Newbie needing help with motorized KU dish setup

[Gillez]

Hi Everyone,

I have been doing a lot of reading on this great site and have decided to take the plunge with true FTA (along with an OTA antenna in order to cancel my satellite sub, the OTA part is working great).

I locally purchased a Digiwave 90cm dish (model S750WB) with a Stab HH90 motor. I plan on setting it up on a tripod on my back patio for the winter to try it out and then figure out a more permanent installation in the spring.

I have installed the tripod with the mast being perfectly plumb.

The motor and dish are installed on the mast but that's where I start to have problems.

The elevation angle of the motor is set to 38 degrees, which is my latitude. I'm in the Montreal, Quebec area.

The manual for the motor mentions that you can calculate the dish elevation with the formula: elevation = P-(45-latitude), with P being a value given by the dish manufacturer. I can't figure out what this value is. I have a sheet that gives the assembly instructions for the dish but no mention of such a value on it.

I then looked at a dish pointing site to get the whereabouts of SES1 because I think I'll be watching a lot of History channel. It gives me an azimuth, elevation and a skew values. Does the skew value apply to a motorized dish? I have an adjusement on the front arm of the dish to do so.

I plan on using a Coolsat 7000 to run all of this but before I start asking receiver questions I'd like to get the dish part of the equation right.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[dougruss]

Hi Everyone,

I have been doing a lot of reading on this great site and have decided to take the plunge with true FTA (along with an OTA antenna in order to cancel my satellite sub, the OTA part is working great).

I locally purchased a Digiwave 90cm dish (model S750WB) with a Stab HH90 motor. I plan on setting it up on a tripod on my back patio for the winter to try it out and then figure out a more permanent installation in the spring.

I have installed the tripod with the mast being perfectly plumb.

The motor and dish are installed on the mast but that's where I start to have problems.

The elevation angle of the motor is set to 38 degrees, which is my latitude. I'm in the Montreal, Quebec area.

The manual for the motor mentions that you can calculate the dish elevation with the formula: elevation = P-(45-latitude), with P being a value given by the dish manufacturer. I can't figure out what this value is. I have a sheet that gives the assembly instructions for the dish but no mention of such a value on it.

I then looked at a dish pointing site to get the whereabouts of SES1 because I think I'll be watching a lot of History channel. It gives me an azimuth, elevation and a skew values. Does the skew value apply to a motorized dish? I have an adjusement on the front arm of the dish to do so.

I plan on using a Coolsat 7000 to run all of this but before I start asking receiver questions I'd like to get the dish part of the equation right.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Set the Lnb in the Holder at Zero...as the Motor moves the Dish,the Skew is taken care of.


.

 

[rogerduncan100]

Hello!

I've got to tell you that your latitude is NOT 38 degrees! I am in Toronto at a latitude of 43.7 degrees and a look at a map will show you that all of Quebec Province is north of Toronto.

You may me mixing up latitude and elevation angle. Elevation angle is 90 degrees minus latitude so that at the North Pole it's zero degrees and at the Equator it's ninety degrees and this makes sense if you think about what your'e aiming at.

Hope this helps.

Roger Duncan

 

[Gillez]

Latitude

Oops

After looking it up properly, I'm at 45.66 degrees latitude. Thanks for pointing out an obvious mistake on my behalf.

Now that I know that my skew must be at zero and with the right latitude setting on the motor, all I'm missing is the dish elevation.

Thanks again

 

[SATisfied]

Oops

After looking it up properly, I'm at 45.66 degrees latitude. Thanks for pointing out an obvious mistake on my behalf.

Now that I know that my skew must be at zero and with the right latitude setting on the motor, all I'm missing is the dish elevation.

Thanks again

You should point the dish towards your true south satellite for a motorized setup. Try to find a strong transponder to tweak the elevation angle. The way I did it was to connect a small tv near the dish, and move the elevation up or down while watching the signal strength (quality). It only needs to move in very small increments to get it to max signal. The same with moving east or west. Hope this helps.

 

[SatelliteAV]

I remember that those HH90 instructions are a bit rough to figure out.... We used to sell STAB products.

Try these coordinates for starters.....

Calculated roughly for Montreal, Quebec
Latitude: 45.5089°
Longitude: -73.5542°

Motor Latitude Angle: 45.5°
Dish Elevation Angle: 38°

Magnetically Corrected South: 195.0°

 

[comfrey]

Another resource that can help you in the alignment of your motorized dish is to determine if your FTA receiver understands USALS. There is quite a bit of information on what this is and how it works. I set my motorized rig up using it.

