alex.w.russell
Member
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2008
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 1
- Age
- 53
- My Satellite Setup
-
Fortec Star FSCOII
Fortec Universal LNB
90 cm dish (not motorised)
- My Location
- Hampshire, New Forest
Good evening all,
Do you ever get one of those occasions on which you just need a second opinion...
....Well this is mine!
For a couple of years now I have happily been using a motorised dish and my boring but trusty Fortec Star FSCO II box as a back up to our lousy digital in Dorset, to brush up language skills and generally enjoy TV around Europe. After last years storms I re-set my Heath Robinson but functional pole set up twice; until Decembers storms hit. After a coupe of unsuccessful attempts at realignment, time and frustration prevented me from having another go until this weekend. And then I had the Eureka moment.
I knew my equipment was working last time, as I inadvertently picked up a channel as the motor moved! This time I thought I would "reset" the motor to 0 degrees and start from scratch, which was when I noticed that when I tuned the box onto Thor 0.8 the dish was moving distinctly to the east of centre! I pointed it roughly and moved the dish by the button on the motor and hey presto, found Thor. I moved the motor to 0 degrees and turned the pole by hand; found Thor again. But as soon as I select Thor on the box, off the motor goes. I checked, and the scale on the motor puts it at about 20 degrees East! To add insult to injury, the "reset" feature on the motor has also given up.
Now, I haven't changed the location settings for the satellites in the box (frankly I cant remember how, I've lost the manual and don't see why they would have changed - but am sure I set up some satellites from scratch, so I must have input the location, musn't I?!). Ditto the USALS longitude and latitude; though I can recall how to check that!
I am thus concluding that my Technomate 2600 may, after a good few years of service, have finally been blown to the big dish in the sky! Just before I run out and get another, can I ask; does anyone concur, or do you think I might have missed something? Got to say I feel real daft not realising the position it was going to for Thor. I tried and tried aligning it before and was sure my set up was traight, vertical and correctly angled etc. Looks like it was, but the motor was cranking to the wrong position!
While I am at it, I am thinking about a new pole set up which is less destructive than the standard clamps/aluminium pole; after a few storm movements and re aligning the pole gets somewhat deformed and gouged. I was thinking about something like a scaffold pole "collar" that fits snugly around the pole and has a bolt/ allen head type fitting to clamp it. Sat on a permanent ring around the pole (think like a jubilee clip) to stop it sliding down, it would spin quite nicely and I would even consider not cranking it too tight, on a basis of "if it moves, the give is at that piviot and it is easily turned back", whilst preventing damage elsewhere. Just wondered if anyone else has tried or used similar?
Cheers chaps (and chapesses!)
Alex
Do you ever get one of those occasions on which you just need a second opinion...
....Well this is mine!
For a couple of years now I have happily been using a motorised dish and my boring but trusty Fortec Star FSCO II box as a back up to our lousy digital in Dorset, to brush up language skills and generally enjoy TV around Europe. After last years storms I re-set my Heath Robinson but functional pole set up twice; until Decembers storms hit. After a coupe of unsuccessful attempts at realignment, time and frustration prevented me from having another go until this weekend. And then I had the Eureka moment.
I knew my equipment was working last time, as I inadvertently picked up a channel as the motor moved! This time I thought I would "reset" the motor to 0 degrees and start from scratch, which was when I noticed that when I tuned the box onto Thor 0.8 the dish was moving distinctly to the east of centre! I pointed it roughly and moved the dish by the button on the motor and hey presto, found Thor. I moved the motor to 0 degrees and turned the pole by hand; found Thor again. But as soon as I select Thor on the box, off the motor goes. I checked, and the scale on the motor puts it at about 20 degrees East! To add insult to injury, the "reset" feature on the motor has also given up.
Now, I haven't changed the location settings for the satellites in the box (frankly I cant remember how, I've lost the manual and don't see why they would have changed - but am sure I set up some satellites from scratch, so I must have input the location, musn't I?!). Ditto the USALS longitude and latitude; though I can recall how to check that!
I am thus concluding that my Technomate 2600 may, after a good few years of service, have finally been blown to the big dish in the sky! Just before I run out and get another, can I ask; does anyone concur, or do you think I might have missed something? Got to say I feel real daft not realising the position it was going to for Thor. I tried and tried aligning it before and was sure my set up was traight, vertical and correctly angled etc. Looks like it was, but the motor was cranking to the wrong position!
While I am at it, I am thinking about a new pole set up which is less destructive than the standard clamps/aluminium pole; after a few storm movements and re aligning the pole gets somewhat deformed and gouged. I was thinking about something like a scaffold pole "collar" that fits snugly around the pole and has a bolt/ allen head type fitting to clamp it. Sat on a permanent ring around the pole (think like a jubilee clip) to stop it sliding down, it would spin quite nicely and I would even consider not cranking it too tight, on a basis of "if it moves, the give is at that piviot and it is easily turned back", whilst preventing damage elsewhere. Just wondered if anyone else has tried or used similar?
Cheers chaps (and chapesses!)
Alex
