arc and I am picking up some channels on a good sellection of sats. BUT, I'm missing a lot on all of them. I've gone from extreme to extreme and when I get a channel, I can get it 50-88% signals, but alot are just missing.

I've tried adjusting every setting 100 times. I've played with the LNB by turning it a little and pushing it forward and back.

The LNB is working with both horizontal and vertical so I don't think it's faulty.

I was hoping to get Melodyzen HD and National Geo FTA on 9E, but no sign of it.

Without any decent extra channels, I'm thinking of pulling it down and going back to my 40cm dish which I haven't touched.

I've had enough, it look gastly on my house, it make a lot of noise when moving, the dish seems to amplify the sound. I've run out of ideas.

Maybe I just bought a xxxx system. If anyone has any further ideas that I haven't tried today, you've got about an hour or so before I drag it off the house

**satelliteman** · 30-08-2008

The LNb should be vertical whilst motor is at zero, it shouldn't really need to be touched after that.

**rolfw** · 30-08-2008

Rules on installation are simple, but if you break one of them, you end up struggling.

You still haven't answered my twice asked question, what latitude/elevation have you set the motor bracket to? Get this setting wrong and you are wasting your time.

thecaretaker · 30-08-2008

I assume vertical is when the cable connector is facing the ground (picture 1)

I've taken a few photos from different angles. Any thoughts before I disassemble it.

**satelliteman** · 30-08-2008

What make and model is the LNB ?

Picture 4 - the EL looks a bit high

thecaretaker · 30-08-2008

Originally Posted by rolfw

Rules on installation are simple, but if you break one of them, you end up struggling.

You still haven't answered my twice asked question, what latitude/elevation have you set the motor bracket to? Get this setting wrong and you are wasting your time.

The motor bracket has latitude markings on both sides and I have set it at 51. It has a little marker on the front of the screws. However, it shows differently on either side. They are not very accurate, so I have experimented trying to get the missing free sky channels by moving it away from 51-52.

Last night, I had it set at 35.5 (also tried 39) assuming it was lat minus 90.

Nothing seems to make any difference from any extreme, I can tilt the dish angle to tune into say BBC1, but whatever the motor angle is, no sky news, euronews, zone reality.

thecaretaker · 30-08-2008

Originally Posted by satelliteman

What make and model is the LNB ?

Picture 4 - the EL looks a bit high

It's a 0.1dB - DarkGold Single Universal LNB

This was the complete kit plus a T&K bracket I purchased.
_http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/85cm-MOTORISED-SATELLITE-DISH-DiSEqC-MOTOR-0-1dB-LNB-80_W0QQitemZ360081568112QQihZ023QQcategoryZ29783QQ tcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

**satelliteman** · 30-08-2008

You said previously .........

Yes, I added my Long/Lat in the setup menu. 0.5W/50.8N

But......... your longitude is 0.5East NOT 0.5W

SM

**rolfw** · 30-08-2008

I give up, leave it to you guys.

thecaretaker · 30-08-2008

Originally Posted by satelliteman

You said previously .........

But......... your longitude is 0.5East NOT 0.5W

SM

Well spotted. I'll give it another try with those co-ordinates.

**satelliteman** · 30-08-2008

> Input the correct Longitude
> Send the dish to 1W
> Align the dish to 1W

but............. make sure the motor scale bracket is at it's correct setting as mentioned many times !