USUALS vs DISEQ1.1

[Kraven]

Wondering what you folks use.

This weekend am putting the dish back where it belongs and am on the fence as to which to use.
74W use to be my due south bird, now its 72w.

If I use USUALS, while the motor is at the 0 position, she swing 2-3 degrees EAST for 72W.
Using Diseqc, 72W is at 0... then either one of these will be off by a few degrees.

I got an allignement issue somewhere (I suspect) as am no longer able to get 125W. Am somewhat leaning that my angles on the motor are off.

What do you fine folks use?

Cheers, K

 

[KE4EST]

I use USALS. My true south is 84, but I use 83W bird to start off. What I do for a first time set-up or re-align is this: I set the motor to 0, then I set up receiver with my Lag and Long, and then instruct it to go to 83 west. The motor of course only grunts for half second to move one degree. Then I go out to the Dish and begin the alignment process, locking on 83 for best sig. If I were you I would do the same, "0" the motor then have your receiver move it to 2 degs to 72(or that is what it thinks it is doing until you finish alignment). Then proceed with finding your best signal on 72. I hope that made sense.

 

[cyberham]

What he said. Once the dish/motor are pointing where they think 72W is located, physically move the dish/motor assembly on the mast for best peaked quality. Doing this corrects for any slight errors you've made along the way. From then on, just use USALS and you should be able to receive all sats you can see. For the weakest of signals, you may want to use diseqc commands to absolutely peak a given sat but, generally, USALS should give you a receiveable signal in each case.

 

[Kraven]

Ive done this many times in the past but from 107-125w, USUALS is off by 2-3 degrees. The I edit w. Diseqc etc.

Motor angles, anyone have a dumbies guide to calculating it?

 

[KE4EST]

Which motor are you using?

 

[cyberham]

From northern VT, 125W will be about a 60 degree swing in azimuth to your west. That should still be within USALS capability. I also find touching up using diseqc commands is necessary toward end of swing of the motor.

Motor angles? You mean azimuth / elevation values to specific sats? I have a program to do this (http://www.al-soft.com/saa/satinfo.shtml). Or dishpointer.com will give values.

 

[phlatwound]

USALS here for me, except Diseqc for 30W. I am about 93W longitude.

 

[Kraven]

@ Cyberham--> will it also give the degrees for the motor adjustment (where my problem is).

Cheers, K

 

[cyberham]

Subtract 180 from the correct azimuth direction to a satellite (for example: 240 degrees to 125W) and you get the motor reading: +60 degrees.

 

[jorgek]

Kraven,
Back to basics.
Is the mast/pole perfectly plumb?
Is your LAT correctly set on the motor?
Is the dish still in perfect alignment with the motor?
Is your LAT and LONG correctly entered in the USALS setup menu?
Coax and connectors in good condition?
Also make sure the motor and dish assembly has not been moved on the mast by the wind.
USALS is very accurate.
Could be that the motor is the problem.

 

[Kraven]

Kraven,
Back to basics.
Is the mast/pole perfectly plumb?
Is your LAT correctly set on the motor?
Is the dish still in perfect alignment with the motor?
Is your LAT and LONG correctly entered in the USALS setup menu?
Coax and connectors in good condition?
Also make sure the motor and dish assembly has not been moved on the mast by the wind.
USALS is very accurate.
Could be that the motor is the problem.

Pole is plumb, Lat on motor (unknown), Usuals set up properly (using the dishpointer numbers and not google). New qud shielded rg6 crimped myself.
Motor is a sg2100.

Am thinking the motor's angle is off.

Cheers, K

 

[Kraven]

Subtract 180 from the correct azimuth direction to a satellite (for example: 240 degrees to 125W) and you get the motor reading: +60 degrees.

Now am having a blonde moment...

 

[KE4EST]

I have had a couple that I have had to fiddle with the LAT on the motor bracket to make it work right. ie. it may read 40 but had to put it at 41 to make it track properly.

 

[Kraven]

Please confirm... Lattitude of my lovely town is the same as the motor elevation.. correct?
If so, am "off" by 10 so it might explain why USUALS is off and am missing 123 onwards.

Cheers, K

 

[lamp]

Setting up motor for fta

Here is an article about how to install a motor.
http://www.repentnow.com/FTAMOTORINSTALL.htm
It might be helpful.

 

[jorgek]

Please confirm... Lattitude of my lovely town is the same as the motor elevation.. correct?
If so, am "off" by 10 so it might explain why USUALS is off and am missing 123 onwards.

Cheers, K

Yes. Motor elevation should be same as your home LAT.


At least it is for the Stab 90 HH.

 

[cyberham]

This is not usually true. At 45 degrees N latitude, it happens to be true if you don't consider the added complication of the dish declination setting. But at any other latitude than 45 degrees, dish elevation goes down as latitude increases. Similarly, dish elevation increases as latitude decreases.

 

[jorgek]

This is not usually true. At 45 degrees N latitude, it happens to be true if you don't consider the added complication of the dish declination setting. But at any other latitude than 45 degrees, dish elevation goes down as latitude increases. Similarly, dish elevation increases as latitude decreases. All of these comments apply to the northern hemisphere.

I was not aware of what you just posted.
I'm at 43.6N Lat. I set the Stab elevation to my LAT, tweak the dish for max Q to my nearest sat, and the motor tracks the arc. No mention of declination.

I had a look at the Stab 90 install manaul. It Has 2 separate scales for LAT settings as well as 2 sets of mounting holes.
One set is for LATs from 10-45 degree LAT.
Second set is for LATS from 45-70 degree LAT.
That probably compensates for declination as per your post.


s

 

[cyberham]

It's only logical that elevation, in general, can't equal ones location latitude. Think of the guy in the far north at, say, 70 degrees N latitude in Nunavut. His dish will be pointing very low in elevation, just skimming the earth's surface to see the geosynchronous sats. Or a better example is the guy who lives on the equator at 0 degreees latitude. His dish will be pointed straight up at elevation 90 degrees.

 

[jorgek]

Just so its clear in mine mind. When you say elevation do you mean dish or motor?