Dish Setup

R.T.B.

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I am located at Lat 52.27 North and Long 9.7 West. South West of Ireland.
I am using an 80cm dish and an Diseqc motor.I have set the angle of 52 on the motor bracket, what angle should I set on the satellite dish bracket.
I can pick up Astra but the dish appears to be pointing below horizontal.
Any idea how many satellites can be picked up in this area.
 

PaulR

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the dish appears to be pointing below horizontal
Do you mean that the dish appears to be below vertical to the wall? This may just be correct as with an offset dish the LNB is on an arm below the dish and "looks" at the dish upwards. Think of a snooker ball bouncing off a cushion and you'll get an idea of the actual view that the dish is making of the sky.

Never done a Diseqc so can't help on that!

PaulR
 
H

Happy-Buddah

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You might find that there are two scales on the motor bracket, elevation and/or latitude.

If latitude you have set it correct, if elevation you need to set it to 38*.
Your dish should be set, if an offset one to approx 32*.
There should be a table in the handbook for the motor.
H-B
PS. Just done a quick check, your dish face should be virtually vertical if you are looking at Astra2 at 28 east in your location.
H-B
 

R.T.B.

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Happy-Buddah said:
You might find that there are two scales on the motor bracket, elevation and/or latitude.

If latitude you have set it correct, if elevation you need to set it to 38*.
Your dish should be set, if an offset one to approx 32*.
There should be a table in the handbook for the motor.
H-B
PS. Just done a quick check, your dish face should be virtually vertical if you are looking at Astra2 at 28 east in your location.
H-B
The handbook states that the motor bracket must be set to latitude which is 52* With much juggling of the dish up and down I managed to get Eurobird at 30*by elevating the dish to 28*(30* indicated on the motor arm scale) I then moved the motor arm to West and found Hispasat at 33*by elevating the dish to 42*.I located Eutelstat W2, Hotbird, Eutelstat W1, Eutelstat W3and Sirus 2/3 in there respective positions by elevating the dish to 33*.I appear to be hitting the arc left of South and have problems at the outer ends. I would appreciate any help.
 
H

Happy-Buddah

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You appear to be getting close, you are at a similar latitude to me and 32*/33* is in the right region for your dish elevation scale.

Which satellite are you useing for your nearest due south? IE the highest part of the arc for your location.
Your best bet would to be to use Atlantic bird at 8* west. Strong fta transponders are at 11598, 27500, Hor, 3/4 and 12747, 2894, Hor, 3/4. I get 90+% quality for those here.

Get that set up first and the others should fall into place, with a little tweaking. And as long as your supporting pole is dead upright in all directions.

H-B
 

R.T.B.

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Happy-Buddah said:
You appear to be getting close, you are at a similar latitude to me and 32*/33* is in the right region for your dish elevation scale.

Which satellite are you useing for your nearest due south? IE the highest part of the arc for your location.
Your best bet would to be to use Atlantic bird at 8* west. Strong fta transponders are at 11598, 27500, Hor, 3/4 and 12747, 2894, Hor, 3/4. I get 90+% quality for those here.

Get that set up first and the others should fall into place, with a little tweaking. And as long as your supporting pole is dead upright in all directions.

H-B
The pole is plumb that part was ok its the due south setup that troubles me.
There is a formula in the motor book which goes like this.Satellite Long - Long of your location x 1.15. West is + and East is -. In my case (using Atlantic Bird) 8 - 9.7 = - 1.7 x 1.5 = -2.75 should this be east.I presume that the scale on the motor shaft is then set to this angle and the motor is rotated on the mast to due south. What I did was set the angle on the motor shaft to 0 and pointed it due south.I then moved the motor back to 28* and started looking for Eurobird.I think even though I have picked up satellites I have the setting wrong.I hope this all makes sense.I am looking at a copy of What Satellite and it shows Atlantic Bird at 12.5W.
 
H

Happy-Buddah

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Atlantic Bird 1 is at 12* west.

