Dish/Motor Issues?

[Costactc]

Just looking for others opinions. We've had several nasty wind storms lately and my motorised 4' ku dish seems to be a bit out of whack. I am using usals with my stab 1.2 hh motor. When I scan in a sat like G3c at 95w I get optimum signal quality but as I move the dish east I have to compensate in my motorised setting by reducing my westerly degrees. As I get to Hispasat at 30w my degree difference from 95w is 3 degrees less and signal quality is optimised at 30w. Unfortunately it's Winter and getting to the dish is quite a challenge. I'm at a loss and scratching my head. Either the dish isn't tracking the arc as well as it should, the dish is warped or something is loose. Any ideas?

[chifut]

Maybe the dish& bracket is rotated 3 degree around the pole

[Costactc]

Thanks for the reply Chifut. It may well have moved but to be spot on on one side and off by 3 degrees on the other side?

[chifut]

..Then the pole somehow is tilted little be . 30w is very picky sat. 95w is catchable even with no aligment dish and very strong signals .Check the pole's plum ..You know that....

[el bandido]

Where is the center of the arc located?
Using the wrong USALS coordinates can cause the end of one side of center to be way off.
The dish can be misaligned on the motor. The Stab HH120 does not have a bolt running trough it to hold the dish center. Moving away from center and having to stop short means the dish is too low. Moving away from center and having to stop past the satellite location means the dish is too high.

[Costactc]

I'm going on the roof to have a look.

[ViP3R]

Don't fall off bro...lol

[Costactc]

Got it. I lowered the dish slightly and managed to get the pole about 1mm to the south. My true south is 74 degrees so I use Amc 6 at 72w which is my closest sat. I couldn't scan it in earlier today, now it's over 90% signal quality. I'm going to check out my whole arc.

[Costactc]

Thought I had it but still having to change motor position, I think a realignment is in my immediate future tomorrow as the temp is still supposed to be above freezing.

[Costactc]

I wasn't having these issues when I had my Technomate 5302 on this feed. I decided to slap it back on and all seems well. I'm thinking that my new Technomate 5402 m1 receiver is having issues moving the dish accurately. I still plan on doing some tweaking as long as Mother Nature allows for it.

[el bandido]

Dish moving problems in receivers do not happen very often or not like they did a few years ago.

Calibrating at 72W when you are actually 74W allows for 2 degrees of error immediately. These degrees of error my not be noticed on the satellites that are close to center, but will become much more noticeable as you move farther away from center. If you are out 1-2 degrees at center, then you will be out several degrees when you are at 60 degrees from center.

Plot the satellites you have or can get on a graph. It is very common for one side of the arc to be low, and the other side to be high. Try to check satellites out to 50-60 degrees each side of center, and make a note on what has to be done in order to get a signal.
If the dish has to stop short of a satellite in order to receive it, then the dish is too low.
If the dish has to go past the satellite in order to receive it, then the dish is too high.

[Costactc]

The dish needs to be lowered just slightly.

[Costactc]

Moved the motor to my true south at 74w and checked the arc. All sats are scanning in with signal quality jumping as it is quite windy today. No dish adjustments are necessary as the issue is once again with the motor arm which is loose. The motor also jumps if you send it to another sat. That is the second HH1.2 that I've had in the last year which leads me to the opinion that they are a pos. Too late this year as Winter is upon us but I will be looking into a 12" or 18" actuator, only problem I see is trying to find a mount to attach to it.

[Costactc]

I just got off the phone with the owner of the sat shop in Florida. Come Spring I'll be ordering an Andrews/Channel Master 1.2m dish with polar mount- slap an 18" VonWeise jack and no need to worry about those HH pos motors.

[sadass]

It has been windy latley, im also having issue with some sat's, some went to disqc so i can tune them in, now that all the snow is off the roof and preaty much everywhere i will go to the roof to re tweek,

[Pixl]

Come Spring I'll be ordering an Andrews/Channel Master 1.2m dish with polar mount- slap an 18" VonWeise jack.

This is the same setup I use for Ku. I calibrated the sat positions on a low cost V-box two years ago, no need to trim up since then. Works good. I didn't know you can still buy this equipment. I scrounged mine from a dismantling paging company.


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[Costactc]

Only the dish is sold here, the mount would need to be modded. The mount does come with the raven 1.2m dish on the UK site.

[Pixl]

I just got off the phone with the owner of the sat shop in Florida.

Would it be the dealer who sent this message a few years ago? :)


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[Costactc]

Would it be the dealer who sent this message a few years ago? :)


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No, here is the site:

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[Costactc]

I have decided to keep the 4' Fortec dish and modify it to accomodate one of my extra 24" actuators. My good neighbour Lex will be helping me out and designing the mount as he has on his 4' dish. I would also like to paint the dish as it's showing signs of a bit of rust, any ideas as to what type of paint? I've painted a mesh dish before but never a solid.

[sadass]

I would go with flat rust proof paint,