Setting up Dish for FTA

[zaxxon]

Hi

New guy here but have messed around once with FTA. I have a BUD with 4DTV ten foot Wingard mesh dish with both KU and C LNB's

I have just started to put my new system togeather. I bought a Winegard 76mm dish a SG2100 motor and I ordered a Coolsat 8000, I already have a Pansat 330A, but since I was already spending money, what the hey.

I live in VA about thrity miles south of Richmond.

The instructions with the motor state that you are to face the motor South, but that faces the dish south. I know it is going to move but my BUD dish normally faces west. I can move it south but not much there. Is it correct for the dish to face south?

I am going to mount the dish and motor on an iron pipe, I guess about eight feet long and bury the pipe in concrete about three feet.
What size pipe do most people use???????? Thinking 2/3 three inch.

Is there any chance that I can pick up Richmond stations????????????

George

 

[qwert1515]

The motor has to be setup to your true South satellite before it will track the arc properly, in your case your true South satellite would be AMC 5 @ 79 degrees West or Galaxy 17 @ 74 degrees West.

The Richmond stations are not FTA, but you might be able to pickup the Richmond stations with an OTA antenna since you are close to Richmond.

 

[giraffejumper]

All geosynchronous sats are south because they are orbiting the equator: http://science.nasa.gov/realtime/jtrack/3d/JTrack3D.html (you need java but this is really cool)
Your dish may be actually more southwest than west.
Anyway - turn your usals to your true south sat, peak out true south sat - and you should be fine.
At least that is what worked for me after much much frustration and help.
-phil

 

[voomvoom]

The instructions with the motor state that you are to face the motor South, but that faces the dish south. I know it is going to move but my BUD dish normally faces west. I can move it south but not much there. Is it correct for the dish to face south?
George

The instructions are correct. The motor should face true south, with the elevation of the motor set for the latitude of your location. Then you set the correct elevation for your dish for your location and then motor over to your nearest to true south satellite and start scanning. Good Luck!

Al

 

[Tron]

What satellite are you receiving on your BUD when it is facing west? Could be G-10R, as that would appear far to the west from your location (and close to the horizon).

Basically, the arc runs from southeast through southwest, with the highest point due south of your position. Picture a rainbow in the southern sky that starts from southeast, is highest directly south of you, and then fades off toward the southwestern horizon.

 

[zaxxon]

Thanks Tron

My most westernly satellite is C4/F4, G1, C3, G9, G5. G0/X0/G9, T7/L7/T7 all the way out to W3, but not much out to the east.

I watch mostly C/4 for history channel and Discovery, G1 for HBO movies, C/3 for the Military channel, along with a bunch of sicence type channels, G5 for TNT, G3 & X4 for a bunch of good stuff.

I have had my C band dish for about 11 years, a Wingard !0' mesh with C & KU feedhorn and several analog receivers ending up with a 4DTV about six years ago, not much left on analog now.

I started to buy a pipe to for the FTA receiver but found a piece of 2 3/4" pipe eight foot long from another C band dish that I had recovered, so I am in the process of digging the hole by hand I guess 30" deep should be enough and two hundred pounds of concrete I put my C band four foot deep and four hundred fifty pounds of concrete but the pipe is five inches and the dish is a lot heavier than a FTA.

I said digging by hand because I have a post hole digger for my tractor, but the post hole digger fell while I was hooking it up. More work to pick it up than dig the hole by hand.

Looking forward to setting up the FTA and using it. I have a Pansat 330A FTA receiver that I hooked up to my C band dish several years ago and received some stations but it was just too much work. I think that a dedicated system will be better, but we will see.