Motor help

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Cascade

Goose.
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Jun 1, 2004
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37.134004N 76.561779W
This should be fun :)

I have a 76cm dish, an SG2100 positioner and a Nexus-S DVB card.
I have already set the dish/motor to see the biggest portion of the Clarke Belt I can.

Sofar I have hit AMC1/2/4 E*9,6,8 Galaxy4R and SatMex5.

The manual says to set the dish/positioner to true South, adjust the dish to 30degrees minus my declination angle which for latitude 37 is 24.1 and my motor bracket angle to 53 degrees.
The dishmount is plumb and sturdy however I can't seem to hit the other birds.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong or missing? I'm not sure if my dish size is big enough but surely I should be hitting at least 2 more birds.

Thanks all.
 
Go back to true south. Set the motor elevation to your latitude (37) and leave it there, now peak it in the best you can dont worry about the elevation on your dish, just move it up and down until you hit your true south bird and that should be it! Have fun!
 
That's the thing, I have nothing visible anywhere near South :(
Is there any way to get it setup without hitting a true south sat? the closest I have is Galaxy4R.
Damn trees.....
 
No matter what the motor elevation has to be set at 37deg. your latitude, then you just have to go back and forth to level out the arc. Not all channels will be there all the time so try a few on each satellite, it sucks having no true south satellite to aim at!
 
I thought AMC-9 (85w) was your true south bird? Right now there are 3-4 feeds up you can aim at! (if it were not for the trees)

11750mhz.
04234 s/r
Horizontal Pol.


11903mhz.
03984 s/r
Vertical Pol.
 
Galaxy4R is about the farthest I can reach without a chainsaw and a long prison term.
Still, I've got a shedload of things to look at, it really didn't take much to set up as long as you can read simple instructions and the cost sure beats forking out $200+ for one of those crazy toroidal dishes - it's great.

BTW, if anyone has any doubts about buying a motor, do it.
I ordered mine from PSB, it arrived in 4-5 days and I couldn't be happier with it.
Pete, if you could let me know how much that bracket is i'd appreciate it.

Cheers all!
 
Cascade said:
BTW, if anyone has any doubts about buying a motor, do it.
I ordered mine from PSB, it arrived in 4-5 days and I couldn't be happier with it.
Pete, if you could let me know how much that bracket is i'd appreciate it.

Cheers all!

I was hesitant about getting a motor, too. But got one a couple of months ago and I love it!
Ordered it from Pete and had him install it..did a great job!! Had to fine tune a couple of satellites (because of my screwup) but it works great!
 
Motorized mount

I paln to get a motorized mount for my FTA but I would like to have feedback from anybody who has installed this type of device.
Is it really easy and accurate to find satellite ?
 
Just read above! I have installed MANY of them and they are very easy to install, all you need to do is set one angle, let me know your zip code and I can work out your exact true south satellite setting, then all you do is set the angle on the motor, swing round, peak in your true south bird and you are done! The most critical part is getting the pole/mast exactly plumb, close is NOT good enough, this is where you want to spend most time, I cheat a bit and use a pole bubble level that comes with DirecTV Phase III dish, another trick is to take into account the weight of the dish when setting the pole plumb and level, if its a pole mount in the ground I fill the pole with cement all the way to the top as this help to stop it flexing with the weight, once its set you should never need to touch it again, and it follows the arc (Clarke Belt) exactly, as I have told people before I still get a kick out of it every time my dish moves drop me a line if I can be of ANY help, you will wonder how you ever lived without one : )
 
what is the maximum diameter of the pipe?

PSB said:
Just read above! I have installed MANY of them and they are very easy to install, all you need to do is set one angle, let me know your zip code and I can work out your exact true south satellite setting, then all you do is set the angle on the motor, swing round, peak in your true south bird and you are done! The most critical part is getting the pole/mast exactly plumb, close is NOT good enough, this is where you want to spend most time, I cheat a bit and use a pole bubble level that comes with DirecTV Phase III dish, another trick is to take into account the weight of the dish when setting the pole plumb and level, if its a pole mount in the ground I fill the pole with cement all the way to the top as this help to stop it flexing with the weight, once its set you should never need to touch it again, and it follows the arc (Clarke Belt) exactly, as I have told people before I still get a kick out of it every time my dish moves drop me a line if I can be of ANY help, you will wonder how you ever lived without one : )

What is the maximum diameter of the pipe that's on the back of the dish that connects to the sg2100? not the mast pole diameter but the back of the dish. thanks.
 
