Actuator/clark belt

E

emmanneil

Member
My Satellite Setup
DM7020 & 18M dish, trying to setup my actuator
My Location
Limassol, Cyprus
Hi all i will try and keep it short

i can get my actuator to go between 7E, 9E & 4.8E, but when i try and move the actuator to 13,16 &19.2 E it does not tune , i am in Cyprus so i can not get 0.8 Thor to setup to due south , what i want to know is do i have the actuator fully exteneded then tune the dish to say 28.2 which the highest that i would like to go or do i have it retracted? my dish is a 1.8M . Any suggestions would be great
Thanks in advance
 
Welcome to the forum emmanneil

Thor is not your due South satellite if you are in Cyprus, this will not be helping your cause. It depends where in Cyprus you are but I think your polar mount should be set with your due south satellite will be between 32 East or 34 East i.e. Turksat or Eurobird 3 in other words the highest point on the arc it describes should be set to one of those satellites
 
Thanks for that , i will move my dish to that one of those sats, so to clarify, i tune my dish to 34E, then put my actuator on. Will i put it on with the Actuator extended or retracted fully? , i am in limasol,Cyprus. i have done my Diseqc all ok
but having dramas with this
 
Extending or retracting the actuator for installation depends on what part of the arc you want. Also you need to account for the offset from your longitude to your due South satellite. This depends on exactly where you are, although 33°e looks about right.
 
well i want to get 28.2, 19.2 16,13,7E & 7W. My friend used to have the same dish until he moved to the USA, and had this in his garden for years and could get these sats
 
emmanneil said:
i can get my actuator to go between 7E, 9E & 4.8E, but when i try and move the actuator to 13,16 &19.2 E it does not tune
Click to expand...
You've probably got your polar elevation and due south wrong.
emmanneil said:
do i have the actuator fully exteneded then tune the dish to say 28.2 which the highest that i would like to go or do i have it retracted?
Click to expand...
Disconnect the actuator and move the dish by hand. Once you find the west most satellite you want to receive make a not of the distance between the actuator hole centres. Do the same for your east most satellite. Adjust the actuator fixing so it drives the dish between these two lengths.
 
and then which sat do i tune to first when doing the above method?
 
Eurobird 3 at 33.0°E. Spot D beam covers Cyprus doesn't it?
_www.lyngsat.com/eb3.html
 
dunno about 33 covering Cyprus, i will try this out and let you know. i knowi can get 39E
 
yeah i can get 33E on spot D but it is VERY weak, 28.2 ,39 & 42E is better signal
 
emmanneil said:
yeah i can get 33E on spot D but it is VERY weak, 28.2 ,39 & 42E is better signal
Click to expand...


But that is the point of the exercise you need to setup using 33East which is your due south satellite and the rest will fall into place, it should be a good signal on 11098 H 2441-2/3
 
ok i get that i have it tuned to the Fq mentioned above what i dont get is at what lenght does the actuator have to be when i attach it to the dish? i want to go to mainly East satellites as far as 7E if possible
7W
 
Can you upload some images of your set up so we can see the dish type and polar mount.
 
emmanneil said:
ok i get that i have it tuned to the Fq mentioned above what i dont get is at what lenght does the actuator have to be when i attach it to the dish? i want to go to mainly East satellites as far as 7E if possible
7W
Click to expand...

When you have the dish aimed at your true south satellite and are receiving a good signal, then your actuator is at it's center of travel. You may need to run the actuator to that length. Allowing the actuator to swing from there to full east or full west.

As mentioned before, you must know your Lat and Long. Elevation and declination angle to set the dish to travel exactly on the Clarke Belt. If not the east or west sats will not be received. This sets up your dishes Polar mount to track properly.

Suggest you got to satsig and study info. there.

It maybe that your actuator is to short to allow horizon to horizon sweep. What size is the dish and what actuator do you have?
 
Satcom1 said:
When you have the dish aimed at your true south satellite and are receiving a good signal, then your actuator is at it's center of travel. You may need to run the actuator to that length. Allowing the actuator to swing from there to full east or full west.
Click to expand...
Erm, no. Moving the actuator a linear distance does not move the dish a linear distance. When the actuator and dish arm are at right angles will be where the dish is moving slowest. When the dish arm is pushed away from the actuator to near its limit the dish is moving twice as fast, or twice as far for each millimetre the actuator opens. To get equal swing at the left and right ends of the arc the actuator is not opened to mid point for the central satellite.
 
Back
Top