putting up ku motor.

[Dee_Ann]

Ok. First things first.
I do not know what I am doing. I am in way over my head.
I have gotten by by copying what I see you guys do but with no real understanding of how it works.

I have picked up on a good deal of the lingo and I have bumbled my way through a few SIMPLE things that any of you guys could do with your eyes closed.

But the bottom line is, I don't understand most of this stuff and probably never will.

That's the truth of it.

That said, moving on..


My dad made a thing to adapt the little Primerstar dish to the ku motor he bought for me MONTHS ago that has sat in the box ever since.

He took a hinge from a fence gate and attached it to a flat piece of aluminum. He made a metal band to wrap around the motor tube. But it can't really be tightened up super tight. It's pretty snug but the tube slips plenty enough to be a serious problem. So what he told me to do is put a "drill screw" through the band he made and through the motor tube in two places once I have the dish aimed the right way. He gave me a handful of little screw bolt things that have drill tips on them and screw threads too. He also gave me a tool to put in a drill for for drilling them into the tube and he showed me how to do it. Looks pretty easy, I did a few practice ones and it's within my ability to do that.

I put some pictures of the thing he made for me in the attachments. So to help you figure out what the fence part looks like I held up the other half of it in one picture. It was a hinge. Half goes around a big fence pole and the other half goes on the frame, so I a told. I didn't see the thing before he took it to pieces.

I just gave my dad the motor and showed him pictures of how motors look when they are attached to dishes, he looked at my dish then messed with it a few weeks and came up with this.

I think it will work. Well, I *hope* it will work. I have no idea if this is right or not. Knowing my luck, probably not. If this doesn't work then I'm out of luck. I have a serious fear that I'm going to have to end up buying MORE STUFF. Like a dish that is made to be on a motor.


Also, I have come to the conclusion that I need to put in all new wires.
Goofus put the wire underground in a pipe.

I went to Houston and bought a flippin heavy roll of wire that should work for the video and to control the motors of the Cband dishes.

It is "Siamese RG-6Q with cat-5e". I went to an electronics store and told them what I am wanting to do and he suggested this stuff. I looked the stuff up on their website and they have a pdf about the wire so I put that in here in the attachment too. I'm sure you guys could look at it and tell me if this stuff will really work. The guy promised me it would.
Please tell me this wire will work!
He also sold me 50 connectors for making the ends.

A few months ago I bought tools for making the ends and some cheap connectors, watched a few youtube videos and then through trial and a LOT of error, learned to put the ends on myself. I still mess up because I have trouble setting the tool properly and I mash them where they are ruined and I have to cut them off and try again. But I'll get the hang of it..

Anyway..

I have also come to the conclusion that I will have to have several wires run from the house out to the dishes. The gbox thing plug into 110 and it's obviously an indoors only thing.

So I have to have a 2 wires, one for each Cband dish. I only have one gbox on order as of now. I'll worry about the second one later. I still have to buy proper lnbs for the cbands. Grrrrr! Always more stuff!

Then there is a wire to run for the ku dishes.

So that's three wires from the house to the dishes. I'm guessing that will be like 75 feet each wire. Is that too long or is that ok?

The guy at the store told me to tie a line to the old wire and pull the old wire out. As I pull the old wire out I will pull string through the underground pipe and then I tie the string to the new wires and pull them through the pipe. He also sold me a spool of yellow nylon string, he says it's for pulling wires through pipes. I just hope it doesn't break!
It seems pretty strong, I can't break it. But I haven't tried it for real. I have such wonderful luck you know. Maybe I should pull three strings through the pipe just to be safe.

Oh yes, the guy told me to put the roll in a milk crate and put a stick through it so it will unroll easy. He was right, it fits perfectly and unrolls a bit too easy!

Ok. So now the mysterious part. How the heck to do it..

I assume, from reading old posts, that I need to run a short wire from the pc tuner to this little Ecoda switch.

From the ecoda switch I need to run a short wire to the gbox (don't have it yet) then a loooong wire out to the cband dish (it's still not put up yet.)

On the other side of the little ecoda switch I run a loooong wire out to the ku dishes.

From what I have been told but still can't understand, I hook the ku wire to the motor FIRST, then hook a wire from the motor to the 8way switch that's out there now. Then I hook all the ku dishes into the 8way switch, including the lnb from the motorized dish.

