MOTORIZING A C BAND DISH

[James leandre]

How is everyone doing today?

I've installed a motorized ku band dish before,but I've never installed a Motorized C Band. I'm interested to know how hard is it to motorize a 6 foot dish.

 

[Blindowl1234]

James, The six foot dish to me was easy..much easier. I'd check to see if any of our sponsors above have all the stuff to put it together. My setup came from Sadoun in Columbus Ohio...who was a sponsor at the time. Check with WSI which is in Georgia might be a lot closer for sure.They should have the stuff you need. Anyway you need the polar mount, the 3"pole or get a pole locally, 24"actuator is what I used, and a Gbox....total I'm guessing $250. Some use the less expensive Vbox to control the actuator...I've had good luck with the Gbox myself. Also some use sprinkler cable to connect the Gbox or Vbox to the actuator. I used 4 conductor solid wire telephone wire..costs maybe $10 or so. Anyway I thought it was a whole lot easier to setup the six dish for cband than the ku was. I did it in half the time....hope this helps, Blind

 

[Lone Cloud]

Most things are similar. Do a site survey and find a good spot where your dish can "see" as much of the Clarke Belt arc as the site will allow( or put it where the wife tells you it has to go) Get your mast into a footing that is deep enough. Make sure it is dead plumb, and maybe reinforced against wind forces. A 24 inch actuator seems pretty heavy duty for a six foot dish, but it will work. When I had an actuator setup, I liked putting the due south position at exactly in the middle of the actuator throw - but that really depends upon what satellites you can see.

In Florida there I expect you will be able to see as far west as 135w and as far east as 55w. For tools, you might use an inclinometer.

If you have or can borrow a satellite meter, that might be good. I use a "beep on scan" receiver (Viewsat Ultra) and wirelesss RF headphones.
Like with your Ku setups, you set the dish on zenith and go for your due south satellite first.

As far how to set the polar mount and the declination angle, post some pictures of the back and front of your dish and people here will, I am sure, help you further.

 

[Blindowl1234]

James here's a picture of my setup. It was a six footer, now an eight footer. Same setup for motor. Hope this helps.. Blind

 

[FaT Air]

I actually think it's a "piece of cake" to align a BUD. Biggest problem is misunderstanding the terminology, and measuring the angles correctly.
Here's a page which will explain the geometry angles involved.
Latitude Declination Chart And a picture worth a thousand (words).

Although the picture is labeled with unmodified angles, the Modified Declination angles are within 2 degrees. Get the declination set correctly, (Use the Modified Polar Mount chart - Declination Offset angle from the page referenced) and start out with the mount angles in the picture, and very shortly you'll be tracking the arc.

 

[LocutusOfBorg]

I've installed a motorized ku band dish before,but I've never installed a Motorized C Band. I'm interested to know how hard is it to motorize a 6 foot dish.

You need an actuator and either a receiver or a Gbox or a Vbox to program and power the actuator.

 

[Mapleleaf69]

well since i use a c band and ku dish set up, i use an old anolog rceiver to drive the bud and the openbox to drive the ku dish. this way i can have the best of both worlds on one receiver.
im not sure if a vbox will work and drive both bud and ku set up at the same time.

 

[alemmoe]

Hi mapleleaf69
I think you are doing what I am trying to learn how to do.
I posted my question today on- How to use a Von Weise [analog wired] motor and a digital receiver