My new motorised setup, inside and out!

[netwhizkid]

So after lots of planning, research and almost three years I eventually have a system I am happy with.

Last June I got my motor and put up the brackets and bar only for to have raise them up higher after my father nearly knocked himself out on it one dark evening as it was a bit low! As most of last summer was raining except September here in Ireland I didn't do much except the odd experimentation as I only had an 80cms LIDL dish and Comag/Silvercrest receiver which completely failed me to get it working properly with USALS/GotoX so that was a disaster.

In November I eventually ordered a Technomate 6900HD Super+ Combo receiver and a 1 Metre dish, they arrived while Ireland was half flooded so I didn't do much with them except for testing the DVB element of the receiver and it works nicely with RTÉ Saorview DTT which is still undergoing tests before launch this year. I also lacked a proper suitable TV and I was using a 14" portable CRT along up to this with cables strewn everywhere!

After Christmas I got my 50" Plasma Panasonic TX-P50G10B with integrated Freesat which greatly facilitated my greater plan forward. After the ice thawed and we came out of the big freeze (-6 to -18°c) here for weeks I eventually got back on track after repairing a few burst pipes etc.

I got my metre dish up just over three weeks ago and with my Satlook Micro+ meter I got it aligned nicely and am not missing too many Tp's. I have a dual output LNB .01dB and one of the feeds is to the box and the other is blank at the moment with a loopthrough to the Freesat TV for it to receive stuff from 28.2°E.

I have a bit more work to do as I need to build a dedicated Tv Unit as everything is on an old PC trolley at the moment. I must also get a Panasonic BluRay player and an AZBox for 4:2:2 feeds which my current one cant decode. I haven't even removed the clear film from my new TV or Medion PC (which is to be a HTPC / TVersity server) yet as I must get cracking on the Tv unit!



My photos of the setup:
_www.flickr.com/photos/38288312@N03/sets/72157623441259124/

I also made these two videos of it going from 45E to 30W, pity my camera isn't as good at videos as it is at photos!

[video=youtube;IfbzemG6M3A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfbzemG6M3A[/video]

[video=youtube;q_potJBr0SY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_potJBr0SY[/video]

 

[NukePower]

Very good, nice movies, good span of the arc, well done.
NP

 

[satelliteman]

Great you have a new system up and running although be inclined to install the top K bracket at least 250mm down from the top of the brickwork. Always best to also bring the cabling over the top of the motor so it doesn't get caught up as the rig turns. Happy viewing

 

[netwhizkid]

Great you have a new system up and running although be inclined to install the top K bracket at least 250mm down from the top of the brickwork. Always best to also bring the cabling over the top of the motor so it doesn't get caught up as the rig turns. Happy viewing

Thanks for the kind words fellas! Originally I actually had it lower as you might have seen from the old holes in the photos but subsequently moved it up as a result of it being a bit of a hazard. I understand totally where you are coming from though. The house is a typical Irish concrete block cavity construction and plaster on the outside so it should be sturdy enough, I always park the dish edge first into the wind at around 5 to 8° West as the wind is usually comes straight in from the atlantic but I am several miles inshore and not too exposed.

The first day I was flicking around I suddenly lost everything and was lost for cause, after inspection I saw that the motor had actually managed to crack the f connector in half by pulling the screw part out of the barrel and leaving the screw part attached to the motor and cable and shaft of the F-Connector dangling loosely. My plan to fix this is to use a right angle F connector to attach the leads to the motor and route them totally away from the motor and its protruding bolts.

In my last few hours I also got the PVR functionality of the box up and running with a 160GB hard drive I had spare. I have it on timer overnight recording various parts of Euro TV, the Fasching festival in Germany is getting good coverage so I will be able to take a look at that tommorow in my leisure time.

P.S. Sorry about posting that live link to my flickr photos

 

[satelliteman]

The first day I was flicking around I suddenly lost everything and was lost for cause, after inspection I saw that the motor had actually managed to crack the f connector in half by pulling the screw part out of the barrel and leaving the screw part attached to the motor and cable and shaft of the F-Connector dangling loosely. My plan to fix this is to use a right angle F connector to attach the leads to the motor and route them totally away from the motor and its protruding bolts.

Yes assembling the dish lower down on the motor shaft and cutting the protruding excess on the bolts can prevent the cables getting caught up.