Help With Motor Install

[pinkerton]

I have finally put up my motor and attached the dish as per many of the turorials. All the tutorials tell you to align the dish to the most southernly satellite, mine being 0.8w Thor. My problem is that directly south is a massive tree from a nieghbours garden, so I am unable to align to that satellite. I have made do and done the best I can and can pick up most of the satellites I think I should be, but the signal isnt great, even on 28.2E I'm only getting about 60% signal from a 80cm dish.
Any tips or idea's on how to align this properly? I have one of those cheap satellite meters.
Attached is my view east, west is nearly the same, with the tree in the middle

 

[Lazarus]

Well, as long as you are using USALS, you can align the system at any point on the arc, subject to the usual proviso of the pole being plumb and the dish correctly and squarely fitted to the motor stub.

Perhaps 13E might be a good one to try?

First, send motor to zero, then (if not already done) select USALS and enter correct Long/Lat

Next, select 13E and wait for system to come to rest.

Align for best performance on 13E in the usual way ie Azimuth by rotating entire motor/dish around pole and Elevation by adjusting dish bracket.

Check performance on other Satellites.




(This is described as the "Quick Method" in H-H Motor Instruction sheets)

 

[pinkerton]

Thanks Tivu, I will try that tonight.

 

[aceb]

I might be interpreting the picture incorrectly but if you are 0.3° West shouldn't 1W be very close to the top of the arc?

 

[satelliteman]

Try for a satellite closest to 1W that the dish can see using the method above as suggested.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Robbo]

Check 28E and 30W for example, and check whether you can get a better signal on them by gentle tilting the dish up and down and side to side. You should then know what is wrong with your arc

 

[satelliteman]

Also worth noting, the Dish Pointer phone app is way off from being accurate enough and should only be used as a rough guide.

 

[Robbo]

Yes, it could be that the signal on 28e is the best you'll get without moving the dish elsewhere. I.e your dish is following the correct arc already as far as 28e is concerned.

I don't trust the app, and use it as a rough guide only