OTHER Ku dish mount elevation angle

[swyman18]

Hello all... I am taking my first stab at a Ku dish setup, I've purchased a 39" Electorica dish which actually appears to be more like 36" as I believe someone else had mentioned. It says the offset is 85cm.
I'm in Hawaii, so I am doing a temporary setup to see what I can pull in before doing anything permanent. I am still waiting for my receiver to arrive, but been working on the mounting in the meantime.

I setup the mount per the instructions, see attached pic. The instructions clearly indicate that the top bolt (the one that rests on the top of the mast) should go through the hole near the back of the collar (or whatever it's called) as I've done. However, in other pictures I've seen of this same mount it looks like people have the collar flipped around and put the top bolt through a hole closer to the center of the collar. Does this look like I have it right? Note, I haven't done the elevation adjustment yet which leads me to my next question.

With the setup like this and the mount at it's lowest possible angle, the reading on the A side scale is 10 degrees which seems correct I think. According to dishpointer.com if I wanted to point to 97W my elevation angle needs to be 21.3 deg. So can I just use that "A" scale and set it to 21.3 or do I need to take the 85cm offset into account somehow?
Thanks!

 

[Magic Static]

First, offset is an angle that is measured in degrees. I don't know what the 85CM spec would represent. The typical Ku offset would be about 25°. The elevation/ latitude scale on the mount should have the offset angle of the dish figured in already so you would not need to worry about the offset in this application. So with a plumb pole you only need to set the elevation and azimuth.

 

[a33]

I setup the mount per the instructions, see attached pic. The instructions clearly indicate that the top bolt (the one that rests on the top of the mast) should go through the hole near the back of the collar (or whatever it's called) as I've done. However, in other pictures I've seen of this same mount it looks like people have the collar flipped around and put the top bolt through a hole closer to the center of the collar. Does this look like I have it right?

Looking at your picture, and assuming yours is indeed an offset dish, I would say that indeed the collar should be flipped around to get the proper scale reading. But I don't know your dish.

When you set your dish face exactly vertical, the scale reading should be the offset angle (when your pole is plumb~ otherwise the scale reading is a bit off).
Offset would be expected a value between about 22 and 27 degrees, as Magic already wrote.

greetz,
A33

Edit: corrected typo.

 

[Keith Brannen]

Looking at your picture, and assuming yours is indeed an offset dish, I would say that indeed the collar should be flipped around to get the proper scale reading. But I don't know your dish.

I agree with a33, collar needs to be flipped, and the top hole (that is at the bottom now) used.

 

[swyman18]

Yeah, I realized the 85cm is the size of the dish, not the offset, lol.

I did some more digging and found that the geosatpro 90cm appears to use this same mount and I think has a similar offset. I found those instructions online and the mount/scale options are much clearer. It looks like if I mount the clamp as in the pic, I would use the 50-90 scale on the other side (B side). In order to use the 20-60 (A side), it indeed needs to be flipped around. The instructions that came with my dish only show how to assemble using the 50-90 scale.

Of course, now I’m realizing that this mount will not allow you to adjust the elevation less than 20 degrees when mounted on a pole in the ground. The directions for the geosatpro indicate that in order to get 0-20 elevation, I would have to mount the Jpole on the side of building and insert it into the top of the clamp, which I don’t plan on doing. Due to my location, any satellite east of 95w will require less than 20 degrees elevation. So I’ll have to come up with another solution in order to test those satellites. If all goes well, I’m hoping to get a HH90 motor which I believe will allow me to point to less than 20 degrees. Will see how it goes.

Thanks for reading and the feedback!

 

[a33]

Of course, now I’m realizing that this mount will not allow you to adjust the elevation less than 20 degrees when mounted on a pole in the ground. The directions for the geosatpro indicate that in order to get 0-20 elevation, I would have to mount the Jpole on the side of building and insert it into the top of the clamp, which I don’t plan on doing. Due to my location, any satellite east of 95w will require less than 20 degrees elevation. So I’ll have to come up with another solution in order to test those satellites.

Well, if you cannot tilt the dish forward enough (be sure to test this!), you could always mount the dish upside down?
That is not so difficult, assuming your mount can be set in the upside down needed angle.
What helps in the setup, is when you know/calculate the offset angle.

Your motor solution would also work, assuming the 95W is not too far from you true south/north, for your motor.

Greetz,
A33

 

[swyman18]

Ok, it’s all starting to make more sense to me now. I flipped the clamp around to the correct position and with the dish face perfectly vertical, the elevation scale reads 24 degrees. So I guess this dish is similar to the geosatpro 90cm, which has the same offset I believe. And the lowest it can be adjusted down before the bolt that protrudes out behind the LNB arm rests against the Jpole mast, is 20 degrees exactly. I don’t think I can do an upside down mount, so 97w is as far east as I will be able to get for now. If all initial testing goes well, I see an HH90 in my future!