lost with set up of hh90 motor

[wired4fta]

lost with set up of hh90 motor (STILL)

I'm lost set up my system = pointed at amc 5 - level 71% quality 70 to 75%
TP 11742 - USALS positioner - when i move the dish with the hh90 motor i can't lock on to any other sat. except sbs-6 with low quality 20-30% I have included a couple of pictures. If anyone can help, that would be great and thanks.
Maybe I just can't use this motor with this dish PC90P. any Help ?

 

[123tim]

This is just something to consider until you get a reply from somebody who knows what they're talking about...You might want to take a look at picture 6 here: http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/HH-mount-installation.htm I think that I read in my stab instructions that the antenna should be the whole way down on the lip of your actuator shaft. I don't know if this might be a problem or not.
Good luck.

 

[Larry1]

Your dish / motor combination should work fine. There are many adjustments to fine tune to using a motor that can seem to be a pain to adjust before you have it peaked. First, with a motor your LNBF should not be rotated any, as you have it in the picture. The angle of the motor on the mounting pole takes care of the skew of the LNBF automatically for you. The LNBF should be adjusted either closer or farther away from the dish for maximum signal quality. (remember it is signal QUALITY to adjust to not signal strength) When on your true south satellite, try very slightly rotating the motor on the mounting pole for maximum quality. You also have to adjust the angle of the dish on the motor arm for maximum quality. Once this is done for the true south satellite, then move to another satellite, in your case SBS-6 and try pushing on the dish to see what way it has to move to increase the quality. Make small adjustments of the dish and motor, and then return to AMC-5 and check there again. You Generally, the motor angle on the pole (your latitude setting) should be ok once initially set, but you may find that you need to tweek this setting as well. Once you have it set again for AMC-5 again go back to SBS-6 and tweek the adjustments again. Once you have these two set, then venture to another satellite and continue going back and forth to your south satellite tweeking your adjustments. Periodically, go through the list of the satellites you have adjusted to and see what is not lining up again. It is a lengthy process, but once you have it done, you will have maximum signal on all your satellites.
Your HH90 manual on page 10 under fine tracking shows what to expect if what adjustment is off.
The Stab HH90 user guide can be downloaded here:
http://www.fortecstar.com/estore/storefront/default.asp?ProductID=75&CategoryID=10
Look for the link "DownLoad User Guide" at the bottom of the page.

 

[wired4fta]

Thanks -123tim and Larry1 - I have checked out your suggestions and links. I will apply them tomorrow and check my results. Just one question for Larry1.
QUOTE - The LNBF should be adjusted either closer or farther away from the dish for maximum signal quality. Is one preferred over the other or should i just experiment and see which gives better Quality.
I must be close because I do have signal strength of 60 - 70 on all Sat's i try to point to via USALS - but 0% for quality.
THANKS FOR THE HELP and if anyone else has any suggestions. THAT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED:up

 

[PSB]

Move the LNBF closer or further away from the dish reflector, stand away from the dish and watch the signal quality. Leave the LNBF where you get most signal quality.

 

[Larry1]

When you have the dish mounted and receiving a signal, pushing on the top, then bottom, then left, then right and watching your signal quality as you do this will help you with knowing what way to adjust your dish for tweeking it. If doing any of these raises your signal quality, then your dish is not properly peaked. Also, remember you need to have the receiver on an active channel when tweeking your dish. If you have it set to the wrong frequency (or other settings) you will not have any Quality at all even though you may be pointed in the correct direction.
As PSB stated, move the LNBF to the postion where you have the best Quality. Make small adjustments. It MAY be closer on one dish, but farther on the next one as each dish may have small differences when manufactured. Manufacturers may say they have a surface accuracy of some small number, but the LNB arms don't always line up the same from one dish to another. Depends on the manufacturing, how tight the bolts are, what order the bolts are tightened, the weight of the LNBF, Brand and model of LNBF, how many times it got knocked in shipping etc..

 

[R390A]

I must be close because I do have signal strength of 60 - 70 on all Sat's i try to point to via USALS - but 0% for quality.

As Larry1 says, do not look at the 'signal strength' meter. The receiver manufactures should remove that meter because so many people see they have 'strength' and think they have the alignment close, but actually they are pointed at nothing. Just turning the receiver on with no coax connection to the dish you will have a 'strength' reading. Only use the QUALITY meter when looking for signals

 

[Tron]

Judging by your pics, Wired, it seems like your dish is set at the wrong elevation. Your dish should be set at between 40 and 41, and from the pics it appears to be set at 50. Couldn't tell from the pics, but what is your motor elevation set to? It should be the same as your latitude, which is 26.

 

[wired4fta]

still lost

Hey all, I'm still lost with my motor set-up, I have followed everything to the letter. long, lat, elevation, pole level, members advise etc... If someone could take a look at my pictures again and advise, would be great. The only thing i can think of is that the mounting brackets joining dish with motor are wrong causing an improper arch. I did try and re-adjust the placement on the motor arm/pole with no results. I have not found any pictures with this type of dish/elevation to motor bracketing to compare. I am able to pick up a few Sat's but the arch still seems wrong.

