FTA Satellite Motor Elevation Problem?

[Judah_Smith]

I recently got a motor for my Free to Air Dish and Reciever. I use the dish with the motor facing true South. The motor seems to work fine. But I am having one slight problem. When I go from say Galaxy 10R to Intelsat Americas 5 I lose the signal and have to go outside and adjust the elevation to get in the other sat. I.e. If I set the elevation to recieve Galaxy 10r, I can't get in IA 5. Or if I set the elvation to receive IA5, G10r no long come in. I was perhaps under tha misimpression...that because of the satelitte arc, once the elevation was properly set I could scan across with the motor and pick up a number of different satellites. The motor seems to find the right direction for the satellite....perfectly. But elevation seems good for one and bad for another. I have picked up a few other satellites, when I leave the elevation set for G10r. I picked up a few Echostar Sats. Just wondered if I need to tweak something, or if it is normal that everyone has to adjust the elevation when going from certain satellite to another. Would this be effected if my mast was not perfectly plumb, or leveled? HELP! Are there any expert Satellite installers out there that can answer my questions? An additional question - I a'm currently in Las Cruces, NM 88001...I know my long and lat, and have them set in the reciever, which Satellite should I be using as the one closest to True South, from my location?

 

[Mr Tony]

moved to correct fourm

 

[updatelee]

whats your long and lat ?

your long is your true south, ie mine is 123.1w so galexy 10 123.0w is my true south sat. tell the ird to goto 123.0w and tweak the dish.

on my sg2100 you set the motor elevation to your lattitude, and set the dish elevation to what the manual states based on your lat.

your pole must be 100% plumb, even a little off and you wont get the complete arc correctly.

when tweaking your dish only adjust the dish elevation, not the motor elev.

 

[Anole]

off the arc

If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, the charts give a pretty good idea what you might run into, and how to correct it.

I was wondering from your description, if maybe you needed to twist the motor on your mounting pole?
But, see the notes above for better advice.

IceBerg published a nice table of transponders to use for tune-up.

                       Las Cruces, NM 88001
          Latitude 32° 19.296'N Longitude 106° 44.760'W

                         Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m)    El  Skew
-----------------------------------------------------------------
              Intelsat Americas 6   93.0W 155.4 145.1  49.5 -20.6
                        Galaxy 3C   95.0W 158.7 148.4  50.3 -17.8
              Intelsat Americas 5   97.0W 162.2 151.9  50.9 -15.0  <-- desired
                        Galaxy 4R   99.0W 165.7 155.4  51.5 -12.0
                  DirecTV 1R/2/4S  101.0W 169.3 159.0  51.9  -9.0
                            AMC 4  101.0W 169.3 159.0  51.9  -9.0
                            AMC 1  103.0W 173.0 162.7  52.2  -5.9
                           AMC 15  105.0W 176.7 166.4  52.3  -2.8
                      Anik F1/F1R  107.3W 181.0 170.7  52.4   0.9  <-- due south?
                        DirecTV 6  109.8W 185.7 175.4  52.2   4.8
                     EchoStar 6/8  110.0W 186.1 175.7  52.2   5.1
                          Anik F2  111.1W 188.1 177.8  52.1   6.8
                    Solidaridad 2  113.0W 191.6 181.3  51.8   9.8
                          XM Rock  115.0W 195.2 184.9  51.3  12.8
                         SatMex 5  116.8W 198.3 188.0  50.8  15.4
                         +Anik E2  118.7W 201.6 191.3  50.2  18.1
  EchoStar 9/Intelsat Americas 13  121.0W 205.4 195.1  49.3  21.3
                       Galaxy 10R  123.0W 208.6 198.3  48.5  23.9  <-- desired
                        Galaxy 12  125.0W 211.7 201.3  47.5  26.3

         Satellite Finder is (c) Copyright 2004, P. Lutus

 

[Judah_Smith]

THANKS! Let me give a few more details-

Thany you so much for the reply! I really appreciate it!
My Latitude is 32.6 North
106.6 West Longitude.

Right now all I can really get is Galaxy 10R, and one echostar satellite that has a buncch of digital music stations on it. I'd really like to be able to get AMC3 (for PBS) and T5 (with all the crazy foreign stuff) at a minimum. Maybe I should check my plumb. I have a level at the house, can I use that to check if it plumb? Or only to check if its level? When I place it on top of the pole, the pole is level. Is there a special tool I need to check if its plumb? Its a three legged mast, that I attached to my slanted roof.

If the dish is set up properly, should you be able to pick up most of the sats in your arc?

 

[Anole]

I use an angle finder like this. Should be able to find one at your local hardware store, or Harbor Freight.
With a standard level, just hold vertically it to the side of your pole and check.
Then, slide it 1/4 way around the pole and check again.
Feel free to verify in several places around the pole (north side, east side, etc), to make sure it's perfectly plumb.

 

[Judah_Smith]

Thanks again-

Thanks so much for all your help! I really appreciate it! I'm a FTA newbie! I just discovered it. I was a fan as a kid of shortwave radio. I like the idea of free global communication and entertainment. But then I stumbled upon FTA and just purchased my first set up. I've never installed a dish before in my life. So it's all new. But even the few channels I was able to get in my wife thought were very cool! Especially the digital music. Our radio stations locally are terrible. I picked up a HOMESAT V6 2007 reciever (made in Korea) new on ebay for $65, a motor and 39" dish with universal LNB. I really like playing with it. I take a small B&W TV on the roof for tuning the dish. But I probably need to adjust my pole. I'll try checking it out today when I get home. See if I can get it set up right. I didn't realize how precise everything has to be.

 

[dougruss]

Something like this works great:
http://tinyurl.com/yxh4ge

 

[Judah_Smith]

Might need to get that-

I have a huge level at the house. But it might be easier if I picked one of this up. I know this is a dumb question but why does the plumb allow you to pick up some satellites not others. How does the plumb effect the sateliites arc? I'm not to well versed in sateliite stuff yet.

 

[playyymaster]

Hold a flashlight in your hand and move it in an arc motion using only your wrist as pivot. See the reflection on the wall. Then tilt your arm slightly up or down or sideways and see where the arc ends up now. This is why you will not get any satellites other that your true south.

 

[romeorondeau]

I have a ust4400 uniden receiver with no remote. any suggestions on what I can do or buy?

thanks romeorondeau

 

[Anole]

That Sears pipe and post level Doug mentioned, should do an outstanding job, too.

I found my angle finder (mentioned above) at my local HarborFreight.
About $3 when on sale.

There's also a little level you can pop into the top of your pole.
If the bubble is off center, you know you're not plumb.
I think all DirecTV dishes came with one.