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<blockquote data-quote="pjgregory" data-source="post: 554981" data-attributes="member: 288654">The Prodeline dish AzEl mount has a screw support for elevation adjustment.&nbsp; For azimuth adjustment, you are supposed to swing the dish by hand.&nbsp; Knowing how critical pointing is for a dish of this size (0.5 degree beam width), I decided to impove my chances of accurate positioning by improving the mast bearing.Instead of the top plate of the canister bearing directly on the top of the steel tube mast, I inserted a bearing made of a disk of 8mm ptfe rotating on a disk of laminate covered MDF. (012.jpg) The ptfe disk was fixed with silicon sealer to the underside of the canister, while the 25mm MDF plate was mounted on the top of the mast (016.jpg).&nbsp; This gives a much bigger bearing surface then the 4mm rim of the mast pipe.Prodeline specify that you should use a 167mm diameter mast pipe, extending some 1.8m above the ground.&nbsp; Since I only want to receive Astra 2 at an elevation of 37 degrees, I can use a much shorter pipe.&nbsp; In fact, I used the existing 100mm pipe already installed for my old 2.4m dish, with three steel angle braces bolted down to the concrete pad.With the mast in place, we then installed the dish support assembly. (017.jpg).&nbsp; Working with the assembly in the horizontal position, we&nbsp; unbolted each fibre pannel in turn from the dish in the garage, carried it down the hill, and then re-mounted it on the support assembly (019.jpg)With all the pannels back in place, all the bolts were tighted up to bring the dish back into alignment.&nbsp; Here you see the assembled dish and the next problem.&nbsp; Its rather visible!So now comes the camouflage.&nbsp; With the dish in its correct elevation and the lower pannel removed, I could spray paint (acrylic - matt) the camouflage pattern.&nbsp; For those interested - see_http://industryfigure.com/berkeley/camo.htmThe next part will look at the LMB mount as I already know that the feed horn supplied with the Prodeline is not that good.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pjgregory, post: 554981, member: 288654"] The Prodeline dish AzEl mount has a screw support for elevation adjustment. For azimuth adjustment, you are supposed to swing the dish by hand. Knowing how critical pointing is for a dish of this size (0.5 degree beam width), I decided to impove my chances of accurate positioning by improving the mast bearing. Instead of the top plate of the canister bearing directly on the top of the steel tube mast, I inserted a bearing made of a disk of 8mm ptfe rotating on a disk of laminate covered MDF. (012.jpg) The ptfe disk was fixed with silicon sealer to the underside of the canister, while the 25mm MDF plate was mounted on the top of the mast (016.jpg). This gives a much bigger bearing surface then the 4mm rim of the mast pipe. Prodeline specify that you should use a 167mm diameter mast pipe, extending some 1.8m above the ground. Since I only want to receive Astra 2 at an elevation of 37 degrees, I can use a much shorter pipe. In fact, I used the existing 100mm pipe already installed for my old 2.4m dish, with three steel angle braces bolted down to the concrete pad. With the mast in place, we then installed the dish support assembly. (017.jpg). Working with the assembly in the horizontal position, we unbolted each fibre pannel in turn from the dish in the garage, carried it down the hill, and then re-mounted it on the support assembly (019.jpg) With all the pannels back in place, all the bolts were tighted up to bring the dish back into alignment. Here you see the assembled dish and the next problem. Its rather visible! So now comes the camouflage. With the dish in its correct elevation and the lower pannel removed, I could spray paint (acrylic - matt) the camouflage pattern. For those interested - see _http://industryfigure.com/berkeley/camo.htm The next part will look at the LMB mount as I already know that the feed horn supplied with the Prodeline is not that good. [/QUOTE]

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