Dish angle

robswfc46

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hi

i am currently setting up a motorised dish, i have a technomate 5402 hd ci m3 receiver, triax td88 dish & a technomate tm-2600 DISEqC h-h motor
i have set it all up, entered longitude & latitude for my location 53.3 N, i have a south facing wall so set the motor to zero then sent it to thor 0.8w. according to the booklet that came with the motor it says 22.4 is the angle i should set the dish at, but no matter what i do i cant receive thor, i found an old video on youtube and it says set the dish between 22-25 degrees, is this true. any a
 

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Yep. That's the right ballpark - adjusting it a little will be required, though, to compensate for inevitable slight errors in the relationship between all the bits and bobs.

However, it is by no means uncommon for the motor latitude setting to be totally wrong because of using the wrong scale - many motors have a scale marked Latitude and one marked Elevation. Set the motor to 53.3 against the former and ignore the latter.

Also, some dishes (don't know about the TD88, although someone here will) have a reversible bracket that also has two scales. It should be a simple matter to check it's correctly assembled as (provided the motor bracket is also set correctly as above) the dish face should be very nearly vertical.
 

jeallen01

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The dish offset (declination) angle on the TRIAX TD range is 26 degrees, rather than the 22 you found on YouTube - and, of course, it all depends on just how accurately you set that on the dish mount (the dish declination on the TD range "sliding" mount arrangement is a right B****r to adjust accurately because it "grips & slips" randomly), and the elevation angle on the motor itself.

I found that it "helps" to paint the sliding mount with white spray paint and then mark the "start points" on both halves of it - then you can see the relative changes as you slide it up/down - per the attached shot of the TD110 on a Dark Motor.

I also found that there can be quite a lot of trial and error in getting the two angles correctly - so I suggest, you loosen the sliding mount on the dish, point it the "right direction" and then carefully move the dish "up and down" in that sliding mount, whilst "waggling" it slightly East & West and see if you can pick up "something".

Personally, I used the China TV channels for alignment on Thor because they are strong and unencrypted signals and come through pretty clearly when you "get it right" - but then it only takes a very slight change in any of the the azimuth (compass direction), motor elevation or dish declination for a channel to "pop" up but then "disappear".
 

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a33

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according to the booklet that came with the motor it says 22.4 is the angle i should set the dish at

The 22.4 from the booklet would be the needed value on the dish elevation scale.
The formula for that is (motor shaft bend angle - needed declination offset angle).
So the 22.4 degrees has not much to do with the actual dish face angle.

It would even be better when you use modified motor angles: motor elevation 36.1 degrees (instead of 36.7), and declination offset 7.0 degrees (instead of 7.6), so 23.0 on the dish elevation scale.
Once you have found the Clarke Belt using those modified angles, normally less motor-fine-adjustment is needed.

The scales of motor and dish usually are not perfect, so I prefer setting a motor setup with an inclinometer (or inclinometer app).


BTW When using USALS for the installation, you must set the above angles while motor at zero, and while dish exactly aligned at zero. And only after that, you move the motor to 0.8W (or any satellite you like), to find signal.

greetz,
A33
 

robswfc46

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thanks for the reply, i have adjusted the dish to nearly 26 degrees and i have picked up thor, bulgaria sat 1.9e, 4.8e & 7e. the signal on some channels is 97% is this normal ? as i did'nt expect it to be that high
The dish offset (declination) angle on the TRIAX TD range is 26 degrees, rather than the 22 you found on YouTube - and, of course, it all depends on just how accurately you set that on the dish mount (the dish declination on the TD range "sliding" mount arrangement is a right B****r to adjust accurately because it "grips & slips" randomly), and the elevation angle on the motor itself.

I found that it "helps" to paint the sliding mount with white spray paint and then mark the "start points" on both halves of it - then you can see the relative changes as you slide it up/down - per the attached shot of the TD110 on a Dark Motor.

I also found that there can be quite a lot of trial and error in getting the two angles correctly - so I suggest, you loosen the sliding mount on the dish, point it the "right direction" and then carefully move the dish "up and down" in that sliding mount, whilst "waggling" it slightly East & West and see if you can pick up "something".

Personally, I used the China TV channels for alignment on Thor because they are strong and unencrypted signals and come through pretty clearly when you "get it right" - but then it only takes a very slight change in any of the the azimuth (compass direction), motor elevation or dish declination for a channel to "pop" up but then "disappear".
The dish offset (declination) angle on the TRIAX TD range is 26 degrees, rather than the 22 you found on YouTube - and, of course, it all depends on just how accurately you set that on the dish mount (the dish declination on the TD range "sliding" mount arrangement is a right B****r to adjust accurately because it "grips & slips" randomly), and the elevation angle on the motor itself.

I found that it "helps" to paint the sliding mount with white spray paint and then mark the "start points" on both halves of it - then you can see the relative changes as you slide it up/down - per the attached shot of the TD110 on a Dark Motor.

I also found that there can be quite a lot of trial and error in getting the two angles correctly - so I suggest, you loosen the sliding mount on the dish, point it the "right direction" and then carefully move the dish "up and down" in that sliding mount, whilst "waggling" it slightly East & West and see if you can pick up "something".

Personally, I used the China TV channels for alignment on Thor because they are strong and unencrypted signals and come through pretty clearly when you "get it right" - but then it only takes a very slight change in any of the the azimuth (compass direction), motor elevation or dish declination for a channel to "pop" up but then "disappear".

thanks for the reply, i have adjusted the the dish angle to nearly 26 degrees, i have managed to pick up thor 0.8, bulgaria sat 1.9e, 4.8e & 7e, some channels have a signal of 97%, is this normal ? as i didnt expect it to be that high
 

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@robswfc46

That's "normal" for the Triax dishes!

Actually, you've done pretty well so far to get 0.8W to 7E - but have you tried any sats to the West of 0.8W? If the motor is properly "zero'd" on 08.W then you should be able to pick up channeles on one of the Eutelsat 5 birds at 5W for a start.

However, if you can't get 5W sats then the dish is probably not "zero'd" on 0.8W and is pointing very slightly to the East, and so you need to "jog" the motor very slightly to the West on the pole.
 

robswfc46

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@robswfc46

That's "normal" for the Triax dishes!

Actually, you've done pretty well so far to get 0.8W to 7E - but have you tried any sats to the West of 0.8W? If the motor is properly "zero'd" on 08.W then you should be able to pick up channeles on one of the Eutelsat 5 birds at 5W for a start.

However, if you can't get 5W sats then the dish is probably not "zero'd" on 0.8W and is pointing very slightly to the East, and so you need to "jog" the motor very slightly to the West on the pole.

i can receive 5W i did a scan and found 117 channels
 

jeallen01

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Good work and that's a decent haul on a TD88 - now try gradually working your way E from 7E and W from 5W, and see what you can find (although you won't find very much on the Western sats until you get to the encrypted ones on 27.5W and some FTA channels on 30W!).
 
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