DIY FTA motorised Setup Problems

K

kgls13349

Member
My Satellite Setup
90cm Fortec Star Dish
Fortec Star Universal Single LNB (fskuvn)
Fortec Star DiSEqc 1.2 H-H Motor
Fortec Star "innovation" Reciever
My Location
medway
Hi,

Im a complete newbie with Satalites and stuff, im a computer person, ya know complete home network , servers etc etc so i thought it shouldnt be too hard for me to set a DIY

freesat system up, but apparently im about as smart as a potato, i followed the woeful instructions i got with this kit, which im afriad to say was maplins (this to be exact

_http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=224738 we have tried following maplins instructions, then manufaturor guides, online guides the lot and we still seem to get

absolutly nothing, its almost like were in a deadspot or something.

Hardware:
90cm Fortec Star Dish
Fortec Star Universal Single LNB (fskuvn)
Fortec Star DiSEqc 1.2 H-H Motor
Fortec Star "innovation" Reciever

Our Lattitude: 51.3
Motor Elevation 39
Dish Bracket Angle 22.6
Facing Magnetic South (acording to a compass)

Our back garden is accessed by a flight of concrete steps with a celler beneath the house, we decided to install the kit on that wall we have a clear sky almost all ways we

would have installed it on the back wall of the house but its not secure, the wall moves when you push it and we decided the weight of the setup would be pushing our luck

First we tried setting it up without using a compass and the like, stupid i know, but im trained as an IT consultant and my dad an Ex Fabricator so we figured we should be

able to do this, but basically where we had the dish originally was pretty much facing east and becouse its a big dish mounted on a wall we couldnt turn it to the south

without hitting, so now we temporarly mounted on a railing slightly higher facing magnetic south but we still get no signal at all, the satalite finder meter makes noise and

the meter rises but the 22Khz light (which we assume should be on) never comes on permenant and the one time we did get it on the receiver had a 63% signal which just

disapeared a few seconds later on its own.

we have spent the better part of two weeks fighting this damn thing, so far all ive learned is,if you have an east facing terrace house that you cant mount a dish on/near your

roof you are screwed.

Th idea of mounting the dish on a freestanding mount in the garden was an idea but in order for it to be high enough to get out over the various bushes in neibours gardens it

would have to be at least as high as it is now, considering the houses that back on to us are a good 6ft lower we would end up with complaints making that a waste of time.

Any comments or suggestions people have would be Greatly appreciated, Many Thanks people!
 
"Motor Elevation 39" .............

The Motor Bracket has two scales, Elevation and Latitude.

It is easy to mistake the two.

Check on the Latitude scale that the datum is at 51 (Equivalent to Elevation of 39).

If you've set against the wrong scale, then it'll never work!

"Dish Bracket Angle 22.6"

Good starting point, correctly obtained from the tables supplied with the motor: But this is a starting point. You do need to tweak the Dish Bracket angle to obtain reception. An error of a couple of tenths either way means you'll overshoot the Satellites by miles!
 
Hey, thanks for the reply,

Yeah i made the mistake of mixing up the Elevation and lattitude scales the first time i did it, felt like a right fool, but i then corrected it so it is set at 51 lattitude/39 elevation.

We have been moving adjusting the dish bracket, partly becouse the lowest scale on it is 30 so how your suposed to set 22 i dont know, but we have tried adjusting it at all sorts of angles,
quick question, the satalite finder/meter thingies, they have a green 22Khz light and a red H/V, do both these lights have to be on? no matter what angles we use the green is always jsut flashing and the red either on or off.

in fact now we have correctly set the dish to face magnetic south the way it should be we cant even get either of those lights up and the meter hardly moves at all
 
kgls13349 said:
We have been moving adjusting the dish bracket, partly becouse the lowest scale on it is 30 so how your suposed to set 22 i dont know, but we have tried adjusting it at all sorts of angles,
Click to expand...

Errm, you've mounted the Dish bracket upside down!

It is designed to give two alternative Elevation ranges, depending upon where the Dish is installed ie much further South a higher elevation is needed and the Dish is "universal" in that it can be configured to whichever is the most suitable range of adjustment by the user.

Yours is the other one ........ ! :D

I'm not familiar with your meter, sadly. I rarely use one and if I do it's a simple needle meter.

Anyway, well done on confessing to originally getting the wrong motor scale: It won't seem so bad now to realise the dish bracket is downside up too :)

Edit: The easiest way to establish if you have got the basic assembly and initial settings right is that the Dish face should appear very nearly vertical.
 
thanks for the replys!