Right?

If that's correct, how the heck does it work? This is where my brain goes into meltdown mode trying to figure out how the pc will control all this Rube Goldberged up stuff.

It's one thing to duplicate physical things that I can see in pictures but programming the stuff to work, that's where I fall flat on my face.

For now, because I am still a good ways off from having a working Cband system I will just not worry about it for now and focus, for now, on making the ku and motorized ku dish work.

Maybe you guys can look this over and divert me from any monumental disasters before I get too deep into this.

Thank you!

 

[putney]

Your dad did great work. But you are going to need a way to set the elevation.

I've attached the DN hack I did on my Primestar.


.

 

[osu1991]

Leave the flat piece of aluminum and find an old Directv or Dishnetwork Dish and take the mount off one of them and mount it to the aluminum upside down. As Putney said you will need to be able to adjust the elevation and you can do that with one of the old pizza dish mounts.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Great.....

Well, two things. I thought you tilt the motor on the pole that's in the ground. What's this about tilting the dish and the motor?

When I first got this motor months and months ago, one of the things I considered was this suggestion about using the thing off a dishnet work dish. I found one but the tube on the motor is a good deal larger than the dishnet clamp thing, it's not physically possible to do that.

The other thing that I had issue with, that dishnet thing, it's FLIMSY. I mean really, really flimsy. I can bend it if I look at it with a mean face. It was obviously designed for the dinky little pizza dishes that weigh pretty much nothing.

But back to the main problem. The motor tube on this thing will NOT fit in the dishnet clamp. It is larger around than the clamp by a good bit.

Back to square one. This is exactly where I was at months ago when I first got the motor. No way to attach it to a flippin dish. THIS is why the dish went back in the box and got kicked around the house from room to room for months.
This really chaps my backside.

I guess I'll have to buy (SPEND MORE $$) on another flippin dish when I've already got the silly things running out my ears.

THIS is just about to push me over the line. On the other side of that line is a hammer. A nice little red hammer that is fiery red like my hair.
And there is a blank spot on the handle of that hammer where I can pencil in the names of all these stupid flippin satellite dishes..

 

[osu1991]

I apologize to whomevers work this was. I can't remember who's dish mod this was, I didn't label the photos when I saved them, but this is what I was planning on doing for my primestar 84e to motorize it. This uses the mounting base instead of the dish mount.

The threaded bolt at the bottom allows you to set the dish elevation.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Wow...

This really chaps my backside.

I went to look for a new dish, one that is designed to be put on a motor.
Dish = $50
Shipping = $65


Is there anywhere in Houston that sells 1meter dishes in a store that I can walk in, pay cash and walk out without having my purse strings cut by a highwayman in the process?

I'm not paying $65 for United Package Smashers to deliver a bashed up box containing an equally bashed up satellite dish.

I'm getting really, really close to hauling it all out to the curb. The John Deere has a full tank of gas and I have some nice strong rope that will fit just right between the bumper and the pole....

 

[Dee_Ann]

I apologize to whomevers work this was. I can't remember who's dish mod this was, I didn't label the photos when I saved them, but this is what I was planning on doing for my primestar 84e to motorize it. This uses the mounting base instead of the dish mount.

The threaded bolt at the bottom allows you to set the dish elevation.

That's really cool that someone could figure out how to do that.

But I still have the problem of the tube on the motor being too flippin large to fit *anything*...

 

[osu1991]

You could try turning the actual primestar mount upside down and using it, if it will fit on the tube I have seen this done a few times. You should be able to call up whomever you ordered the motor from and order a smaller diameter tube too. Which model motor are using?

If your dad could cut a slot in the sleeve he made so you it can move the entire assembly as you adjust the elevation and drill a hole through the tube where that slot is cut, so you can use a long bolt to snug it up to the tube, what you have would probably work. I would use some threaded rod with a conduit hanger like in the photo above so you can accurately make the elevation adjust. I am just guessing and throwing out a suggestion here. There are a lot more experienced modders here than me.

 

[Tron]

The SG-9120 motor tube is a larger size than most dish mounts are, so be careful if you are buying a new dish to mount on it. That motor is really designed to handle a dish with U-bolt-style mounts, not a sleeve mount. It is also designed for larger (1-1.2 meter) dishes. It is a very good motor, and there are ways to adapt it to work with a Primestar dish.

