My alignment is a smide off...help!

[dashaund]

Hey guys! It's been a while since I've been around, been busy working and such. I'm looking to get my BUD ready for preseason NFL and pursuing college football action that is coming up. I had the afternoon off yesterday, so in the intense 90 degree heat and South Carolina humidity, I lugged my trusty Coolsat 5000, a small TV monitor, and Vbox to the BUD for some alignment. I couldn't lock onto but a handful of sats as of earlier yesterday, so I wanted to track the arc like I had previously last year. To clarify, between some intense winds, me tinkering with alignment to chase after that one "weak TP" I wanted, and the pole settling in the ground, my alignment was way off. Previously, I was able to trac consistently from Ku on 72W all the way down to 137W.

I started aligning, things got better, but not great, so I tinkered some more. I ended up getting it way off! So I started over from scratch. I could not lock onto 83 AMC 9 (which would be my true south sat here in SC, zip 29690), so I guesstimated where AMC 9 would be as my zenith, then moved the actuator over to AMC 3 should be, then locked it in on C, then tune for Ku. Ba'am! I'm now able to track the arc consistently down to 127W on C, after that it's hit or miss, with some TPs being strong enough to lock, some not. I reeeally want to bring in 137W so I can watch college hockey this winter (I can sniff a signal on 3760H but it's not enough to lock). On the other side, I am only able to lock Ku on one transponder on 72W (not able to lock the NBC mux).

I'm confident the foilage on my property hasn't grown up to the point where the far west side is impossible, since I can sense plenty of signal down there, just not able to lock. I'm simply nervous that in an attempt to improve on what I do have, I'm going to go the other direction. So, I'm turning to the experts! What would be the first thing to look for and check? My pole is plumb, no issues there. And I'm obviously tracking pretty well, just quite as good as I know it can do!

 

[FaT Air]

Adjust elevation on your closest to south satellite, then don't touch it again. move the dish towards one end or the other and adjust the azimuth. Use the actuator and azimuth to maximize Q readings ONLY. Do not touch the elevation adjustment if not on your closest to south satellite.

If the tracking is good, to a point, then rapidly 'falls off' towards the end of the arc, I'd be checking the mount for worn polar axis pivots. I'd look for anything, feed not staying centered, binding, etc.

 

[gabshere]

If your mostly back on arc but missing the ends. Then I would suspect the arc is slightly off. I use a pencil and mark where I'm at on the whole dish and rotate it slightly one way or the other. I usually move in small increments Like 1/16 inch and check. Maybe the wind has blown it off a bit. Also recheck your LNG make sure it's properly centered.

 

[turbosat]

Piece of soapstone works well to mark on dish parts, when aligning. Keep one in the toolbox just for that.

 

[Lone Cloud]

well the problem is with our terminology. "true south satellite" is the term we use, but rarely are the satellites directly above our exact longitude.

A search indicates that Travelers Rest, your peaceful sounding home town, is not at 83 west, but at about 82.5 west. You know now that you have hit some satellites, you know how many "clicks" there are per degree on your Vbox. When you are off a little with your due south position, the further you go east or west, the harder it is to hit satellites.

I would get your dish to zenith, and then click the dish west a half degree. For example, with my setup, I have about fifteen clicks per degree, so if I were in your location I would get zenith and click west 7 or 8 clicks, and then I would turn the entire dish on the pole until I got 83 w.

A half degree makes a small difference in the center of the arc, but a much bigger difference when you go far east or west.

 

[dashaund]

Thanks so much for the replies, guys. I love this forum!

I tinkered with it more yesterday, with your suggestions. I did figure out a big problem I was having. I noticed the "rust ring" around the polar mount where it sits on the pole was exposed on the backside. I placed my magnetic angle locator on it and, what do you know, the polar mount was leaning slightly a little over a degree. I loosened it up and reseated it, then tightened the bolts back until it's dead on 90 degrees on all three sides. After correcting that, I ran out of time. I'm still out of alignment on the ends. Lone Cloud, I'm going to use your suggestion and start over at the zenith and bump over slightly and see what I get.

 

[FaT Air]

If you move it to one end. Determine if it is too low or high by lifting/pushing down on the dish. Then check on the other side. If one side needs up, and the other down, your azimuth is off. Adjust it on one side. then check on the other. If both sides need up, or both sides need down, the declination is off.