Newbie With Questions.

[VintageMale]

More revelations:

Yea! The light finally came on… I realized that the elevation numbers published in all the satellite listings are for pole mounted dishes (single satellite). So I made adjustments to my numbers to account for the fact that I am using a motor driven mount. Voila I now can see more than one satellite with my GTMedia V8 Finder 2.

Please forgive my ignorance but I’ve only been doing this for the past 2-3 weeks. A lot of this stuff is new to me and not as clear as the 10 ft. BAD setup I had back in the 80s. Plus I was 38 years younger then.

However, I still have another problem to solve. I tried using USALS to align the dish with a satellite’s azimuth. Once the alignment was close I fine tuned the dish for the strongest signal using DiSEqC. When I switch back to USALS the dish moves off the satellite and I lose signal. At the moment I’m not sure how to solve that problem as I’d like to use USALS to track the satellites. I believe the problem is due to not having the motor aligned to true south (in my case 188 deg). But I’ve tried to be as accurate as possible.

Just another gripe… I agree with Robbie Strike that there should be some type of standard when it comes to naming the satellites. He just uses the satellite location (like 99.2W) as the name. As an example I’ve noticed that in one listing the satellite at 113 degrees is named “Eutelsat 113 West A” and on another listing it is named “SatMex 6”. The same phenomenon happens with my GtMedia finder meter. Some of the satellite names in it are different from the listings on the internet. I'm hoping a firmware update will fix that.

Maybe someone can point me in the right direction now that I’ve had this revelation.

 

[a33]

At the moment I’m not sure how to solve that problem as I’d like to use USALS to track the satellites. I believe the problem is due to not having the motor aligned to true south (in my case 188 deg).

With USALS, you set the true south correctly by finding your 'reference' satellite, that is: by rotating the whole setup around the pole.

So this means:
- motor/dish/arm aligned at motor zero
- correct LAT and LON of your site set in the receiver
- goto your reference satellite, with USALS command, in your receiver
- then find/finetune the azimuth for that reference satellite, by rotating the whole setup around the pole.

This way, all azimuths for the clarke belt are set OK, including your due south.

Greetz,
A33

 

[VintageMale]

With USALS, you set the true south correctly by finding your 'reference' satellite, that is: by rotating the whole setup around the pole.

So this means:
- motor/dish/arm aligned at motor zero
- correct LAT and LON of your site set in the receiver
- goto your reference satellite, with USALS command, in your receiver
- then find/finetune the azimuth for that reference satellite, by rotating the whole setup around the pole.

This way, all azimuths for the clarke belt are set OK, including your due south.

Greetz,
A33

Ok, showing my ignorance...
I assume my "reference" satellite would be one who's azimuth is closest to true south. For me that would be Arsat 2 at 81 deg. W. However, the trees block that satellite. So when i have a satellite that is as close to true south as I can "see" I should save it in the GTMedia device as the "Reference"? (Note: the "GTMedia V8 Finder 2" has a "save" location named "Reference" plus at least four more "save" option locations.)
Am I off in the weeds here?

 

[arlo]

Rule #1. Robbie Strike is an idiot.
Anyone like him who hems and haws and can't give specific details should be semi-ignored.

You can open Satbeams and see the info you need.
This may reveal a lot also. Just wiki it:

Eutelsat 113 West A, formerly Satmex-6, is a geostationary communications satellite which is operated by Eutelsat. Originally built for Mexico's Satmex, it was launched in 2006. The satellite was acquired by Eutelsat in its 2014 merger with Satmex, and renamed Eutelsat 113 West A in May.[2] It is used to provide communications services to the Americas, Hawaii and the Caribbean.[3]

I need to get me one of them there USALS mounts. My (haha) Badder 12' footer of course has a DISEqC mover.
I've heard that you can fudge your geo coordinates in the receiver to attain tracking.
One thing for sure though. If you can zero in on a satellite using encoder counts but the dish zips off track when you switch over to USALS. Why not just find where the dish needs to be manually and switch over and tweak it in for USALS? Like a33 suggests.
I would say that the stamped in degree marks should be assumed ballpark settings. I mean unless it's an Andrews dish. You most definitely can be a few degrees off here and there. That's the beauty of a digital protractor that resolves to 0.1 or even 0.01 degrees.