Atlantic Bird 2/Telecom 2D is at 8* west.
The rest, you have got my flumuxed, I will have to have a think about it. Never set up a dish that far off of zero. Will do a bit of reading. Have to search for my motor handbooks.
H-B
PS. Are you useing USALS or DiSEqC 1.2 for driving the dish? Which receiver and motor?
H-B
 

R.T.B.

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Happy-Buddah said:
Atlantic Bird 1 is at 12* west.

Atlantic Bird 2/Telecom 2D is at 8* west.
The rest, you have got my flumuxed, I will have to have a think about it. Never set up a dish that far off of zero. Will do a bit of reading. Have to search for my motor handbooks.
H-B
PS. Are you useing USALS or DiSEqC 1.2 for driving the dish? Which receiver and motor?
H-B
Had another look at the book Atlantic Bird 2 is shown with Telecom 2D so I see where I got that wrong. I am using DiSeqc 1.2 The receiver was purchased from Lidel (COMAG SL55) and the motor is SM3D12.
 

gameboy

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My advice - from scrartch.

Set the motor on the pole and reset it.

Then position it to zero degress and fit the dish.

Set the motor and dish elevation and point the dish as close to true South as you can.

Using the East/West controls, on the motor, try and find Thor (1 deg West) Use a meter if you can, otherwise a mobile phone/walkie talkie to someone watching the receiver (tuned to Thor).

Once you have Thor check the scale on bottom of the motor if it is at 1 deg West you've cracked the first part. If not move the complete motor dish assembly around the pole the opposite way the amount needed to get Thor on that 1 deg West scale.

If you have to adjust it you should again have to use the motor controls to get Thor back but this time it should be at 1 deg West on the motor body.

This bit is important as unless you get South correct you will be off the arch and lose satellites.

I would then use the motor controls and search for the strong birds - Astra 19.2 East Hotbird 13 East and Hispasat 30 West using the East/West controls on the motor.

If you are getting the East but not the West Sats then the motor may be off the arch and vice versa.

Try and get true South sorted first and come back.
 

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1w wont be due south in southwestern Ireland.! Follow Gameboys instructions, but substitute 8w for Thor at 1W.
 

R.T.B.

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gameboy said:
My advice - from scrartch.

Set the motor on the pole and reset it.

Then position it to zero degress and fit the dish.

Set the motor and dish elevation and point the dish as close to true South as you can.

Using the East/West controls, on the motor, try and find Thor (1 deg West) Use a meter if you can, otherwise a mobile phone/walkie talkie to someone watching the receiver (tuned to Thor).

Once you have Thor check the scale on bottom of the motor if it is at 1 deg West you've cracked the first part. If not move the complete motor dish assembly around the pole the opposite way the amount needed to get Thor on that 1 deg West scale.

If you have to adjust it you should again have to use the motor controls to get Thor back but this time it should be at 1 deg West on the motor body.

This bit is important as unless you get South correct you will be off the arch and lose satellites.

I would then use the motor controls and search for the strong birds - Astra 19.2 East Hotbird 13 East and Hispasat 30 West using the East/West controls on the motor.

If you are getting the East but not the West Sats then the motor may be off the arch and vice versa.

Try and get true South sorted first and come back.

Unfortunately I cannot seem to get Thor. The next entry suggests trying to tune in Thor at 8*W. My receiver gives a list of transponders for each satellite, how do you know which one to use.
 

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Analoguesat said:
1w wont be due south in southwestern Ireland.! Follow Gameboys instructions, but substitute 8w for Thor at 1W.
Do you mean that if I can tune in Thor the scale on the motor should read 8*W.

Oops hit edit instead of reply! Analoguesat O-Ha
 

R.T.B.

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Happy-Buddah said:
Atlantic Bird 1 is at 12* west.

