Is it the Cold or I have a problem

[sanjap]

My dish has been shifting position. I have to on a say every couple of days to re-align. Never had this problem in the Summer. Is it the cold or I have a dish mounting problem?
Any help will really help.

Thanks

 

[SatelliteAV]

How is the pole set into the ground? What type of ballast, how much weight and what is the configuration or shape of the ballast?

Is the ground frozen? If so, a common mistake is not to ballast the pole properly below the frost line. If the soil is saturated with water a similar problem can occur.

 

[sanjap]

Pole is 3ft in the ground in concrete. 6ft in the air. Dish is 6ft on H180 moteck motor. Ground is dry but frozen. What is a ballast?

 

[SatelliteAV]

Pole is 3ft in the ground in concrete. 6ft in the air. Dish is 6ft on H180 moteck motor. Ground is dry but frozen. What is a ballast?

The ballast is your concrete. Frozen ground will shift the concrete if it was not poured as a suitable foundation below the frost line. What is the frost line in your area? What is the shape or form of the cement? Is there a flat slab of cement on top?

In freeze zones it is best that the cement is poured in the shape of a drop, with the majority if the cement at the base of the pole then taper in near the top. End the cement below the frost line and do not pour a flat slab on the surface.

 

[phlatwound]

I can't imagine it getting cold enough in Houston for frost to shift a pole that is planted 3' deep. Maybe it is in a bad soil type which is letting it move?

What do you mean by "My dish has been shifting position. I have to on a say every couple of days to re-align."?

Do you mean you are having to adjust az/el/dec? Or is whatever you use for positioning just not sending the dish to the right spot, and you are adjusting your positioner?

 

[oldfoggie]

grab the dish near where the actuator mounts to the back of the dish, try pushing on the dish and watch the shaft that comes out of the actuator and would normally move the dish, this shaft should be solid and not let the dish move while you are pushing on it if the shaft slides in or out, then the nut inside the actuator is probably worn out, these are usually made of a soft material and are not very hard to replace, if you can find one. also make sure that the actuator is not sliding in its mounting clamps
one other thing, General Instrument made a "C" band receiver that had this problem and was cured by replacing an 8 pin memory IC

 

[Cadsulfide]

If the pole wiggles, you have a problem.

 

[sanjap]

My pole is rock solid. My Elevation is perfect. The problem i have is for example. Today i get Galaxy 95C on position 00 on my G-Box. Tomorrow if i tune to Galaxy 95 and the dish moves to position 00, i won't get a signal. I'll have to bang the dish say to position 013 to get a signal. So what is making that shift. On another day, i'll have to bang say back to 00 or further to say 036. Inpecting my dish doesn't seem to show any movements at all. I am really confused and worried.

 

[dougruss]

Sounds like Play( Slop ) in the Motor .

 

[crackt]

check the magnet wheel to reed switch clearance or the reed switch may actually be failing. just a thought. how sloppy is the actuator (any play in it).

crackt out,.

 

[turbosat]

Sounds more like the motor giving back feedback than frost heave, but it has been a strange winter. If you can't move the pole by pushing on it, it would seem more likely to be slack in the actuator tube, or bad feedback from the reed sensor.

 

[SatelliteAV]

In the first post it sounded like the op was making mechanical elevation or azimuth adjustments to the mount to correct movement. With this clarification, I agree that it most likely is a pulse issue with either the sensor or the controller.

 

[Cadsulfide]

triple check all your connections before tearing the motor apart