Need Orbitron Mount Pics.

[B.J.]

I've read very little about those dishes, and never seen one.
Always wondered exactly how the spinning related to the declination.
Thanks, B.J. for the description.

Not at all what I expected. ...

One other issue I ran into with the spinclination was that, when I looked at the thing (there weren't any instructions with it for some reason, even though I bought it new), was that I realized that turning the dish clockwise or counter-clockwise would give the same declination angles, so I thought that it didn't matter which way I went, and I ended up rotating my dish counter-clockwise looking from the front. The problem with this was that when I came to the end of the limits of the motor drive when approaching my western horizon, the dish was rotated so that it was aiming back to the east a few degrees, and I couldn't get the dish to reach a couple western sats that I actually could see. So I had to do it all over, and rotate it the other way, clockwise, so that the dish looked slightly to the west, and then I could reach the western sats. This didn't make a whole lot of sense to me because with an 8 degree bend in the pipe coming out of the back of the dish, when I rotated to give me my 6 deg declination, it would only be tilted about 2 deg along the arc, so it didn't seem likely that I wouldn't be able to reach the western horizon only because of 2 degrees, but apparently they had it set up with a bit more travel in one direction than the other so that you were supposed to only rotate it in one direction. Now that I have the thing apart, I should look at that again and see if that was really the case, but that's the only logical reason I could think of for why rotating one direction would keep me from getting to a couple western sats.

 

[brex2001]

polar actuator vs H-H mount

It is readily apparent that the spin declination setting must be set up for east vs west arc for the polar actuator mount by the lay of the arm to the left for western arc like mine is set. Turning the dish clockwise looking from the lnb side for western arc gives the declination angle to match the latitude.
For the H-H mount turning the dish clockwise looking from the lnb side of the dish for the western arc would cause to dish to "look" east bias direction. Counterclockwise would cause the dish to "look" west bias direction.
Yes now I can see how this can become confusing!

 

[N0QBH]

A picture would be worth a thousand words...I had to replace about half the panels on my Orbitron due to hail damage a few years back. Took the trim off of the rim of the dish and simply pulled the pie shaped pieces out.

 

[coinmaster32]

Adjusting limits.

How can I adjust my east west limit switches? As you can see one more move and the actuator will bind itself into the mount.

 

[Beano_face]

if your actuator is at its physical limit... there is nothing else you can do.

adjusting switches, or east/ west limits in your box wont help...

 

[LocutusOfBorg]

How can I adjust my east west limit switches? As you can see one more move and the actuator will bind itself into the mount.

There should be a software limit setting procedure for your sat receiver. Not as good as a hardware limit but it should get the job done. You'll have to refer to your owners manual to do this but it'll be somewhere in your settings menu.

 

[jsattv]

Coinmaster32 this once happened to me last winter when it was -32 degrees below zero and I was on my most Eastern Sat - Pas 9 at 58.0W. Luckily I got it unstuck by using the V Box III Remote Control and clicking it in the West Direction 1 click at a time, gave it about 10 manual clicks and it finally unstuck and I was able to drive the Dish back to 97.0W. I never did that again, ie stayed close to 97.0W till it warmed up in the Spring.

 

[B.J.]

The first 4 or 5 actuators I bought all had adjustable limit switches in the box on the actuator. But the actuator I just bought for my new SAMI didn't have adjustable limits, or at least they were only adjustable on one end. Ie there was a cam wheel, and no way to change where the bumps on the cam wheel were located.
It on my old actuators, there was a long screw, which moved a little plastic block with an adjustable metal rod back and forth. The fully retracted position was fixed, where the plastic block hit a switch, but you could position the metal rod so that it would hit them at different points to adjust the fully extended limit.
Seems like these new motors have done some cost cutting in an area that they shouldn't have, or perhaps the other design was patented or something.
Not sure I like having to rely on software limits, because they can get changed accidentally.

 

[coinmaster32]

I have an idea but not sure if it will work, couldn't I take the motor out, drive the motor all the way until the east limit switch makes contact, and connect the motor back?

 

[coinmaster32]

Well I got my dish up. However there is alot of slop when I move it by hand from east to west, its in the mounting tube for the actuator.

Does anyone have a pic of the actuator tube attachment where it bolts onto the mount?

 

[coinmaster32]

Elevation Issue

On my orbitron 10 footer.

When I peak the elevation on one sat, and move to one about 30 degrees away, the elevation is off, my declination is set, and the pole is level.

I have to adjust the elevation for that sat, but when I move to the other sat, the elevation is again off.
What would cause that?

 

[Mr Tony]

I merged all your threads about the dish. Please keep it all in one thread...easier to follow

 

[coinmaster32]

Now I have another problem, I cannot get S2!!!

I had an old 8.5 foot dish. It did about the same on analog, some sparkles but not too bad, and did ok on regualr DVB. I was also getting s2 on it, and good signal too.

The new 10 footer I have, Does alot better on regular DVB, but it wont pick up s2. No matter how much I peak the dish, it will not lock any s2 transponder even though it does alot better on regular DVD then the old dish.

Help.

 

[coinmaster32]

anyone?