Motor arrived today - now a few questions...

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jwf593

Well-Known SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
May 7, 2009
33
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cheyenne, wy
hi guys,

After all the good advice I've gotten here - I bought a DG380 from one of this sites sponsors :) and it arrived today.

Now a couple of questions. When I go to another one of our sponsors, Dishpointer it tells me ...

Address: [my address] cheyenne, wy 82009
Latitude: 41.1718°
Longitude: -104.7801°
Satellite: ****************** Motorized ***********************************
Elevation: 30.0°
Azimuth (true): 57.3°
Azimuth (magn.): 57.3°

Which would seem to tell me to set the motor elevation to + 30 and then the azimuth of the motor on the mast to 57.3. Is this correct? :confused:

The paperwork with the motor says set the dish elevation to +35 and the tables that came with the dish are a little confusing to me.

They say (for my latitude 41) an 'Elevation' of 49 - that's the motor angle?
Next it gives 'Declination Angle of 6.4 - that's an offset to my Azimuth?
Last it gives 'Dish Bracket Angle' of 28.6. That's what I set the Dish bracket to?

wow, sorry but I'm about to get the wrenches out and pull the dish down and (for once) it would be nice to know what I'm supposed to do BEFORE I do it. :)

thanks!!

jeff
 
They say (for my latitude 41) an 'Elevation' of 49 - that's the motor angle?
Motors "usually" have 1 side marked "Elevation" and the other side marked "Latitude"
Set the "Latitude" scale to your Latitude: 41.2 (just a touch over 41)
OR
Set the "Elevation" scale to "90 minus Latitude": 48.8 (just under 49)

Last it gives 'Dish Bracket Angle' of 28.6. That's what I set the Dish bracket to?
Yes, to start. The Dish Scales are know to be "off" a few degrees, set to peak Quality.

Dishpointer.com comes up with:
Azimuth (magn.): 170.7°
 
hi guys,

After all the good advice I've gotten here - I bought a DG380 from one of this sites sponsors :) and it arrived today.

Now a couple of questions. When I go to another one of our sponsors, Dishpointer it tells me ...

Address: [my address] cheyenne, wy 82009
Latitude: 41.1718°
Longitude: -104.7801°
Satellite: ****************** Motorized ***********************************
Elevation: 30.0°
Azimuth (true): 57.3°
Azimuth (magn.): 57.3°

Which would seem to tell me to set the motor elevation to + 30 and then the azimuth of the motor on the mast to 57.3. Is this correct? :confused:

The paperwork with the motor says set the dish elevation to +35 and the tables that came with the dish are a little confusing to me.

They say (for my latitude 41) an 'Elevation' of 49 - that's the motor angle?
Next it gives 'Declination Angle of 6.4 - that's an offset to my Azimuth?
Last it gives 'Dish Bracket Angle' of 28.6. That's what I set the Dish bracket to?

wow, sorry but I'm about to get the wrenches out and pull the dish down and (for once) it would be nice to know what I'm supposed to do BEFORE I do it. :)

thanks!!

jeff

Sadoun has a calculator specifically for that motor on their website Satellite Look Angles Satellite Heading Calculator Azimuth Elevation Skew Tilt LNBF Latitude and Longitude values
 
thanks!

hi guys! :)

thanks for the quick responses! i used those settings, am am next going to check the Sadoun site and see what it says.

i am going to have some problems checking my handiwork as i see that the satellites stored in my ancient (2002) Samsung receiver are almost all out of date. and, to make matters worse, i can't see anyway to add coordinates to custom satellites in the menus.

the motor and box are kind of working though, as i asked the receiver to go to 30.0°W for Hispasat 1C.1D, about the only bird in my Samsung that still at the same location in 'the List'. my dish swung so far down and to the east it was almost pointed at the ground. i have the feeling that Hispasat might not be in good view from cheyenne, wyo!

thanks - and fyi, i have a Coolsat 5000 coming sometime next week - that should make finding something a little easier. but, i'm still going to see what i can make this old Samsung do.

