Firstly, a heartfelt warm thank you to everybody that took the time and effort to reply. Please be assured I am downloading all the information, and reading it carefully. I must confess to feeling a bit overwhelmed, but am determined to stick with it.
Given the above, the suggestion was made to mount the satellite without the motor, and measure the angle using an inclinometer, then duplicate. Will this be the easiest way to do this? From what I have read about USALS, once I have one satellite input, the software will find the others, so all I need to do is find that elusive first satellite--am I correct in that assumption, or have I misunderstood?
Again, many many thanks for all the great information--I did track down and download all the files mentioned in the FAQ's of FTA, on how to install a motorized dish, which was wonderful information.
I just read the post that Satmex 5, which was my True South satellite and the one I was pointing at, is C band ! Ugggh. Thank you for mentioning that--maybe that is a big part of the problem. Now I feel rather stupid for not reading the fine print on lygsat.
Thank you for pointing that out !!
TryingMyBest,
Ensure that your LNB Frequency is set to 10.750 to match the local oscillator frequency of the LNBF. Since the 10.750 figure was listed on your LNBF, that is the local oscillator frequency that you MUST use. If the L.O. frequency had been listed as 9.750/10.600 then it would be typical of a Universal LNBF and therefore you would have to use that setting in your menus.
SatMex 5 at 116.8°W does offer Ku-Band signals.
Try these TPs: 12024 MHz Horizontal SR 3000, 12059 MHz Vertical SR 3078 and 12175 MHz Horizontal SR 3935. Enter these TPs for SatMex 5.
Using USALS will allow you to find all the other satellites once you have set (calibrated) your dish and motor to at least ONE satellite. There will usually be a need to perform some minor tweaking to fine tune it for the best possible tracking, but you should be fairly close.
Setting the dish on the mast without the motor may provide a simpler approach to locating the stellite position. It will take some extra steps overall, but it reduces the number of variables that you have to contend with at one time.
If you try setting up your dish without the motor, set your dish elevation to 51.6°. I understand that this will be difficult to judge (read) because you only have scale markings every 10 degrees, but approximate it the best you can or use an inclinometer. Then pan the dish east to west and back while monitoring the signal meter for one of the TPs I mentioned to "pop-in". I think I would try TP 12059 V personally. It seems to be a strong signal, at least for me. Pan the dish slowly, just a small increment at a time to allow time for your receiver to lock on any signal that might be present. Stop and pause shortly in between each move. One to three seconds should usually be long enough time to allow any receiver to lock on to a signal.
Don't rely upon your TV in the house to monitor your adjustments, that is too tough to do. Use your receiver and a portable TV on a bench or stand right out at the dish. You need to be able to see the immediate results of your adjustments.
If you are trying for SatMex 5 (ONLY) with just the dish (without motor) you won't need to set the LNBF polarity. It should be set at zero degrees. It would actually be -0.3°, but that is so close that it should be simply ignored. This is true because SatMex 5 is your due south satellite and it's orbital degree (116.8°) is so close to your longitude degree (117°), so the satellite itself is straight in line with your position.
The focal depth of the LNBF needs to be set (how far the LNBF neck is positioned in/out in the clamp). Refer to your dish assembly instructions for this. If none are provided, set it half-way and adjust it later for optimum performance.
If you don't achieve a signal, lower the dish elevation angle to about 48° to 49° and pan the dish back and forth again. If no signal is found, raise the dish elevation one degree and repeat the panning process. Continue raising the dish elevation by about one degree and panning until you get to about 55° or 56°.
Somewhere in the above process, you should lock onto a signal. When you do, fine adjust the azimuth and the dish elevation to "peak" the signal to the highest quality reading you can achieve. Then, place a stiff, flat board across the center of the face of the dish (vertically) and place an inclinometer on the board. Read the angle and record it.
Take a good reference of the azimuth position of the dish. Maybe try marking the mast where the center of the dish clamp is located (where it attaches to the mast) with a felt marker.
Then, remove the dish from the mast and install the motor. Set the motor bracket/clamp as close to the same aiming position that the dish bracket/clamp was set to.
Set the lattitude of the motor to 33° using the lattitude scale (or 57° elevation using the elvation scale). Ensure that you use the raised or embossed/stamped pointer to read this angle. Do not use the mounting bolt.
Install the dish on the motor tube and center the dish clamp on the tube so that the vertical axis of the dish is perfectly in line with the vertical axis of the motor tube.
Snug everything up just enough to prevent each axis from moving. But, not too tight!
Now, place the board and the inclinometer across the vertical face of the dish as you did earlier and adjust the dish elevation so that the inclinometer reads the angle that you recorded earlier.
Now check your signal quality on the receiver from the same TP as you used previously. You should have something showing or you should be very close to it. From here on out, make extremely small adjustments to the azimuth (east/west) and the dish elevation angles. Do not adjust the motor elevation/lattitude setting.
With everything snug, stand behind the dish and grasp the outer edges of the dish with both hands and gently twist the dish up/down or left/right and note what changes this makes in your signal quality. Loosen the mounting bolts and move the dish in the direction that produces the most improvement.
You can now experiement with setting the LNBF focal position if necessary (move it in or out in the clamp) or rotate it slightly for best performance. If any adjustment here provides a higher quality signal, set the LNBF to that position.
If all goes well up to this point, you should have your system calibrated for at least SatMex 5. Tracking the rest of the satellites using USALS may require some more tweaking. That will become a subject for another conversation.
RADAR
P.S. Make sure that you are not using any switches in your cable circuit at this time. That is just one more thing to contend with that you don't need during the alignment process. If you have already set the menu selections to operate a switch, don't worry about that, they can remain in place since, without a switch installed, the commands will simply be ignored. Therefore, you don't have to disable or change them in any way. Just ensure that any switches are physically removed from the circuit and you have bypassed around them with your cable.
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