 

[stogie5150]

I apologize to whomevers work this was. I can't remember who's dish mod this was, I didn't label the photos when I saved them, but this is what I was planning on doing for my primestar 84e to motorize it. This uses the mounting base instead of the dish mount.

The threaded bolt at the bottom allows you to set the dish elevation.

First, second, and last are mine.

Dee there isn't any reason in the world you can't do what I did in those pics, especially since your Dad already made you an adapter plate. the ones I used were off a directv phase 3 dish, but since you have a bigger motor shaft, you might need to find a directv slimline dish or an old DISH Superdish, they mount to a bigger mast than the Directv phase 3 dish.

 

[Dee_Ann]

I contacted the place where the motor came from. The tube on it is not changeable.

I am stuck with this non-standard motor.

Again, another FAIL.

Back to the junk room.

ku motor project: terminated..

Lesson learned.

 

[Larobpra]

Your dad should be able to fabricate you something that will work with your motor. Use the pics in osu's post for reference. Or if you have a j-pole mount for the Primestar dish, the foot piece which attaches to the wall or roof should be able to fit your tube.

Never never never give up!

Here are pics of my mount mod. It's very similar to stogie's.

 

[Vorg]

Just a thought about the wire if you get a lot of sun shine. When looking at wire I found white is not UV protected, Black is as a general rule. I have no idea about blue, but if it doesn't have UV protection, the sun makes quick work of it. I ran some white awhile back and it lasted 9 months before the outer coating was falling off exposing the shield.

 

[mr3p]

If your dad just drills two holes in the 9210 motor arm, you should be able to use similar to the pictures posted by Larobpra using an old dish/direct bracket as the swivel point. If the dish bracket isn't wide enough just cut it in half to allow for the 9210 larger diameter.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Red head = Hard head.

First things first.

The tube on that motor is too large to fit inside of ANY pizza dish accessory. I've tried them all. I have parts from bunches of little pizza dishes of all different makes, models and variations. That tube is much too large to fit anything to do with pizza dish stuff. So that's not happening.


Next..

My dad came over today and I showed him some of the things you guys have done and he has some ideas of something he can try on it.

The question he needs to know is, how much does the dish have to tilt?

And why can I not just tilt the motor rather than the dish? I do not at all understand the reason for having a motor that tilts but having to do all these kooky modifications to tilt the dish instead..

That makes no sense to me. My dad thinks it's nonsense too. But neither one of us understand anything about these motors.

If you can tell me how much the motor has to tilt my dad will try to re-make the bracket at an angle. Or something. I don't know.



Purple glue. Sucks! :rant:

Friday I decided to try and run the new wires.
There were old wires in the underground pipe.

I often criticize my ex for his kooky mad hatter projects that he left behind for me to figure out but I have to say that at least on this one thing, he did good. Burying a pipe underground to put the wires in was pretty clever of him.

He had run several wires in it. Last year I think it was, or maybe early this year, I don't remember, one of the wires went dead out of the blue and I lost satellite. Lucky for me, I was able to use one of the other wires that was in the pipe and I was back in business.

So, I pulled the wires out, one at a time until there was one left. Then I tied some nylon string to the end and pulled the last wire out. As I did, it pulled the string through. So far, so good.

Then I went over to where the pipe comes out of the ground which happens to be behind my rose bushes.

As I tried to weave through the roses, I lost balance and fell. I grabbed the plastic pipe sticking out of the ground and snapped it off. Oh joy.

So I had to go to Lowes and buy stuff to fix the pipe with, after I picked rose thorns out of myself. The nice guy at Lowes helped me get the things I needed to fix the pipe. I was smart enough to take the broken piece in with me.

I had to dig up the end of the pipe and use a little blue saw blade to cut it off straight. Then the purple glue. That stuff got all over me! My hands, my shirt (my favorite work shirt, I sort of borrowed it from my ex boyfriend), my jeans, shoes and probably other places I haven't found yet. And worse, that stuff melted my nail polish! Well, at least I didn't break any nails this time.

Then I had to put on the clear glue. You can get loaded off of that stuff! Gaaah!

So I managed to get the pipe fixed. But... While I was fixing it, I pulled on the yellow string. And I pulled it too much and the end out at the dishes went back down inside the pipe! Ooopsy!

