newbie sat switching questions

[edugamer]

So, my 33" offset hasn't even arrived yet and I already got one of the slimlines working. I like to know, if I want to switch sats to lets say, 91w will I have to go through setting the elevation, azimuth, and skew all over again every time I want to swtitch sats?
If this is so, maybe I might want to buy a motor later? Does the motor like move everything on the disk for you from inside from a controle panel or something like that? I might be able to make my own. I have some arcade buttons, switches, joysticks and some motors and wood basic working/machining ability.
Right now, I have the slim aimed at g19.

 

[KE4EST]

Yes, anytime you want to move your dish to another satellite you will have to:

• Rotate it on the pole over to that bird(Azimuth).
• Change the up and down for your location(Elevation).
• and yes, you will have to move the skew.

A motor will run right off of your receiver, assuming you have a descent receiver. You can get a USALS/DiSEqC 1.3 motor and run a coax from the receiver to the motor then a short jumper coax from the motor to the LNBF on the dish. The receiver will send commands that will multipleride along ) the same coax.

The reason I say descent receiver is the fact that some don't have the power to push a motor very well and some of the off brand ones won't even send the USALS commands or send the properly.
First though I recommend you continue to move the dish around by hand to different birds and get some more experience under your belt. Adding a motor adds a whole other learning curve.

 

[FTA4PA]

Agree with KE4EST. Get some more practice aiming the dish at other sats so you know how things work then upgrade to a motor. Make sure you mark your current elevation, azimuth and skew in some way (pencil, marker, etc) so you can return to a known position if you get lost. As far as a motor, when you are ready I would recommend a STAB HH90. High quality, Italian made motor manufactured by the company that developed USALS.

HH-90

Universal Satellites Automatic Location System - Wikipedia

 

[edugamer]

Yes, anytime you want to move your dish to another satellite you will have to:

• Rotate it on the pole over to that bird(Azimuth).
• Change the up and down for your location(Elevation).
• and yes, you will have to move the skew.

A motor will run right off of your receiver, assuming you have a descent receiver. You can get a USALS/DiSEqC 1.3 motor and run a coax from the receiver to the motor then a short jumper coax from the motor to the LNBF on the dish. The receiver will send commands that will multipleride along ) the same coax.

The reason I say descent receiver is the fact that some don't have the power to push a motor very well and some of the off brand ones won't even send the USALS commands or send the properly.
First though I recommend you continue to move the dish around by hand to different birds and get some more experience under your belt. Adding a motor adds a whole other learning curve.

awesome!
good to know.
Surprisingly enough, my cheesy $25 receiver has diseque settings.
I have also replaced the crappy power supply it came with with a nicer beefier one. I think it helped the overall performance of the gtmedia. Hopefully it will be able to handle the motor!
I wonder if the power supply affects the reseption at all compaired to if I still had the old one it came with. Just wanted to add this.
Have no idea what the old one was as far as amp rating. The new one is 12V DC 1A

 

[KE4EST]

You will need at least a 2amp supply to push a motor, I have 6 on mine.

Sent from my Google Pixel XL using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[primestar31]

Well, you already have the Slimline dish working. Put that at the ONE satellite you think you are likely to watch MOST, and never move it. You can use a diseqc switch and put that on port 2. Then when you get your 33" dish that can be on port 1 and aimed at a different sat. That way you'll have two dishes, aimed at two different sats at the same time.

Later the 33" dish could be put on a motor if you want.

 

[edugamer]

Well, you already have the Slimline dish working. Put that at the ONE satellite you think you are likely to watch MOST, and never move it. You can use a diseqc switch and put that on port 2. Then when you get your 33" dish that can be on port 1 and aimed at a different sat. That way you'll have two dishes, aimed at two different sats at the same time.

Later the 33" dish could be put on a motor if you want.

Well, you already have the Slimline dish working. Put that at the ONE satellite you think you are likely to watch MOST, and never move it. You can use a diseqc switch and put that on port 2. Then when you get your 33" dish that can be on port 1 and aimed at a different sat. That way you'll have two dishes, aimed at two different sats at the same time.

Later the 33" dish could be put on a motor if you want.

nice!
At the moment, do to allowed antenna space available on the deck, will be sticking to one disk.
I already have the slim set aside as part of a trade item for someone who is also into the FTA hobby.
I have another one just like it to use as a backup satellite dish but yea will need to do everything all over again with the new disk. Not a big deal, I have the numbers memorized now lol.
For now I will be using the 33" in conjunction with a motorized antenna. Might get a motor for the 33" later on, and possibly find another spot to put the other slim where it will be out of the way lol.