Issues setting up new 6 foot dish

[BrettBardi]

I got one of these 6 foot polar mounts from WSI and have it up now, I'm having a heck of a time getting a signal on it. One thing I notice is the LNB mount in the picture is mounted on the edge of the dish. I have seen no possible way to mount it that way except onto the second hole from the edge between the panels. Does anyone know if this is right? Another thing, I was missing the 37 six mm washers also and had the same rust problem on one of the panels. I bought 100 washers from Home Depot for $4 and a can of flat white spray paint and wire brushed the rust down to the bare metal, primed it and sprayed it over. It's a slightly different color of white, but it's not really noticeable. I'm using a DMX-741 with a Nfusion HD receiver. My signal meter tells me I'm in the right spot, but no quality and signal is jumping around on the monitor. I'm in Palmdale, California and the extra things I had to do was put 1/4" stainless guy wires up due to the winds we have everyday here in the desert.

 

[Anole]

Speaking of that dish:

This thread is mandatory reading for anyone assembling that dish:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/228237-6-foot-dish-install.html

In post 31, mr3p describes focal length, and LNB arm location
At post 43, Corrado covers a clever way to pre-align the scalar/LNBF to the center of the dish with some 2½ inch PVC.
There are lots more discussions and tons of pictures on page 6 & 7, concerning how to align the motor to push the dish reliably.

 

[BrettBardi]

Thanks, I had already read most everything I could on here about the dish and the DMX741. Today I had some sucess on C band. Since I went up and reset the F/D after measuring and recalculating, the F/D is not .38, it's more like .36. I actually just used the measurement for the focal distance of 64 to 66 cm. I took the middle and turned the LNB 90 deg after looking down the throat and slightly bending one of the probes out, it was pushed inward a little. So instead of the skew scale being up and down it's on the side. I think I still need to play with it a little on the distance, probably out to the max of 66 cm to see if the ku will come in and maybe a little with the skew. I havent put the motor on the actuator yet and am using a variable speed portable drill with an adapter I made to drive the ballscrew. I'm waiting for the positioner to come this week. I used the kbox prodigy I have, since it has a blind scan and it works really well on my 39" offset. First I'm going to see if my track is right on then lock everything down until the v-box comes.
Just a lot of fun working in the 20-40 mph wind that is blowing today. I can't reach the front of the dish, don't have a ladder tall enough so I have to go on the patio cover then loosen the dish mount to swing it around and lower it all the way to make adjustments. Hopefully I won't have to do it very many more times. Luckily the rear of my house where it's mounted faces true south almost exactly

 

[BrettBardi]

Thought I'd add a picture.

 

[brentb636]

Glad I don't have to work up there. It would take some of the fun out of it.

 

[BrettBardi]

67295.vB[/ATTACH]571690]Thought I'd add a picture.
View attachment 67155

Here's some more pics from the back that someone else wanted to see.

 

[BrettBardi]

After working all weekend on this, I think I finally got it. I've managed to pick up 121 W through 95 W so far with around an average of 65Q on the C and KU. Some more tweaking of the LNB should make it a little better, but it's a PITA with having to loosen everything to swing the dish around so I can reach the LNB. It was 104 on Friday, 107 on Saturday, 104 on Sunday and it's 11 am and 100 right now. I can't leave my tools out or they burn my hands when I pick them up, so I have to take them up and down with me. I still need to figure out where I'm going to put the V-box, since I don't feel like running another 100 ft of wire and it's only 25 feet from where the receiver will be, I'm thinking of making a storage box for it outside on the wall near the cable and hooking it into the cable out there. So far so good.