Llew:
LNB Skew... i did notice little markings on the LNB and wondered if ther was a particular way it was suposed to be mounted but i figured so long as it was facing the dish how it was turned wouldnt matter... maybe thats wrong...

Tivù:
The dish bracket was on there wrong at first, but i dont think it is now, the only scale or markings of any kind on the bracket is 30 to 90 and i assumed the 30 goes at the bottom, is it suposed to be the other way?
i would take a pic to show but my camera has decided its going to bust :(

Ive got no problem admitting that ive prob got this all setup wrong :-DOH2 ive never dealt with sat systems before, and all the maths the paperwork i first followed used just got me totally confused.
 
kgls13349 said:
thanks for the replys!

Llew:
LNB Skew... i did notice little markings on the LNB and wondered if ther was a particular way it was suposed to be mounted but i figured so long as it was facing the dish how it was turned wouldnt matter... maybe thats wrong...

Tivù:
The dish bracket was on there wrong at first, but i dont think it is now, the only scale or markings of any kind on the bracket is 30 to 90 and i assumed the 30 goes at the bottom, is it suposed to be the other way?
i would take a pic to show but my camera has decided its going to bust :(

Ive got no problem admitting that ive prob got this all setup wrong :-DOH2 ive never dealt with sat systems before, and all the maths the paperwork i first followed used just got me totally confused.
Click to expand...









Well, we do our best to help from words alone, but it often helps if you post up a few pics: General views from front, back, sides plus close ups of various brackets.

As per the Motor Bracket, you may find your Dish rear assembly also has two scales - one on either side. Do check ............

No Crystal Balls here, I'm afraid :cool:
 
kgls13349 said:
thanks for the replys!

Llew:
LNB Skew... i did notice little markings on the LNB and wondered if ther was a particular way it was suposed to be mounted but i figured so long as it was facing the dish how it was turned wouldnt matter... maybe thats wrong...
Click to expand...

On a motorised dish installation, normally the LNB will not need skewing (twisting off of true vertical) for maximum signal depending on which satellite you are receiving, as you would need to do for a fixed dish, as skew correction is automatic as the dish moves through the arc.

With that Fortec LNB, you need to skew it anticlockwise (looking in front of the dish) as explained in the thread I referred you to.

Llew
 
Hey, Many thanks for the replys, ive managed to take a few pics, only crappy VGA quality though (what i get for having an old phone)

The Motor Bracket is still around the 39 elevation mark, not that its very visible, the dish bracket is as close as i could get to what the motor book said, what you cant see very well is the marks, 30 is the bottom number with just a couple of tiny marks below it, with no markings at all the other side.

what i didnt think of taking a pic of was the front, the dish is a a very slight angle up.

i would hope any of this makes any sense and is helpful but i doubt it, tese pics are horrid but the best i can gtet at the moment :(
 

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Hi,

From the looks of your second photo, I would say your motor elevation is set on 45° not 39°. It isn't very clear so I could be wrong:confused:

I think Tivù might be right and you have your bracket on upside down.

Oh, ... you might want to remove that screwdriver from the dish clamp, unless it's an aid to reception:-rofl2

Pete
 
The motor elevation is between 35 and 45, i know the pics are c**p sorry bout that, Well i can ty the bracket upside down but if i set it to 22 it will point the dish into the ground?

And thats a file actually not a screwdriver lol, its through a hole in the motor shaft, we put it there so we can loosen the motor bracket fromt he motor without it falling to its death :D, tis not a permenant fixture, Honests :D
 
The motor elevation on your second photo looks like 48 or so, far too high, what does the latitude scale on the other side say?

Re: the screwdriver, once set and centred on the motor arm, the dish should not be moved, so no need for the screwdriver. Have you read the pictorial guide in the stickies above?
 
To recap and summarise:

1. Use the Latitude scale on the Motor and set it against the correct datum mark to 51.

2. Assemble the Dish bracket and Dish so that the range of Elevation movement which includes around 23 degrees is patently the one to use.

3. Check and re-check that the entirety of the mechanical installation is such that the Dish face is pretty much vertical (because the Dish is an "offset" Dish so eg with a 25 degree offset of the LNB arm, the Dish will be vertical for a required Elevation of 25 degrees ...........).

Then - and only then - will you be able to complete the alignment.
 
Well we spent the past weekend taking the whole lot down and putting it up again, checking we did things right, used the correct datums, the brackets the right way up, facing true south i could go on for ages, the end result being we still cannot get a signal, we have given in now, contacted a local installer who has agreed to do adjustment and setup, we should have a signal this Friday after he has came :D

many thanks for the help people
 
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