FTA Elevation & Skew problem

[mikesat]

Hi There,
I need two pieces of information before I set my FTA dish.
I’m in Ireland, I have a FTA FORTEC STAR equipment from Maplin including:
Dish 58 cm offset arm with scale on the back
4 ways LNB NIKKAI AO5FT from Maplin
FORTEC STAR BETA Digital receiver
A satellite finder
A magnetic compass

The satellite I want to aim to is Astra 2D at 28°.2E
I have to un-cleared problems:

The elevation Google dish pointer web site gave me an elevation of 21.1° (I don’t know by how much is my dish offset) FORTEC STAR only says elevation between 32-34 degrees, I was told a long time ago to subtract the value of the dish offset to the calculated value, but I don’t know what the offset value of the dish is. What should I do with the 32-34 degrees mentioned by the vendor and the 21.1° calculated from the web?

The other problem is the Skew/polarisation of the LNB (I will go with a LNB Skew, I cannot skew the dish) same thing, from Google dish pointer web site I have LNB Skew -15.4°. I read that few satellites was not constructed with their polarisation angle aligned accurately (this is the case for ASTRA) so I have to apply a correction which is +7 degrees clockwise rotation while facing the satellite.
Question, is the value of -15.4 degrees given by the dish pointer already includes the +7 degrees correction? The Google dish pointer had all the information which satellite I’m aiming to and so on so should know about this correction?
If not correct me -15.4° (anticlockwise facing the sat) +7° (clockwise facing the sat) equal -8.4° anticlockwise facing the sat, is that correct?

I’m looking forward to your comments, 3 years ago I bought this equipment, never managed or took the time to set it up, so hopping to get it right this time with your help guys.

Thanks

 

[Analoguesat]

Dont worry too much about all the angles. Twist the lnb round so the outlet ports at the bottom of the lnb are at about "7 o'clock" as you are facing the dish and it'll be close enough You can always tweak it up later.

 

[Lazarus]

When it seems the Dish Elevation bracket isn't graduated how you would expect, it often means you've assembled the bracket upside down (They are sometimes reversible, so as to give versatility for users at all latitudes).

In any event, the dish face should appear by eye to be very slightly up from vertical - set is like that before you do the final alignment and don't take much notice of the numbers on the scale.

 

[mikesat]

Thanks guys

I checked the graduated bracket on the back, its ok, the graduations scale is going from 30° to 60° respectively from bottom to top, on both side of the bracket with an arrow pointing up so on this side, I’m ok it’s not up side down.

What the best combination I should settle for in term of those readings?
Strength % (5%)
Quality % (5%)
BER % (40%)

I gave it a shy try yesterday, I got the above results.