I tried to push a wire back through the pipe but there was no way. Then I tried to use a vacuum cleaner to blow the string out the pipe. Nope. Didn't work. In desperation I went and asked a neighbor for help.
He brought over a sewer cleaning snake tape. Ewwwwwwwww!
He pushed this long metal tape through the pipe then I tied the string to the end and he pulled it back out. He tied the string to a stick so it couldn't go back down the pipe. I owe him a beer. I would rather give him a $5 bill but he says he would rather have a beer. Ugh.. Whatever..

So now I tied three pieces of wire to the end of the string and pulled it through the pipe. It was easy to pull through. I made sure I had plenty of extra wire on each end, more than I really need because I learned the hard way, you can't stretch wire. Better to coil up a little extra.

Then it was time to apply my newly learned skill of putting the connectors on the ends. That was actually the easiest part.

By the time I got the ends put on and things reconnected, I was so worn out that I said enough is enough and I gave up for the day.

I am pleased as punch to say that my new wires work! Not only that but now Montana PBS is really good now. It was sort of twitchy before, freezing up at random for a second here and there. Now, steady as can be. I think the new wire did it. Well, I would like to think it did.

So now I have three of those new wires run out there. Oh, and I was smart enough to mark the ends! Yay! So I have one wire that will be for the ku and two wires for the two Cband dishes I plan to put up. One of these days. For now the Cband wires are just coiled up and waiting for their day to come.


While I was out back fighting with the wires, United Package Smashers delivered the gbox and a big motor for the big 10 foot Cband dish.
The gbox thing is *heavy* and a lot larger than I thought it would be. I plugged it in but it just says error, which I guess is because it doesn't see a motor on it. I wanted to push the buttons on it and see it say things but I guess not..

The motor looks like the other motor that came in for the little six foot Cband dish that is also still not put up. I still don't have a pole to put it on. My dad said he was going to get one for me and fix the end so it would fit that weird size pole adapter thing, whatever it's called.

Still waiting on that. Still waiting on a pole for the 10 foot dish too but dad has all the back side parts to it at his house to fix the rusted out parts. It's the part that sits on the pole that the motor hooks to and the big ring that goes on the back of the dish. I'm still a long way from having a Cband dish up and working.

I'm trying, in my head, to picture how all this stuff will hook up but I have some sort of mental block going on and it's like staring into the abyss, I see nothing. I also can not understand how it's all going to be controlled by the PC. I have never used a motor before and know nothing at all about them. Many years ago we had a Cband dish at another house we lived at and it had a motor on it but it was always breaking down. I never did anything with it other than use the remote to watch movies.



So for the time being, I'm pretty much at the same place I was six months ago. Four dishes that don't move. Lots of parts kicking around the floor that I don't know what to do with. I haven't made much progress.

While I'm tempted to rip it all out and through it away after smashing it to itty bitty pieces, another part of me, the hard headed part, is stopping me and driving me to get this done, one way or the other. Even if I end up having to pay someone to do it for me. I've got too much money in all this now and too much time.

When I started messing with this I thought this was all free. HA!!!!!
NOT SO!!! There is nothing free about this at all!

One way or another, you pay...


So, the big question is, how much tilt does that dish have to have on that motor? Dad thinks he can do something with it but he needs to know more info before he can do anything with it.

Thanks guys..

 

[Wescopc]

The motor shaft axis has to be exactly parallel to the earth's axis - so you have an adjustment on the motor that sets it to your latitude. You then have to set the elevation angle on the dish so that it points at the place in the sky where the satellite is - that is called declination. If you have the book that came with your motor it will have a chart that shows the declination for your latitude.
You then have to know the angle of the shaft on your motor - your manual should tell you that as well. The angle is usually 30 or 40 degrees but motors vary. You then take that shaft angle and subtract the declination from it for example 30 - 7 degrees = 23 degrees. That would then be the angle you would set the dish elevation.
Remember that you do not have a bracket for your dish with the elevation settings so you would need to figure the offset of your dish into your formula - I don't know how much offset you have with your dish. Maybe some one else will know and answer that question, or if you can find the specs for you dish.
So that is a long answer that needs to be understood, before your dad modifies the dish for setting the elevation. But It can be done - many have done it on this forum - we can help.
Good Luck!
Bob

 

[mr3p]

The tube on that motor is too large to fit inside of ANY pizza dish accessory. I've tried them all. I have parts from bunches of little pizza dishes of all different makes, models and variations. That tube is much too large to fit anything to do with pizza dish stuff. So that's not happening.