Don't feel so bad. 2-3 weeks and look where you're at. The days of going out in the snow to crank a dish over to Satcom 4 to watch Playboy are long gone. When all else fails. Remember rule #1 and come here instead.

 

[VintageMale]

Rule #1. Robbie Strike is an idiot.
Anyone like him who hems and haws and can't give specific details should be semi-ignored.

You can open Satbeams and see the info you need.
This may reveal a lot also. Just wiki it:

Eutelsat 113 West A, formerly Satmex-6, is a geostationary communications satellite which is operated by Eutelsat. Originally built for Mexico's Satmex, it was launched in 2006. The satellite was acquired by Eutelsat in its 2014 merger with Satmex, and renamed Eutelsat 113 West A in May.[2] It is used to provide communications services to the Americas, Hawaii and the Caribbean.[3]

I need to get me one of them there USALS mounts. My (haha) Badder 12' footer of course has a DISEqC mover.
I've heard that you can fudge your geo coordinates in the receiver to attain tracking.
One thing for sure though. If you can zero in on a satellite using encoder counts but the dish zips off track when you switch over to USALS. Why not just find where the dish needs to be manually and switch over and tweak it in for USALS? Like a33 suggests.
I would say that the stamped in degree marks should be assumed ballpark settings. I mean unless it's an Andrews dish. You most definitely can be a few degrees off here and there. That's the beauty of a digital protractor that resolves to 0.1 or even 0.01 degrees.

Don't feel so bad. 2-3 weeks and look where you're at. The days of going out in the snow to crank a dish over to Satcom 4 to watch Playboy are long gone. When all else fails. Remember rule #1 and come here instead.

Tell us how you really feel. Hahaha
OK another satellite listing site.I'll check it out.

Just to continue my gripes...
When I decided I needed a new challenge in life I purchased all the parts I thought I needed for this FTA Ku satellite viewing. In that lot I purchased the "GTMedia V8 Finder 2" meter device. So I'm trying to use it to find the satellite arc, etc., Well, I've read the so called "User guide". In it is shown pictures of the device with pointers to each of it's buttons. Such as the "Recalibrate" button. It says this is the Recalibrate button. Recalibrate what? There's no explanation of what the recalibrate button does or for any other buttons, and functions.
So I've been experimenting trying to discover what the different functions are.
As for your digital inclinmeter; where do you place it to see the dish elevations, center of dish?

 

[a33]

I assume my "reference" satellite would be one who's azimuth is closest to true south.

No.
With USALS, ANY satellite can be the reference satellite.
USALS takes care of the necessary motor rotation from apex/zero angle. When you then outline 'azimuth' at that reference satellite, the whole arc azimuth is OK, including due south. That's the beauty with USALS.

In practice, I would suggest a reference satellite somewhere not too far from south, though, to not have the dish 'hanging' to the side a lot, while setting up.

I don't know Robbie Strike, so I don't have an opinion.

I guess you're doing very fine, starting with a motorized setup as you do! It's not the easiest start...

Greetz,
A33

 

[arlo]

Haha. I never needed one of the finders. Matter of fact every one I see used, people have the battery die in short order. Use it. Return it. eBay it. Gotta' love Madeinchina.com stuff. Perhaps do the time zone thing so you catch those critters awake over there and whatsapp Annie? I see that option. Maybe it-a-button-a-no-do-noting-fo-now.

I've Skyped myself looking at the TV screen dialing in a dish. Used the signal finder app for my phone. And hopefully saved a few bucks to get a really nice satellite receiver. Gotta' love the OsMio series boxes.
Just ribbing you, dude.

Yeah. An aluminum level. Non magnetic. Or a straight stick. You obviously have an offset dish. So it's a game of billiards. Your "look angle" is let's say 22 degrees. Meaning if you put a straight edge on the dish face perpendicular (90 degrees) to the horizon. Looking straight up in the sky. The angle of your LNBF is actually looking 22 degrees up in the sky.
And assuming that the dish protractor has that engineered in. 22 degrees on the scale should have the dish face facing at the horizon. Or maybe it's 90 degrees on the scale. I don't know. No photos to tell.

As for the motor. Same thing. Hard to tell using the scale on it what 0.2 degrees would be. Dish installers do it every day. Us? Hope we never have to again. Especially with a dish that moves and has to track a precise arc.
In the analog days a little bit off still gave an ok picture. Digital. Better be spot on.