can't align bud 10' dish

[shankle]

Thank for any help.
Yes I have read the stuff on www.satellitehelp.com and it confuses
the daylights out of me. Not enough detail for a novice.
Some stats:
Latitude 29 degrees
Polar axis 29.62
Declination 33.76
Pansat 2800a receiver
Pusher for the dish is a uniden sq530 - this gives me NO point of reference.
I only get a click count which is worthless.
On telstar 5 testing with the uniden I got the preacher on c analog
until I started messing with the bolts. Now I can't get anything.

Yes, I used a mark from the previous dish showing the lineup of the
polar mount
I put a 2 by 4 on the face of the dish (at 2 /4 o'clock) and it's registering
about 29.62 degrees using an inclinator.
How I check for declination, I haven't the vaguest idea.
I've messed with the two big bolts on the polar mount and probably
made things worse.
I want to pull in from about 55 to 121 degrees.
I doubt that I am on the arc as the only tools I have are a compass
and an inclinator. Other stuff is too expensive for a 1 time job.
I had an 8' dish running before but a tree fell on it.
Where I live nobody is willing to work on a big dish.

 

[Anole]

I learned most of what I know about aligning BUDs by reading the four (?) main pages on the Geo-Orbit site.
Begin by setting up your dish on your true south satellite... that's the one located as close as possible to your longitude.
. . . . so, for Florida, somewhere between 80° and 84° west.

 

[Lone Cloud]

You are somewhere in the low 80s in longitude maybe 81 to 83 w. looks like you have about a 4 degree declination. The thing on the declination is that it is a set it and forget it thing. Get it close to 4 degrees and don't touch it again.

You have to be a bit more specific. You have to have some kind of receiver. What kind?
You have to have some kind of display. Is the dish a mesh or a solid dish? What lnb are you using? Does the dish have big or small holes in it?

You really can't zero it with just those tools. now if you had it all hooked up to your receiver and display, you would have a start.

pictures of your setup would help us help you

 

[shankle]

Thanks for helping , it's much appreciated.
To answer your questions and pictures attached:
Pansat 2800a uniden sq530 pusher
Small mesh lnb - bsc621-2d
Have no idea how to set the declination but it should be 4.14.
If more info is needed just ask.

 

[Greg Mueller]

Your dec adjustment is what is pictured in your picture 98.jpg

 

[knowmiddlename]

Thanks for helping , it's much appreciated.
To answer your questions and pictures attached:
Pansat 2800a uniden sq530 pusher
Small mesh lnb - bsc621-2d
Have no idea how to set the declination but it should be 4.14.
If more info is needed just ask.

Clean installation... looks nice!

 

[1ADAM12]

Use the solar noon calculator at the NOAA website to set your dish to true south. The NBC TP on Ku AMC9 is strong. Once you have true south then use the 2 x 4 across face of dish to see that both declination and elevation set up to what www.satsig.net tells you your dish elevation should be for AMC9.

 

[woodheat/nooil]

http://www.mobilesatellitetv.com.au/satellite-tv-reception_04.html

"The difference between the two readings, one on the main bar, and one on a flat spot on the back of the dish, should be equal to the declination offset."

I used the north star method see, http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?p=1656329&#post1656329

 

[gmd63]

Hope you get it worked out, but I have to say, -Gotta love the green dish... who needs black or silver.

 

[truckracer]

once the declination is set forget it...i have instructions that came with my sami dish that shows a map of the usa and it tells you what to set it on.

after that it is a matter of just fine tuning the polar axis...remember your polar mount moves the dish on an arced curve and extreme east or west lowers the dish.. the zenith position for you i think would be amc 9 or true south.

geo orbit is an awesome website to clear up the details.

 

[Lone Cloud]

It's not easy to tell, but the declination looks to be set by the rectangular flanges with the slotted elongated holes in them with the bolt through it. Once you loosen that bolt, there is an adjusting bolt.

Dish zenith is a concept that you need to grasp. There is a point in the travel of the dish where the top edge is at its highest point. That zenith point should be the position of the dish when it is aiming due south. It is also the position where you measure the declination.

One line of the 4 degree angle is the big bolt that goes through your box steel on the polar mount. It looks like you can get that angle on the front of the box steel which should be parralel with the polar bolt. the other line of the 4 degree decllination is the dish itself, and looks like it could be measured with your inclinometer on the round metal plate on the back of the dish

 

[Dishman Dan]

I am not sure if you are doing a "new" installation or lining up an old setup. I see you have a BSC621-2D and I have a BSC621. My 10' was a "new" setup but I left the old C Band feedhorn to point the dish and just forgot about all the math! Once it was on the arc then I installed the BSC621 and did a final tweak on the lnbf!

