Why West Direction Satellites Out after Recalibrating from High Wind Storm?

[jsattv]

About 2 weeks ago we had a massive rain & wind storm here, in fact 20 miles west from Winnipeg a F4 tornado touched down completely flattening 4 houses and ripping up trees, semitraillers etc. Here we had winds up to 120 km (70 mph). This completely knocked my 1 meter dish up on the roof out of service and I had to go up and reset it. I made a slight adjustment to East and West direction as well as readjusted the Elevation. I could not pick up Galaxy 10R 123.0W at all or the Pentagon channel on AMC -1 103.0W.

Yesterday I discovered my East and West slop movement problem was partially due to the 1 meter Dish screws that fastened the Dish to the HH120 Motor Shaft were not tight enough. So I tightened them.

I had to remount the motor back on the pole since one of the U clamps on the Stab HH120 Motor had a stripped thread and the nut was frozen on the U Clamp. Cut off the nut with a hacksaw aftertaking off the HH120 Motor. Rethreaded the U clamp with a 8 millimeter Dye and remounted the Motor and got great Q levels on G 25 - 97.0W my south sat. Q Levels on 11966 were up to 62%, and 12152 was as high as 74% while 12177 was a solid 74 %. These are the best Q levels I've ever seen on G 25 yet I can't get any channels at all on Galaxy 10-R and on ONN on 74.0W the picture is viewable only if I grab the top of the dish and push it up!!

Questions: How can I get back 123.0W? Do I have to rescan it in again? Do I have to reset for true South with a compass as it was getting dark before I could check for South direction? It's hard to understand why since my Q levels for my South Sat (G 25 97.0W) are the best they have ever been, yet I'm no longer able to get the Westerly Satellites?? Any replies would be very much appreciated.

 

[caddata]

...Do I have to reset for true South...

I believe I'd start from scratch with the setup. Determine if your elevation settings are correct and locate true South. Pointing (true North) errors show up on the Western satellites because they are further away and the error multiplies because of that.

Harold

 

[mastermesh]

yes... make sure pole is still plumb and start scratch as true south, then try for 123... if you can get it's signals pretty good, swap over to other side of the arc and try for 30w... tweak as needed.

 

[jsattv]

yes... make sure pole is still plumb and start scratch as true south, then try for 123... if you can get it's signals pretty good, swap over to other side of the arc and try for 30w... tweak as needed.

Thanks for the 2 replies and the valuable information.

So do you suspect it is a True South being out of whack issue? Hate to mess with the "Elevation" again since the Q Levels are so good on my South Satellite 97.0W (G 25). But it sounds like I've got a lot of work to do for BOTH the East (74.0W), and West direction Satellites. One thing is that many of the Easterly Birds ie: 93.0W, 95.0W, 87.0W, and 79.0W are okay, it just seems the Westerly Direction Satellites are way off??

 

[TiminMb]

I had the opposite problem with an SG2100 motor. Wouldn't get any of the sats to the east. Turning the motor on the pole didn't fix the problem. It turned out that when I turned the motor to due South, it was not at zero, comparing the shaft to the housing. On an SG2100 there is a feature to move the motor to zero on the housing and reset it. No idea if that is unique to SG2100's.

 

[caddata]

Tip:

Living in Florida, winds are a problem. I learned to mark everything with a, crayola, pencil, magic marker, center punch, or pocketknife scratch, and not overtighten connections so that the dish can move during high winds. After the storm passes, go back and align your marks and everything is fine.

If all of your adjustments are tightened to the maximum, then the weakest point becomes the plastic gears in your HH motor. You sure don't want them to strip out.

Harold

 

[Larry1]

The Stab motor uses stainless steel ubolts and nuts. I had mine freeze to the bolt while adjusting the motor. Ended up having to cut the nuts off. The problem is using stainless for both the bolts and nuts. After cutting the nuts off I found that there was an area of the bolt that the threads had welded themselves to the nuts. This had happened just due to my repeatively tightening and loosening the nuts while adjusting the motor. Well I used some spacers and new nuts but this time have also used some anti-seeze compound to prevent this from happening in the future. This compound is made by Bostic and have been told that it works exceptionally well for preventing problems like this in the future.
There are many adjustments in setting up the motor. The dish elevation. The mounting of the dish to the motor shaft. The motor elevation setting. The motor mounting on the pole. Most likely at least 2 of these have moved and you have compensated by adjusting some of the other adjustments. Just tightening down the motor bolts holding it to the pole in a different order can make a difference on how the motor is straight or twisted on the pole. As already mentioned by mastermesh, start again from the first step and setup your motor again. You need to peak all the adjustments for maximum quality on all sats. A very time consuming chore.
You should also check to make sure that the dish was not bent or warped due to the storm.

 

[caddata]

...stainless steel ubolts and nuts...

