Setting up a motor - am I doing this right?

[xf021209]

I'm having trouble finding anything other than G19 and G16 after setting up my SG 6100 motor with my dish. Here's the process I followed:

Install mast and ensure it’s plumb.
Install motor on mast.
Get latitude for location (32.9069 N).
Set motor angle to 32.90.
Get declination angle from table in motor instructions (33 degrees = Declination of 5.2).
Set dish angle to 29.8.
On the STB - Go to Reference Point.
SG 6100 display shows 0.00.
Align dish by turning it manually to as close to true south as possible.
On the STB select Galaxy 19 and USALS.
SG 6100 display shows 0.04.
Using my Tracker Light meter I adjust the dish left/right on the mast, and up/down using dish angle (not motor angle) until I get a lock on Galaxy 19 with signal in the 80’s, S/N of 12.9, and quality in the 80’s.
On the STB I do a blind scan – yes I have Galaxy 19 with a bunch of channels. Signal is in the 80’s and quality is in the mid to high 70’s (pretty close to what my Tracker Light reports).
Select Galaxy 16 on the STB.
The STB reports dish moving.
Select blind scan. I get a few radio stations and a few video broadcasts. The quality is in the high 60 to low 70 range. Shalom TV comes in perfectly.
Select Galaxy 3C on the STB.
The STB reports dish moving.
I select blind scan, and get nothing.

This is what I get no matter what other satellite I select besides G19 and G16. Am I using the correct procedure to get my dish and motor aligned? It appears to work for G19 and G16, I’m unable to locate anything else. I’ve read posts here but can’t seem to find anything related to this type of issue.

Suggestions?

Thanks,

Todd

 

[bigg t]

I didn't see anywhere that you put in your longitude. You should have to program it in.

 

[FaT Air]

Motor angle - may be two scales. one is your Lat. other is a raw angle. Use only the Lat scale.
Location Lat and Long entered in the USALS menu?

Using my Tracker Light meter I adjust the dish left/right on the mast,

That's the dish and motor as a unit, right?

 

[T134]

Back in the S10 days I made a great step by step for installing a motor. It was based on SG2100 but the principles apply to any of the small dish motors. If you follow it exactly you will be tracking the arc perfectly with USALS.

http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthread.php?tid=22660#axzz30NT6MEzE

 

[xf021209]

I didn't see anywhere that you put in your longitude. You should have to program it in.

Nope, did that, sorry I forgot to include it. Location was entered.

Todd

 

[xf021209]

Motor angle - may be two scales. one is your Lat. other is a raw angle. Use only the Lat scale.
Location Lat and Long entered in the USALS menu?
That's the dish and motor as a unit, right?

Yep, that's correct to. Both sides of the SG 6100 are in Latitude, and yes I have entered the lat into the STB for USALS use.

Todd

 

[xf021209]

Back in the S10 days I made a great step by step for installing a motor. It was based on SG2100 but the principles apply to any of the small dish motors. If you follow it exactly you will be tracking the arc perfectly with USALS.

http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthread.php?tid=22660#axzz30NT6MEzE

Dang Joe, you're killing me here - now I sort of feel sick. I should go home from work and rest, doing something I enjoy! Uh, maybe the boss wouldn't like that. Oh well, I'll wait until the end of the day. Thanks for the info I'll give it a try. Just sort of torqs me that I can get 19 and 16 but nothing else. It must be just on the fringe of the arc, but those two birds come in so clean...I'll go read your instructions (several times) and make sure I follow them. Thanks.

Todd

 

[T134]

well...if you are feeling sick you better go home from work early and get some rest right next to the dish/motor.

That procedure is exactly what I use to this day. I've found if something is off it is much faster to loosen everything up, start from scratch and follow the process. Trying to basically guess what is wrong with the motor elevation, and/or polar alignment and/or declination with a system that isn't working right most times doesn't produce a good result. I don't like "I got it working ok for now" or "it works except toward the ends of the arc" or "i get 2 satellites at once." I want it perfect the first time and with the least amount of work possible.

 

[Jim S.]

If the mast is a wall/roof mount, make sure that it's still plumb after hanging the dish and motor on it. Some (read: a lot) of them are flimsy.

I have one that something has happened to and I can't get it plumb no matter how I move it -- and it's one of the nice GeoSatPro ones with the rotatable shaft that's supposed to make it easy! I settled that problem by getting it vertical on an east-west line and compensating for the leaning in the north-south line by adjusting my motor latitude. It was no fun at all however, especially since it would plumb up fine without any weight on it!

 

[xf021209]

If the mast is a wall/roof mount, make sure that it's still plumb after hanging the dish and motor on it. Some (read: a lot) of them are flimsy.

I have one that something has happened to and I can't get it plumb no matter how I move it -- and it's one of the nice GeoSatPro ones with the rotatable shaft that's supposed to make it easy! I settled that problem by getting it vertical on an east-west line and compensating for the leaning in the north-south line by adjusting my motor latitude. It was no fun at all however, especially since it would plumb up fine without any weight on it!

Thanks Jim, it's plumb - 2 1/2 foot into the ground and surrounded by fine sand. It's plumb and not moving. I'm doing something else wrong, about to post the experience to see if anyone has any ideas.

Thanks,

Todd

 

[. Raine]

Thanks Jim, it's plumb - 2 1/2 foot into the ground and surrounded by fine sand. It's plumb and not moving. I'm doing something else wrong, about to post the experience to see if anyone has any ideas.

Thanks,

Todd

Two and a half feet isn't much to hold it without cement, with the weight of the motor and dish and all, it might have moved. Especially with it being motorized, I'd double check that it is still plumb. If it's off just a tiny bit, you could lose most of the arc.

