More problems with alignment

[Blindowl1234]

Well after last weeks 50 plus MPH windstorm I can't seem to get everything lined up again. I've checked everything....motor elevation etc... and here's what I find. I can't lock in everything from 91W(the farthest I can go in that direction...trees) to 129w. I can lock in say 91W to 101W....if i raise or lower the dish about an 1/8"( sorry I'm at work and not looking at the dish) I lock in everything from say 101W to 129W. I can't figure out if something got bent in the wind....everything was fine before the storm....any ideas?
Thanks! Blind

 

[chapelrun]

I'm having similar issues

I don't have any motors yet - - - but the 50+ MPH winds did a number on two of my fixed dishes.

The one dish on 123W is still rock solid - - for two reason - one it is anchored into the chimney and two it is somewhat protected by the house. (See Avatar)

The other two were way off after the wind. My 10 year old helped me yesterday get back on AMC9 at 83W for RTN (must have RTN)

But the 90cm for 97W and 101W - - - I can't seem to get back on the satellites.

Sorry, no help with your problem but I bet folks all over are having these same issues because of the wind.

 

[rv1pop]

Our wind was just a little stronger. My guage only goes to 111.8. The neighbors clocked in at 128.6. We do not know if that was its maximum. Lost roofing off of two buildings and one lean to blew down. Dishes on that building look ok, but of course, are out of alignment. One LNBF has a chunk out of it but seems to still be alive.

If the 90cm is a steel dish, check to see if it warped. I use 6 strings rather than just 4 to check mine. If so, you will not get it aligned again until you get the warp out. You can check for warp on the bracket, but if it is warped, you will need to take out the four bolts and remove the dish from the bracket to unwarp it

I hope you get everything back - in fact better than before.
POP

 

[Blindowl1234]

Well more questions

Thanks for the help...least I'm not the only one with problems.....Ok this is the dumbest question concerning FTA I think I've asked so far haha. If my dish isn't aligned to my true south (tree issue)....even though I'm using disecq and not usals, wont my skew be off at each satellite? I've gotten lousy signal strength since I put the motor on this 30". I'm wondering if I'm off10-15 maybe 20 degrees, and I get a signal on say 97w isn't the skew going to be off considerably since my true south wasn't correct to begin with? I'm thinking that might be part of my issues all along. The reason I stumbled across this is that if I go to Moteck's website and use their Gaaps and enter say 97w and my longitude and latitude it says my motor should be on +14.5 degree....I'm not even close I'm sure. It's dark outside or I'd go look as I post this. Even when I got everything from 91W to 123W the signal strength wasn't all that goodThanks! Blind

 

[Tron]

If your motorized dish isn't aligned properly, skew will be the least of the problems. If its not on the arc, you won't get anything from many (most or even all) of the satellites. Everything lines up perfectly on a motorized setup as long as your LNB skew is set to '0' and the motor/dish assembly is aligned on the arc.

You don't really have to find your true south satellite if you use USALS; In fact, you may not even have a satellite at true south. For example, I live at 90.1 degrees west longitude. There is no bird there, my closest south satellite is at 91w. Using USALS, however, I can instruct my motor to go to any satellite close to my true south location (for example, 91w, 93w, 89w, etc.), and align the dish on that bird. It all works out the same... When my motor is exactly at '0', the dish is pointed at 90.1 degrees west (there's nothing there). It moves a little bit to the west of '0' to hit 91w, as instructed by USALS.

 

[Blindowl1234]

Tron, Thanks! for the info well I took the flashlight and looked at where my dish was pointing with the receiver on 105w. According to the moteck site the motor markings should show about +24 I was at 14. So I figure I'm probably about 10 degrees too far west anyway. If spring would ever get here I might pitch a tent next to the dishes and spend my summer nights out there haha. Hey if there were a problem I could easily fix it. Thanks! Blind

 

[Blindowl1234]

Problem solved again.....the motor was 10 degrees to the west of my true south...ouch. No more wind storms! Blind

 

[Lak7]

I put a reference mark, where the Motor Mount clamps touch the Pole.

 

[Blindowl1234]

Lak7, Yep I did that last night too. If that sucker moves I'll know it now. Blind