If you (or your dad) were to cut the "pizza dish" bracket shown in Larobpra picket in half along its length, you could mount it to whatever width you need to accomdate the diameter of the motor arm. Ask him to look at those pictures, its a simple solution.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Red head = Hard head.

First things first.

The tube on that motor is too large to fit inside of ANY pizza dish accessory. I've tried them all. I have parts from bunches of little pizza dishes of all different makes, models and variations. That tube is much too large to fit anything to do with pizza dish stuff. So that's not happening.


Next..

My dad came over today and I showed him some of the things you guys have done and he has some ideas of something he can try on it.

The question he needs to know is, how much does the dish have to tilt?

And why can I not just tilt the motor rather than the dish? I do not at all understand the reason for having a motor that tilts but having to do all these kooky modifications to tilt the dish instead..

That makes no sense to me. My dad thinks it's nonsense too. But neither one of us understand anything about these motors.

If you can tell me how much the motor has to tilt my dad will try to re-make the bracket at an angle. Or something. I don't know.



Purple glue. Sucks! :rant:

Friday I decided to try and run the new wires.
There were old wires in the underground pipe.

I often criticize my ex for his kooky mad hatter projects that he left behind for me to figure out but I have to say that at least on this one thing, he did good. Burying a pipe underground to put the wires in was pretty clever of him.

He had run several wires in it. Last year I think it was, or maybe early this year, I don't remember, one of the wires went dead out of the blue and I lost satellite. Lucky for me, I was able to use one of the other wires that was in the pipe and I was back in business.

So, I pulled the wires out, one at a time until there was one left. Then I tied some nylon string to the end and pulled the last wire out. As I did, it pulled the string through. So far, so good.

Then I went over to where the pipe comes out of the ground which happens to be behind my rose bushes.

As I tried to weave through the roses, I lost balance and fell. I grabbed the plastic pipe sticking out of the ground and snapped it off. Oh joy.

So I had to go to Lowes and buy stuff to fix the pipe with, after I picked rose thorns out of myself. The nice guy at Lowes helped me get the things I needed to fix the pipe. I was smart enough to take the broken piece in with me.

I had to dig up the end of the pipe and use a little blue saw blade to cut it off straight. Then the purple glue. That stuff got all over me! My hands, my shirt (my favorite work shirt, I sort of borrowed it from my ex boyfriend), my jeans, shoes and probably other places I haven't found yet. And worse, that stuff melted my nail polish! Well, at least I didn't break any nails this time.

Then I had to put on the clear glue. You can get loaded off of that stuff! Gaaah!

So I managed to get the pipe fixed. But... While I was fixing it, I pulled on the yellow string. And I pulled it too much and the end out at the dishes went back down inside the pipe! Ooopsy!

I tried to push a wire back through the pipe but there was no way. Then I tried to use a vacuum cleaner to blow the string out the pipe. Nope. Didn't work. In desperation I went and asked a neighbor for help.
He brought over a sewer cleaning snake tape. Ewwwwwwwww!
He pushed this long metal tape through the pipe then I tied the string to the end and he pulled it back out. He tied the string to a stick so it couldn't go back down the pipe. I owe him a beer. I would rather give him a $5 bill but he says he would rather have a beer. Ugh.. Whatever..

So now I tied three pieces of wire to the end of the string and pulled it through the pipe. It was easy to pull through. I made sure I had plenty of extra wire on each end, more than I really need because I learned the hard way, you can't stretch wire. Better to coil up a little extra.

Then it was time to apply my newly learned skill of putting the connectors on the ends. That was actually the easiest part.

By the time I got the ends put on and things reconnected, I was so worn out that I said enough is enough and I gave up for the day.

I am pleased as punch to say that my new wires work! Not only that but now Montana PBS is really good now. It was sort of twitchy before, freezing up at random for a second here and there. Now, steady as can be. I think the new wire did it. Well, I would like to think it did.

