Setting up motorised system with Porty 2

sonnetpete

Okay, I guess a Porty 2 isn't the 'bees knees' but I got it free and it will do until my Manhattan Plaza arrives!

I do want some help before that however:

On the Porty USAL's set up it has an option to set up motor speed? Any ideas what I should set this at?

I'm a bit confused by the fact that some sats are programmed into the motor - how will I access these via the receiver?Does it load software into the receiver?

There are a lot of sats in the Porty database which seem to be redundant or on the other hemisphere, (it dates from 2005) can I delete them and enter other sats manually?

I've no doubt there will be other questions but thanks in advance

Pete

satelliteman

Welcome,

USALS set up is fairly straight forward as long as you follow the basics. Your TM2200 motor will be Usals compatible.

First of all take alook through the guides.

Detailed set up guide: http://www.satellite-newbie.co.uk/sa...qcinstall.html

Quick pocket guide: QUICK REFERENCE MOTOR INSTALLATION SETUP GUIDE - Pdf

Satellites pre-stored are for DiSEqC 1.2, you will most likely use usals to drive to sat positions so the pre-built sat memory in the motor won't be used

satelliteman . ..... A Detailed DiSEqC Motor Installation Set Up Guide > HERE Quick Reference Guide also > HERE Satellites UK site Advertisers . An Installers Choice ...... Follow us on .

sonnetpete

Thanks for the reply, I have found the guide very useful and am attempting to set up the system today (weather permitting)

I am still awaiting a reply about the motor speed, can anyone help?

Channel Hopper

You may find your freebie isn't so easy to relegate once it is in place.

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

pedro2000uk

Just use/ keep the satellites between 75e to 75w (you won't actually get that far unless you do go touring including hills- that's how we did it) 45e to 45w is OK and you can get a bit more if you have a view… 9e will be missing and you will have to either blind scan or input manually to update TPs / channels (if there is a blind scan similar to the Comag SL65s 35s etc... there not bad if you give them a decent signal).

As far as the speed option.... is it the one that has options for SLOW, VERY SLOW, juddery, intermittent, random east & west and defaults to all of them... yeah we ad one of them….

Only kidding.. I think the some of the Comags are quite good.

sonnetpete

Thanks for all the suggestions! Figured out that the motor setting was speed per degree so will set it at very slow and go from there. Fingers crossed may be up and running before dark!

sonnetpete

Well, it took much longer than I thought to erect the wall mount, guess I reckoned without the durability of French building stone!! However, assembled motor and dish and placed on mount but still have issues with cables and connections. Also checked again on the internet this morning and discovered I am 12 degrees too high on dish elevation. Perhaps a couple of days yet to working??

sonnetpete

Well, it's up and running but not perfectly! Got Thor eventually (my due south sat) at about 70% quality. I've also picked up about 5 other sats, but reception and quality tails off the further down the arc I go. I'm guessing this can be cured by a further adjustment of elevation/alignment. Thing is Astra/Eurobird is very poor and I'm not sure whether this will be cured by adjustments or is the mount off plumb? I'm reasonably sure it is okay after checking with a string and weight. I guess I'm missing the arc as sats nearer the top of the arc are quite good.

Is it worth steering to 28.2E and doing my adjustments there?

pedro2000uk

no.... best sit down and work it out what's wrong ....

firstly... what angle did you set the motor to....?

sonnetpete

Motor set at 42 degrees - my Lat 48.49 Long -00.89 Initially had dish angle set at 34.3 but reduced this to 22.8 after checking in Technomate handbook. However did this adjustment with the aid of a sat finder (meter and tone) on Thor, as scale was on other side of dish and I didn't fancy walking across the carbonate roof of our porch!!

pedro2000uk

elevation should be set to between 42 & 41 (41.5) not a lot but well worth it for the best arc later on...

what sats do you get?


btw.. check that you are using strong working tps.. see strongest signals list elsewhere on this forum as that will be out of date...

sonnetpete

Okay, I can get Thor, AB3, Astra 19.2 and Hotbird. It gets worse when I get down to 23.5E and Astra/Eurobird is there but very pixellated. I have caught a couple of Eutelsats but can't check which right now as OH is watching BBC on our Skybox.
Didn't try to scan much on western half of arc but I'm guessing will be about the same results. Thinking it through, perhaps I'm off slightly on azimuth, though altering the motor by half a degree can't do any harm. I think it is just a minor tinker, unless you have other ideas?

pedro2000uk

Do your west sats and then check the arc with the push the dish down/ up .. and mark which way it wants to go at each sat to increase the signal... also nudge the motor at each sat east or west and mark/ note which way they want to go to increase..... (the on screen tm motor control on USALS will revert to the USALS position)

Channel Hopper

Don't tinker with the azimuth until the dish needs to rise or lower on one side only.

