Grounding and other questions

[primestar31]

I let mine dry a minimum of 5 full days. It'll go by fast, and it beats the heck out of maybe getting a high wind day, and it causing the pole to lean over. That could ruin your whole year... A few extra days of waiting will mean nothing in the scheme of things.

 

[fred555]

Yep, 5 days at least sounds right.

 

[. Raine]

I'd let it cure for the week, it only needs to move a fraction of a inch to mess things up.

 

[armadillo_115]

Yeah,I better wait.But waiting will not be easy.I was hoping to get away from the brush clearing and landscape work for a while.It would be nice to fire up the dish after it gets too hot to work outside each morning.It's so hot here by mid-afternoon : I opened the door today to let the pup come in and chill out in the ac...and 2 possums,a skunk,and 3 bears ran in with it.

After thinking about it: Footers for a house would only have compression weight,where as a pole and dish would have lots of 'twisting' force that could split the concrete.

It's also going to take a long pipe and lots of twisting to remove the pole extension.The 3+ 1/2" extension rust welded itself to the 3" pipe over the years.Could not break it loose with a 2lb hammer before.

Thanks for all the input!

 

[turbosat]

Now I wonder did he think to put a bolt in the bottom of that pole, so it won't twist in the concrete? Don't remember seeing that suggestion....
Not a big concern around here, but in a windy location it's a great idea.

 

[armadillo_115]

Yup,had a tab welded on about 18" from the bottom.Also butterflyed the hole so there are four lobes to keep the cement from spinning as well.Gravel in the bottom with a ball of 4 gauge copper wire underneath for the ground like I do for a CB radio mast.(I read about adding a bolt/tab from old posts here)

I will dirt set a short 4x4 post in front of the dish to mount a weather proof junction box for the ground block and any future 'switches' I may need.Also will have a ground block at the point of entry.

Hopefully I'm not forgetting anything else?

 

[armadillo_115]

Here's 2 pics of my pole installation.The three large bolts are where the extension connects and I will be removing that...if the darn thing will separate.Pipe sizes are 3" and 3 +1/2" . Rocks and dirt at base were laid on top to prevent the concrete from running out before the last couple inches of concrete were added ... there are side lobes of concrete hidden underneath.

Third pic is from the pole looking South.Tallest trees in back of house are maybe 80 ft tall, 160 ft+ from the pole.Trees on the right side are not as tall but closer...3 or 4 will probably need to be topped to hit the western sats.They block our view of the mountains anyway.Clearance over those trees forced me to place the dish so far from the house.

Now y'all can see what I mean about LOTS of landscaping to do.There was a pile of dirt and stumps about 12 feet high to the right of my small garden... I have almost got it graded down to where it needs to be.Still a smaller brush pile to burn in the 1st pic.House needs painting too...sigh.On the bright side...Mama can't gripe about me ruining a pristine yard while doing the dish install.

Not shown: Neighbors trees may limit the Eastern side of the arc also.Does not appear to be much of a loss though.

I'll take a pic later when the dish and landscaping are done.

 

[armadillo_115]

Dish is up and partially working! Receiving a mix of 97 W and 99 W. Vbox was only hooked up at the dish and seemed to work ok. Old SuperJack is surprisingly ok.I ran a temp coax to the house before quitting today.Need to hook up the grounds tomorrow and work on the motorized setup. War movies on Grit tv ,but I can't stay awake any longer. Laterz...

 

[armadillo_115]

I meant to add more but I was soooo sleepy last night.I'm really impressed with the titanium lnbf and the geosatpro micro hd !

Why didn't somebody tell me about FTA years ago? I could have dumped my sat service and saved tons of dinero. I need to get my dish tracking the arc soon...but too busy watching tv right now.lol.

 

[armadillo_115]

I'm not sure whether y'all prefer me to start a new thread, or continue this one?
Anyway.Here is the latest update: The dish is still not fine tuned but I'm receiving Satellites from 127W to 78W.The actuator will not travel further.Hopefully the Eastern limit can be reset.No rush ... I'm pretty happy as it is.
Now for some questions...
1) Signal levels are all around 90%. Quality levels generally 70%+ down to as low as 40% on a few transponders.Is that about the max for a 7+1/2 ft mesh dish? I have not touched the Elevation,Declination,or lnb skew yet.Nor did I even measure the focal distance.(Remember, the dish was located only 3 miles away)
2) So that I won't be beating a dead horse ... Some desired channels are not coming in.(Or maybe I just overlooked some) Are the following ITC now?
Cox Sports net, Micasa Network, Sur Peru on 121 W
KNLC on 107W
Unimas, Univision Tinovelas on 103 W
Heroes and Icons on 101 W
My Combat Channel on 87 W
Univision ANYWHERE?

