Help need - Setup of 90 cm Fibo-støp dish

Harps

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I have bought a secondhand 90cm Fibo-støp dish as shown in the attached pictures. I have now set it up to test. I have not connected the wires from the motor to the receiver as it doesnt have the capability to steer it (Grundig digibox GDS3000). The motor is positioned so it is at 50 deg west so it is skewed slightly.

The dish is facing a little east of south, the elevation is set to 60 (I am in oslo). I am trying to tune into the astra satellites. When i try to tune it in i get nothing on signal strength or signal quality. (I have also tried using a Thompson DSI4212c receiver).

Can this be something to do with the polariser not being attached to the receiver or the skew of the dish due to the position on the motor?

The polariser is a Fuba DAZ779 and the LNB is an xline SMW XL1000c 10,7-1275 GHz

I would really appreciate any help and apologise if this is hoplessly simple
 

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CROSSBONES

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congrats on buying a great dish.

I would completely change the lnb and polariser set up to a C120 inverto, they work excellent with the fibos.Or any other universal C120 lnb.

Remove the motor and set the dish to 0, then reinstall the motor.

Then if your only going to use it as a fixed dish, set the relevant dish angles to astra etc.
 

Harps

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I should be able to at least pick up a signal though with the LNB set up i have shouldnt I? Is it just the skew that i wrong then? I will adjust the motor and retest.
 

johnsattuk

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Harps said:
The motor is positioned so it is at 50 deg west so it is skewed slightly.

The dish is facing a little east of south, the elevation is set to 60 (I am in oslo). I am trying to tune into the astra satellites. When i try to tune it in i get nothing on signal strength or signal quality. (I have also tried using a Thompson DSI4212c receiver).

Not quite sure where the 50 deg west fits into this :confused

Even though you are not at the moment motorising the dish, I think it would be best to set it up conventionally ie: Dish set at 0deg on mount pointing due south. Adjust the mount and the dish to suit your latitude, the Fibo's are quite well marked for this.

Setting up this way will give correct dish angle and skew for all the satellites when you move it to the desired sat position. Don't know offhand what the az angle is for astra from Oslo, but plenty of sites will caclulate it for you. Bit of fine tuning :D
 

Harps

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I have now set the angle of the dish to zero deg and have faced the dish towards Astra 2d. I am tried to get sky and channel 4.
The latitute was already set to 60 deg which is correct for Oslo.

When i try to tune to my sky digibox i get transportstream 096a instead of 074d. I have an Irish digibox could this be the reason?

I cannot get enough signal now to lock in this suprises me because i can with my 70 cm dish.
Is there any use in playing around with the elevation. i have tried bending the feedarm up and down slightly but it makes it worse.

What can i do to optimise my setup other than buy a new LNB as suggested above?
 

johnsattuk

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johnsattuk said:
Not quite sure where the 50 deg west fits into this :confused

Even though you are not at the moment motorising the dish, I think it would be best to set it up conventionally ie: Dish set at 0deg on mount pointing due south. Adjust the mount and the dish to suit your latitude, the Fibo's are quite well marked for this.

Setting up this way will give correct dish angle and skew for all the satellites when you move it to the desired sat position. Don't know offhand what the az angle is for astra from Oslo, but plenty of sites will caclulate it for you. Bit of fine tuning :D

I should reread my posts before submitting :-doh2

What I meant was , the az scale on the Fibo mount should be at 0 deg, the motor angle should be set @ 60 deg (your lat.) , the dish should be set to 60 deg on the scale of the dish mounting bracket, and the whole setup pointed due south. The arc should then be close to true, and you can swing the dish to whichever sat you want, the skew and dish angle should be correct.

The scales on the Fibo mounts are usually quite accurate, and only a little fine tuning is required.

I don't know if that helps :confused
 

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Perhaps the polarizer is not exacly H or V at the moment ??????
 

Harps

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Thanks for the help guys
Yes i wondered if the poleriser could be causing problems as i have no way to adjust it electronically. Can i adjust it manually?

Crossbones advised me to be replace the poleriser and LNB
with a inverto C120. Does that mean i wont need a poleriser? I will just be using it as a fixed dish (at least for now)

@johnsattuk
The elevation is set to 60 deg on both the dish mounting and the motor bracket. The Azimuth is set to 0 (by taking out and replacing the motor).
You say to then rotate the dish to from due south to Astra 2d I presume you mean around the axis of the pole? The skew of the dish will stay the same (azimuth on polar mount is still 0). Sorry if im being thick
 

johnsattuk

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Harps said:
@johnsattuk
The elevation is set to 60 deg on both the dish mounting and the motor bracket. The Azimuth is set to 0 (by taking out and replacing the motor).
You say to then rotate the dish to from due south to Astra 2d I presume you mean around the axis of the pole? The skew of the dish will stay the same (azimuth on polar mount is still 0). Sorry if im being thick

:-Nooo

Once you have the mount facing due south, do not move the mount from that position on the pole.

Move the dish to the required sat by taking out the motor and moving the dish. Take care to keep hold of the dish when you take the motor out, itwill fall under it's own weight and damage itself or you. :-crying

Both the dish and the LNB require the resulting skew for max signal. :-righton

You may find it difficult to get the sat. pos. accurately since you are limited to one tooth on the motor shaft. Fibo used to supply a small bracket which replaced the motor and locked the pinion in position, it had an adusting slot in it, so that you could fine tune the position.

If possible it would be easier to move the motor electrically, a 12v battery would possibly be enough, might need to give a helping hand if far off due south. just dab the wires on the battery to move. Remove wires when aligned.

OR

If you remove the plastic cover from the motor, get the dish as near as possibe when you insert the motor, and fit it temporally in position, it is possible to rotate the dish by spinning one of the exposed gears with your finger, this is slow but precise. You would then need to remove the motor refit the cover, and refit the motor. It helps to make a note of the az angle on the scale, in case it moves while taking motor in an out :D
 

johnsattuk

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Pics of locking bracket used on fixed pos. dish. and pic of motor with case removed showing gears :)
 

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johnsattuk

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Topfield 5800 Echostar3000,DB7000, Relook 400S, Humax HDC2000, 55cm Fibo Gregorian dish with waveguide and Motek 2100 mod, 90cm Fibo Gregorian dish, 120cm Fibo Gregorian dish on a 1224 motor with waveguide
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Manual positioners like this, do come up on ebay now and again very cheaply :)
 

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CROSSBONES

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Crossbones advised me to be replace the poleriser and LNB
with a inverto C120. Does that mean i wont need a poleriser? I will just be using it as a fixed dish (at least for now)

Yes take the polariser out, and just attach the lnb onto the feed horn.

modern Receivers today, don't have polariser connections on any more.
There old school;)
 

Harps

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Thanks very much johnsattuk, that trick with the battery works a treat.
I have now removed the poleriser and am trying to tune in with the existing LNB while I wait for my new one to arrive.

I have found out my Latitude, longditude, Azimuth, Elevation and polerisation to astra 2d, but am not sure how i use all this info.

Am i correct in assuming that the Azimuth on the polar bracket will be 180 deg minus the Azimuth (In my case 158,9)? ie I should find Astra 2d when it reads 21,1 deg east of due south on the polar bracket?

What about the polerisation? Do i adjust anything for this?

I assume the values for elevation are not needed as i have the Latitude and longdidtude is not needed as i know the azimuth.
 
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