not necessarily. My SG2100 stops at 34.5 or so with USALS yet I can diseqc 1.2 over to 30W no issues
This is precisely what I have to do from my site location with my SG2100 / DG-380 motors and all my receivers. With a west longitude of 94.6° for my site, I find that USALS will only take me to 36.9°W (96.4° - 59.5°).
There is no satellite at this position (36.9°W) that I can test, but I know that this is the limitation as I entered fictitious satellites and tried to command the motor to drive to them using USALS.
When the sat orbital was equal to or greater than 59.5° away in either direction, the motor would not move to it. It would "click" the relays and might make one step, but that is all. If I switch to DiSEqC 1.2, I can drive to roughly 28.5°W (~68.0° from my site longitude).
I am just adding the information above to confirm what Iceberg has found and to cite the limitation of USALS vs DiSEqC 1.2 positioning.
Mikey11 hit on the very subject that needs to be addressed. The step size (i.e. steps per degree) may be unique to each receiver and some receivers allow variable step increments. Since the mfg does not specify this in any manual, you would have to determine this by testing your own system equipment. You would need to select two adjacent sats and count the steps to move from one sat to the other and then divide that out to determine steps per degree. This is more difficult than it sounds, as there is no really good marker to judge where to start and end.
Then, as Brent pointed out, the steps / degree may appear to change depending upon what area of the arc you are aiming at. I think that the ratio is the same as far as the motor step count goes, but it is deceiving because the angular attack for the satellites on the extreme ends of the arc vs those near the zenith will be unique.
My personal recommendation is to use a receiver (STB) with a very quick responding and sensitive tuner to locate the sat or else a very good external meter.
Personal example for me was setting up Hispasat 30°W with my AZBox. The AZBox tuner and processing system was very slow to respond and I had little patience for this. So, I connected my Coolsat 5K to the Loop Out of the AZBox and monitored the Cuba MUX TP on Hispasat with the Coolsat while I positioned the motor using the AZBox and DiSEqC 1.2 (also set to the same TP) until I peaked the signal quality. Then I stored that position using the AZBox. This strategy works great!
Notice that even as an owner of a high priced AZBox, I still use my handy - dandy - trustworthy Coolsat 5K! LOL! It's my little buddy!
RADAR
