Advice Needed Which Sats/Transponders to Align to

[jeallen01]

Has the Latitude scale on the motor been correct to your location, or have you had to adjust it?

TBH, I think you have to take the markings on any motor mount "with a pinch of salt" - and to simply treat them as a starting point for the final "fine" adjustments. You have to remember all the "general slop" inherent in having a number of mechanical connections in a motor and dish, and, of course, there is also the matter of the "accuracy" of the positions and widths of the markings themselves!

 

[Lazarus]

Bang on.

Moteck.

Never, ever been "inclined" to alter it.

 

[Captain Jack]

I've almost always had to adjust both. Depends on how far the dish is overrunning/underrunning at the edges. Adjusting the longitude tends to adjust it across the whole arc whereas the latitude generally affects the edge of the arc satellites (makes it flatter or err... pointier).

That's all assuming the dish itself is tracking the arc correctly.

I find plain old DiSEqC 1.2 easier to work with.

 

[Terryl]

You may have to play around with that setting a bit, they are close in some cases.

And you will also have to set the elevation setting on the dish.

 

[RustySpoons]

TBH, I think you have to take the markings on any motor mount "with a pinch of salt" - and to simply treat them as a starting point for the final "fine" adjustments. You have to remember all the "general slop" inherent in having a number of mechanical connections in a motor and dish, and, of course, there is also the matter of the "accuracy" of the positions and widths of the markings themselves!

Very valid point.

I've done some playing tonight on the TBS Box, it is MUCH better and I can pull in every bird that I should be able to. But I can get the signal to improve a bit more by stepping E or W depending on the bird. This may be normal I don't know but I'd still like to play around.

None may I add improves by moving the dish up or down, it's always East or West.

I'm wondering how bang on everyone elses motor is, is theirs the same as having a fixed dish on every bird?
Because im talking extreme fussiness here, my receiver will show 100% on most birds. But never 100% on my TBS but close.


Now what sat meter shall I get

 

[Captain Jack]

I completely misread the question so ignore my answer.... But spiel there might help anyway.

 

[a33]

My latitude is 51.6 from everything I've been looking at.

Did you also read about 'modified motor angles', or 'motor axis tilt'?
When at 51.6, I would set my motor axis latitude at 52.2 (elevation at 37.8 degrees), and dish declination offset at 6.8 degrees.
Less fineadjustment should be needed, then.
[Using USALS, I would test the most west and east satellites also with the modified latitude value in my receiver, as latitude coordinate. It could be a better setting, as USALS algorithms aren't very precise I read.]

If the motor latitude/elevation scale is not very accurate, you can also measure axis-elevation at the motor axis, taking the motor axis crank angle into account of course (is it 30 degrees with the STAB?).

Greetz,
A33

 

[RustySpoons]

Ok.

Just moved the dish to 30W Hispasat and 42E Turksat and where it lands is perfect. Stepping Either West or East makes the signal drop.
Will try some Furtherly East/West birds. So surely everything is aligned correctly?

I don't understand why 7W needs a few steps to the West and one transponder on 28.2 comes up stronger going to the East (Not that it matters as its WAY above the margin anyway)

*EDIT*
Just tried 50E and 45W, These seem fairly strong and I can't "peak" either by stepping East or West.

 

[RustySpoons]

Well I stayed up a bit too late messing around, no I didn't go outside.
I put OpenVix on a Miraclebox Micro Premium.

Scanned a lot of birds and it picked up 12,000 channels (Using default Satellites.xml)

Went to some of the weaker birds/transponders, used fine tune East - West, I could not make signal/quality go any higher.
Seems everything was actually aligned?

The DM800HD not only had a tuner that was swamping easily, it was only doing the Usals Calculations incorrectly too!!!
Where is my big lump hammer, I'm going to destroy this piece of crap.

Never trust Enigma2 for positioning a dish it seems!

 

[Captain Jack]

I also found that different receivers land on different spots using the same settings - so usals is certainly not perfect.

 

[a33]

Went to some of the weaker birds/transponders, used fine tune East - West, I could not make signal/quality go any higher.
Seems everything was actually aligned?

Did you do the usual tests for that?
See e.g. the bottom of: How to Install a Motorized FTA Satellite TV System How to Install a Motor on a Free To Air Satellite TV Dish for KU Band and How to

greetz,
A33

 

[RustySpoons]

Did you do the usual tests for that?
See e.g. the bottom of: How to Install a Motorized FTA Satellite TV System How to Install a Motor on a Free To Air Satellite TV Dish for KU Band and How to

greetz,
A33

I did check up and down movement of the dish yesterday and it made no difference. That's why it was puzzling me as it was always east or west.

I Will check it all again and see if I can make any improvement by doing those tests.

 

[RustySpoons]

Just been out to change the Coax from CT100 To WF100, that CT100 was crap, you could peal the insulation with your nail on that CT100!

CaptainJack was 99.9% right with his suggestion, it was the receiver causing me issues, tuner was getting swamped and USALS calcs were wrong.

Took some readings out there just now and was looking very good, I might have just improved SNR by about 2%
I dropped the motor like 1/5th or 0.5mm on the declination just now and can't see it getting any better, was gnats whisker, on 30W im peaking 99% signal and 46E Im hitting 95%, 7W is 43% and even if I tweak things I can't get anything any higher. So I think thats bang on