Motor question about degrees

[SkySurfer80]

Well just when I thought I couldnt pull in any better signals than what I currently am with my 90cm setup I guess I can even pull in more in the arc.


I always leave my dish set to my southern sat which is SES 2 at 87* and my due south is at 85.5 degrees. So when I am aimed at the 87* bird I figured my motor should be at maybe 2 degrees or just a hair under 2 degrees from 0.

Well I went out to take a looksy for curiousity just now and I was amazed! Being aimed at a bird 1.5 degrees west of my due south or zero point my motor is actually at about -2 degrees or about 3.5 degrees east of where it should be!


So far I am in heaven with my signals. I am hitting as followed.


87*

Newsource feeds 90%
Lotto channel 60%
Adtec2 (NY lotto) 31%
Florida channel 81%
LPB 81%
Baton rouge LPB test card 84%


89*

LDS Mux 50-58% depending on time of day




91*

News live 4 channel mux 81%



95*

Cctv 90%



97*

University Network 81%


Most tps in the 70s and 80s



99*

Infowars 58%
Fox 2 channel mux 36%
Russian mux 88%



103*

Nbc feeds mux 71%
Nbc 4 channel mux 40%


105*

Echo test 84%



113*

Hope channel 91%
Reuters 50-60%
Space available feed 25%



123


Daystar 83%
Kbs world 91-93%



125*

PBS mux 65%
Montana PBS 31%



Ok these are the signal at the best time of day and maxed out. I figured for a 90cm I was hitting the arc great and even pulling in lots of feeds on the 99 bird which is usually supposed to be good for 1.2 meter and alot of people claim they get no feeds on it with a 90cm or smaller.


Anyhow my question is can I still be locked in at its best and be a few degrees or so off on the motor? I know to correct it I just need to move the setup on the pole over to the west about 3.5 degrees which would mean I would have to counter by raising the elevation of the dish. Right? Also any of you out there with a geosatpro 3500 hdvr and a dish close to my size care to tell me if you think my signals are good or could I possibly get them better?

I am going to start posting signal based on db which my satlink 6916 meter reads since different receivers have different quality readouts. I am a perfectionist when it comes to this and I just want to be locked in the arc as perfect as possible.



Thanks for taking the time guys.

 

[SkySurfer80]

Well adjusted a bit and actually did improve my signals by 3 or more pct on most tps! So I went to 87* bumped the dish east about 1.5 degrees and stored the 85* at about 85.5 which is my due south. Went out and took a peak at the motor and it looks like I am still a degree or 1.5 degrees to the east so I guess I will swing her another 1.5 degrees to the west on the pole and see if I can actually pull in even more signal, which frankly I am already impressed I am getting such with a 90cm dish.

Here are some pics I took. Can any of you tell by pics that I am a hair off zero on the motor? Also attached are some pics of the Db I am getting on some tps. I actually saw 15.0 on one tp for a split second.

 

[Brct203]

it's usually good to see if you can get satellites on both ends of the arc... Any chance you can "see" 30W or 34.5W? My take is, if you can verify that you're aiming accurately on both ends, then you know your azimuth is accurate. Then after that it's a matter of fine tuning elevation and declination

Looks like you're able to get 53W, that might be good enough as an eastern satellite

 

[harshness]

Keep in mind that the orbital location is based on the angle from the center of the Earth while your dish is around 4,000 miles closer. That being the case, the angles you sweep between birds is not the same as the difference in orbital slots.

For example the angle between 110W and 119W for me is about 12.5 degrees. dishpointer.com comes in handy for figuring this kind of stuff out.

 

[SkySurfer80]

Well i figure since I am locked in at both my south sat and my west sat which is 40 degrees away the East should line up too. Right? I am hitting the PBS mux at 70 pct now with a 14.0 db for my west sat. If someone else with a 90cm can tell me if they are hitting pbs at a higher rate then I would know I suppose. I will see how far I can go to the East. I know there is really not much east of 87 like their used to be. Not sure about the 30 w or 34.5 w birds. That would be 55 degrees out from center for me and with only a 90cm I doubt I would get any weak or marginal signals, but hey now that I have my meter I can try! I forgot about that! Before I would have to just bump and drive her east and do blind scans every degree or so to try to find a sat. I will just program some tps for 30 and the east sats and adjust it at the dish to be safe so the dish dont go too far and get stuck! i have a story or too for that!

How far would you say I should be able to go from my due south before possibly going too far?

 

[a33]

, the angles you sweep between birds is not the same as the difference in orbital slots.

For example the angle between 110W and 119W for me is about 12.5 degrees. dishpointer.com comes in handy for figuring this kind of stuff out.

Keep in mind: Dishpointer gives (only) the azimuths, that is for a pole perpendicular to the earth surface (fixed dish setup).

For a motor setup, with the pole about parallel to the earth's axis, you'd need the difference in Hour Angle.
For Salem, OR that difference (110W - 119W) would be about 10.06 degrees. So different from your 12.5 degrees Azimuth difference!

Satellite Look Angle Calculator gives the "polarmount hour angle" values, I just checked (but I don't normally use that, as I have my own calculator ...).
That website doesn't use the normal convention for what is 0 and what is 180 for hour angle, though, but the values are perfectly usable for calculating the differences.

Greetz,
A33