HH 100 Motor

[Gordon Wyatt]

Hi all I'm back,

Got the motor installed at the weekend

TM 1500ci+, 88cm TM Dish, MTI gold 0.6 LNB

Set the motor to 0, and then set it to 51.5 and lined up
the dish with the marks on the rotor arm. The bracket is
fixed to the wall of the house and is plumb all round. But can
only goto 30w and 40e.

I then set the motor and dish to 1w and got a 75 signal, then I
went to 30w and came up with a 75 to 80 signal, then went to
28.2e and came up with 75 to 80 signal. Same with 19e, 13e 75 to 80 signal
15w 56, 12.5w 60 and 5w 65.

by this time i,m thinking got it first time.
How wrong can one be between the arc that I have the rest of the satellites
gave little or no signal.

Any HELP would be most appreciated




Gordy

[Mship]

It just sounds like you need to do a wee bit of fine tuning to me Gordon :?

The stronger Sats seem to be coming in OK, I would just carry out some minor adjustments and see what you come up with. If you take note of how your set up now then you can always go back to that if you have to

Kev

[Gordon Wyatt]

Thanks Kev, 8)

Have done all that

went to 16e meter told me had 65 to 70%
receiver said 35 to 40% and the same with
the rest of the Sat's a little bit baffled about this



Gordy

[wod]

check the dish elevation as 5west should come in stronger than what you have said

[BGonaSTICK]

Here are my Five Top Tips for fine-tuning a DiSEqC motorised setup. I might add some more if I get bored or if anyone else cares to chip in.

First - RTFM! Make sure you have read and re-read the guide to motor installs so that you not only implement the procedures required for basic setup, but understand the theory of what you're trying to achieve. Sometimes your brain has to seemingly work in four dimensions to calculate which tweak has to be made to your dish/motor to improve things.

Second - as Kev says, mark everything before you start. This way, the worst that will happen is you end up back where you started. Based on this premise, most anything you do should improve your arc-tracking!

Third - only adjust one thing at a time. This is important IMO, otherwise you'll never know which adjustment had which effect. You're probably dealing with a multitude of minor errors, so you need simple solutions. The only exception to this is a combination of elevation and declination. If the OVERALL elevation of the dish is already optimal for a given satellite, then increasing one will mean increasing the other to stay exactly on-satellite.

Fourth - forget USALS. Use DiSEqC 1.2, because it gives you total azimuth control of the dish positioning. Once your dish tracking is near-perfect you can go back to USALS if you want, but once you've finished this process you will be well on the way to having OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and USALS will just not cut it.

Fifth - this is what the first four tips have been building up to. Draw a map. What? Yes, a map. Draw a map of the arc, and roughly mark onto the line all the satellites you should in theory be able to receive. Now, start with your dish in the middle of the arc and peak the signal using just the motor via the receiver. Record the actual azimuth that gives you the peak reading (using 'GOTO x.x').

Now flex the dish face up and down gently whilst checking the signal quality/strength on the receiver/meter. Note on your sketch whether the signal improves if you tilt slightly up or down. Mark where the actual satellite appears to be on your diagram. Repeat this whole procedure (i.e. drive motor to peak signal, then flex dish and record results) for as many satellites as you can before either:

a) You lose the will to live
b) It gets dark
c) You fall off the ladder
d) You run out of satellites

Using this information, and the actual azimuth figures you also recorded, compare the results to the arc-tuning diagram here:

Satellite Arc Tuning

The more readings you take, the clearer the picture will be. Be scientific about it.

Finally, don't be afraid to move away from the indicated settings on your motor mount and dish scale. The stamped scale on my Moteck bracket is well over a degree out. This is only a guide to initial alignment. It's also possible to have the mount slightly twisted on the pole, even if you have tightened the four nuts on the two U bolts equally.

Patience will get you there in the end.

STICK

[Gordon Wyatt]

Thanks for that Stick,

Have read and re read your article on installing a motorised dish.
Think I will buy that Inclinometer that you said about in your other article
at £25 with no postage sounds good to me. Is there any thing on the forum
about how to use one.

Once again thanks for putting up with me



Gordy

[BGonaSTICK]

Pleasure m8.

Don't think there's much we can say about using the inclinometer, but it should save you a heap of time by giving you a very accurate check on the alignment of your mast, and the elevation of your motor.

Eliminating those two variables will dramatically reduce the complexity of your task, because the declination will automatically fall into place leaving only the azimuth for you to worry about.