jeff
 
Set your motor angle to 41 degrees on the latitude scale.
Set your dish elevation at 28.6 , to start ( this is one of the fine tuning points later ).
That's it ! Now you're ready to adjust your azimuth , based on your true south satellite.
Good Luck.
:)
 
thanks - somethings working

thanks guys for the help.

i managed to bring my Viewsat Ultra back to life and hooked it up. i have the disk and motor aligned as suggested in the earlier posts (motor to 41.9, dish bracket to 28.6, and azimuth to 170).

the Viewsat lets me enter USALS, so i put in the Long and Lat for my Zip and I tried a blind scan for Galaxy 19 (were I had the dish pointed before and i'm familiar with the programming).

about halfway through the scan it starts bringing up channels from AMC 4 at 101 - so my guess is that I've missed my 'true north' by 4 or 5 degrees?

i am currently running a blind scan of Galaxy 14 without any results - no channels found. so, i think i am going to try Galaxy 19 again and see if i get the same 'error'.

if I get AMC channels again - i guess it's time to bump the dish a little back to the east.

thanks for all the help,

jeff
 
the Viewsat lets me enter USALS, so i put in the Long and Lat for my Zip and I tried a blind scan for Galaxy 19 (were I had the dish pointed before and i'm familiar with the programming).
Make sure the Dish is moving!
It's been a while since I used my Viewsat, but I remember that it did not like to move from Sat-To-Sat in the Scanning Menus.
 
it's moving - just not finding!

thanks for looking!

yep the dish IS moving - i just told it to look for Galaxy 18 at 123 W and it swung over there - it just had no signal and couldn't find any channels.

so, i asked it to look for Intelsat 5 which the Viewsat thinks is at 97W (but I know that Galaxy 19 is there). and, there it once again found programming for AMC 4 (at 101 W).

so, I've nudged the dish back to the east a bit and am running a scan for 97W again - it's not looking promising (signal strength of only about 50%). but, i hope if i can find all my familiar programming of Galaxy 19 while the Viewsat is pointing at 97W -- then the motor will be positioned correctly and i can go searching for other lights in the sky.

thanks, all suggestions welcome!!

jeff
 
Make sure the Dish is moving!
It's been a while since I used my Viewsat, but I remember that it did not like to move from Sat-To-Sat in the Scanning Menus.

This is always something to doublecheck. Even my new AZBox failed to move the dish motor once. I don't know why. I went out to the dish and checked the motor. It was not faulted. When I used the manual pushbuttons to slew the motor, it drove each direction just fine. When I stopped, the motor drove on its own to the satellite that the AZBox was selecting and it has been fine since. I hope it does not happen again.

RADAR
 
True South Sat...

I would do that - I've read that's the Sat to look for during install and setup.

But, I've spent the last two months finding and tuning in the programming on Galaxy 19 - so I thought I'd have the best chance to find it (cause I have a good idea of where in the sky it is).

So, I took my old Samsung (already set up for Galaxy 19) out on the deck with a little TV and finally found Galaxy 19! The Viewsat is now doing a blind scan and seems to be finding all the programming on that bird.

Next, I guess I should tell the Viewsat to look for AMC 15 and see what I get.

wish me luck!

thanks again all,

jeff
 
all is not well...

hi guys,

well, not everything is perfect, I set my Viewsat to look for AMC 15 at 105W and a blind scan found...

NETWEST
FOREST LAWN PATH
Vyvx Atlanta
Encoder 1


hmm, I wonder where I am?

When I ask the dish to swing back a little and go to a channel on Galaxy 19 it does, but a lot of the weaker channels now look choppy - like maybe I need to do a little more fine-tuning.


thanks for reading!

jeff
 
So, I took my old Samsung (already set up for Galaxy 19) out on the deck with a little TV and finally found Galaxy 19! The Viewsat is now doing a blind scan and seems to be finding all the programming on that bird.

thanks again all,

jeff

Jeff,

That is a good practice (taking a small portable TV and your receiver) out to your dish site. This is a must when you get into the nitty gritty of fine tuning (tweaking) your dish. Any other method will only frustrate you and your helper. If your helper is your spouse, they might become very upset with you before the project is completed. Having the immediate and direct feedback of the signal quality reading is very important, especially when you understand that there is a slight lag in the response time.

