Help with motorised (Yes I know, here we go again) dish

[Ghostleader]

I had a crack at motorising a Zone 2 dish today (Adapted a pipe clamp to fix it to the motor arm) all seemed well apart from one thing where the dish is I cant get any where near 1w so I used Hotbird 13e to align the dish on & in the USALS menu I put in my latitude & longitude & saved, this is where it keeps going wrong. The Silvercrest SL65 I have been using for the setup then keeps moving the dish round to the East, why the hell is it moving when I thought I had already told it I'm on Hotbird as a reference?

 

[Lazarus]

Because you have incorrectly got motor zero corresponding to 13E, so USALS will try to move it where USALS thinks 13E is from there ........ ie go Eastwards. You will find your motor body is pointing towards 13E, whereas it should be pointing South.

So drive the motor to zero again then, when the motor comes to rest, point the entire assembly roughly South and only then select 13E and carry out your final alignment by physically finding 13E in the usual way.

The point is, whichever Satellite you use to set it up, correct alignment will mean that the motor body will actually be facing due South when the alignment is complete.


Edit: Actually, if there is a physical impediment to going to zero, just slacken the motor/mount clamps and bring back the entire assembly into alignment with 13E. The motor will then be facing south .............

 

[Mickha]

Are you sure you've entered your latitude, & longitude, correctly? negative longitude values = West.
Glasgow is about Lon 55.9 Lat 4.3W

 

[Huevos]

why the hell is it moving when I thought I had already told it I'm on Hotbird as a reference?

That is correct. The motor should move east.

Set the motor up with the correct elevation for your latitude. Enter your lat and long in the receiver, then with the receiver connected to the motor tell it to go to reference/zero. Mount the dish on the motor stub so that the mast, motor, motor stub, dish, LNB arm, and LNB are in a completely straight line and tighten it up (you shouldn't need to touch this again). Next get the receiver to tell the motor to go to Hotbird. That will drive the motor east. Now align it to Hotbird by twisting the motor east/west around the main mast for the azimuth adjustment and the dish bracket up and down for elevation.

 

[Ghostleader]

Because you have incorrectly got motor zero corresponding to 13E, so USALS will try to move it where USALS thinks 13E is from there ........ ie go Eastwards. You will find your motor body is pointing towards 13E, whereas it should be pointing South.

So drive the motor to zero again then, when the motor comes to rest, point the entire assembly roughly South and only then select 13E and carry out your final alignment by physically finding 13E in the usual way.

The point is, whichever Satellite you use to set it up, correct alignment will mean that the motor body will actually be facing due South when the alignment is complete.


Edit: Actually, if there is a physical impediment to going to zero, just slacken the motor/mount clamps and bring back the entire assembly into alignment with 13E. The motor will then be facing south .............

Cheers guys, I understand where I have went wrong, bit of numpty assumption on my part regarding the Zero point on the motor versus where the end user actually points the full rig, DOH!

 

[Lazarus]

No worries ............ making booboos is the best way of reaching a state of total understanding!

 

[Analoguesat]

No worries ............ making booboos is the best way of reaching a state of total understanding!

Thats a very zen comment Tivu

 

[Ghostleader]

Here you go all done:

 

[Lazarus]

Excellent.

Enjoy the new toy!