dish elevation help

longstockings

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Totnes, Devon 50.4320N, 3.6690W
Found this in my transat motors manual and it has baffled me.​
" P = degrees of dish elevation for fixed mount given by the manufacturer "​
I don't know what this is or how to find out​
My dish is a polycarbonate 80cm made by metronic and the model of dish is Penelope.​
The site has no info and I'm not sure what to do now.​
I live in Totnes, South Devon which is between Torquay and Plymouth​
Please help​
 

longstockings

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Totnes, Devon 50.4320N, 3.6690W
prof said:
Download and enter your co-ordinates, which I see you already have. http://www.smw.se/smwlink/smwlink.htm
I downloaded the app and it tells me that

Azimuth angle = 151
Polarization angle = -18.2
Elevation Angle = 28.65

I entered latitude = 50
Longtitude -4
Satellite Position = 19 as was closest to astra at 19.2


My setup is

Metronic Penelope polycarbonate Satellite dish 80cm
Wall Mount (cream to match side of house)
Tracsat motor diseqc 1.2
0.3db universal lnb
Dreambox 7000s + keyboard + 120gb Western Digital hdd installed myself

My compass is cheap crap and keeps changing it's mind about magnetic south so i'm having great fun at the mo but would love to have this system setup and fully working b4 the end of the weekend.

I would like to maybe do this as a forum documentary that will be able to help others and am willing to photograph my progress so that my nightmare may help other newbies. There's so much to consider that this may well be a worth while exercise

I know this is very cheeky and I do expect to get a whole lot of flaming but could someone tell me what I should be setting to what.

When it comes to Motorised satellite systems I'm extremely retarded

satdish1.jpg


Another angle

satdish2.jpg



Thanks for reading this
 

longstockings

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Moteck Digipower Motor
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Totnes, Devon 50.4320N, 3.6690W
prof said:
Have a look in here and you will find how to set up your dish, and how to set up your diseqc motor www.satellites.co.uk/php-bin/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=50
assuming of course that you haven't read them already.
Thanks for the info

The problem I have which I suppose is common of most forums is that someone says do it this way and someone else another way.

I will pick up a better compass tomorrow and try again

Can someone please checkout my maths.

I believe we have a few people who studied A level Mathematics

Motor Elevation
As I understand it this should be set to my latitude which is 50.5

Text below from similar motor manual to my tracsat but unfortunately mine was only in French

With the same latitude value, calculate the elevation of the dish
according to the following formula:
Degrees of dish elevation = P - (60 - latitude)
P = degrees of dish elevation for fixed mount given by the
manufacturer.
Example:- Latitude Venice = 45,5°
P (dish elevation given by the manufacturer) = 37,6°
Degrees of dish elevation = 37,6 - (60 - 45,5) = 23,1°

So presumably mine would be

If P = 37.6
P - (60 - 50.5) =
28.1 because 37.6 - 9.5 = 28.1

Text below from similar motor manual to my tracsat but unfortunately mine was only in French

To point your dish easily, refer to the satellite the nearest to your longitude

Calculate the difference between the reference satellite and your position considering that:
- positive values = Eastwards moving negative values = Westwards moving.

Example 1: -Installation VENICE (longitude 12,3° East) - Reference satellite ASTRA (longitude 19,2°East)
19,2 - 12,3 = +6,9 The position of ASTRA from Venice is: 6,9° EAST

Example 2: -Installation VENICE (longitude 12,3° East) - Reference satellite Eutelsat F2 (longitude 10°East)
10 - 12,3 = -2,3 The position of EUTELSAT from Venice is: 2,3° WEST.

So mine would be if using Astra at 19.2 East

19.2 - .
36747 = 18.83253

So mine would be if using Thor at 1 West

1 - .
36747 = 0.63253


Please check my sums but I think I understand now what I have to do

If ne1 can think of anything I have left out please let me know and thanks for the help

 

prof

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I think you need to start with 1 degree west and work back from there.
Sorry longstockings English/spelling yes maths no.
 

loftyj

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Hi Longstockings
With motorised system as the prof says you need to start at Thor 1W, otherwise your chances of being on the ark are not great.
If you enter 11189V , 2142 , 3/4 on to your reciver when you find Thor you should have a signal on screen one of the few FTA channels on Thor, find best signal you can by tweeking then lock dish to mount, and set up motor as per book.
 

longstockings

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Moteck Digipower Motor
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Totnes, Devon 50.4320N, 3.6690W
loftyj said:
Hi Longstockings
With motorised system as the prof says you need to start at Thor 1W, otherwise your chances of being on the ark are not great.
If you enter 11189V , 2142 , 3/4 on to your reciver when you find Thor you should have a signal on screen one of the few FTA channels on Thor, find best signal you can by tweeking then lock dish to mount, and set up motor as per book.