Larry:

Stainless on stainless will gall together. They actually weld themselves to each other. You might want to use a special thread compound for stainless steel, a pipe joint compound, teflon tape, or even petroleum jelly next time.

Harold

 

[jsattv]

The Stab motor uses stainless steel ubolts and nuts. I had mine freeze to the bolt while adjusting the motor. Ended up having to cut the nuts off. The problem is using stainless for both the bolts and nuts. After cutting the nuts off I found that there was an area of the bolt that the threads had welded themselves to the nuts. This had happened just due to my repeatively tightening and loosening the nuts while adjusting the motor. Well I used some spacers and new nuts but this time have also used some anti-seeze compound to prevent this from happening in the future. This compound is made by Bostic and have been told that it works exceptionally well for preventing problems like this in the future.
There are many adjustments in setting up the motor. The dish elevation. The mounting of the dish to the motor shaft. The motor elevation setting. The motor mounting on the pole. Most likely at least 2 of these have moved and you have compensated by adjusting some of the other adjustments. Just tightening down the motor bolts holding it to the pole in a different order can make a difference on how the motor is straight or twisted on the pole. As already mentioned by mastermesh, start again from the first step and setup your motor again. You need to peak all the adjustments for maximum quality on all sats. A very time consuming chore.
You should also check to make sure that the dish was not bent or warped due to the storm.

Larry1, what you have quoted is exactly what happened to me. I couldn't understand how the Nut had frozen on the Stab HH 120 Motor U clamp shaft just from simple adjustments!! So I took off the Motor and cut the Nut off with a hacksaw. Wondered what I did wrong, but now you've explained it: - stainless steel nuts on a stainless steel U Bolt!! Luckily my neighbor had a Tap and Dye set that has (for now) repaired the 8 millimeter bad threads enough to get a new 8 millimeter nut back on the U clamp. I am also trying to get a new U clamp from Fortec Canada. But what a time consuming task just taking off the Stab Motor and remounting the Dish again on the Motor and Pole was.

This Bostic anti seize compound you describe - is there a Store where it can be purchased? I used oil on my Nuts but now I'm not sure if this will help?

Will try to recalibrate the Dish today starting from ensuring I am set for True South (using a compass) with 97.0W, my South Satellite, but as you have mentioned this looks to be a very time comsuming task. Thanks for your valuable explanation.

 

[jsattv]

All Satellites Back - West Ones Working Well

Spent 2 hours on the roof with Sat Receiver & small TV. First reset Dish and Motor - East & West travel using a small compass for True South. Then reset Elevation of the 1 meter Dish for G 25 - 97.0W and came up with great Tp Q levels as high as: 65% for 11966, 74% for 12152, and 74% for 12177. IceBerg are these levels about the best attainable for Sat 97.0W in Winnipeg? The recently installed Pivot Bolt was greatly helpful in being able to stabilize & reset the Elevation of the Fortec Star Dish.

ONN on 74.0W was still off a bit so made a slight adjustment in the Motor travel toward the high point in the Arc, without touching Elevation. My West Sats are now okay, ie: Galaxy 10R - 123.0W, and Pentagon Channel on 103.0W are all back. Boy the True South relocation of the Dish and Motor sure made a big difference! I would say this step is critical in fine tuning a Dish and Motor. But I do need a better Compass then the small complimentary Key Chain type I got from a supplier at work 3 years ago. Thanks guys for the Tips!!

 

[caddata]

...I do need a better Compass...

Jsattv:

The compass is not important, and as a matter of fact, I haven't used one in my 27 year hobby with satellite TV. I use land marks to do the rough orientation and then use some sort of signal meter to do the final tweaking. Streets and homes, in urban areas, are oriented true North (not magnetic) when surveyors determine property lines.

A good level is more important than a compass. Bent shaft motors are very easy to tweak. All one has to do is set the angles, rotate the motor to your southern most satellite using the USALS feature, and your pretty close to North and South.

Harold

 

[Tron]

Agreed... I have found compasses to be more of a problem than a solution when aiming a dish. If you can, find your property using Google Earth or Google Maps. That is one way to find out where south is with regard to your property. Another way, if you live close to people with DirecTV or Dish service, is to note the position of their dishes. From that information, you can determine the general direction you want to be pointed in, and slowly pan your dish from there.

 

[jsattv]

Thanks Tron and Caddata. We don't have Direct TV or Dish Service here in Canada, but I do have Bell ExpressVu on Subscription. From looking at my Bell ExpressVu small Dish - which was a paid for professional Installation, it seems to be pointed far more West then my big Fortec Star Dish. However except for my Far East Satellites everything at least for now is working okay on the Fortec Star Dish.

 

[jsattv]

Sorry about that, I should have said that my Subscription Bell Express Vu Dish was pointed far more East then my Fortec Star Dish.

 

[Tron]

ExpressVu is on 91w and 82w. 91w is my closest south satellite...