So now I have three of those new wires run out there. Oh, and I was smart enough to mark the ends! Yay! So I have one wire that will be for the ku and two wires for the two Cband dishes I plan to put up. One of these days. For now the Cband wires are just coiled up and waiting for their day to come.


While I was out back fighting with the wires, United Package Smashers delivered the gbox and a big motor for the big 10 foot Cband dish.
The gbox thing is *heavy* and a lot larger than I thought it would be. I plugged it in but it just says error, which I guess is because it doesn't see a motor on it. I wanted to push the buttons on it and see it say things but I guess not..

The motor looks like the other motor that came in for the little six foot Cband dish that is also still not put up. I still don't have a pole to put it on. My dad said he was going to get one for me and fix the end so it would fit that weird size pole adapter thing, whatever it's called.

Still waiting on that. Still waiting on a pole for the 10 foot dish too but dad has all the back side parts to it at his house to fix the rusted out parts. It's the part that sits on the pole that the motor hooks to and the big ring that goes on the back of the dish. I'm still a long way from having a Cband dish up and working.

I'm trying, in my head, to picture how all this stuff will hook up but I have some sort of mental block going on and it's like staring into the abyss, I see nothing. I also can not understand how it's all going to be controlled by the PC. I have never used a motor before and know nothing at all about them. Many years ago we had a Cband dish at another house we lived at and it had a motor on it but it was always breaking down. I never did anything with it other than use the remote to watch movies.



So for the time being, I'm pretty much at the same place I was six months ago. Four dishes that don't move. Lots of parts kicking around the floor that I don't know what to do with. I haven't made much progress.

While I'm tempted to rip it all out and through it away after smashing it to itty bitty pieces, another part of me, the hard headed part, is stopping me and driving me to get this done, one way or the other. Even if I end up having to pay someone to do it for me. I've got too much money in all this now and too much time.

When I started messing with this I thought this was all free. HA!!!!!
NOT SO!!! There is nothing free about this at all!

One way or another, you pay...


So, the big question is, how much tilt does that dish have to have on that motor? Dad thinks he can do something with it but he needs to know more info before he can do anything with it.

Thanks guys..

Hi Dee,

Regarding the degree that the "dish" has to tilt, depending upon what you are referrig to, this should be automatically compensated for by the rotation of the motor axis and calibrated by you by setting the motor angle to match your geographic latitude angle (in combination with your USALS settings for your lat and long coordinates withing your reciever menu).

Truly, it is so very simple that most don't get it. Everyone seems to think that there is much more to it and there just isn't.

1] Start with a plumb mast that is sturdy.

2] Get a rough idea of your true south direction to start to aim.

3] Set your motor latitude to your site's latitude.

4] Set your dish reflector angle to compensate for the motor tube bend angle and your site lattitude (find this information in the tables of the motor manual/dish installation manual).

5] Set your receiver to a known, active an hot TP nearest your due south direction.

6] monitor the signal/quality meter on your receiver while you pan your dish back and forth (East to West) in a short arc where you expect the satellite to be.

7] Be paitient. Move the dish a very small amount, then back off and wait so that that your receiver has plenty of time to lock on to a signal if it finds one. Have a TV and receiver out at the dish site so that you can get immediate feedback from your adjustments. Keep in mind that some receievers are not very quick to respond, so you have to be patient and take your sweet time.

8] Once you get a signal to come in, peak it kust enough so that you can test it and verify it. Scan the signal and compare your scan results with "The List", Lyngsat or other source to be sure that you are on the proper satellite.

9] If you are on the proper satellite, the one you were aiming and intending to dial in, then peak the signal. and tighten the bolts just enough to keep the dish from moving on you. Do NOT overtighten.

10] Bump the sat dish to the next sat to the east or west using the motors USALS control and go to the furthest satellite in either direction that you can still maintain a signal from.

11] Monitor the signal quality while you gently push and pull on the dish from the backside. Note which direction you have to go to improve the signal.

12] Command the dish to go back to ZERO or HOME.

13] Readjust the dish elevation or the motor azimuth to match what you found instep 11 and then return the dish to the same sat and check your adjustment results.

NOTE: What I am saying here is to try to make your adjustments at your home position (dead center)and not while the dish is pointed to the far east or far west. You will fight gravity in those positions and that can twist your dish brackets when you loosen your mounting bolts and it becomes a never ending loop to get it set properly.

