Maybe I need a new dish for my setup?

[oldsmobile]

Well, I tackled it again today, and I can't see any improvement yet.

My motor will move it beyond 125 and below 72, but I get no signal on anything there. I can only track 72 to 123. I have a nice clear view of the sky below 72, and I don't think that 125 is unachievable where I can get 123 strongly.

I tinkered with the dish elevation and it is absolutely at the top of its mechanical travel.

Jorgek wrote: "When you drive the motor/dish assembly to the "0" reference mark with USALS, the dish/motor assembly must be pointing at your true south. If it is not aligned with true south you will not track the arc properly."

Should I find the data for a bird at 77 West and use that instead of 72? 72 is in my MicroHD receiver, but 77 is not. Would that account for partial arc tracking? As I get only 72 to 123, and from the view of the sky, I think I should be able to have a clear shot at more than that.

Pictures today:

the angle of my roof is shown in the pic for 123 West.

123 West - 70%.


Mechanical limit of dish elevation - it is up as far as it can go.

72 West - 65%.

Another view at 123 West, with my roof.


The picture of the sky at 72 West.

 

[northgeorgia]

At least in my location, I can't receive anything between 72 and 83W. What happens when you "blindscan" 125W ... nothing at all?

 

[oldsmobile]

Well, I did the blindscan on 125W, and I actually did pull in some stuff. The signal quality meter is at 90%, but the strength jumps around from the 30s to the 50s. When I was up on the ladder, I didn't get any quality or strength for 125, so I guess I assumed that the blind scan wouldn't have picked up anything there either.

I also, for the heck of it, did a blind scan on 67 and 62 as well. 67 found four channels, but nothing actually appears on those channels. INFO suggests that it's not pointed at the bird properly with a 45% signal meter and zero strength.

So...I have PBS at 125 west now, thanks to your suggestion, northgeorgia. I'm off to check lyngsat and see if there's anything worth pursuing below 72.

 

[wen]

I spent more time yesterday ensuring perfect plumb after I installed the bracing legs. I have a Harbor Freight Dial Gauge Angle Finder and I had it dead on at the top and two sides, and I was fairly confident that it was plumb. I will get out the ladder and check my work again. I'm optimistic...finally. I had inquired with a local satellite firm about doing this, and they estimated $200. I didn't want to spend that much for something I should be able to learn.

I also use the same dial gauge for measuring angles, but a good two foot or longer carpenter level is usually MUCH more accurate. Look up the instructions for a STAB motor as it has much better instructions for setting up a motorized system and they are the guys that invented USALS!!!

http://stab-italia.com/downloads/ro...hh120/Instruction Manual [EN-DE-IT-FR-ES].pdf

 

[jorgek]

Oldsmobile,
The only sat below 72w worth watching is Hispasat 30w. Depending on your site it maybe be too low or if your not perfectly on the arc you may not get it at all or very weak.
Same applies going past 125w, there is not much if anything on KU band and you may have obstructions in your line of sight.
I use my motor to view from 72w to 125w and a fixed dish for 30w.

 

[oldsmobile]

Okay, I screwed something up.

Well, after getting a taste of what a motorized setup is like, I messed something up on my receiver. It's the geosatpro microhd. I'm not positive, but I think I hit recalculate satellite positions, and that might have been my downfall. After I did that, I couldn't get ANYTHING to come in. So tonight, I got out the stuff again and went up to the roof. I was half-expecting that the motor might not have been on zero, but it seemed to be. I figured I had to start fresh, so I did a factory reset on the box, and went back to using 72W as my true south.

If I am using 72W as true south, then the motor should be at zero there, but I guess I'm confused as to the difference between Position and Reference Point. Can they not be the same? I was able to peak 72W with 90% level and ~65-70% strength. When I put in my USALS coordinates, though, the motor moved way west...approximately to where 97W should be. Nothing I could do up on the ladder would prevent the motor from assuming somewhere middle west was 72W.

That kinda baffles me. Everything WAS working, and now it is most certainly not. Everything's still plumb up there, and I only made minor changes. So, is it something in the software that I am missing?

 

[oldsmobile]

Thanks for the tips on 30W, jorgek. I was actually getting that before everything went haywire, and I was pleasantly surprised. My notes are in the other room, but I noted a few channels that seemed to be duplicated elsewhere, like El Etijah. But, if I remember correctly, there was something called $SexySat in the clear for a little while on Saturday morning. I suppose if I were still thirteen and hormonal, I might have paid it more attention.

 

[FaT Air]

If I am using 72W as true south, then the motor should be at zero there

NO - The motor shaft will not be at "0" unless the satellite latitude is identical to your location. GOTO 0 will place it there.
Having entered your location in the USALS set up, selecting a satellite at 72 west will command the motor to move the dish slightly east. (Sat at 72W, dish location !77W )
But since you 'messed up' some setting while the dish was tracking, the error to be corrected is in the receiver, not on the motor/dish.

