Thread: need help with homemade dish mover plz

ok, money is kinda tight right now, so most anything i use for this hobby i need to either recycle or build myself.
i was just pointed at 101w ku before this.
first i started to put multiple super dish lnbs on a superdish,
but then i got to thinking that with parts i have saved, i could possibly build a dish mover and make a 1m primestar dish movable.
so i dug through my parts and built one.
i started with 2 direcway mounts and mounted them back to back
the one on the pole in the ground has the skew plate set at 0 so it is perpendicular to the ground
the skew plate on the one with the one with the 45deg mount pole is left loose so it is capable of rotating
i then set the mount on the pole in the ground at 45 deg el and set the skew on the rotating skew plate at 0 and put a level on top of the mount and adjusted the elevation on the 45 deg mount pole to level the top of this mount so the 45 deg mount pole is at exactly 45 deg
i then mounted the primestar mount upside down on the dish and mounted it on the pole.
i then moved the elevation on the mount on the pole in the ground to 48 deg because that is the elevation of my true south satellite (83w at 180.4) and adjusted the elevation on the dish its self to 45 deg to offset the elevation on the 45 deg mounting pole.
i then adjusted the azimuth on the mount on the pole in the ground and peaked the dish at 10.1 db sig to noise on my birdog.
by using a battery charger on the motor on the superjack actuator it allows me to rotate the dish.
it takes quite a bit of movement to loose 83w and i have yet to hit anything else by using the actuator.
i assume that my declination angle is off by a mile, but i'm not sure how to fix this because this is my first attempt at a movable dish.
any help would be greatly appreciated, as i am at a loss at how to get this to work, but in theory it seems it should, and it looks like it would.
here are some pix
thanks for any help,
Denny

Sorry, I wouldn't have a clue but I want to say that's some piece of work. Great enginuity behind that. Good work. stick with it and I'm sure you'll work it out

That should get the Engineering Award for 2010! I have to say, I can't quite tell what all that is, but if it works somewhat, then it might possibly work completely with some adjustment. And if the adjustments stay put!
I'll sleep on this one, lol , but my first suggestion is to put the dish at the true south satellite for you, check the angle on the bracket at the dish. If I remember it correctly from when I built my Primestar-on polar-mount project, it should be around 22degrees at the dish-bracket. Of course it's easier to do with an angle-finder, hope you have one. If you're able to get your true south bird then, and if the dish itself 'skews' as it moves east and west, it should be able to track the arc. The bracket on the pole in the ground may have to be adjusted some, I would think starting out with that bracket set at your elevation (for your site), just like you're installing a regular H-H motor. Let us know how it progresses, that is a very interesting contraption.

here's a rough sketch with calculated measurements for you. the measurements are calculated for Greenville, TN in general. details are in the drawing. the idea is to emulate a simple H-H motor using your spare parts. with your enginuity you should render a working model. your current aparatus is obviously not geometrically correct, you have the right idea but it isn't in sync with the arc. hope it helps you spark some ideas. just McGuyver it and it should work

well, you guys were right
it was out of sync
i had the elevation on the pole in the ground at 48 deg (the elevation of my true south sat) and adjusted the elevation on the dish till i locked 83w
i went back and set the elevation scale to my latitude (roughly 36.25deg)
and then adjusted the elevation on the dish till i locked 83w again
now when i move it i get a lock on 83, 87, and 89 with decreasing quality the further i move from 83, so i'm getting closer.
McGuyver, your sketch looks great!
if i cannot get this to work adequately, i will definitely give that a try!
thanks for the ideas guys
Denny

Originally Posted by ynnedibanez

well, you guys were right
it was out of sync
i had the elevation on the pole in the ground at 48 deg (the elevation of my true south sat) and adjusted the elevation on the dish till i locked 83w
i went back and set the elevation scale to my latitude (roughly 36.25deg)
and then adjusted the elevation on the dish till i locked 83w again
now when i move it i get a lock on 83, 87, and 89 with decreasing quality the further i move from 83, so i'm getting closer.
McGuyver, your sketch looks great!
if i cannot get this to work adequately, i will definitely give that a try!
thanks for the ideas guys
Denny

that's good news! it sounds like you may have to adjust the east/west position of the entire aparatus (at the ground pole) to correct. run the motor on both sides of the 83w and compare. try to lock on the 72w 12055 V 6890 that has a strong signal. adjust up or down to find it then check on the west side of 83w and compare.

The basic geometry of a polar mount is that the axis of rotation points directly at Polaris (the North Star), which rotates the dish in an arc that coincides with the Clark Belt on which the communication satellites orbit. Your axis of rotation appears to point to the center of the Earth.

Harold

Right. I see how the dish gets skewed, but don't understand how it adjusts for declination...

The gooseneck pole itself would have to rotate, not the thing it is mounted on....

well, after expiramenting with this thing all night, reading all the posts, looking at pictures of a dish motor, and watching a couple dish motor install videos, i see what you all mean.
i was able to get the birdog to lock 83w,87w, and 89w.
83w and 87w were the only satellites that i could lock well enough to watch.
when i moved it to 87w i noticed that the dish was skewed way too much for the lnb to be accurately polarized, it was still watchable, but i never got enough signal on 89w to scan in anything.
so, i guess its time to see what other junk i got laying around here and try something more like what McGuyver posted.
thanks for the input guys