14] Before making any adjustments, check the furthest sat to the west that you can maintain a signal from and the furthest sat to the east that you can maintain a signal from. Note your error and the direction, then return to the motor's HOME position and make that adjustment there. Then verify if your adjustment was proper.

15] If you have improved your signal and it is really looking swell so far, go outward with your motor to the next furthest satellite on both the east and west side agian and that you can still retain a signal from and repeat the process over again. You will eventually make your way across the entire arc and fine tune your dish tracking.

NOTE: This is a slow "calibration" process. You do not want to PEAK your signal at each step, just improve it a little from the last step. It is like Bob Ross' "The Joy of Painting". You don't go fast and sloppy, you go slow and methodically. Here you just want to improve your signal slightly, then return to check the opposite side of the arc and improve it slightly. Don't go to extremes, just rock it back and forth and improve your signal on each side a little at a time. Everyone has their own method, figure out what feels best for you and if it works, stick with it. You can refine it as you go.

NOTE: Trust me when I say that you should not go fast. If you go too fast, you will tend to cut corners and try to peak the signal too much at each sat position. That is not what you want to do. You need to go back and forth between west, center, east, center and west and back and make minor adjustments at each stop and then go further east and west as you are able.

NOTE: It will be very beneficial to you if you can enter one strong transponder on each satellite and nothing else (don't even scan for channels). There is a very good reason for doing this, I will explain shortly.

Most satellite receivers will default to monitor at the first satellite in the list, not te first active TP.
Therefore, you might be panning for a TP that isn't broadcasting anything and it will be very ellusive. If you create an aligment list, it will save you a great deal of time. With an alignment list, the only TPs in the list are always active, so it doesn't matter how you open the sat list for monitoring since every TP is "HOT" ot broadcasting 24/7 amd therefore you can align your dish anytime of the day.

I hope you are following my way of thinking. I have found that it makes life so much easier to do it this way. If you follow my method, it takes about 5 to 15 minutes to get the job done with perfection.

If you need more info on this subject, you can PM me and I will gladly help.

RADAR

 

[Dee_Ann]

The motor shaft axis has to be exactly parallel to the earth's axis - so you have an adjustment on the motor that sets it to your latitude. You then have to set the elevation angle on the dish so that it points at the place in the sky where the satellite is - that is called declination. If you have the book that came with your motor it will have a chart that shows the declination for your latitude.
You then have to know the angle of the shaft on your motor - your manual should tell you that as well. The angle is usually 30 or 40 degrees but motors vary. You then take that shaft angle and subtract the declination from it for example 30 - 7 degrees = 23 degrees. That would then be the angle you would set the dish elevation.
Remember that you do not have a bracket for your dish with the elevation settings so you would need to figure the offset of your dish into your formula - I don't know how much offset you have with your dish. Maybe some one else will know and answer that question, or if you can find the specs for you dish.
So that is a long answer that needs to be understood, before your dad modifies the dish for setting the elevation. But It can be done - many have done it on this forum - we can help.
Good Luck!
Bob

Oh.
My.
Gawd.

Why so complicated??!!??

I totally do not understand all that. I was with the program up to the point of the motor shaft being parallel with the axis of the earth but after that my brain went all splodey inside..

Well, I found the little book that came with the motor.
I went to dishpointer.com and it said I am at lattitude 30.
In the book it says
Your site lattitude = 30
elevation angle = 60
declination angle = 4.961

I can't see anything in there about shaft angle so I scanned the specifications page in for the thing.
Oh and by the way, the book says the tube is 45mm. That is incorrect, it's much larger, I think it's like 55mm.. We measured it long time ago when I first got it but I've forgotten now.

Once again, bitten in the backside by an impulse purchase.
I get excited about doing something and buy stuff that I don't understand then regret it later. And in this case I've waited far too long to be able to exchange it for a standard motor.

So, I have to try to make do. I just hope Dad can save me, again..
Sheesh, I don't know what I'll do when he passes away..

 

[Dee_Ann]

If you (or your dad) were to cut the "pizza dish" bracket shown in Larobpra picket in half along its length, you could mount it to whatever width you need to accomdate the diameter of the motor arm. Ask him to look at those pictures, its a simple solution.

I will definitely call Dad in the morning and have him wait and come see these other pictures.

Thank you!