THANKS FOR ANY HELP

 

[Katrinasucks]

Please reread Tron's post. We both looked at your pics and even talked about it over the phone. If your elevation is still the way it was in picture #1 it looks like that is probably the problem.

 

[wired4fta]

Please reread Tron's post. We both looked at your pics and even talked about it over the phone. If your elevation is still the way it was in picture #1 it looks like that is probably the problem.

Thanks for your help. i have posted a new picture and my question is should i set the elevation at/thru bolt or on the leading edge, which is what my instructions for the dish note. again thanks for your time in looking. :up

 

[digiblur]

One question.... are you familiar with FTA already? Have you gone through the process of pointing at one sat, blind scanning, moving to another manually? Just to get yourself comfortable with the receiver, frequencies, symbol rates, etc. I wouldn't tackle the new receiver, motor, and adjustments all at once. Take it one step at a time....

 

[Tron]

My advice would be to try it at both settings (the bolt and the leading edge), and try tweaking it at both settings a little up and down. The marks are not always entirely accurate.

As Digiblur said, try to mount the dish without the motor. For the time being, try to hit a powerful transponder (such as G-10R's 12114 (V) transponder at 123w). This will give you a good idea of the accuracy of the elevation markings without the motor being involved in the equation.

 

[wired4fta]

Thanks

Thanks digiblur and Tron for the advise I did notice an increase in quality when i elevated dish slightly higher to 42-43. I have set up fixed dishes - dish network, directv and the old VOOM (i miss there complete package) anyway, it seem like its a game of trial and error, rinse and repeat etc.......
THANKS AGAIN

 

[Katrinasucks]

BTW- Where did you get that dish?

 

[wired4fta]

BTW- Where did you get that dish?

I wish that i knew about this site and there sponsors before i made my purchase as i would have bought my dish from one of them. (will in the future) I would not like to say who it was as i don't want to give them any advertisement. I did contact them and they said the dish and motor combo works fine and they have sold many of them. I tried to communicate with them again suppling pictures and telling them the dish does not look like the 90cm fortec star that they said they sent me etc... But it seems now that they have my money they don't want to communicate back. !protest

 

[Katrinasucks]

I wish that i knew about this site and there sponsors before i made my purchase as i would have bought my dish from one of them. (will in the future) I would not like to say who it was as i don't want to give them any advertisement. I did contact them and they said the dish and motor combo works fine and they have sold many of them. I tried to communicate with them again suppling pictures and telling them the dish does not look like the 90cm fortec star that they said they sent me etc... But it seem now that they have my money they don't want to communicate back. !protest

Unless I missed it (when I search like 5 times) none of the gold sponsors sells that dish. Vendor not withstanding, I like the looks of that dish.

 

[wired4fta]

Unless I missed it (when I search like 5 times) none of the gold sponsors sells that dish. Vendor not withstanding, I like the looks of that dish.

I also like the look. But i still have not found any info on dish to motor bracketing to compare to satisfy my curiosity if it works. I am still going to play with it and hopefully I'll get it to work properly. everything else works fine - pansat 3500s - hh90 motor. Just can't get the son of a bitc... to arch correctly.

 

[aegrotatio]

Keep trying. I was about to run over my cheap Winegard 76cm and clone motor with my truck when I decided to give it one more shot. I had already managed to peak the dish to IA5 and other birds without the motor and was determined to dead-reckon the installation. I was also inspired by seeing another clone motor's manual say "40-degrees minus declination angle" instead of 30-degrees. First I hooked the motor between the LNBF and receiver without mounting it to make sure the signal still got through the motor (this is a cheap clone motor remember) and got the same signal quality I had without the motor inlined. Then I disassembled the mount and re-plumbed the tube, which I must say wasn't as plumb as it should have been (and is the bane of motorized dish users!!). I then re-assembled the motor on the mount and mounted the dish on the motor. After that I decided I'd cheat the math and deduce the elevation, instead. I turned on the tuner and set the motor for reference position and peaked the dish on the same satellite I had peaked before I had the motor. Then I set the tuner to position the dish for that satellite and watched my perfectly peaked dish move away. Then, I moved the entire mount back and re-peaked the bird I just had and peaked it. The elevation changed slightly and I almost forgot to rotate the LNBF back to verticle (no skew) and the signal was stronger than before! Then I repeated this process with various satellites of interest at extreme ends of the visible arc in my area, and then a few along the arc. I only needed to re-adjust one more time.
I now 'see' everything available on this cheap dish and no-name motor and am very pleased. Only problem is that I mounted it in a temporary position. When I move it I will make a note of the satellite and transponder it's currently looking at and peak the dish to the same satellite and transponder in the new location. I have to pay special attention to plumbing the tube--that is the single most important thing to do with a motor.

 

[Katrinasucks]

You know... Perhaps the best advice is to skip all the books and gradated scale on the dish and use a 10 buck angle finder from Home Depot. Set the HH for Lat and use the angle finder to get it dead smack on.

See also for a mostly related issue: http://www.dvbresource.com/dishes/winegard/winegard_76_4.html.