Thinking about motorising my satellite dish

[Piltdownpaul]

Trial and error Tony, there are so many variables, weather ,your location etc. Thats half the fun.....seeing the fringe benefits!!!

 

[Piltdownpaul]

On my TD88 i get 42 sats across the arc, you cant receive certain beams from some of them but i have around 3000 free to air channels.

 

[Analoguesat]

You should get some of the stronger tp's off 53E on an 80cm, I use an old 80cm dish for that one.

Wouldnt think you would get much round past that one.

 

[Captain Jack]

57e, 62e, 66e and 68.5e are all doable on a 85cm

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 4

 

[Tony1A]

Just a thought. Say if I couldn't get anything more than 66e. Surely the box would not let the dish travel beyond that limit if it were not programmed for anything more than that satellite?

 

[Lazarus]

26E will be very tricky, if not impossible as it will be swamped by 28E or 23.5E.

7.3W might be impossible too.

But the thing is that an 80cm actually will get a great many Birds happily.

I have an 80cm motorised and a 1.1m motorised. Over 95% of what is possible with the 1.1m is also possible with the 80cm.

 

[Tony1A]

I just don't want my dish to whack on the shed roof when moving east. I think a dish movement dry run is called for.....but not tonight. Then by looking at the dial I'll know how far to set the limit and what is possible.

 

[Lazarus]

Yes, good idea.

The Limit Set Screws are under a flap/label on the motor base, as I'm sure you have realised.

 

[Tony1A]

Not according to this, I have to remove the dish mounting tube to access them.

 

[Piltdownpaul]

You are both correct,stub off - peel up the label,,,,do not over tighten those little screws.

 

[Lazarus]

Not according to this, I have to remove the dish mounting tube to access them.

Yes. Taken as read - sorry! Remove mounting tube then you can peel back the label thing covering the screws.

The tube restrains the label thing. All very obvious once you get sight of it.


Edit: What PDP said.

BTW: As well as not overtightening, don't slacken them too much either - they are very small and will disappear forever if dropped.

 

[Lazarus]

".................. just one more thing, Sir" >> Be patient putting the stub back on the motor shaft: The through-bolt can be a bit tricky to insert and at the same time engage the captive nut.

 

[Archived-1]

unless ive missed something here ? whats up with setting limits in the stb ?

 

[Lazarus]

Nothing at all - but STBs are fickle and basic practice is belt + braces, redundancy and diversity.

Hardware limit is of greater integrity so should be used as a wrapper for software limits.

Of course, very few people actually do it this way and very few failures occur!


The only time I had a collision was when the wind caught my TD110 and forced it around the mount until it came to rest against the wall. No harm done - quick realignment and more oomph on the clamps.

 

[Archived-1]

ive never had any problems setting limits in the stb tivu and it stops were ive set it :-).

 

[Lazarus]

Neither have I. But an STB is far more likely to fail/glitch/hiccup than a hard limit.

I think you'll find that not only do most people not avail themselves of properly set hard limits, but also singularly fail to set software limits.

And still there are few reported catastrophes - but the risk of such a thing can be virtually entirely eliminated for the sake of a few minutes one-time effort.

 

[Archived-1]

I must admit on my 1.2 stops have been set in the motor for the strength of a 36v motor,
but I think one step at a time with a new setup for a newbie, its confusing enough to some peeps including me :-(.

 

[Lazarus]

Couldn't agree more - KISS principle applies!

 

[Tony1A]

Yeah, I think I'll go with the K.I.S.S. rules. I was a fixed dish kind of guy....until I came here! . No seriously, I have my L plates on with this so it's one thing at a time.

 

[Tony1A]

OK GUYS! I have completed a test-run installation today and can tell you that I don't need to set the limits as I have full swing east & west (phew). That is weight off my mind I can tell you. The motor works well and installation will be Tuesday or Wednesday so things are getting there now I've also changed the pole as I was not happy that the other one was slightly bent so that has now been rectified. Regarding the rubber boots on the F-connectors on the motor, did you just follow the booklet or did you do your own thing? Just interested to know and look forward to all the replies.