Advice Needed Which Sats/Transponders to Align to

RustySpoons

RustySpoons

Sleepy Hollow
My Satellite Setup
50E - 30W
2x CM 1.2m Polar Mount/Jack
65E- 65W
Gibertini 1m OP100 - STAB HH100 - Inverto Black Ultra 0.2 Twin
Mutant HD51
Edision Primo IP S2
Dreambox DM800HD
Venton Unibox HD2
Sony Bravia 55" 4K
My Location
South Wales
I've gone back up to play with the dish today, I've had the dish off the bracket to ensure the motor is 100% lined up with the dish
and made everything plumb.

What sats/transponders are you aligning to, I noticed that I can't get everything at the highest signals, so what happy medium is there?

For example if I get "Challenge" on 28.2E full signal (seems a weak transponder for 28.2) I lose 7.3W "Scare TV" and others.
Or if I peak on 0.8W I get a broken up picture on 7.3W.

So to get the weaker birds I lose a bit of margin on the other sats.

Everything is 100% Plumb, Motor is set at in between 51/52.
 
You can work out your zenith satellite via your latitude and longitude.

Eg Newport

51.5842° N, 2.9977° W

So for Newport it would be 3°w, you use the longitude value to determine the closest zenith satellite.
 
Chris1979 said:
You can work out your zenith satellite via your latitude and longitude.

Eg Newport

51.5842° N, 2.9977° W

So for Newport it would be 3°w, you use the longitude value to determine the closest zenith satellite.
Click to expand...
Trouble is with 3w they are all very strong it seems, so hard to peak on that one.
*EDIT sorry was thinking of 30W that's mega strong lol*

51.6/3W are my USALS settings, motor is set between 51/52.
I wish there was a easy way to see if you're tracking the arc properly lol
 
Last edited:
I had a similar problem a couple of years ago & found that it was down to the dish not being mounted dead central on the motor spigot.
 
william-1 said:
I had a similar problem a couple of years ago & found that it was down to the dish not being mounted dead central on the motor spigot.
Click to expand...
I checked that and it's spot on.
Surely I'm not going to get all these birds at my maximum strength if motorised and using USALS?

If I get Scare TV then challenge drops from 90% to around 75%
 
I don't think I'm going to get 3W here Chris
 
You can slightly adjust the satellite position in USALS,
I have done this on some receivers for 26 east Badr-4 & find I get a better signal @ 25.8 east moving it away from 28.2 east makes a difference likewise with ABS-3A @ 3 west moving to 2.7 west gives me a better signal on some receivers.
 
RustySpoons said:
I don't think I'm going to get 3W here Chris
Click to expand...

From my location 3°w is my closest zenith satellite, as it’s also at 180°

1°w from my location is 177° (easterly)

Don’t give up, I don’t know what the strongest frequency is. @william-1 has a list somewhere.

I will post the link as soon as I find it.
 
You can set up / align your dish on either 1W or 5W using USALS.
 
I am currently updating my strongest transponders list & will issue very soon.
 
Is Eutelsat 7 West actually 7W? or is it 7.3W?

If I peak signals on Aljazera on 0.8W to peak Challenge on 28.2E I need to move east slightly, to peak signals on ScareTV Eutelsat 7 I need to move West slightly.

28.2E and 0.8W are fully watchable and signals well above the margin, but OCD in me wants to get it perfect, especially for weaker birds.

Just noticed there are 2 channels called Challenge, one is 98% Signal and the other is 85% Signal, The weaker one is Challenge (Ireland)?
 
Last edited:
I would be checking all is plumb and the motor stub inclination is correct. Something seems slightly off there.
 
I only ever once managed to get USALS working 100% without having to adjust any satellite positions or coordinates. More often that not, I have to tweak coordinates in motorised setup menu until it all falls into place. As long as the dish is tracking the arc properly, there's little else you can do.
 
satelliteman said:
I would be checking all is plumb and the motor stub inclination is correct. Something seems slightly off there.
Click to expand...
Couldn't be more plumb that's the thing.
It was all working before but was nudging the dish slightly on Diseqc to get 7w perfectly, so thought i'd go up and take it all down to start again.
I'm wondering about inclination, I've set it as the guide on the side its in-between 51/52.

Everything is perfectly plumb.

Interestingly if I plug my 28.2 Fixed dish in ALL 28.2 transponders are 100%, any way a box can send rogue signals over USALS?
 
RustySpoons said:
but OCD in me wants to get it perfect, especially for weaker birds.

OCD may - in the end drive you to fit an actuator-jack for the elevation - or better still the declination .... in some ways i feel its essential for very weak signals. especially on larger dishes. :)
Click to expand...
 
Garden dish is going to be a 1.2m and set up like that :)
 
One other thought - how long is your cable run. When mine was less than a few meters, 19.2E and 28.2E were overloading the tuner in my Uno causing "weak" signal. If I put a wet tea towel over the LNB, signal increased! I had to add an attenuator.
 
Captain Jack said:
One other thought - how long is your cable run. When mine was less than a few meters, 19.2E and 28.2E were overloading the tuner in my Uno causing "weak" signal. If I put a wet tea towel over the LNB, signal increased! I had to add an attenuator.
Click to expand...
Hmm not very long! I might switch boxes in a minute, using the DM800HD to move the dish, maybe the opposite is happening and it's overloading it ha!
 
RustySpoons said:
Is Eutelsat 7 West actually 7W? or is it 7.3W?

If I peak signals on Aljazera on 0.8W to peak Challenge on 28.2E I need to move east slightly, to peak signals on ScareTV Eutelsat 7 I need to move West slightly....
Click to expand...
The dish arc sounds to be too "peaked" - meaning that it is not as "flat" as it should be. Could the declination angle is not quite right - may be a little too high?
 
jeallen01 said:
The dish arc sounds to be too "peaked" - meaning that it is not as "flat" as it should be. Could the declination angle is not quite right - may be a little too high?
Click to expand...
Im wondering about that. Unless 7W is not 7W?

This is my first motorised dish, I've only had fixed dishes and multi-lnb's before, so was under the impression I set the declination to 51.6 on the motor and not have to mess with that.

I'm trying another receiver in case it's overloading it.

Has anyone had to use something other than the factory markings for declinations? Motor is a STAB HH100

Some East birds need a bit more East to Peak and the West need more West, so sounds like that. Up and Down on the dish makes no difference however.
 
Back
Top