In a nutshell

1) set you receiver to use USALS ( you'll need to input your Lat/Long for your location)
2) point to the most southerly satellite
3) tweak your elevation and declination based on your location.
4) Move the motor to other angles and test the reception arc for all the satellites

You didn't mention what receiver you have so this may not work for you.

Ok you did mention your receiver, coolsat 7000 so it this will probably work for you.

 

[Mikey11]

set your motors LATITUDE scale to YOUR latitude....never change this adjustment....make sure you are looking at the LATITUDE scale on the motor and NOT the elevation scale....

drive the dish/motor assembly to your southern most satellite using USALS....

now aim the dish/motor assembly at that satellite you have chosen....

when making horizontal adjustments you swing the entire motor/dish assembly on the pole....

when making vertical adjustments you move the DISH ONLY not the motor!!

peak in the signal quality for your chosen satellite and tighten everything up then check other satellites for signal quality using USALS to see if you get the entire arc....

 

[AcWxRadar]

Hi Everyone,

I have been doing a lot of reading on this great site and have decided to take the plunge with true FTA (along with an OTA antenna in order to cancel my satellite sub, the OTA part is working great).

I locally purchased a Digiwave 90cm dish (model S750WB) with a Stab HH90 motor. I plan on setting it up on a tripod on my back patio for the winter to try it out and then figure out a more permanent installation in the spring.

I have installed the tripod with the mast being perfectly plumb.

The motor and dish are installed on the mast but that's where I start to have problems.

The elevation angle of the motor is set to 38 degrees, which is my latitude. I'm in the Montreal, Quebec area.

The manual for the motor mentions that you can calculate the dish elevation with the formula: elevation = P-(45-latitude), with P being a value given by the dish manufacturer. I can't figure out what this value is. I have a sheet that gives the assembly instructions for the dish but no mention of such a value on it.

I then looked at a dish pointing site to get the whereabouts of SES1 because I think I'll be watching a lot of History channel. It gives me an azimuth, elevation and a skew values. Does the skew value apply to a motorized dish? I have an adjusement on the front arm of the dish to do so.

I plan on using a Coolsat 7000 to run all of this but before I start asking receiver questions I'd like to get the dish part of the equation right.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hello!

I've got to tell you that your latitude is NOT 38 degrees! I am in Toronto at a latitude of 43.7 degrees and a look at a map will show you that all of Quebec Province is north of Toronto.

You may me mixing up latitude and elevation angle. Elevation angle is 90 degrees minus latitude so that at the North Pole it's zero degrees and at the Equator it's ninety degrees and this makes sense if you think about what your'e aiming at.

Hope this helps.

Roger Duncan

Oops

After looking it up properly, I'm at 45.66 degrees latitude. Thanks for pointing out an obvious mistake on my behalf.

Now that I know that my skew must be at zero and with the right latitude setting on the motor, all I'm missing is the dish elevation.

Thanks again

Another resource that can help you in the alignment of your motorized dish is to determine if your FTA receiver understands USALS. There is quite a bit of information on what this is and how it works. I set my motorized rig up using it.

In a nutshell

1) set you receiver to use USALS ( you'll need to input your Lat/Long for your location)
2) point to the most southerly satellite
3) tweak your elevation and declination based on your location.
4) Move the motor to other angles and test the reception arc for all the satellites

You didn't mention what receiver you have so this may not work for you.

Ok you did mention your receiver, coolsat 7000 so it this will probably work for you.

This is an excellent thread! I am in agreement with Comfrey, use USALS if your FTA receiver supports it, most do these days. USALS will make your alignment project so much easier!

RADAR

 

[Gillez]

another snag

Man, the fun just never ends.

I read on these forums that on my model of Digiwave dish, the elevation markings are off by something like 17 or 18 degrees! To get AMC-6 (which is my near true-south satellite), I need 37 degrees elevation. If I refer to my markings, I can't get the dish to 37 degrees, the dish hits the top of the motor before getting there.

I managed to get my USALS coordinates in the receiver and had it move to AMC-6, which isn't far from my reference point. The Coolsat gives me 3 frequencies to choose from for AMC-6, 3934m8681(v), 3994m4167(V) and 4040m26665(v).

Which of the 3 do I want to use to search for the satellite? After that, I'll try and figure out the right elevation to see it.

Thanks again for your precious help, I'd be totally lost without it.