tracking that Arc? Setup Woes

mick2me

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'Fortec Star Passion' (& a dead SL65) One of them big Woks on the outside, and a thingy that moves it about a bit.
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Nottingham
Still struggling with motor setup here.

Whilst not yet able to input THOR 1W into my receiver (THORis due south of me) In order to setup the motor. (Was told by the seller to set it up on Hotbird?)

I had a brainwave... 4w amos is programmed in to the box, but how to find it?
The stronges siginal I get is from ASTRA28e. So set the dish motor to 28e,
manually move the whole setup to best signal for ASTRA28, then turn the motor till it registers 4W, then again move the whole setup till I get the best signal from the now known location of 4W. At this time my motor must be pointing due south??? Well after completing this and locking off the motor. I moved the motor till it read 28E again.

In theory I should be spot on ASTRA28E, Well not quite. I got a weaker signal for ASTRA28?

I assumed setting up on 4w was close enough to 1w not to matter?

Where am I going wrong?
 

rolfw

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Technomate 5402 HD M2 Ci, DM7000s, Transparent 80cm Dish, Moteck SG2100 DiseqC motor, lots of legacy gear. Meters: Satlook Digital NIT, Promax HD Ranger+ spectrum analyser.
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Berkshire
3 degrees away is not close enough.

Can you not find out how to add a satellite, or failing that, add a Thor transponder to another satellite (one that you won't need) and use that to find Thor?

Does this receiver not come with instructions?
 

mick2me

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Nottingham
SWMBO has put the instructions away somewhere?

How would I find out what a Thor Transponder would be?
 
J

Jeff_19341

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One of the best channels on the birds at 1*west is BBC World it is on 11325, Horizontal, 24500, 7/8.

You must be so frustrated, so close but so far. I know I feel for you but I think, and it's not your fault, that you are trying to go too fast.

I noticed in one of your posts you mentioned that when you send the motor to zero there is an error. Unless that motor is a zero to start you will get problems, which you are haveing.

You should be able to drive the motor to zero by the buttons on the base of the motor, when you have done that you then must then re-set the motor, instructions should be in the handbook. You then start setting up your system as per all the good information that you have been given on this board.

The Geotrack motor is advertised by a number of German suppliers so unless you have a dud it should function correctly. But as one of the members posted, sometimes a motor/receiver combination just does not gel together.

PS, click on _http://www.flysat.com/1west.php to see the transponders at 1*west.
JMC
 

mick2me

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As soon as SWMBO has sorted her new MP3 player. I will be back up the ladder.
By this time the rain will have returned..... Stay Tuned

:-comp
 
J

Jeff_19341

Guest
Ha Ha, just done a Google for SWMBOO-Ha . Having got rid of mine nearly 20 years ago SWMBO did not register with me.

I just cannot understand why she needs your ladder to sort out the MP3 player:-doh! .

:-boom :-mamster :-mamster
 

rolfw

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Berkshire
Please don''t upset the mamsters, they may turn ugly. :)
 

jakenl

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mick2me said:
As soon as SWMBO has sorted her new MP3 player. I will be back up the ladder.
By this time the rain will have returned..... Stay Tuned

:-comp

Which receiver do you have? Perhaps the manual will help to set up Thor.

Jakenl
 

mick2me

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Nottingham
jakenl said:
Which receiver do you have? Perhaps the manual will help to set up Thor.

Jakenl

The Menues are quite complex with little guidence in the handbook.

I have now located and tuned THOR 1W This Satellite is due south of me.
I tuned that for strongest signal. Somewhat weaker than ASTRA28e.
This I did with the motor set at 0. then locked off the motor and dish.
(We seem to be getting somewhere?)

Then I manualy moved the motor till I picked up the signal for ASTRA28e.
At strongest signal for ASTRA28e just using E-W movements the motor read '25 degrees?).

I note that I can pick up and tune channels for HOTBIRD13E on the way? so I must now be tracking the arc? But why is Astra showing at 25 degrees.

