Motorised setup - which satellite to get first

johnnypanic

Hi all,

setting up a motorised satellite system, recently purchased from Tringsat.

Hardware is installed on the wall, so now at the stage of finding satellites and following the arc.

Most advice is UK based and advises to first look for Thor at 0.8w, as this will be at the highest point of the arc. I live near Dungiven, NW of Northern Ireland, so was wondering if this is still the case, or should I be aiming for another satellite (?5E nearer true south).

Cheers,

Johnnypanic

Tony

Actually 5w would be better for you bearing in mind you are west of Greenwich.

Sam Radford

Set the Az/El accurately and use USALS.

johnnypanic

Thanks for the replies.

Had tried to get 1W, with no luck, so temporarily got astra @ 28.2e to make sure lnb working, etc. Will reset everything tonight and have a look for 5W.

Fingers crossed, will be reporting back that I've been successful.

tomslick

If I were you I'd used 8west. If you use 5west as you southern sat you'll not be on the belt perfectly. You'll lose sats on the exteme ends of the belt and Setanta Transponders on 28east. Use USALS to drive to 8west then aline the dish and motor by rotating the around pole and your all set.

Tony

Yep I guess so since his longitude is closer to 8 than 5

tomslick wrote: »

If I were you I'd used 8west. If you use 5west as you southern sat you'll not be on the belt perfectly. You'll lose sats on the exteme ends of the belt and Setanta Transponders on 28east. Use USALS to drive to 8west then aline the dish and motor by rotating the around pole and your all set.

byte

Modedit: Thread moved to Foreign Satellite (yeah, forum name needs an update).

slegs

One of the kids kicked a football at my dish and knocked it out of alignment slightly so I more or less started from scratch again.

I spent hours at it and i could not get the alignment for all sats.

I settled on this
- Perfect 28.2E (90% SQ)
- V Good 19E
- Middling 13E

It deteriorates then and I get no 1W where I was getting 50% SQ before and I have nothing on 5W either.

I tried setting up for 5W but when I get a strong signal then I get nothing on 28.2E.

I have an Vantage 88cm dish with a Motec motor and controlling via USALs.

I have set the elevation on the motor setting to my lattitude correctly.

Any advice on where i am out of alignment?

byte

In a similar problem I had, it was that the dish wasn't dead centred on the motor arm. If this isn't dead centre, it causes signal woes.

So, if looking from above, the center of the back of your dish, the motor arm, and the mast are all inline (when dish is aimed due south of course).

Otherwise, it's an elevation problem, either dish elevation, or motor elevation. Is the mast still 100% vertical?

netwhizkid

byte wrote: »

In a similar problem I had, it was that the dish wasn't dead centred on the motor arm. If this isn't dead centre, it causes signal woes.

So, if looking from above, the center of the back of your dish, the motor arm, and the mast are all inline (when dish is aimed due south of course).

Otherwise, it's an elevation problem, either dish elevation, or motor elevation. Is the mast still 100% vertical?

I am planning to setup my first motorised setup this week and have everything got for it now bar a few bolts. I am using a Moteck motor with gotox.

I will be aligning to Atlantic Bird 2 @ 8° West and have my 80cms dish set to this for the last fours years (used for SkyDSL before) but it is located on my western gable and catches no eastern satellites so I am moving it to the southern end of the house where I can track the entire clarke belt. Luckily my dish's elevation is locked for 8° West so all I will have to change is the azimuth. I also have a Satlook Micro so hopefully it should work out okay for me.

fat-tony

netwhizkid wrote: »

I am planning to setup my first motorised setup this week and have everything got for it now bar a few bolts. I am using a Moteck motor with gotox.

I will be aligning to Atlantic Bird 2 @ 8° West and have my 80cms dish set to this for the last fours years (used for SkyDSL before) but it is located on my western gable and catches no eastern satellites so I am moving it to the southern end of the house where I can track the entire clarke belt. Luckily my dish's elevation is locked for 8° West so all I will have to change is the azimuth. I also have a Satlook Micro so hopefully it should work out okay for me.

Just a couple of points for clarity before you start with your motorised setup:) Your dish elevation will almost certainly have to be altered as the motor pole will not be vertical when it's at the due South position, due to the bend in the motor pole and the latitude setting of the motor assembly. You will find that you will have to tilt the dish down in order to point accurately at the satellite. The keys to successful motorised setup are to have the pole on which the motor is mounted absolutely plumb, the motor set to your correct latitude and to have the dish mounted absolutely centrally on the motor pole. Then, with the whole lot pointing approximately due South, put your location coordinates into the STB and drive the dish via USALS at your highest satellite (5W on East coast and 8W on West Coast), and then turn the whole motor assembly on the mounting arm and adjust the dish eleveation (declination) for best signal quality. Gradually work out to the adjacent East and West satellites to ensure the dish is tracking well. If you find that the signal quality is down on the extreme ends of the arc, you may have to rotate the dish slightly (we're talking fractions of a degree) on the motor arm. There are lots of guides available for fine tuning of your setup, but you need to start with a solid vertical mount to begin with.
I see from your post that you have a Satlook micro. I would guess from reading reviews that this is mainly for the professional installer or serious enthusiast, so it may be a bit of an overkill for your first foray into motorised operation, but best of luck... I'm jealous really

joe250

Found this online for installing a motor.
Might Help you out