 

[shankle]

Thanks guys for tolerating a Novice.
I failed the declination setting.
I have attached two pictures of the best I could do.
The Inclinator is showing about 26 to 28 degrees.
The dish is set at its zenith.

Looks like I'll have to junk the dish.

 

[shankle]

I am doing a new installation of an old dish I got elsewhere.
I glad you got lucky Dishman Dan. I am in severe withdrawl
after a tree creamed my previous dish.
I am not looking forward to another tree or a hurricane.
This is really showing me how dumb I am.

 

[Dishman Dan]

I was trying to say that sometimes the BSC621's can be a real bear or just plain luck to set up. Some people had good results using them and a lot did not. That is why I used the original feedhorn to set the dish and then switched. My 10' came from just up the road so I did not have to do too much goofing around with it. I would install the original c band lnb (if you have it) and then set the zenith with your true south and then change back to the BSC621 once you got your setting. Take a TV and receiver out there when you are tinkering with the thing. I may have been "rabbit's foot" lucky on this one but there is a lot for everyone to learn.

Please do not go "postal" on your BUD!!!...

 

[Lone Cloud]

Thanks guys for tolerating a Novice.
I failed the declination setting.
I have attached two pictures of the best I could do.
The Inclinator is showing about 26 to 28 degrees.
The dish is set at its zenith.

Looks like I'll have to junk the dish.

For the declination setting, you have to take two readings from your inclinometer. The first on the polar mount, the box steel the bolt goes through should work, and the round plate on the back of the dish. the difference should be the four degrees, with the top of the polar mount being further from the round plate than the bottom.

Also if there is any magnetic deviation, you will be aiming at magnetic south instead of true south.

It took me two months to aim my dish when I first got into the FTA hobby.

 

[shankle]

Thank you Lone Cloud.
I think I have the declination set correctly.
The box on the polar mount reads 29 degrees.
The back plate of the dish reads 33 degrees.
Give or take some as it's hard to see the small inclinator figures.

If this is correct then I'll go to the next step.

 

[shankle]

Couple more questions.
On the chart of latitudes there is one called "apex elevation".
What do I have to do to set that one?

My Pansat 2800a is several years old and the satellite programming on it
nowhere near matches Lyngsat. Does anyone know of a way of changing the
satellite programming in the Pansat?

 

[Lone Cloud]

Couple more questions.
On the chart of latitudes there is one called "apex elevation".
What do I have to do to set that one?

My Pansat 2800a is several years old and the satellite programming on it
nowhere near matches Lyngsat. Does anyone know of a way of changing the
satellite programming in the Pansat?

Never heard of that term. Most FTA boxes have a way to add and edit satellites, transponders and settings. Have you searched around the menus? There are satellite lists on some sites, but the nam of the satellite is kind of secondary. It's really the position that counts.

Once you look through your menus and find, say the Nimiq satellite at 82 west (maybe close to your due south satellite.) You set your transponders for a few of them. Even though those are circular and you have a linear lnb, you won'tget the video, but you will get a signal. If your receiver has a "beep on scan" feature, maybe you could turn the volume up high enough so you could hear it at the dish. Then, without touching the declination, spin the dish slowly on the mast until you get a beep.Lock that in then adjust the polar mount up and down until the beep is strongest.


Either that or you have to run an extension cord out to the dish and plug in a little tv and your receiver and then peak the dish looking at the tv.

 

[shankle]

The bsc6210-2d has a retangular item the you can insert to get
circular signals.
I went through the entire arc today and got nothing. I have NO
reference point to start. Have no idea what degree the dish
is pointing to. The Uniden pusher I have only gives a click count.
My only tools are a compass and an inclinator.
I have tried to find a satellite near the top of the arc but was
unsuccessful. However I do have a theory about what some of my
troubles might be. The actuator arm causes the outside edge of the
dish to wobble about 3 inches. This is caused by the spacers on the
bolt to keep it from hitting the mounting bar that it fastens to. Not
sure what to do about that. Also the polar mount is off about 1/8
to 1/4 inch and ramming a screwdriver in there and tightening
the bolts doesn't work. Maybe putting some steel shims in and
then tightening the bolts might solve that problem until I start
move the dish back and forth for alignment.
There used to be a few things on analog c-band that I could get a
reference point from but no more.
I did take a tv out to the dish and I stared at a blank screen all day.
Nothing is ever easy......