Atlantic Bird 2/Telecom 2D is at 8* west.
The rest, you have got my flumuxed, I will have to have a think about it. Never set up a dish that far off of zero. Will do a bit of reading. Have to search for my motor handbooks.
H-B
PS. Are you useing USALS or DiSEqC 1.2 for driving the dish? Which receiver and motor?
H-B
Atlantic Bird 1 and 2 are not listed on my receiver.It is a free to air receiver if that makes a difference.
 
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Happy-Buddah

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@ R.T.B.

Just "add a satellite", call it 8W and put in the transponders that I previously mentioned.
If you cannot "add a satellite" your next nearest satellite to south would be the one at 11* west look for 11464, 4340, Ver, 1/2 or 11520, 2893, Ver, 3/4.
H-B
 

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You seem to be having difficulty understanding what true south means. If your longtitude is 9.7W it follows that when you are looking directly southwards, you will be looking towards the satellite located at 9.7W on the Clarke Belt.

But there is no satellite located at that exact position - the nearest to it is Atlantic Bird at 8W. So this means that when you or your dish are facing (almost) true south, you will be facing Atlantic Bird and you should be able to receive that satellite on your receiver. If you come at this from the opposite direction, then you can take Atlantic Bird as being your point for finding true south and thus aligning your dish and motor correctly.

Are you sure the comag doesn't have 8W in its database? It might be listed as Telecom 2D? If not, you'll have to set up a new satellite manually and enter the transponder details via the remote.
http://www.lyngsat.com/ab2.html
 

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R.T.B. said:
Do you mean that if I can tune in Thor the scale on the motor should read 8*W.

Err this gets complicated. The normal advice to align a motorised dish on 1W for its due south position doesnt apply to you as you are so far west. You need to align your south position on 8W. This should be near enough to allow your dish to track the arc correctly
 

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apogee2010 said:
You seem to be having difficulty understanding what true south means. If your longtitude is 9.7W it follows that when you are looking directly southwards, you will be looking towards the satellite located at 9.7W on the Clarke Belt.

But there is no satellite located at that exact position - the nearest to it is Atlantic Bird at 8W. So this means that when you or your dish are facing (almost) true south, you will be facing Atlantic Bird and you should be able to receive that satellite on your receiver. If you come at this from the opposite direction, then you can take Atlantic Bird as being your point for finding true south and thus aligning your dish and motor correctly.

Are you sure the comag doesn't have 8W in its database? It might be listed as Telecom 2D? If not, you'll have to set up a new satellite manually and enter the transponder details via the remote.
http://www.lyngsat.com/ab2.html
I added Atlantic Bird to my list of satellites today and had some success.I think things are beginning to work out.
 

R.T.B.

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I think I finally cracked it.I can now get from Eurobird all the way across the arc to Hispasat.My main difficulty was understanding the due South position.
I was able to program Atlantic Bird 2 in the receiver and used it as suggested for the highest point on the arc.I then found that the scale on my motor was reading 3* E so I added around 10* to all the satellite locations E and subtracted 10* from all the satellites located west and with a bit of tweeking every thing worked out ok. I am a pensioner and all the trips up a 20' ladder didnt do the joints much good but all the same I am chuffed that I got it to work. Hope all this makes sense.
I still have a bit of a problem storing additional satellites,I can input the information but when I select the satellite the motor will not hunt.
Many thanks to all the experts.
 

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Sure all the pensioners around Trá Lí are fierce agile :)

I don't know why it's not moving to the new sats - there should be a setting for the sat/antenna position when adding it initially and the motor should 'read' that.

Failing that you could get yourself a 9-pin null modem cable and do all your channel editing on pc, then transfer the whole lot over to the receiver.

The program for doing this (editstb.exe) is here:
http://sat.connect.gi/down.htm
http://comagsl55.tripod.com/software.htm

A dedicated Sl55 forum is here - someone else might have encountered this problem:
http://com3.runboard.com/btheunofficialcomagsite.ftools

A more general (Irish) sat forum where sl55's often come up for discussion is here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=55
 
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