Help lining up my 8 foot dish on new pole

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Blindowl1234

Blindowl1234

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Dec 16, 2008
2,035
94
SouthWest Ohio
Decided today to mount my 8 foot Fortec dish on a nice pole instead of the old not so level concrete pad it was on. I'm getting 87W thru 133W but nothing on either side. If I raise the elevation a bit I gain 135W but start to lose 87W. The pole is level (my old concrete pad wasn't) kinda was sinking a bit....I don't think shifting the mount a bit on the pole either way is going to make a difference, since I'm losing the ends of the arc east and west. Perhaps I need to adjust the declination bolt a bit? Any ideas?
 
If the dish was used locally to you, I wouldn't start with the declination, though you could surely check it with an angle meter to see if its where it should be. I would put it on a satellite near the end where it starts to lose signal, then just lightly pull down on the bottom of the dish to see if that helps, and pull up on it a little to see if that helps. Could just be a little bit of the azimuth that needs adjusting, i.e. if pushing down on the dish helps signal on western sat, rotate dish/mount slightly on the pole in that direction. It's tedious to do that just a little bit, I know, but loosen the polar mount bolts up just enough that you can turn the mount with a little force. And mark on the mount/pole where you started from so you can start over if need be.
 
i'm with turbo sat. make sure you are adjusted for south satellite first. if you raised elevation a bit, and then got the west a little better, turn the antenna a skosh to the west, adjust for prime signal on the south, and then check. if you adjust the declination you should affect both ends of your arc the same. if you adjust the declination and one side comes in better and the other not as good, then you need to turn the antenna a bit. i try to keep the arc in mind and if i adjust to the west, i will be lowering the east and raising the west at the same time. i think that is right... having spent several weeks adjusting my 8' i think i learned a little bit. but until i always checked the south satellite first and made sure it was right, all the other adjustments didn't do my any good. hope that helps. charlie
 
Thanks Chas and Turbo. I spent a couple of hours outside this morning and I think I got it lined up again. 137W is there and 87W appears to still be there..haven't tried below 83W yet. I needed to shift the mount to the west about 3/16". I've done this several times before but it always is a pain. The mount is a little sloppy on the pole so I made a sleeve which helps but it's not perfect..gotta be careful tightening the four bolts on the mount or it will shift on the pole too.
 
Well been working tweaking the dish today. Still losing 58 thru 72. 137 is acceptable. If I lower dish extreme upper sats improve. Raising elevation and 58 thru 72 come in. shifting pole doesnt help...puzzled
 
You keep discounting with your remarks the movement of the pole, mount, etc. it is very important. If you are sure the pole, mount, etc. is solid, then it sounds like the declination is off.

If any part of that system is not solid, it is a exercise in futility.... Been there with one of my systems...
 
T4Runner said:
You keep discounting with your remarks the movement of the pole, mount, etc. it is very important. If you are sure the pole, mount, etc. is solid, then it sounds like the declination is off.

If any part of that system is not solid, it is a exercise in futility.... Been there with one of my systems...
Click to expand...

Just read your profile... If you have installed systems, must be declination?
 
It sounds like you are high in the center and low at the sides. I'd try lowering your elevation (latitude setting) and decrease the declination an equal amount.
 
Thanks guys that was my gut feeling sitting here tonight..declination is off a bit. Every sat in between extreme east and west is right on..actually saw a few transponders with signal in the low eighties beats the 72% I had..guess I will try declination tomorrow
 
Blind , thats why I said it was tedious, lol! I had a 5' cband dish I put a ku only feedhorn on, a few years back, and worried with that thing for 6months before I got it good.
Turned out to be: top of the pole was not exactly flush, I stupidly put the cut end of the pipe OUT of the hole instead of down in the ground, so the top was keeping the polar mount from sitting flush on the pole's top. Solution: Once I figured out the problem, I glued a penny on the low side of the pipe's top lip, put the mount/dish back on and it tracked wonderfully. Like T4 said if you have any part that is kinda sloppy it really makes it a tough exercise. You have to go over all the bolts and moving parts to make sure they are tight enough not to flop but loose enough to still swing the dish.
 
Turbo I know what you mean but whats a hobby without frustration lol. The mount was a little loose on the pole so I made a nice sleeve for that. I have put in enough dishes but when you get tired then your mind goes blank then well...you forget the simple stuff..should be fixed in the morning
 
I got one better than that-after playing around outdoors for a couple of hours setting up a dish on AMC1 ku, I was happy with the signal levels and put everything away. Went inside, turned on the receiver and couldn't get ANY signal at all from the diseqc switch port it was on. I checked everything! But one thing>I had forgotten to plug the coax back into the receiver...
 
Well years ago I was adjusting a dish for part of a day and put everything away...thought I was done! Later realized port 2 on my switch went bad and I had no Cband. Port 1 Ku side was fine. This summer I realized I must have had a lightning strike at some point lost my SG2100 and my Cband lnb...always keep a spare. I've been adjusting the declination this morning and I've almost got it! 61W and 137W are both there..now to fine tune....yippeeee
 
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