You should check the declination angle first, I use a wet teatowel, to cover up half the dish, and move the boom arm slightly to see if quality/strength improves or degrades, but this must be done in equal steps on both sides of the arc.

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

sonnetpete

A wet teatowel??......That would involve washing up!! Seriously, thanks for the suggestions, I'll see if I get an hour or so to spare tomorrow and at least check the West sats.

sonnetpete

Last night, I decided to try Hispasat, so initally I had to delete the Hispasat that the Porty had in it's database at 55W and input 30W with a FTA transponder. Hey presto, I caught Hispasat with about 70% quality. I then added all the FTA transponders I could find and after scanning found that some of them were almost 90% quality!

Where does this leave the adjustments? Obviously it's just missing the eastern side of the arc. If the mount is off vertical could it produce these sort of results? Or is it just a matter of adjusting the dish?

Channel Hopper

If you cannot get Turksat at all then it does look like some azimuth adjustment is in order. Check the receiver is moving to the right location first though.

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

pedro2000uk

It could do that ... get as many satellites as you can as it is including going back over the east side to check if all the tps you used are active and strong.. try nudging them all east/west with the motor control if it's the same as the comag sl35s/65 etc.. (not the TM .. mixed it up with another thread earlier)

make a note where they increase east or west and leave them back where they should be.

next go out to the dish and with the satellites you have got with a meter or tv ..pull the dish down and up a bit to see if it improves/ drops off and mark it in red on a curve with the degrees on it....

that curve shows you what's wrong and if it's the pole

sonnetpete

Well...I bought a new spirit level (with magnetic strip so it sticks to the pole, handy huh?) and yes it was out a tad. So I undid the wall bolts, moved it, and raised the motor slightly to 41 (the mast is not that true in its 90 degrees to the wall) and hey presto, Astra2 and Eurobird up to 70% quality - Hispasat remains 80-90%.
Still cannot raise Turksat, but think this may be an issue with trees rather than the system, perhaps if I get the time will try later this week.

Thanks a lot for all the advice,

Pete

sonnetpete

Just a quick update to say I have caught the following:

28.2E,23.5,19,16,13,9,7,1W,5,8,10,12.5,15,24.5,30.

Anything further is restricted by tree growth.

sonnetpete

Right - the Manhattan Plaza arrived today and whilst I should have waited until Xmas Day, I have tried to set it up today. However, Santa obviously knows I'm a naughty boy, as I'm having trouble with the USAL's set up. I'm not informed very well by the scant instructions. My longitude is 0.9W (or -0.9W) but there seems to be no way of inputting either West or minus degrees in the USAL's set up, which only seems to allow degrees E. Help!!

guest

Boxes all differ in how the E/W toggle is achieved, but I assure you it will be possible!

Often, once you've entered the numerals, you just press the right (or left) scroll key or hit enter (and the choice is memorised as you exit the menu). Just a matter of experimentation - I imagine the Manual is no help at all

sonnetpete

Thanks for your input Rai, but I have pressed left, right, enter, ok and all manner of keys, all to no avail. I do wonder if there is a menu hiding within the USAL's setup that I have yet to discover.

I have set my longitude at 0, which seems to have worked to an extent, inasmuch as I have caught channels from Thor when asking the Manhattan to go there. However, trying to catch 16E results in downloading channels from 13E.

The manual is, as you said, less than useful, and Manhattans website lacks any help/faq's. If no-one else has any further info on this thread, I'll post a fresh query under another heading....if someone could point me to the correct one?

sonnetpete

Quick update, as it's Xmas morning!! Fiddling about with remote control found that 'page up - page down' toggled E/W. After entering 8.9W - then realising it should have been .9E ! I think I've cracked it. The dish elevation and perhaps motor azimuth might yet need some fine adjustment but I'm quite happy with the results.

Thanks to everyone for there help - and a Merry Xmas!!

sonnetpete

Ooops - that should have read 0.9W -and I haven't touched a drop yet!!