Can't see anything west of 99W

[sprprsnmn]

I think my dish may be misaligned. Thanks to the help of a bunch of folks on this forum, I got a big dish system working. Unfortunately, it's not really working well...

I was able to find 87W, 93W, 95W, 97W, and 99W. I can't see anything to the west of 99W though. The system is analog only, but I checked the lyngsat chart and saw that there should be PBS X East on 101W in the clear. I move the dish ever so slightly to the west until I lost the signal on 99W, but was never able to see anything. I kept moving the dish west, a little by a little, until I hit the west limit. I would think I saw something every so often, but the receiver is an old Toshiba TRX-80, and it's kinda cantankerous, and will only lock onto a fairly strong signal.

Is this caused by misaligning the dish? In my mind, it seems like I just got a signal from these satellites through dumb luck.

 

[Mr Tony]

PBS on 101 is really weak

what is your true south satellite? (whats your location?)

 

[sprprsnmn]

My longitude is 93.77W, so I guess IA6 is my true south?

 

[Mr Tony]

weird. I'm at 93.5W and with my 6 footer I can get from AMC3 over to AnikF1 (87-107.3) because they are pretty much the same elevation. So for you it would be the same (the diffetrence is about a degree or two.

Are you working with a digital reciever too or just an analog?

 

[Hermitman]

That sounds like you don't have enough declination cranked into the dish. I would check the angles again and if they're correct for your location then check that the pole is plumb. Have fun.

 

[Covack]

Did You reset Your east and west limits before You started searching for sat
locations, if You did, check to see if your actuator arm goes all the way in , while Your dish is moving west, and bottoms out on 99.0

 

[sprprsnmn]

It's just an analog receiver.

Also, I did reset the east / west limits on the satellite.

 

[somery]

Hi sprprsnmn, just thought i'd list some other things to see if i can help. I am newer here than you are, so my help is weak !sadroll but i want to try, i guess by covering some ground, because, i don't know what you've read or what you know.

First of all, is this the same c-band antenna thats at your work? Thats off due to wind, ect?
You mentioned that all the bolts seem snug. Did you check to see if the feedhorn is pointing perfectly to the middle of the dish? Being off will still get signals, but will cause alignment problems. Do that crosshairs/plus sign with the strings on the dish to see if the crosshairs of the string are what the feedhorn line up with. Thinking logically, the adjustments shouldn't just be wrong, but anything is possible. The azimuth is the most logical, but im sure you started with just this, and without luck?

Second of all, when you go to sat T6 does the dish stop in the middle (or really close to it-- east or west by .7 degrees, but you get what i mean)? Not the middle of the arm length, but the point when the dish is at its peak before it starts going down again (called the dish's zenith)? if it does, then if possible, check azimuth now to see if its at the 93.7 (your longitude).

Ok, before anything else, a dumb question, but im just making sure; you are in the southern hemisphere? You mentioned pointing north to north east, ect, in your previous thread. Im in the United States, so my dish points south.

The rest of this is help if you want to more or less start over, especially if you've already moved all the adjustments. Also, maybe you have two bolts for declination adjustment and they are differing from each other? Also can you describe the signal quality as it goes through the range of sats you can receive? Like are the signals all sparkle free, or do they get better as you get closer to 93?

ok first, you know to put the dish at its zenith, right? Use east/west to make the dish go to the highest point before it starts coming back down. We are starting in the middle of the arc.

Second, you know at this point is when you turn your dish on the pole to point to true south (if in northern hemisphere)(try to point to your longitude -- 93.7 deg also this will more than likely be adjusted later)

Third, you are setting the elevation adjustment to your latitude? The degrees of elevation for the polar axis is the same number as the latitude for the location of the dish. im at -95W 29.6N so my elevation is 29.6

Fourth, you are adjusting declination (the adjustments that change the dish angle from the main polar axis angle ((the elevation adjustment changes the main polar axis angle)) (edit to add: See following post for declination link)

If you are in the southern hemisphere, the dish should be pointing to true north to T6 or the 93 deg satellite. you also might once tap east or west because you are not exactly at 93. Adjust declination and try to improve your picture quality. Then, go to the sat when the arm is almost fully retracted. This is the sat you want to make minor adjustments, if necessary, to azimuth. Then, *only* if necessary, declination (opposite movements with elevation to counter these adjustments, but if you are pretty certain the lattitude and elevation numbers are the same, then this shouldn't be necessary) Then go to the opposite end of the arc to the last satellite and repeat.

BTW:
Also keep in mind that these adjustments will change your east and west limits. It doesn't sound like you have those built in limit switches or that thread where you over extended the jack shouldn't of happened unless the limit switches are misadjusted. On mine it sends back a NO PULSE ERROR if i get to a limit thats not the reciever's programmed limits

also i wanted to give Determined buckets of credit for personally helping me through sat tracking the arc. Taught me the concepts behind all this. THANKS!!!

 

[determined]

Here is a good link for getting the correct angles for both elevation and declination.

http://www.geo-orbit.org/sizepgs/decchartp.html

The modified polar mount tracking angles will probably work the best, they do for me. The modified refers to the angles not the mount. They work better because you aren't really tracking a circle with your dish because you are sitting on the surface of the earth and the satellite orbit is a circle around the center of the earth at the equator.

There are a some in the clear analog channels on satellites on down in the west, 121 degrees, 131 degrees and 133 degrees. Maybe you can get them but it depends on how far your dish will move and your clear line of sight. There may be some others but I know these satellites have channels that are there all of the time. Hang in there, you'll get it working.

 

[sprprsnmn]

Guys, thank you all for so much help on this.

Yes, I am in the North Hemisphere. The dish was pointing North b/c the wind wrenched the dish around.

This forum is so great! Thank you guys for responding so quickly and putting up with my incessant posting. Satellite stuff is just so cool! I'm totally hooked. TV from space. Wow.

 

[somery]

This forum is so great! Thank you guys for responding so quickly and putting up with my incessant posting. Satellite stuff is just so cool! I'm totally hooked. TV from space. Wow.

Thats what i've been saying! Why pay top dollar for someone to collect the signals and run them several miles (or whatever) on over to your house by cable when you have these signals already coming to your home A friend just got cable with free install and free something or other and just got his first bill, was over a hundred! I can't knock the little dish too much, but I still shake my fist at em when i see them (ok maybe just mentally i am) my dad still pays more than me for dish and gets no movie channels and instead gets lots he doesn't watch. Also he loses signals in thick clouds and rains. So there, HA. This is all probably cliche now but still feels good to gripe and preach!