 

[jorgek]

The 0 reference mark should always be pointing to your true south. This is the top of the arc and the dish is pointing at its highest elevation. Theoritically then all the sats on the arc should be at there max signal strength. However there is some wiggle room.
Try to peak the sat which is closest to your true south.
My true south is 80º W and I peaked my dish on 83w. Seems to work well except at the extreme end which is 30w. The signal does drop off somewhat but is is perfectly viewable.

 

[northgeorgia]

NO - The motor shaft will not be at "0" unless the satellite latitude is identical to your location. GOTO 0 will place it there.
Having entered your location in the USALS set up, selecting a satellite at 72 west will command the motor to move the dish slightly east. (Sat at 72W, dish location !77W )
But since you 'messed up' some setting while the dish was tracking, the error to be corrected is in the receiver, not on the motor/dish.

Agreed. What you'll need to do is put in your lat and long coordinates into the receiver, then drive it with the receiver to 72W. If it's not peaked at that point, you may need to wiggle the dish slightly up/down, east/west, but your motor shouldn't be at "0" on 72 (it will be close, since it's your southernmost satellite, but not 100% at "0"). Using USALS, it's not really necessary to bother with the "true south" method at all. Heck, even though 83W is my southernmost satellite, I like to use the Chinese stations on 95W for a setup because they're so strong. All I do is put in the coordinates and drive the motor with USALS to 95W and peak it there. After that, I drive it with the receiver to some weaker transponders on other satellites and fine tune

 

[Tron]

USALS is the most foolproof method of motorized dish installation. Just make sure that the motor is at zero when you drive it to reference. USALS will take care of it from there.

 

[oldsmobile]

What you'll need to do is put in your lat and long coordinates into the receiver, then drive it with the receiver to 72W.

Okay, now that I've got some time AND it's not raining, I tackled this again. My latitude and longitude are 40.3 W and 76.9 N (Harrisburg, PA). I reset the receiver and motor, and when I try to use USALS to drive the motor to 72 west from zero, it moves it to about the 35 hash mark on the motor. That's way too far, and I can't figure out why it's doing that. I can see signal strength from 72 when I have it at zero, and also on 83 when it's at zero.

It's so frustrating--I had it working and now it isn't, and I can't imagine why the motor would drive WAY beyond where the next satellite should be. Any idea on that one?

 

[Jim S.]

If you have 40.3W and 76.9N entered in your receiver like you posted, there's your problem.

 

[oldsmobile]

Okay, I swapped those numbers in the receiver a minute ago, so now my local longitude is 040.30W and local latitude is 76.90N. Is that correct or am I way off base? Because it's still going some thirty ticks on the motor from reference point to try to point at where it thinks 72 should be, instead of just a few ticks.

 

[FaT Air]

GOTO 0, (Reference) . Does the motor shaft align with the "0" mark? If not, reset motor.
Is receivers location set to Latitude 40.3N, Longitude 76.9W? Double check.
Is the satellite location set to 72° W?

 

[oldsmobile]

I did reset motor after driving it with its own button (as opposed to using the receiver) to 0 earlier. I won't be able to check again until tomorrow afternoon.
Receiver is now definitely set at longitude of 040.30W and local latitude of 76.90N.
I was using 72W, and it was definitely receivable, albeit at 0 on the motor. I will reset everything tomorrow and tackle it again.

I sort of wish I had the metal pole in the yard option as I'm weary of setting up the ladder to hit the roof, but I am positive that I would not be able to have clear line of sight from my yard.

 

[northgeorgia]

76 N Latitude and 40W Longitude. You are in Northern Greenland?

I think you meant 76.9 W Longitude and 40.3 W Latitude -- at least that would put me in Pennsylvania.

Double check

 

[oldsmobile]

If you have 40.3W and 76.9N entered in your receiver like you posted, there's your problem.

Jim, could you elaborate on that? I'm tackling it again today, and I've reset the motor and the receiver multiple times, and I still cannot figure out why it moves some thirty degrees from 72W to 83W instead of the ~11 I'd expect.

And I see you're near me--Upper Northumberland, eh? I'm right down 11/15 and just across the I-81 bridge.

 

[Lak7]

Jim, could you elaborate on that?

Dishpointer.com
Enter your address to get correct location

 

[oldsmobile]

Yes.

Latitude: 40.3074°
Longitude: -76.9003°

Satellite: Moteck SG2100
Elevation: 43.4°
Azimuth (true): 180.0°
Azimuth (magn.): 191.3°

I'm still stumped as to the motor moving way beyond expected point. I just went out again. Reset the receiver to factory settings, drive motor to zero using its button, reset motor, and add a single satellite to the list. This time, I tried 97W. It moves from 0 on the motor to around 60, which is way too much. I added 72W, and the motor moves to approximately 30 degrees on the motor. It's the same problem every time. Edited to add photos:

My USALS coordinates:




A strong reading for 72W, which is at my reference point since I don't have anything viewable at my true south of 77W. I'm 99% positive that when my setup was working as intended, I'd peaked on 72W and used it as my south.




When USALS takes over and moves the motor to where it thinks 72W should be, of course I get zip:


This is the reference point, and I get 72W with high quality here.


When USALS takes over and moves the motor to where it thinks 72W should be, this is the result. The motor hash marks are at about 35.