Had a bit of a disaster this week

G

gap30

Regular Member
My Satellite Setup
technomate 90cm dish
My Location
Liverpool
Decided to upgrade my dish this week with not good results

Previously had a technomate 90cm dish with tm2300 motor and it worked fine 28.2, 16, 13, 0.8, 30w etc

Bought a second hand gibby op125, new stab HH120 motor, gibby feedhorn, invacom c120 LNB

Spent the last 3 days messing around with it and i am not a happy bunny to put it mildly

So i did exactly what i did with my previous dish, go to Thor 0.8w and tune to BBC World News (75% SNR)

But no signal on any other satellite, my heavy duty L bracket is bang level

This was supposed to be an upgrade and has been a disaster

I am not a satellite engineer and have limited tools ie crappy meter off ebay

My thinking was i set the last one up so this should be straight forward

Now some things that may or may not be causing me problems

I have had to fit an additional back plate to the dish to stop it hitting the motor so am not sure if that could cause problems

I have removed the rod which allows you to fine tune the dish from behind as this would hit the motor as the dish turned

I know most people dont have time for people like me but my sanity has been pushed this week

Trust me i have 75% snr on Thor and nothing else, any suggestions (apart from scrap the dish lol)
 
Been there trying to aim a dish a at satellite the size of a small caravan 22,000+ miles away:eek:
It is probably one of these:-
1/ Pole must be dead vertical in 360 degrees ( use a spirit level ),
2/ Dish mounted dead central on the motor spigot,
3/ Motor set at the correct Elevation for your location for maximum signal at your reference satellite,
4/ Motor at zero on the scale when aimed at your reference satellite,
5/ Dish Declination set for maximum signal at your reference satellite,
6/ Lnb set in the correct position for max signal(Move Lnb fully forward & Back while viewing a meter for max signals)


That is why it is best to upgrade in the spring /summer months anyway this may help you.
 

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Sounds like the elevation on the motor bracket is off.


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william-1 said:
Been there trying to aim a dish a at satellite the size of a small caravan 22,000+ miles away:eek:
It is probably one of these:-
1/ Pole must be dead vertical in 360 degrees ( use a spirit level ),
2/ Dish mounted dead central on the motor spigot,
3/ Motor set at the correct Elevation for your location for maximum signal at your reference satellite,
4/ Motor at zero on the scale when aimed at your reference satellite,
5/ Dish Declination set for maximum signal at your reference satellite,
6/ Lnb set in the correct position for max signal(Move Lnb fully forward & Back while viewing a meter for max signals)
That is why it is best to upgrade in the spring /summer months anyway this may help you.
Click to expand...
Based on the "fact" (?) that the pole has not been touched it sounds like 2), 4) or 5) as the rest of would probably still result in reception of some adjacent strong signal satellites - 2) or 4) because that would mean that the arc is way off for anything other than Thor or else 5) because the declination is very critical as I know from my experiences with both my steerable and fixed dishes in Spring last year.
 
My latitude is 53.461 and longtitude is 002.965

My dish elevation is 22.4

This gives me a very strong signal on Thor but i am doing something wrong somewhere
 
I thought BBC World News was gone from Thor. What transponder is it on? You should certainly be able to get Sky News on Thor, 12418 V 28000. 17.2 dB signal in Ireland 1.1 m dish.
 
gap30 said:
My latitude is 53.461 and longtitude is 002.965
My dish elevation is 22.4
This gives me a very strong signal on Thor but i am doing something wrong somewhere
Click to expand...
If that is correct for your dish at your latitude at your location (I don't know), then that would probably leave 2) or 4).
 
Basically you've gone from a fairly lightweight setup to something quite a bit heavier and hung it all on the end of an ''L' bracket. I'd recheck your mount for alignment and not just with a spirit level. Try and find a digital angle finder and get it to within 0.2 of a degree. With the heavier dish and motor combination you have now, I would also recommend a T&K wall mount.
 
Are you saying it might not be well hung?
 
sonnetpete said:
Basically you've gone from a fairly lightweight setup to something quite a bit heavier and hung it all on the end of an ''L' bracket. I'd recheck your mount for alignment and not just with a spirit level. Try and find a digital angle finder and get it to within 0.2 of a degree. With the heavier dish and motor combination you have now, I would also recommend a T&K wall mount.
Click to expand...

That is probably the right answer, thing is front of my house is south facing

I live in a terraced house with a back yard, my tv is at the front of the house and i worry about the length of the cable run
 
11403 V is 13 dB signal with me. BBC World News is encrypted there. The previous FTA version which used to be the reference signal for 1 West is gone. I think the Sky News transponder is the strongest one these days.
 
gap30 said:
That is probably the right answer, thing is front of my house is south facing

I live in a terraced house with a back yard, my tv is at the front of the house and i worry about the length of the cable run
Click to expand...

Don't see how changing the bracket will alter the cable length. You shouldn't need a set of T&K's with an excessive offset and in any case that would only add a few centimetres to the cable run....decent quality cable should negate any worries about how long the cable run is...
 
You list your location as Liverpool, which according to dishpointer pute you latitude about 53.4, and more importantly your longitude as -2.99, this is very important.
Negative Longitude readings = West, positive = East, so if using USALS, to drive your motor, you need to enter the correct settings, then drive your motor, and dish, to the satellite you have selected to align your dish, in your case 0.8W.
You then physically move the dish, and motor, to get the strongest signal on 0.8W, use the dish elevation as a guide, as they aren't always accurate.
Once aligned to 0.8W tighten everything up and send the dish, using your receiver, to various satellites, East, and West, to check your signal quality.
You then send it back to 0.8W, to make minor adjustments, to get it tracking the satellite arc correctly.
 
william-1 said:
3/ Motor set at the correct Elevation for your location for maximum signal at your reference satellite,

5/ Dish Declination set for maximum signal at your reference satellite,
Click to expand...

From memory stabs motor are double marked, also gib elevation is, you must use the correct setting on motor and dish
33333333333333.webp
 
sonnetpete said:
Don't see how changing the bracket will alter the cable length. You shouldn't need a set of T&K's with an excessive offset and in any case that would only add a few centimetres to the cable run....decent quality cable should negate any worries about how long the cable run is...
Click to expand...

Sorry i should have described it better, i would only put a pole up at the back which would add about 15m to the run

here is a pic of my old dish on the front of my house:

IMG_20161229_135432.webp
 
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