USALS or DISEQC ???????????

[linsladeboy]

Hi everyone
I have now got hold of a SATPRO meter and hope to have another go at connecting motor to dish if weather stays fine. Should I set receiver to Usals or Diseqc?
Reason I need advice is that that I am getting conflicting information on various discussion forums ie"if you set it up on Usals it it becomes a problem if you want to fine tune dish later on with DiseqC and you endanger losing some satellites"
What do you suggest as I am a complete novice and I had to give up a while back when I couldn't get dish on the arc and so want to get it right this time if possible ops:

[Mship]

Mines set up using DISEQC which I find pretty easy to adjust when the wind plays it's usual tricks with it >

Never used USALS so I can't really comment on it m8 :?

Kev

[wod]

usals as get a good signal on the reference satellite e.g. 1west etc depending on where you live then all the satellite you should get on the arc

then do some tweaks if need be

[nanochickin]

I found USALS a complete pain in the arse. I use DISEqC its much better as like MShip says you can adjust it if you need to. I couldn,t get USALS to work properly even though the co ordinates were smack on according to my satnav, so i gave up with it



Nano

[linsladeboy]

Well I don't know what the bl--ding hell I'm doing wrong
I have spent all afternoon trying to get my motor set up following Stick's great instructions but I still can't get it on the arc ops:
Pole is perfectly plumb
I set motor, dish bracket and arm in line as best as I could
Motor is on 0 degrees
My latitude is 51.9 north, so I set that on motor
I turned the whole shooting match to Thor as my longitude is less than 1 degree West.
I connected Satpro meter and set up receiver to BBC WORLD transponder on Thor and with a little tweaking of azimuth/declination very quickly got a strong signal. So I thought great I've cracked it
I tightened everything up, got back downstairs but soon realized it was a false alarm as ( and this is the funny thing) I am only getting a strong signal on that particular transponder but every other transponder on that satellite has no signal
I sent motor(that works ok) to Hotbird and also got zilch ! After much connecting / disconnecting, checking/rechecking everything I gave up and set up system to Hotbird again without motor attachement.
One thing that really puzzles me > and I can't seem to get my head round are markings on Moteck motor. It has latitude markings on one side and elevation on other. According to their instructions 51.9 north should give you 38 degrees inclination, but when I set it to that this afternoon, elevation reads 33 degrees on the other side. If I set elevation to 38 degrees, latitude changes down automatically :?
Any ideas anyone

[BGonaSTICK]

Just set the Latitude scale on the motor and then leave it alone. The overall elevation has to take into account the declination angle too.

When you do eventually find 1W (and you will, if you keep at it until you feel the urge to throw yourself inexplicably from the ladder and then some...) and then move onto other satellites, you may find that the latitude scale on your motor is slightly out. Mine appears to be around 1.5 degrees in error, and believe me, I've checked it a million times... :roflmao:

I prefer the flexibility and fine-tuning abilities of DiSEqC 1.2 too, though USALS is a great way to get up and running (relatively) quickly.

You can switch between the two at any time, so it's not the biggest decision you'll ever make

[linsladeboy]

Hi Stick,
Many thanks as always
I've been on the valium since last night but I'm determined to get myself motorized!
I will give it another bash this weekend depending on weather.

[linsladeboy]

By the way, just as I know next time , my dish is now on Hotbird so approx how far in distance would I have to move dish to get to Thor?

[BGonaSTICK]

It's very hard to describe in terms of anything but degrees - and it's 14 degrees.

It may sound daft, but if you lay a protractor on the ground and extend imaginary lines to reference points in the distance, it becomes easier to visualise. If you don't want to look like an idiot to your neighbours, use Google Earth!

Try and view the aim of the dish like a rifle, looking down the LNB arm from behind the dish. 14 degrees around the circumference of a 2" pole won't seem much, but in terms of distant trees or chimney pots etc. it's a huge distance.

1W for me is the TV aerial on the house opposite! Once you find a few of these reference points at your location, you'll be able to do this in your sleep.

[linsladeboy]

Hi Stick, sod the neighbours >
My dish is on the wall by the side of a my flat roofed garage so is very accessible, which is more embarrassing for me as I am not having to hang on the side of ladders as some members have to sort out problems ops:
Thanks for the advice, I'll be in touch anon