24" actuator - Deg per "count" on controller

[bill_bly_ca]

Hi

I have an 8' Bud with the 24" actuator at almost 1/2 way (11" I measured with the tape measure) that is trimmed up very good for using Galaxy 17 @90 deg. (re Galaxy 17 thread here). The Dish itself appears to be at the 1/2 swing point of east west. Or said differently the post mount and the u bracket holding the dish appear aligned when looking at Galaxy 17

Also using a DMS-302 DiSEq box for moving the actuator

Bring adventurous I marked up the current Galaxy 17 location with some permanent marker and went in search of Galaxy 3.

I entered TP 4167 with 6614 into the G3 list (old Pansat 2700 I use for troubleshooting outside) and left the Pansat on the TP strength page.

As of now my Galaxy 17 position is "000". I moved up in counts to find Galaxy 3 @ 95deg. I passed 0010, 0020 , expecting to see something around 0030ish.. Nothing... 0040 ish nothing through 0050 etc right up to 0100. Going from Satellite pointer web siteit was looking far to much to the west so I came back to the 40's and 50 and slowly jogged through (4 or 5 counts at a time) with no success.. I never found TP 4167.

So that aside I have the following questions..

1) I have assumed (from my KU days) that if dish and actuator is set up at mid travel of the dish to the 90ish deg Sat it should track both to the east and west ... Right or wrong for C-band?

2) If I want to try to move from one sat to the next what is the rule of thumb for degrees per count for a 24" actuator?


Thanx for any help..

Bill B

 

[rgk]

Is g17 91w (not 90w) exactly south from your location?. If not your dish is not set up correctly. 6 to 12 counts per degree is fairly typical. It will vary somewhat depending on where in the arc you are.

 

[T4Runner]

There are numerous threads here that will keep you dizzy with facts and information on how, what, when, even why the setup at the top of the Clark belt arc for yourself and your location is soooo important, but until you start doing it... It won't click. As stated above what's your longitude?

 

[Lone Gunman]

On my 7.5ft SAMI dish with a 24" SuperJack linear mover I get 2 clicks per degree between 37.4w and 40.5w. At 139w back to 137w it's 5 clicks per degree.

On my 10ft Winegard dish with a 24" Von Weise mover that I added 2 magnets to the counter wheel I get 3.6 clicks between 37.4w and 40.5w. 139w back to 137 on that one is 11.5 clicks per degree. This is with the actuator mounted on the West side on both systems.

Keep in mind though that my Von Weise actuator registers 10 counts per rev of the lead screw instead of the usual 8 so my counts will be higher than any others that aren't modified.

 

[bill_bly_ca]

T As stated above what's your longitude?

I am @ 43.4528 N and 80.4908W ...

 

[bill_bly_ca]

OK... Using the dish pointer site it looks I should be using AMC9 @83 or Venisat @78... Which one has the stronger transponder(s)/ Better choice for southern Ontario??

 

[Lone Gunman]

I'm around 79* longitude and on 83w I've got 4009 H 15000 @ about 75% Q on my S9 and 7.5 ft dish. On 78w I've got 3885 V 23000 @ about 75% also so take your pick.

 

[Lone Cloud]

There is no rule of thumb regarding number of clicks or counts per degree. There are too many variables. What is true is what Lone G alluded to above - the number of counts will be different at the center of your arc than it is for far east or west satellites.

The only way around that is with an hh system. I find it's closer to the same number of counts in the center and nearer the horizon.

It really is a trial and error type of thing. Different manufacturers are one thing, and home modifications are the other that cause the count number per degree to vary, The good thing though, is that from your southernmost satellite and twenty or so degrees in each direction, your number of counts won't vary that much. When you get way east and west, that's when your counts per degree will change.

 

[gpflepsen]

Here's my graph-a-function post for the day. Say you have a 24" actuator moving a dish. The actuator is mounted 8" out at the fixed point and 15" out from the dish pivot, referenced from north-south. The graph shows the relationship between dish angle and the rate at which the actuator extends or retracts in relation to the change in angle of the dish. Note the relationship is not symmetric and the "slowest" dish movement is where the dish lever arm and actuator are perpendicular, not at 0 degrees.

If you knew the counts per inch of your actuator, you could easily tell the resolution (counts per degree, or inversely degrees per count) you'd get with this setup.