Looks like 97W [G19] should be pretty much true south for you, so it's good you're receiving that one.

 

[xf021209]

Am I just looking at this and not understanding what I'm looking at?

I go to Lyngsat (http://www.lyngsat.com/Galaxy-17.html) and look up Galaxy 17. Towards the bottom I find ABC News One 12010 V 11574.



I program that into my Tracker Light and on the STB I select Galaxy 17, which moves the dish. I go to the dish to make sure it's actually pointing at something other than Galaxy 19. It is. Back in the house I power off the STB, disconnect the coax and connect the dish to my Tracker Light. Turn on the Tracker Light and bam - big time signal and quality - instant lock. Great - the dish is actually on the arc and pointing like it should.



I shut off the Tracker Light, disconnect the coax and connect it back to the STB. In the STB the only TP for Galaxy 17 is not setup exactly at the same rate shown in the chart and what I put into my Tracker Light. The freq. is 12010 but the SR is 11575 not 574, but that's not enough to make a difference from what I've been reading. I look at the screen and 0 signal and hardly any quality - so it's obvious it's not seeing the signal. I go ahead and edit the SR to 11574 and try again. Still nothing.



I'm sort of getting frustrated at this point because I'm not understanding what I'm doing wrong here. Shouldn't I see the same thing my Tracker Light sees and when that happens I should be able to blind scan? Any ideas? At least I'm fairly sure it's not a motor or tracking issue.

UPDATE: So I went back in and just started blind scanning all the Ku birds, and low and behold, stations started coming up. I'm still not sure why the above didn't work, but I certainly am on the arc. As they say, if you first don't succeed, try something else!

Thanks,

Todd

 

[northgeorgia]

I wonder what would happen if you took a portable TV with the STB out to the dish via a drop cord? If you're using a NanoHD, it would be very easy Sometimes the fault is in the cable run into the house.

 

[Titanium]

The meters on the STB don't show any signal. Does the satellite meter show Signal Level and Quality inside the house or are you checking outside at the dish?

 

[. Raine]

The SR being 575 instead of 574 is ok, a lot of times they are off a little because of the LNB, skew, etc. Sathint actually lists the SR for that one as 575, not 574.

I don't have that receiver, so I'm not sure, but on my receivers even if not locked on a sat I get 45% for strength if all the settings are correct and a LNB is connected, in your picture it looks like the level is at 0%. If the level bar on that receiver is actually for signal strength, then it looks like maybe a wrong setting for the LNB or a cable problem. What type of LNB do you have?

Took to long writing this one, Brian and Northgeorgia beat me to it!

 

[xf021209]

I wonder what would happen if you took a portable TV with the STB out to the dish via a drop cord? If you're using a NanoHD, it would be very easy Sometimes the fault is in the cable run into the house.

Nope, same on meter at the dish or in the house. I've learned a new phrase - repeat after me - "Blind scan, blind scan, just shut up and blind scan". I think I was cherry picking too much. Just blind scan and go edit out of the channel list what I don't want.

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[xf021209]

The meters on the STB don't show any signal. Does the satellite meter show Signal Level and Quality inside the house or are you checking outside at the dish?

See below response to NorthGerogia.

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[xf021209]

The SR being 575 instead of 574 is ok, a lot of times they are off a little because of the LNB, skew, etc. Sathint actually lists the SR for that one as 575, not 574.

I don't have that receiver, so I'm not sure, but on my receivers even if not locked on a sat I get 45% for strength if all the settings are correct and a LNB is connected, in your picture it looks like the level is at 0%. If the level bar on that receiver is actually for signal strength, then it looks like maybe a wrong setting for the LNB or a cable problem. What type of LNB do you have?

Took to long writing this one, Brian and Northgeorgia beat me to it!

Picked up an SL1/PLL on the advice given here when I ran into freq problems with a Strong 1729. I'm still not sure why what I tried didn't work, but am pretty happy that the motor is working and tracking correctly. With blind scan I'm picking up all kinds of stuff on multiple birds.

Yes, one of the reasons a newbie like me likes this site so much...the wait for help is so short!

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[xf021209]

All working perfectly now with 80+ English channels across multiple birds and 40 radio stations. Though I hit bumps along the way, that's just part of learning something new or in this case re-learning old stuff (just how to work and STB an get the dish on target) and learning new (adding a motor and getting that working). All in all I can now look at dropping my Verizon FiOS TV service. Between OTA and FTA I think I've got plenty of TV entertainment to choose from - and all watching will be pretty much free. Besides I never liked Verizon's ability to count channels. To me, having a channel in SD and the same channel in HD does not count as two channels. It'll take about 4 months of OTA/FTA to pay for the monthly fee from Verizon for TV, and after that it's all added cash flow into my pocket for other projects. I'll keep my Verizon FiOS Internet. I've had it for going on six years and it simply is solid and fast. With that I've got Netflix, Vudu Movies, Pandora, You Tube, the occasional REd Box, and a few others. Again, plenty of entertainment available at little to no cost compared to month after month of service fees. Since the FTA will be going up to Colorado and staying up there through the summer with relatives, once back in Dallas it'll be time to get the BUD back up and running with my 4DTV receiver. The BUD has a C/Ku LNB on it, but I've never tried to get Ku on it. With C band, that'll add a few more channels to the list.

Thanks to everyone here on this site who offered advice and guidance. I like the little X2 Mini that got me back into FTA, and I really like my Amiko Mini HD/SE STB.

Todd

 

[KE4EST]

Glad to hear you got it going! It's a nice feeling ain't it?