When not to touch things

[markbone100]

You ever get the idea "Hey I think I will try to fine tune the arc" on a motorized Ku dish?

Ya that was a BIG mistake

 

[T4Runner]

You ever get the idea "Hey I think I will try to fine tune the arc" on a motorized Ku dish?

Ya that was a BIG mistake

Yup! Done that. Spent an abnormal amount of time fine tuning and had to start over from scratch to get it right. Learned a lot though...


Posted Via The SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[northgeorgia]

It gets easier But you still learn not to do any fine tuning before a big storm, at sunset, or during big temperature extremes unless you like torture.

 

[jorgek]

Ditto! Why do we all have that urge to fix something that ain't broke?

 

[. Raine]

Yup! "I can get it just a little better..." then, oh,oh....dammit!

 

[Lone Gunman]

Few things I found out over the past couple of years that help me stay out of trouble "most" of the time!

One, I need to WRITE DOWN Q % for specific TPs on specific satellites so I can do A/B tests to see where I'm at.

Two, only change ONE thing at a time and write down what change I make and the Q% change after that change is made.

Three, on my C/Ku band BUD systems I NEVER, EVER rotate the polar mount on the mounting post without a dial indicator mounted and zeroed on it so I know EXACTLY how to get back to where I started!

Four, sometimes I don't take my own advice!! I call that the ID10T factor and I guess we all suffer from that one once in a while!

Your mileage may vary!

 

[markbone100]

Well im back to where I was, just maybe a little better on quality. I know im not dead on, since if I spot tune 83 in I can get PBJ at 70Q, right now im at 60. Afraid if I touch it, im gonna be back from square one again.

Tracks good from 72 to 125, dont really have any LOS after that. BUT.....should I try for a little more or not. I know its just a hair off, but is it worth it?


No wonder I am going grey already
and the wife yells and doesnt understand
and the neighbors think I lost it at 10:30pm at night adjusting a dish

 

[Magic Static]

Well im back to where I was, just maybe a little better on quality. I know im not dead on, since if I spot tune 83 in I can get PBJ at 70Q, right now im at 60. Afraid if I touch it, im gonna be back from square one again.

Tracks good from 72 to 125, dont really have any LOS after that. BUT.....should I try for a little more or not. I know its just a hair off, but is it worth it?


No wonder I am going grey already
and the wife yells and doesnt understand
and the neighbors think I lost it at 10:30pm at night adjusting a dish

I've been in this spot many times with the motorized KU dish. I finally figured it out Got rid of the KU dish and use a c-band dish for everything But there are still many challenges to that route. But I don't miss thinking "If I can just get it a bit better..." with the KU dish.

 

[Tron]

I usually begin installing at 10 or 11 at night on a full moon. I get finished around dawn.

 

[cyberham]

Well im back to where I was, just maybe a little better on quality...I know its just a hair off, but is it worth it?...

Don't touch the dish anymore at this stage! You must be using USALS, so just "cheat" and touch up your longitude coordinate a little. If you're truly on the arc, this will bring all satellites up to maximum quality. If only the end of arc satellite(s) is off a little, then change its orbital position configuration just a little.

 

[northgeorgia]

Sometimes the ground might even soften after several months and the pole might no longer be plumb! But the worst, really, is when a weather system is not visible (perhaps at the uplink location, perhaps over the next state but affecting the signal as it comes down!) and you try and try without luck to get the signal to come in or stabilize.

 

[jorgek]

I actually believed that I could track the arc "perfectly". I spent (wasted) a whole summer trying to align the motor/dish and just ended up making it worse. The Stab motor actually adjusts for declination. Reality is when you get to the extremes of east and west the dish elevation is not quite on so the Q is not at max, the azimuth is accurate. There are instructions to adjust for it. This is where you begin to pull your hair out if you continue. So I reached a compromise. For 30W I have a fixed dish. The rest of the arc upto 125W is acceptable. Beyond 125w there are trees hindering my progress. But I try knowing full well there is nothing on KU anyways. The temptation to tweak never goes away. We are heading into winter so I get a reprieve until next spring. The neighbours just shake their heads when they see me out in the cold "tweaking".

 

[oldsmobile]

Yep, I'm in this boat now too. I found a 75 cm round dish via The List of Craig and thought, hey, bigger is better, right? I thought it'd represent a decent upgrade from the 75 elliptical that I'd gotten set up with everyone's help here. Besides, my signal strength at 125 wasn't spectacular, and that's what I wanted to get a little better.

Well, I couldn't get jack with a dish change. I think I'm going to use it as a fixed dish for something else, but in the meantime, I just wanted to put everything back how it was. Where I had good tracking from 30 to 125, I'm now only getting it at 72 to 103.

So what did I learn? I need a test pole so as not to screw up what actually DOES work.

 

[markbone100]

Test pole not a bad idea. I came across for free another HH motor, never even tested it out yet to see if it works. If it does, I need to try that with a different dish I have in the shed and see if I can get it to track any better

 

[jorgek]

You can test the motor easily. Hook it up to the STB with a short piece of coax and put it through its paces.

 

[markbone100]

Against all odds I decided to tweak it again. I believe this time I got it right finally. Almost get 70Q on 83W and the others are pretty decent.

Now I just need a 36" or larger