I am ready to give up.

[moseley]

I have a sg2100 motor a 1-meter gospel dish and a fortec mercuryII.

I have never been able to get the full arc from 129-72. I am site challenged and I am not that handy. I live in a row home with three story buildings across from me (Aside from the fact there isn't much ground). Ground mounting is not an option. I have three options for the site a balcony with balusters that may or may not interfere with the signal. A 42 foot high pitched roof. I also have three chimneys in decent repairs. I should mention that I hate heights. Right now I have been focusing on the balcony. I have never hit 123 or 129 in the arc but can hit them individually. Currently I have 72-116.8. My main targets that I want in order are 74, 123,129, 87. I called around to get it installed and no one locally will do it or is able to do it. They just do small dishes. A place out of New York will but they want $100 an hour including a 6 hour drive. That's just going to happen. By the way I am in Harrisburg, PA.

What I've got and have tried.

I have a tripod and a pole. I've never been able to get it plum. I have a couple of dish network wall mounts after I looked at them I decided they wouldn't let the motor turn so they are in the basement. Currently it is set up with the little floor mount meant for a stationary system. It waves in the wind and the mast really doesn't support the dish. I have it screwed solid to the balcony. It goes out of plum out of the center of the arc. I have dealt with this by securing the pole with guide wires on either side which appear to keep it semi-plumb. They also trip me every time I adjust the lnb which in turn ruins my plumb. I can put a circular lnb in and get strong signals from 62 to whatever the high is 121 or 129 but when I put in my linear I have a partial arc again.

Here's a picture of the balcony. Note, I do wish to have the dish as "out of view" as possible. The roof would be perfect but, I really don't want to be up and down on the roof that much.

I am open to any and all hints and tips. I won't be around to try them until the 2nd of December but, I sure would like to get this to work this year.

edit-the house is brick. Balcony is wood. When I talked about the balusters maybe being in the way...the lnb points directly into the wood but I think the dish is clear. the tree you see doesn't seem to interfere it looks taller in the picture than in real life.

 

[Zero]

My 2 cents. I have mounted the motorized dish on a tripod succesfully. I used a wooden board to secure the tripod securely and kept some weight on the board to keep it steady. I am able to get the pole real plumb and able to track perfectly. You may have to use some shims and spacers under the tripod foot to make the pole plumb as the floor may be slanting towrads the edge of the balcony.
Only problem I have is the pole diameter is small and the motor bracket rotates about the pole for which people have given very good suggestions here in this forum.