Help with motorised dish setup

[nariman1977]

Hi

Here is the setup:
80cm solid dish with universal 0.2db LNB
Superjack DG120 H-H motor
Pace STB
Location: Frome, Somerset, Latuitude:51.2, Longitude: -2.2


Ok, I have been trying to set this up, but now I am getting myself more and more confused!

I have followed the tutorials ther are given here. But I get lost when I get to tracking the nearest satellite.

Here is what I have done so far:

1)Installed the wall bracket. I have tried my best to get it 100% straight, but maybe a couple of degress out. I am gonna retry aligning it.

2) According to the manual, set the elevation of the motor to 39' and the Declination angle of the dish to 33'( 40-7.3).

3) Installed the motor and made sure the dish is straight. There is a notch on both motor and the dish to make sure it is straight. The motor is set to 0' with the STB.

4) Now this is where I get lost. How do I know which satellite is my nearest? Since my longitude is -2( 2W), do I track thor 0.8W or Intelsat 10-02 (1W). These 2 sats are really close? How do I know which one I have tracked?

I am using my sat finder to fine tune the dish and the motor. But what about the LNB angle? I can't see anything about that?

When I am fine tuning the satellite, do I leave the motor sit at 0' or do I move it to 1W or 0.8W and then fine tue the sat? This is what is confusing me?

THe problem I am having is that:

I can get the thor with about 90% signal strength. But when I try to track other satellites I can't find them.I have to fine tune the satellite constantly, via the incilination and Elevation angle) to get the other sats. But then I loose the thor or all the others that were tracked.

Any ideas as where I am going wrong?

Cheers

 

[satelliteman]

OK, what you need to do is:

> OK up to point 4 then you need to input your Longitude & Latitude into the USALS motor programme on your receiver.

> Then send the dish to THOR 0.8/1W or select a channel on that satellite.

> Your dish will move the difference between your longitude and the calculated 0.8W position.

> When the dish stops, that's the point at which you align to THOR.

> Adjust the dish/motor around the pole & the dish Elevation ONLY.

> Once aligned and locked up, select far ends of the arc to check for reception.

Important to make sure the pole is dead plumb..... it will save you a lot of hassle later.

SatMan

 

[nariman1977]

BUt problem is that my receiver doesn't suport USAL. Is is Diseqc1.2 I am using.

 

[nariman1977]

And another thing, I have done my best I can to align the pole to 100%. But I just can't get it 100%. It is literally about 2 degrees out. Would this make a lot of difference?

 

[satelliteman]

OK, you need to manually make the offset adjustment b4 alignment.

From zero, move the motor 1.4º East

Pole needs to be dead str8

 

[Robbo]

And another thing, I have done my best I can to align the pole to 100%. But I just can't get it 100%. It is literally about 2 degrees out. Would this make a lot of difference?

There are very rare situations where you can get away with the pole not 100% vertical, I could do it as my wall faces exactly due south, and it was ok if the pole leaned forward or back ward slighly as it could be corrected with the motor elevation. Other than that, you have to make sure it is 100% vertical.

What kind of bracket are you using? Some of them are very difficult to get vertical, which is why most people use the T&Ks with a stout pole in-between.

Robbo

 

[netzerand]

are you able to download a motorised channel list, if so it would make it a lot easier. You say you can find thor with 90 % strength thats half your battle.

 

[A nonymous]

Why would you need a channel list

All you need to do is line up on Transponder 48 on 1w 11325 H 24500-7/8.

Its probably one of the best to use in the UK for setting up on 1w

You will find FTA The Gospel channel and BBC World news on that transponder. Theres also some Conax Encrypted stuff there aswell.

:-beer

Nano

 

[nariman1977]

OK, you need to manually make the offset adjustment b4 alignment.

From zero, move the motor 1.4º East

Pole needs to be dead str8

To get thor, which is 1W, why do I need to move 1.4' E?

if I set the dish to magnetic south(my magnetic South is 183'), then do I not just manually move the motor 1' W ( by this I mean press the manual button to move the motor, or do I need to mve the motor/dish assembly with the bracket)and then try to adjust for Thor?

As for getting the pole straight >> my pole is not a T&K one, Mrs didn't like how bulky they look, so had to change it for a std 30cm offset bend pole from Maplin. I will give it another go to get it 100% vertical. My wall is actually facing due south as well.

 

[rolfw]

The idea of finding Thor, is to set the top of your arc at your exact due South point. Of course, Thor is not exactly due South from your location, it is 1.4 degrees away, so you compensate for this by driving the motor 1.4 degrees East.

Then you swing the whole lot on the mast and adjust the dish elevation bracket to peak the signal on Thor.

Lock up the brackets when you have the absolute best signal and you are set to go.

 

[Robbo]

Actually you need to send the motor to 1.55ºE, 1.4 is approximate based on the difference between your longitude and the orbital position of the satellite.(2.2W-0.8W)

See the calculator at _www.satlex.de


The reason you need to do this is as follows.