Thats a tough one, but I think I know what you mean, all the motor mount installs I have done I have installed a regular 1 11/16" or 1 5/8" type dish mast size (same as DirecTV)But I have thought about putting a Direcway dish on the SG2100 as it says it works on dish up to 1.2m But I think they would be too heavy and the pipe that you mention would have to be modified (brought down in Dia.) and would not fit snug, but I am sure some people have done this, I prefer to use the lighter dish.

http://www.dmsiusa.com/sg2100.htm
 
trying to set up with primestar dish

That was exactly I was trying to do with a dish with thicker pipe (primstar)
I have a really old primestar dish (1meter round) and another one with oval. They both have heavy dish holder on the back of the dish.
I'd hate to spend extra money to get a dish and a lnbf if I could somehow use the primstar dish!. thanks for listening.
 
I have seen a few pictures of it being done, but I don't think you would be doing the motor any good with such a weight, I have three DirecPC dish here and if I thought I could do it I would set each of them up as a motorized system, two of them are Duo's so they have ku and dbs LNB, let us know what way you go!
 

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thinking of modifying the primstar dish

I think I'll try to modify the back of the dish so I can fit the motor with thinner size pipe like dishnetwork.
speaking of motor. any recommendation? sg2100 or PM900 by Pansat?
 
I have only seen and sell the SG2100 someone from CA. called me last week about a PM900 Pansat motor, he was having trouble getting the correct angle to set it to, he said there was an extra pink piece of paper in the box saying to take -5deg. off the recommended motor angle, so he ended up with three angles from three different sources, I told him to set it to his latitude, the manual said another angle, the pink paper said another and his local installer had another angle, he eventually got it but other than that I have never seen or used a Pansat motor, maybe someone can chip in what motor would be best for a heavy dish.
 
I have a hotdish also and the sg2100 and I hate the mount for the dish that connects to the motor arm. I can't get the elivations I need. So far I have been very unsuccessful at any sat signal. I hooked up my nexus-s to my DTV dish and got a signal strength o5 90 but no signal quality. I need the correct bracket and then I will try all this again. I live in coconut creek FL just north of Ft. Lauderdale. So my true south should be close to magnetic south.
 
I just installed a 75cm Hotdish to a SG2100 and all I had to do to get it to fit was open up the diameter of one hole (where the main bolt that goes throught the motor down pipe and dish ) I also had to reverse one or two bolts and swap one for a shorter bolt so that I could get down to the right dish elevation, up here we set the SG2100 to 45 deg, but if you give me your zip I can work out all the angles for your true south satellite, I am sure you will get it in the end!
 
maximum dish weight for sg2100?

just wondering what's the maximum weight that sg2100 can hold?
 
Also in Broward County, FL

reanimator said:
I have a hotdish also and the sg2100 and I hate the mount for the dish that connects to the motor arm. I can't get the elivations I need. So far I have been very unsuccessful at any sat signal. I hooked up my nexus-s to my DTV dish and got a signal strength o5 90 but no signal quality. I need the correct bracket and then I will try all this again. I live in coconut creek FL just north of Ft. Lauderdale. So my true south should be close to magnetic south.

I am awaiting a Winegard 75 cm dish with an SG2100 motor. I live in central Broward. Do you have any suggestions for mounting his combination?

I do not want to risk a wall mounting, but I do have a second story patio (ununsed) where a Dishnetwork DP500 Dish is already installed on the western facing wall. Can this dish's pole mount be bolted onto the concrete slab floor of that patio? Do I need any additional hardware? Do you know whether the pole is included with the dish when I receive it later this week?

What are you using to determine true south? Where can I get a similar device?

Best regards, and appreciate any assistance you can provide to your neighbor in Broward County.

greyskies :what
 
Max SG2100 weight is not shown on the box or the specs, but it does say dish up to 1.2m but I would not put a DirecPC dish on it but some people have, the MAX I would put on it would be a 90cm Hot dish (nice and light) but most people get away with a 30" dish.

The mast comes with the dish, you have to get the mast as plumb as you can, spend as much time as needed to get it bang on, or you will be sorry. Let me know your zip code and I will let you know your true south satellite and the coordinates you need to point your dish at it. A compass should be all you need to point the dish and of course you will have to be able to see your TV screen if you do not get a pro to do the install. I use this tool to "pinpoint the satellite in the sky, its a site survey tool, that every satellite installer must have or they are not really a satellite installer, just a "wanna be"

http://www.dmsiusa.com/site_survey.htm

Patio sounds good if you can get it mounted there, check my web site for some ideas where you can put the dish. Hope it all works out for you!
 
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