Question for the "car tyre" mounting bods...

[alcina]

Originally Posted by Jimdefruit

Why do you want a picture alcina? With all that fiddly foodling you wont have time to watch it anyway.

Well fiddly foodling is great fun when you're in the mood for fiddly foodling...but sometimes you just want to sit in a comfy chair and be entertained. And it's at *those* times you discover to your horror that the local moggy has been doing unmentionables with your dish and it has shifted...and you have no picture Then you just want a simple re-alignment process.

Of course making a sturdy, stable, fixed mount (if a job's worth doing, do it well, Alcina) would mean that the local moggy could get as amourous as he likes with the dish and it still would point to Astra 1 (um..the dish that is)....but *only* Astra 1. But then Stick raised the possibility of having a sturdy-ish mount (or at the very least one which can quickly be corrected without the repeated need for a scapel and reams of amalgamating tape) *and* get the dish pointing to different satellites...something I had only fantasized about with the arrival of a scaffold pole and a motor! (I'm a "cake and eat it" kind of gal! :spite: )

So...I'm toying with an adjustable dish based on the decking square. I'm erring towards simply having different length pieces of wood...one for each satellite I decide to include...which will prop up the dish at the correct elevation. If the base of the dish is wedged in the same place on the front of the decking, and all the pieces of wood are also wedged into the same place at the back of the decking, then all you need to do is select which piece of wood you need for the desired satellite to fix the dish at the desired elevation, then drag the decking to the correct chalk marks on the patio and Robert is your mother's brother!

I put chalk marks around the corners of the decking tonight to mark the "Astra 1" position! Then I switched everything on and carefully (so as not to disturb the rubbley bit!) moved the decking around...and got "No Signal" on the TV. Getting no signal is, of course, the easy bit! Then I moved the decking back to the marks. Instant picture! The theory is sound! :clap: When I've got a...um...prop...of the correct length to replace the brick and rubbley bit, then I'll experiment with taking the whole thing apart and putting it back together without the aid of the satellite finder using only the chalk marks as a guide. If *that* proves to work...then we go multi-sat! 8)

Of course I may need to find something more permanent than chalk...I guess that's where the duct tape comes in!

Alcina

[BGonaSTICK]

"Humankind hath striven for the technological pinnacle since the birth of said behemoth. That summit hath now been achieved through the bulk acquisition of Duct tape and WD40" - BGonaSTICK.

[Jimdefruit]

And don't forget the sou' wester and galloshes for when this pleasant spell ceases.

[Mickha]

Hi alcina,
I was considering a temporary stand for work, to get a quality picture for the world cup, in the end a better aerial worked, but while looking I came across this patio stand.
_http://www.dastv.co.uk/ViewProduct.aspx?Product=395
I was considering bolting it to cross pieces of wood, weighed down to stop it moving, attach and align the dish, and then marking its position using paint, on both the wood and ground, so as to just put it outside when required.
Providing your dish isn't too large it might be worth purchasing, or manufacturing, something similar.
Of course, in a short time you will become as crazy as the rest of us, and want to pick up everything possible, which involves getting the biggest dish, and motor your remaining sanity, or spouse, will let you get away with

[alcina]

Ah...the whole reason I'm doing this in such a crazy way is beause I have no cash Otherwise I'd be showing off my own mini-Jodrell Bank...actually...sod the "mini" part of that statement! In fact...the completing of a multi-sat system using only the smallest possible outlay has become something of "the" challenge :spite:

Mickha's idea of the stand is pretty much what I'll be doing...but with a piece of decking and some bits of wood and a bunch of old bricks! Oh...and the chalk! Of course, living on my own means that I'm limited only by my own sanity...and there's clearly no problems on that front!

I'm hoping that the scaffold pole will have been found and the pennies saved up for a motor before the dark evenings and inclement weather arrive...otherwise the chalk will have to be swapped for luminous paint! :

Ah...here's to a fine weekend of playi...um... :quote: working :quote: on the system!

Alcina

[BGonaSTICK]

HeHe, have fun.

I'd be interested to hear the range of satellites you can get on your decking-o-scope

By the way, I've often considered just how much some of those portable tripod stands look exactly like an upturned rotary washing line!!! Hint Hint!!!

What time does your neigbour go out to pick the kids up from school?!? :roflmao:

[alcina]

I got the chalks last night! :spite: Little box of 10 multi-coloured sticks of fun! Astra1 is currently the white marks.

Hmm..."decking-o-scope"....ISTTMS...I'm seeing a career in the Civil Service or Military here Stick!

Alcina

[alcina]

Et voilà! The Decking-O-Scope aka. Human-Powered, DisEqC-by-Chalk Satellite Motor!

The front view. The chalk marks read: Blue for Astra1, Yellow for Astra 2 and Pink for Hotbird. Move the piece of decking so its corners fit the correct colour:
[img width=300 height=400]http://www.alcina.org/pics/SatChalkFront.jpg[/img]

The back view. Once the decking is in the right place, put the right piece of wood at the back to support the dish at the correct elevation. There's about an inch difference between the shortest stick for Hotbird and the longest stick for Astra2. Astra1 is somewhere in the middle! The dish is currently positioned to receive Astra1. The brick and string are to give the stick some resistance, otherwise the dish falls forwards :
[img width=300 height=400]http://www.alcina.org/pics/SatChalkBack.jpg[/img]

Flipping between the three different statellites is now less than 30 seconds :clap: The trickiest satellite is Astra2: because the dish is practically vertical it's quite difficult to balance, and in addition the LNB is then so low that the cable attached to it starts to push against the patio! But hey...it'll last until I can get me motor!

Alcina

[BGonaSTICK]

WooHoo!!

Lock and load!

Well done. A pretty good solution for the time being, I would say.

Now, if you can stand over it holding an umbrella tonight when it rains... though I'm sure you already have contingency plans

Looking at your pics, I wonder if you might get a slightly better signal by sliding the LNB backwards in the clamp. Somewhere in the middle of the available movement is normally about right. Yours looks to be pushed right forward. Worth a try maybe.

STICK

[alcina]

Waaah!! The contingency plan didn't take into consideration a flooded patio after the monsoon last night! :'( Time to break out the duct tape Finger's crossed because the dish elevation should still be ok (wood floats!) realigning the dish to the satellites should be relatively easy

Alcina