need help with setup

[krisman]

the windstorm that we had a few days ago messed my alignment up and i am trying to get my true south sat lined up again. i have had trouble the past couple of days with it, all i seem to get it 101w, i dont even get the hot sats like nimiq. im aiming at 89w. of course there are 2 factors that i have not considered. i have heard that different tps are hotter at different times of day. the last time i sat it up i also had trouble lining up, but the earliest i was out was at 3 p.m. now i did get lined up once today and tightened up my bolts and when i looked back down it was at 0, never to return again.

1. i have been out both times after 4 p.m. when the sun is setting toward the far west. the time i got lined up when i first installed it was between 11 am - 1pm. it seemed pretty easy then. but the sun was almost exactly lined up with the lnb

2. dark storm clouds were out both times, i dont know if this would have anything to do with it or not.

it seems a lot harder this time getting lined up, could the windstorm have messed something up?

i need your guys opinion.

 

[turbosat]

Maybe just knocked off the east/west alignment, but if it was really strong winds I suppose it could've blown something into the lnb-support arms-anything look bent? If not, prob need to just start from scratch and set your elevation again, pick a sat near true south, find a good transponder on it and try to pinpoint that. With a good aim, cloudy weather shouldn't have too big an effect on your signal, if you're alignment is marginal to begin with though, heavy clouds or rain may knock the signal lower. After sundown, all of it should be a tiny bit better,due to lack of solar heating, but not a big amount.

 

[krisman]

it was like 60mph winds. and the motor was turned to 123w from a 89w southbird so the winds were forced toward a very turned dish. but nothing looked bent to me. the strange thing is that i had good quality and signal and then i tightened my bolts and it was gone. i dont know whether to go out in the nighttime or the day when the sun is directly in line with my lnb. i have a sv premier so any little bit of quality gain will help. it is a very touchy alignment. does anyone elses motor arm have a little bit of slack in it or is that how it is made?

 

[Tron]

Some motors (in particular the SG-2100s) have a problem with slack. There is an adjustment that can be made on that motor, but I would recommend that it be done only by someone very familiar with the procedure.

 

[walrus1957]

You stated when you tightened up the bolts you lost the strong signal. I am going to guess that with the bolts a little loose the dish was leaned forward somewhat and tilted down. When you tightened the motor bolts this pulled your dish up and now the elevation is a little high. Would make since that the strong winds may have moved your dish elevation up a smidgen.

I had the same winds the other day and my dish elevation increased 1/2 degree, I had to go out on the roof and do a minor re-adjustment to my dish elevation. Surprisingly the azimuth stayed spot on.

I also lost the tops of several large trees in my yard that same day. I think the wind had reached 90 mph a few times. Thought the whole house was going to blow away. Lost power on and off throughout the day, really annoying!

 

[DishDigger]

You might check for damaged feedline (coax) or connectors, especially with the way the wind turned the dish.......Just a thought..

 

[krisman]

you know, actually i have noticed a little problem, sometimes when i have been adjusting the dish the signal and quality just go down to 0 so i tug and adjust a little on the coax wires and it goes back up, should i cut off a new piece of coax?

 

[turbosat]

Yep>could have some moisture in there, or just a loose connector.