I need to read the GeoSatPro Hd micro manual more,but,so far I have not been able to scan for just one transponder.I've tried a detailed blind scan limited to ONLY the frequency needed...but it always overwrites the whole Sat channel list.FWIW,The owners manual I received not only is such small print,but the text is almost too washed out to read.

Pouring down rain (finally) and a western on This tv is coming in clear as a bell.

Thanks for any advice! I'm off to search for a receiver manual that I can READ.lol

Edit:Just found 1 Univision labeled as 'service 2' on 91 W

 

[Jason S]

The dish is still not fine tuned but I'm receiving Satellites from 127W to 78W.The actuator will not travel further.Hopefully the Eastern limit can be reset.

I found this post (and the thread in general) to be helpful when I was trying to get my actuator set up correctly.

 

[armadillo_115]

Just found Cox Sports and a few more channels on 121 West by bumping the dish.121 W is a bit odd here... think my actuator has some play in it at that spot.

 

[. Raine]

To scan just one TP with the MicroHD, press menu on the remote, go to TP list, find the TP you want in the list, or enter a new one with the green button on the remote, then the blue button to scan.

On my MicroHD, before I enter TP list, I have to enter Antenna Setup, Motor/Switch Setting, then exit back out to TP List. If I don't do that first, it always goes to 128W on me in the TP list rather than whatever sat the dish is set on, I don't know if it's just my Micro, or if all of them do that.

 

[armadillo_115]

Thanks A Raine.I'll give that a try asap.

I'm back to setting up again.Had to reset the Vbox and the receiver.The Vbox was jumping around at random and all positions got screwed.I'm thinking the reed sensor may be about shot.Also,we had a minor thunderstorm at the time. which could have caused the problem.

On the bright side: Setup was getting close to finished before everything took a dump.

Ok....back to resetting the sat positions.

 

[Titanium]

The Vbox jumping at random may have to do with the wiring and/or grounding.

What type of wiring is connecting the controller m1/m2 terminals to the motor?

What type of wire is connecting the controller s1/s2 to the sensor?

Does the s1/s2 wires have a shield? If so, where is the shield connected?

Is the dish grounded? Is the dish bonded to your structure ground?

 

[armadillo_115]

Everything was ok before the T storm except that the actuator has a rough spot where it is jerky , both mechanically and sensor wise. (Happens to be where 121 W is and I keep having to re-bump for that Sat.
I used Sat ribbon cable.Largest wires to motor,2 smaller wires to sensor.
I did not ground the shield to actuator.I wasn't sure about the shield wire
Only thing grounded is lnb .No grounding blocks yet either.Have NOT ran common bond to house yet.(I know it's necessary.Trying to find 140ft of #4 Copper cheap)


It's still very much a work in progress

 

[Titanium]

Try attaching the sheild only on one end. I would ground to the equipment in the house and leave the other end open and not connected at the dish.

An ungrounded shield is not effective. Right now it is just another antenna radial picking up stray noise.

How is the LNB grounded? As the LNB is attached to the entire metal dish, the dish and motor are all grounding through this one connection.

 

[armadillo_115]

I finally got around to checking my elevation/declination.Dish came from only 3 miles away but the elevation was 3 degrees too high,and declination was 4 degrees too low.Signals are all stronger now except for my far west sats 133 and 135 which dropped a bit.I'm done with it for now....until I play with the skew and F/D sometime.

Only 4 or 5 missing channels that I'd like to receive between 58 W and 133W.(No Big deal)

Question: On the MicroHD I never get more than 90 for signal level. Is that normal for the receiver...The limit for a 7 +1/2 ft dish... or can I fine tune above that?

The HIGHEST Signal Quality I hit is 88.(Many in the 70's)

That's all my noob questions for now.Going back to school shopping ... kids go back TOMORROW here.
Good day everyone,and thanks.

 

[. Raine]

I finally got around to checking my elevation/declination.Dish came from only 3 miles away but the elevation was 3 degrees too high,and declination was 4 degrees too low.Signals are all stronger now except for my far west sats 133 and 135 which dropped a bit.I'm done with it for now....until I play with the skew and F/D sometime.

Only 4 or 5 missing channels that I'd like to receive between 58 W and 133W.(No Big deal)

Question: On the MicroHD I never get more than 90 for signal level. Is that normal for the receiver...The limit for a 7 +1/2 ft dish... or can I fine tune above that?

The HIGHEST Signal Quality I hit is 88.(Many in the 70's)

That's all my noob questions for now.Going back to school shopping ... kids go back TOMORROW here.
Good day everyone,and thanks.

I've had my MicroHD unhooked for the last week or so because I've been trying out a HDVR3500, so I can't check at the moment, but I remember the highest Quality reading I could get on it was 85. I don't remember what the signal level was usually at, didn't ever pay much attention to signal, only the Quality.