Regarding the motor I am still having the problem of having to press the EW manual buttons over and over again to move very slowlly west to east and v/v.
 

rolfw

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My Location
Berkshire
Forget the markings on the motor body, if you can find the satellites, save them, then return to them, you are setup correctly.
 

mick2me

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'Fortec Star Passion' (& a dead SL65) One of them big Woks on the outside, and a thingy that moves it about a bit.
My Location
Nottingham
rolfw said:
Forget the markings on the motor body, if you can find the satellites, save them, then return to them, you are setup correctly.

Thanks Rolf

So now the only problerm is interfacing the receiver with the motor.
Why the receiver says "moving dish to..." and the motor does not turn,
and why the motor moves very slowly only by numerous presses of the manual buttons.
 

rolfw

Believe it when I see it Admin.
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My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402 HD M2 Ci, DM7000s, Transparent 80cm Dish, Moteck SG2100 DiseqC motor, lots of legacy gear. Meters: Satlook Digital NIT, Promax HD Ranger+ spectrum analyser.
My Location
Berkshire
Don't set the receiver for USALS, just DiseqC 1.2, then once you have found the satellites, you won't have to bother again. Well until there is a new softyware flash available and it wipes your settings. :)
 

jakenl

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My Location
The Netherlands
mick2me said:
The Menues are quite complex with little guidence in the handbook.

I have now located and tuned THOR 1W This Satellite is due south of me.
I tuned that for strongest signal. Somewhat weaker than ASTRA28e.
This I did with the motor set at 0. then locked off the motor and dish.
(We seem to be getting somewhere?)

Then I manualy moved the motor till I picked up the signal for ASTRA28e.
At strongest signal for ASTRA28e just using E-W movements the motor read '25 degrees?).

I note that I can pick up and tune channels for HOTBIRD13E on the way? so I must now be tracking the arc? But why is Astra showing at 25 degrees.

Regarding the motor I am still having the problem of having to press the EW manual buttons over and over again to move very slowlly west to east and v/v.

I still am keen to help you but you still didn't mention the make and model of your receiver. Need to know that in order to help you on.

Jakenl
 

mick2me

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My Location
Nottingham
jakenl said:
I still am keen to help you but you still didn't mention the make and model of your receiver. Need to know that in order to help you on.

Jakenl

Sorry

Its the SL65 from LIDL

At the moment we seem to be getting somewhere, The dish is now moving if slowly.

Thank you
 

jakenl

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My Location
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mick2me said:
Sorry

Its the SL65 from LIDL

At the moment we seem to be getting somewhere, The dish is now moving if slowly.

Thank you

Hmm... been looking into this...Seems to me it is the Comag SL65.
And your motor is a Geotrack Diseqc-motor, probably similar to the Stab HH120 motor.
I've read in several boards about problems with this receiver combined with a motor. Seems that the power supply of the receiver provides just barely enough power to drive a motor. Peak powercomsumption is 350 mA; max. power output receiver is 500 mA. It should work but only the slightest bad connection results into failure. You should check and re-check all of your F-connectors about shortcut and loose connections, especially the mantle of the cable, isn't it broken somewhere? Try a new (short) coax-cable to test.
I've downloaded the manual and indeed, USALS is not supported. You should use Diseqc 1.2.

Jakenl
 

_stu_

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My Location
Worcs
It took me a few attempts to get my motor set up correctly. When I first got my motor, I was only able to find hotbird reliably, so I had the idea of driving the motor to hotbird using the receiver and then manually moving the dish and motor round till it was lined up. Using this method I was able to get 28.2, 19, and 13 E loud and clear, but other sats such as 30W were very weak.

I then found that if I adjusted the dish elevation, I could get a much better signal on 30W, but I had to sacrifice a few percent of signal quality on 28.2 etc. More recently I decide to 'tune' my setup before winter sets in, by peaking my dish on 1w then checking the elevation on 30w and 28.2e. The result was that I got better signal by pushing my dish up on 30w and by pulling it down slightly on 28.2e. This meant that I needed to rotate my motor westwards, which I did (by about 1-2 degrees). Now it is peaked on all three sats, and I am able to find everything between 58W and 57E with ease (68.5E is below the horizon where I am).

One thing I did notice tho is that when I drive my motor to 1W, my dish is actually point to about 1.5E (according to the scale on the motor). However, this makes sense coz my longitude is about 2.2W, so 1W is to the east of me!
 
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