Humax hdci motorised problem

[grgo]

Hi I'm trying to set motorised system with humax hdci 2000, technomate tm 2300 super motor and 85 cm dish. So far I managed to fix the dish with motor ( all vertical checked 100 times) when I try to use usals setap on the humax hdci 2000 it doesn't give me anything whatsoever. My latitude is 52.5 and longitude -0.9, my concern is that I'm entering wrong value for the longitude as ther is no option for - so I've entered 009.0w Is this correct ? Dish moves but it goes all on funny angle. Also I'm trying to lock on Thor which is 0.8 w. Please help I'm banging my head against the wall!)(-red

 

[Lazarus]

so I've entered 009.0w Is this correct ? Dish moves but it goes all on funny angle.

You've entered 9W. You are at 0.9W.

Enter 000.9W .................

 

[Mickha]

Welcome to the forum grgo, I have moved your post to it's own thread.
Please try not to post onto an old thread as the posts are usually overlooked, especially when the thread is over two years old.

 

[grgo]

Hi thanks for your reply, Ive tried 000.9W as suggested, but didn't get me anywhere.When I send motor to find Thor (which is closest to my longitude) I'm not getting any signal at that position, even when I conect satellite meter. I've tried moving it by hand around that position but nothing changed. Eventually, by chance, found some channels on Hotbrid,I think (all Italian-Rai uno...), even there I managed to get only 37 channels. Just don't know where to go from here.
Just another thing its raining all day so I'm not sure if weather has some effect on this?

 

[Lazarus]

When you "move it by hand", you should be moving the Motor/Dish assembly as one - are you?

Also, you will need to alter the Dish Elevation using the slider on the backplate. It isn't really possible to just bung it at eg 24 degrees as cumulative small mechanical errors elsewhere will affect it.

Oh yes, you are right that rain doesn't help when you are getting nowhere!

 

[grgo]

Yes, Im moving it as one (dish and the motor) and dish elavation is set as per motor booklet instruction same as motor elavation - dish elavation 22.5 and motor elevation 38 which cooresponds to my latitude (52.4) on other side of the motor Any more suggestions Tivu please keep them coming!

 

[Lazarus]

Yes, Im moving it as one (dish and the motor) and dish elavation is set as per motor booklet instruction same as motor elavation - dish elavation 22.5 and motor elevation 38 which cooresponds to my latitude (52.4) on other side of the motor Any more suggestions Tivu please keep them coming!

Good - they seem ok: But you haven't specifically confirmed you are altering the Dish Elevation to help find Thor ....................

One thing you might do (for us) when the bad weather subsides is to post up some piccies.

We can nod sagely at what you tell us and and pontificate happily about what you should do - but it's just possible a "visual" might give us a decent clue

 

[grgo]

I tried altering dish elavation but only for few degrees as I was under impression that elevation should be set.
will take some pictures tomorrow
thanks

 

[grgo]

Just remembed, since I don't know relevant transponders for every satellite I left it set at "All"

 

[bigtee]

You need to use an active transponder; for 1w the transponder usually recommended is 11325 H 24500 which has BBC World.

One suggestion: I usually recommend for first timers to try and locate 5w (i.e. Atlantic Bird 3) first because it is rather unmissable. For this ty using either 11591 H 20000 or 12543 H 27500. After locating it, you can then use receiver to send dish to 1w and fine tune --- though with USALS, even fine tuning on 5w might be good enough.

 

[grgo]

Thanks bigtee will try it first thing tomorrow

 

[Lazarus]

I tried altering dish elavation but only for few degrees as I was under impression that elevation should be set.
will take some pictures tomorrow
thanks

No. Please see earlier Post about cumulative errors.

Theory - set it and leave it

Practice - set it and almost certainly have to alter it a little bit.

If you don't, any error will result in you undershooting or overshooting the required Satellites.

Looking forward to pics.

 

[grgo]

Hi just spent couple hrs correcting everything and trying different things, as you guys suggested, but didn't get me anywhere i'm afraid. Tried the search on suggested transpoders, for Thor and AB3 but nothing. Took some pictures for you to cast your expert eyes over it if there is something obvious. First picture of the dish is pointing at south, second at thor and third one at AB3. Getting very frustrated:-argh:-boom:-HB now

 

[Lazarus]

Some great pics there that show an apparently neatly and correctly set up system.

The only thing I would ask, and it's probably due to the perspective of the pics, but is the Dish mounted exactly along the datum mark on the front of the motor stub?

Also, are you using a Meter of any sort or are you relying entirely upon the Receiver?

And finally, do you have the correct LNB settings in your Receiver? ie Universal 9750/10600 (Possibly called Universal 1) and LNB power "On".

Oh, and yet one more thing - I'm not familiar with that particular Receiver, but some Receivers require you to select the mode of operation (ie Fixed, DiSEqC 1.x, 2.x, USALS) for each and every Satellite and some apply the settings globally. Check that out too.

 

[Mickha]

At first sight the elevation of your dish looks to be wrong, but it's difficult to tell as the pictures are at an angle.
Try pointing your dish a 0.8W, tuning your receiver to BBC World News, 11325 H 24500, and then adjusting the angle of the dish downwards, so that it is closer to being flat to the wall, then try to get a signal.

 

[grgo]

Update
After some good advice from you guys I managed to locate few satellites. Followed bigtee advice and fixed on AB3 first, which gave me only 5 channels. Had to play with dish elevation, as tivu suggested, moved from 22.5 down to about 18.5 with help of meter found the strongest signal. Then sent motor&dish with USALS to Thor which located 200 odd channels , then moved to Hotbird which gave me further 1000+ channels. Afterwards tried to find Eutelsat W2 but found only 15 channels, not sure about this! I think it could be the weather because it is chucking it down with extremely strong wind?? Once again thank you for all your help, which I still might need.
:-newb

 

[Lazarus]

Hmm, good progess indeed.

But I am concerned you've had to depress the Elevation quite so much!

A degree or two from the theoretical is normally quite sufficient.

Therefore, although you are now burning and turning, give it a rest for a bit, then go back with a fresh mind and find where the 4 degree error has crept in.

............. I suspect, however, that you might find that you've set the Motor Latitude/Elevation against the wrong datum mark. It isn't terribly obvious where to set against and you'd do well to satisfy yourself in this regard.

Actually, I'd bet your house (Not mine, obviously!) on it being that. If so, it will actually have been set four degrees too high. Put it right, then compensate by raising the Dish elevation four degrees.

It's all good stuff, though, in really getting to grips with the concept of motorised systems and overcoming difficulties is a great way to learn.

But, credit where it's due: :-handclap

 

[Lazarus]

Oh, as regards 16E, what you will probably find is that your alignment on not quite accurate enough: On strong Satellite, lots more will blat through a small misalignment, but it becomes more critical on weaker Satellites.

So when you've dealt with the issues in my previous Post and are generally as happy as a pig in sh*t, drive dish to 16E (a good one for this as it has some strong, some marginal and some weak Transponders) and micro-tweak. Actually Thor has some weak Transponders as well.

Whatever. Best to find these things out for yourself anyway

After that, check you maintain tracking at the ends of your visible arc.