I think you are heading in the right direction, best of luck getting everything dialed in! We all love to hear success stories!

RADAR
 
hi guys,

well, not everything is perfect, I set my Viewsat to look for AMC 15 at 105W and a blind scan found...

NETWEST
FOREST LAWN PATH
Vyvx Atlanta
Encoder 1


hmm, I wonder where I am?

When I ask the dish to swing back a little and go to a channel on Galaxy 19 it does, but a lot of the weaker channels now look choppy - like maybe I need to do a little more fine-tuning.


thanks for reading!

jeff

Jeff,

Those channel names seem to reflect feed channels. Don't rely on them too much as they may not always be broadcasting a signal. Feed channels always come and go.

Try this one: Macy's TV on TP 11.856 Vertical symbol rate 3548. Satellite 105.0'W AMC 15.

If this TP is not in your list, you may have to add it manually.

This is a consistent channel to use and it is has good signal strength and quality.

RADAR
 
If you need to utilize it, you can use TP 12100 Vertical (symbol rate 20.000) on sat 103.0'W AMC 1 to help steer you in your alignment process. The Pentagon Channel will be found here and it is also a strong signal that is consistently transmitted.

105 is closest to your true south, but 103 could be utilized to assist you.

RADAR
 
no joy in mudville...

well, i obviously have set up something incorrectly. i had the viewsat look for 125W for the PBS stations and it found nothing. when i exited the setup menu and went back to Russia Today or BelarusTV on Galaxy 19 ... nothing. :eek:

a look at the dish shows it's moving, and to the naked eye it looks pretty close, but I've gotten something wrong. i reset the skew to 0 after it had been at 10 as a stationary dish. the mounting pole comes up pretty darn straight and level, all the coax cables are loose and not catching on anything... but i must be missing something.

i appreciate any advice, but I'll be away from the dish until next Monday - a holiday weekend away with the family :)

thanks again, and i'll be looking for help next week!

jeff
 
well, i obviously have set up something incorrectly. i had the viewsat look for 125W for the PBS stations and it found nothing. when i exited the setup menu and went back to Russia Today or BelarusTV on Galaxy 19 ... nothing. :eek:

a look at the dish shows it's moving, and to the naked eye it looks pretty close, but I've gotten something wrong. i reset the skew to 0 after it had been at 10 as a stationary dish. the mounting pole comes up pretty darn straight and level, all the coax cables are loose and not catching on anything... but i must be missing something.

i appreciate any advice, but I'll be away from the dish until next Monday - a holiday weekend away with the family :)

thanks again, and i'll be looking for help next week!

jeff

Jeff,

First of all, I want to say that I truly LOVE your avatar of Barney Fife! That brings back a host of memories for me. The Andy Griffith Show was one of my all time favorites!

Now, let's discuss your dish and motor alignment issues. You are in or near Cheyenne, WY, so your nearest true south satellite is 105.0'W AMC 15. On this sat, one of the best signals to dial in is TP 11.856 V SR 3548 (the Macy's channel that I mentioned previously). Use this sat and TP as your reference.

Since I did not wish to intrude into your home, I used the coordinates of the Plains Hotel near Cheyenne. This provides the coordinates of 41.11N and 104.82W. In your USALS menu, enter these coordinates.

Mechanically, set your motor's latitude scale to 41.11 degrees (I know you won't be able to read the scale to that fine of resolution, so 41 degrees and a tick higher will be sufficient).

Mechanically, set your dish antenna's elevation to 28.61 degrees. Again, you will have to use your best judgement as to where 28.61 degrees is as the scale's resolution is not that fine. Just get as close as you think you can.