1. you need the motor when at 0 position to point the dish exactly at your due south. But this is difficult to achieve because there is no sat there for you to line up to.

2. So you send the dish to 1.55ºE, and when you line the dish up with Thor, the motor when at 0 position will point to your due south.



As your wall faces south, you would be able to get away with the small 12" brackets, and for a pole, you could use one of Satmans tricks, chop it off from the elbow bracket you have.

T&Ks would be a lot stonger, and much easier to get it straight (so I'm told), as there is adjustment leeway when you mount the pole.

 

[nariman1977]

So am I correct so far then:

Mouht the motor and the dish according to the manual regarding the angles.
Find magnetic south with a compass and point the whole assembly to it.
Then drive the motor 1.4( or 1.55)E.
Then move the whole assmebly to find Thor1W. fine tune it by moving the dish elevation and the assembly on the pole. But don't move the motor elevation angle.

Once I have thor 1W, tighten up.

This should be it.

Now one question:

When I find thor and fine tune, the reading on the motor is going to say 1.4E and this is the position I store to the location on the motor for 1W.

Does this mean the reading on the motor is never gonna be accurate? For instance, if I want to locate 30E, then the motor is going to actally sit on 31.4E?

Cheers

 

[Robbo]

Yep, you have got the procedure correct.


However, you have not quite got the understanding. The motor will be accurate, but what it says on it's scale does not have to be the same as the sat you want for this to be so.

If you were located at 0 longitude, I think that the motor angle and sat position would match better, but any other longitude, it never will.

Think of 0 degrees on the motor as YOUR due south (NOT 0 longitude), and the angles are the angular postions away from your due south.

Anyway, once you have Thor stored and working, the next job is to gradually motorise the dish around the arc and store all the other satellites one by one.

 

[nariman1977]

I have stored about 30 satellites positions roughl in the motor. They all need to be fine tuned and corrected to the right satellite. Am I going over board?

Am I likely to be receivng all 30 satellites? Are they worth it? If not, what are the satellites I should be aiming to get?

By the way, what about the angle of the lnb? What angle should this be set at? DO I need to turn it to fine tune for thor or doesn't it matter what angle the lnb is at?

 

[Robbo]

Once you have it set up, just work your way round and see what you find. Thirty does sound a bit too many.

 

[satelliteman]

I have stored about 30 satellites positions roughl in the motor. They all need to be fine tuned and corrected to the right satellite. Am I going over board?

Am I likely to be receivng all 30 satellites? Are they worth it? If not, what are the satellites I should be aiming to get?

By the way, what about the angle of the lnb? What angle should this be set at? DO I need to turn it to fine tune for thor or doesn't it matter what angle the lnb is at?

When the motor was at zero position, the LNb should be straight or vertical. As the motor turns, the LNb skew is taken care of.

SM

 

[nariman1977]

Bloody hell!

So had a few hours of no rain, so deided to start from scratch. Took the bracket off and remounted so it is 100% vertical. done

Remounted the gear using the manufacturer's guidlines and measures. Then as suggested, moved the motor manually by pressing the buttons to roughly 1.5'E.

Found and corrected for thor 1W. All ok so far.

So went up to move the dish to the full arc to make sure it is all ok, the bloody motor doesn't want to move! what the heck!

So resetted the stb and rechecked all connections, all ok.
Press the manusla buttons and the motor moves very slightly to left or right depending where it is compared to zero!

So took the whole lot off the pole and brought inside. Checked to make sure there is no warranty stickers or anything on the motor. non found.

checked the voltage out of the stb, it is 17.5V DC. so within tolerance.
Opened the motor and checked the voltage inside the motor( there is a 5pin connector on the main circuit with labels: Mot+, Mot-, Gnd, ..., 5V Dc. So checked the voltage between gnd and 5v, nothing at all! so I guess something has given up!

But I can't understand what? I haven't dine anything to disturb it! before finding thor, the motor moved ok. Found thor and stored location in the motor. Then it all went tits up!

Anyone else had any problems wityh Superjak DG120+ motors?

Any suggestions?

 

[BaronS]

Hi! I know it's an old thread now but have you managed to sort out your problem? I'm in Frome and I'm having a similar problem. Have contacted some company in Frome and they want, or he wants £100 just for setting up the whole thing. Everything is already mounted and stuff. Let me know if you've been sorted or not. Thanks

 

[Lazarus]

The Member hasn't logged in since 22 Sep 2008, so it's doubtful you'll get an answer.

I suggest you start a dedicated Topic and we'll do our best to help you sort it out yourself.

When you do start your Topic, please be sure to give details of all the equipment in the system, what does and does not work, plus a selection of pictures showing the general dish arrangement, close-ups of dish bracket and motor bracket and an idea of it's position in relation to local obstructions.

I'll close this Topic to ensure further discussion is easy to follow.


Eidt: I see you've now got a dedicated Topic here http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/threads/help-needed-in-frome.160871/