I'll redo the maths and use Thor 1w instead of Astra 19.2

Thanks for the info
 

loftyj

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Do-not worry to much about compass move dish by hand untill it pointing south then tweek with someone watching screen, have set mine up twice in two locations and never got round to getting compass. Did some swearing, smoked a lot of fags,and drank a lot of beer,( it was summer) but got there in the end.
Welcome to the learning curve for this hoby.
 

rolfw

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If you are at 4W, then you would be better aiming for the 5W satellite, it also has analogue channels on it, so if you can borrow an analogue receiver it will make life easier. A quick observation is that your dish elevation is way too high.

See this picture for an idea of what it should look like.
 

longstockings

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I have plenty of fags B&H bought back from Spain
Can get some beer (does it work with vodka as I have about 4 Litres of the stuff and stuff left by arseholes at xmas who lef there crap drink and drank mine)

The compass I had swapped the location of south as you spun the wheel thing. Think I may demand my £5.95 back.

A few questions before I smoke and drink myself stupid though

The motor elevation on my setup is set to 50.5 which seems very high compared to my Sky minidish.
Is there a reason for the dish to point so high up or have I done something wrong ?

Can anyone tell me what the expected lifetime of a polycarbonate dish is ?
 

rolfw

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Some motors have a lattitude setting and some have an elevation setting, the elevation setting is not the lattitude figure. Check on the motor body, sometimes they have a lattitude setting on one side and an elevation setting on the other.
 

AForester

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Hi

Rolfw is right, the Tracsat motor covers the range 10 to 60 degrees "elevation" which is 80 to 30 degrees "latitude".
So for your latitude of 50.5 degrees the elevation should be 39.5 degrees. you are looking too high. From you pictures it looks as if the motor is virtually on it's end stop!.
The bird at 5west would be the best one for you to set up on as Rolfw also mentioned. Try 12543 H, 27500, 3/4 or 12642 H, 4100, 5/6. You might also try for Amos 2 at 4west on 10763 H, 21750, 3/4.
All the above will give you a FTA digital picture.

Regards and happy hunting AF

PS do not get your compass too near to iron/steel objects as the needle will then point to that object instead of magnetic north which at present is somewhere in the north of Canada. Polycarbonate dishes usually have a reasonable lifetime unless subjected to winds similar to those we had back in 1987 as they then tend to flex and break
AF
 

longstockings

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rolfw said:
Some motors have a lattitude setting and some have an elevation setting, the elevation setting is not the lattitude figure. Check on the motor body, sometimes they have a lattitude setting on one side and an elevation setting on the other.
I wondered how long it would take to get your attention but my pretty pictures and sheer stupidity seem to have done the trick.

I was sure something was up with the elevation but not quite sure what.

In my rush to get the dish setup I probably did overlook that fact and as soon as I see daylight I'll be up the ladder again to check.

5w is Telecom 2B,2D (is that correct)

I have come to regard you as one if not the most knowledgable person on this forum and would like to ask your opinion on polycarbonate satellite dishes and whether you would ever use one yourself and what would you predict as a typical life span for a polycarbonate dish.


Thanks aforester for confirming the info and for doing the calculation for me.

I've spent most of the day in front of either a pc/ sat mag / calculator

Thanks again

This forum rocks
 

AForester

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Hi

And another thing. I would never put up a 80cm dish and motor on a mount that really is only suitable for Rupert Murdoch dishes.
Rolfw's set up, as per his thumbnail, is ideal. Nice solid and robust.
Regards AF

PS ??? what calculations???
AF
 

longstockings

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AForester said:
So for your latitude of 50.5 degrees the elevation should be 39.5 degrees. you are looking too high

How did you work out that for a latitude of 50.5 the elevation should be 39.5

A setup like RolfW's would be fab but I had to bare my girlfriends hatred of satellite dishes into consideration.

Hence cream mount to match wall colour and polycarbonate dish

The mount was actually a present from work when my boss went over to France and heard I was thinking of setting up a motorised satellite system. It was picked up off the shelf in a supermarket and apparently all new houses in France are painted cream which explains it's colour.

It may not be the Worlds best mount but it is discreet and I can swing on it with no probs.
 

AForester

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90 minus latitude equals elevation

It's not the downward pressure that upsets the pointing of a dish it's the wind passing across the face that will cause the dish to slightly flex, this is transmitted through the mount to the fixings which will eventually work loose
Regards AF
Best of luck to day with finding your arc, nice and sunny here in silly Suffolk
AF
 

rolfw

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Those elbow mounts can be OK with smaller dishes, the biggest problem I have found is getting them perfectly plumb, as there are no adjustment capabilities, aside of packing behind the plate.

I have a polycarbonate dish up at the moment and it performs well, have no idea about the lifespan, but would guess that the only problem may be discolouring with age.. :)

http://www.satellites.co.uk/php-bin/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=836

Excuse the temporary nature of the setup, was meant to stay up for a month and is now reaching its first birthday. :)
 

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Don't know if this is of any help as I have not had the time to try it out so don't blame me. It's a Satellite Dish Positioner from www.acusat.com and you can use it as a demo.
 

gameboy

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What about this mount on Maplin?

http://maplin.co.uk

Product code ZF17T at £12.99 looks like similar to the one in rolfw post.

That's the bees knees!
 
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