Before you really get carried away in the alignment process, double-check your mast or pole to ensure that it is perfectly vertical in all directions. This point cannot be stressed enough. Use a quality level to check this. A two foot carpenters level is best. Check the plumb of the mast in all directions and if you detect that the bubble is off just a little, STOP and fix it! You will create a lot of work and frustration down the line if you don't address this issue right off the bat.

I highly recommend a ground mounted mast if you can do so. A rooftop or wall mounted mast requires some extra effort to secure it properly. If you are adept at that and don't mind the extra work, that is fine. But a ground mounted mast is the simplest you can have.

Next, drive your motor to the zero degree position. You can do this manually with the buttons on the motor itself, or through the motor control menus (go to reference or go to zero).

Attach the dish to the motor tube and ensure that the vertical axis of the dish is in line with the vertical axis of the motor tube.

Next, take a nice, small, portable TV and your receiver out to the dish site. Do not install any switches in the system, just run your cable directly from the receiver to the motor and on to the LNBF.

Select 105.0'W for your true south sat. Select TP 11.856 V SR 3548 (the Macys channel) in your manual scan mode or TP scan mode. Since you have a Viewsat receiver, I am not certain of what they call the menu. In the Coolsat 5000, it would be manual scan mode. Regardless of what it is referred to as in the receivers menus, you need to opt for the menu where you may select the TP on your own and not allow the receiver to select it. In the Coolsat 5K, if you select the antenna setup menu, the receiver will automatically look at the first TP listed. If that TP happens to be a feed TP, it may not have an active signal present at all times, so you don't want to rely upon this menu to align your dish.

Sorry that is kinda long and drawn out, but I think you will understand what I am trying to suggest here.

Next, fire up the receiver and the TV and start looking for Macy's TV on 105.0'W.

Do not adjust the dish or motor angles at this point. Just swing your dish east and west in the general area where you are pretty certain that the 105 sat should be. Just back and forth, slowly east to west or west to east in small increments. Stop after each small movement and wait a few seconds to allow the receiver to lock onto the signal if it is there. I allow about 2-3 seconds for my Coolsat to lock. The viewsat should be similar, I would guess.

If you do not detect the signal from this sat after you have panned with great patience, then make a mark on your dish elevation setting and readjust it one degree higher or lower and try panning again. Continue this process until you find the signal.

Don't readjust the motor latitude setting during this process. I can assure you that your motor and most other brands and models are very accurate in their latittude scale. You will determine if your lattittude is set incorrectly when you try to pan the entire arc later. Don't fret about this error at this time. The main objective is to locate the nearest true south sat first.

Once you locate and lock on this signal, then you should monitor your signal and quality level meters on your TV. Stand behind the dish and gently grasp the outer edges of the dish and place some minor pressure on the dish in order to tilt it just a wee bit up/down or right/left. While you are doing this, monitor the signal levels on the TV and determine which direction you need to move the dish to peak the signal. If neccessary, loosen the mounting bolts and move the dish in the direction needed to peak the signal.

This may sound like an intense ordeal, however, if you set the original angles as stated before, it should almost fall into your lap. Go ahead and cuss a bit as you do this, but don't allow yourself to become overly frustrated. Remember that this is a hobby and should be for fun. :)

If you are having no luck, take a break and go out for a pizza and catch a show with your friends or smething, come back to it later when you have plenty of time and clear weather.

Next step... once you have dialed and peaked your dish to your true south sat, have your motor drive east or west to the next sat that you know that you can or should be able to detect a signal from. Your true south sat in this case is 105, so move to 103.0'W and test your alignment there. Then try 101.0'W . Then go the other direction and try your luck at 121.0'W.

I wouldn't bother with 113.0 or 116.8 during this process. They may be a little squirrelly to set up and weak on signal. 121.0"W is good (Echostar 9) and you can find the test card channel on TP 12.013 V SR 20000.

The process of aligning to the arc requires persistence, dedication and lots of patience! But, I guarantee that you will accomplish it.

My best wishes are for your success and for the success of others as well. Since others here have helped me learn and repair all sorts of items, I hope that I can be instrumental in helping my colleagues in the same rite.

RADAR
 
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