Considering Motorised 100cm Dish, Is 75m of cable too long?

Captain Jack

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Not bad. One thing I would advise you to do is to somehow stabilise the pole. It doesn't seem to have any support the top. Any wind, the dish will wobble and you will lose signal. You could also slide the dish down the pole so it's closer to the ground - subject to line of sight of course.
 

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Captain Jack said:
Not bad. One thing I would advise you to do is to somehow stabilise the pole. It doesn't seem to have any support the top. Any wind, the dish will wobble and you will lose signal. You could also slide the dish down the pole so it's closer to the ground - subject to line of sight of course.

Good thought, I did look into guy wires. I'll see how it is once I get it wired up and operating. I'm not sure how much I could slide it down the pole, The reasoning behind the 2m pole was to clear a hedge on the other side. Which it does perfectly, although it is right at the top. I'm sure there is room for some lowering.
 

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If you have an iPhone or HTC type phone, install DishPointer app on it and see how much clearance you need. Alternatively, use the protractor, a spirit level and a piece of string... or just try sliding the dish down the pole :)
 

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Captain Jack said:
If you have an iPhone or HTC type phone, install DishPointer app on it and see how much clearance you need. Alternatively, use the protractor, a spirit level and a piece of string... or just try sliding the dish down the pole :)

I'll try the string method, I have the iphone app but I'm not convinced by the compass inside, It seems to change it's mind a lot.

I also have a slight issue.. This CT125 is so stiff, I can't bend it away from the Diseq motor enough so that it's out the way when the dish moves, I'm thinking of buying a 90 degree F connector to solve this, any other methods?
 

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Probably better putting a join in and using a piece of wf100 to go to the motor.
 

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What is the cable in the way of? If it's the clamping dish bolts then you could trim them down - that's what I did with mine.
 

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Don't forget the angle of incidence upon an offset dish is far higher than you would think see picture
 

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Managed to get the cable issue all sorted, I'm back now with a receiver issue.

So the cable from the dish plugs into a Technomate 5402HD to move the dish. Sometimes channels it picks up, it'll show 80-90% but then say 'No Video/Audio' when I know from the internet there is supposed to be a channel there.. Now heres the odd bit, If I plug my eyeTV Mac Tuner in from the loop out, It'll display the channel just fine. Whats up with my TM box?
 

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Did you scan these channels in or downloaded a channel list from the internet? Channels parameters change all the time (VPIDs and APIDs) so while the transponder is being locked by the receiver, it's not finding the channel with the parameters that it's programmed with.

In other words, try scanning the same transponder for channels.
 

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Why not use an inline amplifer at the dish end? Could have got away with cheaper cable.
 

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Amplifiers add noise so are best avoided if there are other ways of increasing signal/reducing noise.
 

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Captain Jack said:
Did you scan these channels in or downloaded a channel list from the internet? Channels parameters change all the time (VPIDs and APIDs) so while the transponder is being locked by the receiver, it's not finding the channel with the parameters that it's programmed with.

In other words, try scanning the same transponder for channels.

These are channels I add via a scan and they never show video/audio from the start. :(

norm360 said:
Why not use an inline amplifer at the dish end? Could have got away with cheaper cable.

I did look into those, but I was fairly happy with 100m of cable for £40. Not going to break the bank. :D
 

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mapperuo said:
Managed to get the cable issue all sorted, I'm back now with a receiver issue.

So the cable from the dish plugs into a Technomate 5402HD to move the dish. Sometimes channels it picks up, it'll show 80-90% but then say 'No Video/Audio' when I know from the internet there is supposed to be a channel there.. Now heres the odd bit, If I plug my eyeTV Mac Tuner in from the loop out, It'll display the channel just fine. Whats up with my TM box?

Can you please list the channels you're experiencing problems with, channel name, satellite, frequency, polarity, and symbol rate.
 

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Mickha said:
Can you please list the channels you're experiencing problems with, channel name, satellite, frequency, polarity, and symbol rate.

Think I figured it out, TM5402HD doesn't support 4:2:2 broadcasts.. Dang.
 

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Only one stand alone receiver does, that I'm aware of, but most linux based receivers can be used in conjunction with your PC to open 4:2:2 feeds.
 

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I have another question. I was getting a low signal on 15W and 22W so on fiddling, I found if I changed the USALS setting I could increase the signal, I reached the best signal at 16W and 23W. Now the dish is perfectly aligned to Thor, and If I change 45e slightly the signal is never the same, so I'm confused how the dish alignment could be off? Do I just accept that 16W and 23W work better or is there something else going on?
 

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It's not tracking exactly right - possibly either the pole is not as plumb as you thought it was or maybe the dish is not squarely clamped to the stub ................ When you tighten the clamps, some types have a propensity to skew off centre slightly.
 

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Tivù said:
It's not tracking exactly right - possibly either the pole is not as plumb as you thought it was or maybe the dish is not squarely clamped to the stub ................ When you tighten the clamps, some types have a propensity to skew off centre slightly.

As it seems to just be the middle-far West ones, Wonder if its best to just accept the adjustments in box? Have had no issues 15w-45e which is what is confusing me.
 

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Now that is odd. Hard to provide a cogent explanation without driving the system ourselves, but if it were me I'd just live with it.

I was going to ask if there is an obstruction in line of sight for that part of the arc, but that should lead to poor quality rather than a deviation.

Let's wait and see if anyone else has any bright ideas.

Edit: Rather than change the USALS setting (for Longitude, presumably?), which entails putting it back to normal for all other Satellites, why not simply edit the stored location of the 15W and 22W Birds to suit?

It's a palliative rather than a scientific solution but hey - this is a hobby!
 

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Tivù said:
Now that is odd. Hard to provide a cogent explanation without driving the system ourselves, but if it were me I'd just live with it.

I was going to ask if there is an obstruction in line of sight for that part of the arc, but that should lead to poor quality rather than a deviation.

Let's wait and see if anyone else has any bright ideas.

Edit: Rather than change the USALS setting (for Longitude, presumably?), which entails putting it back to normal for all other Satellites, why not simply edit the stored location of the 15W and 22W Birds to suit?

It's a palliative rather than a scientific solution but hey - this is a hobby!

Thanks for the reply! I haven't touched the USALS lat/long setting (In fear of messing up 15w-45e which work perfectly), What I did was add 1 degree to the specific 15W and 22W satellites.
 
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