Hello and a quick question!

[pshack]

Hello all!

Being though the weather is nice I am today going to attempt to set up my moterised dish. I have had all the parts and things needed since last August, so this is a long time in the planning stage.

I have the following:

Technomate TM1500 receiver
Moteck SG2100A DiSEqC motor
80cm Lidl dish
0.3db single LNB

I have fixed the pole to the wall and I am about to get started on fitting the motor. The one thing I know that will be my downfall is finding true south. I know roughly where south is by looking at the sun and a compass at midday. I think I have figured out my redings etc.

I am based in Sheffield

My lat is 53:24 N
My Lon is 1:27W

Using the table in the motor instructions this means that the elevation angle of my motor is set at 37 and the declination of the dish is 22.4 .
I also need to set the azimuth, which according to the manual I can do through the GAAPS web page once I know which satellite has the strongest signal.

Could someone give me any more pointers or tell me if I have gone wrong, anywhere, as I know I will fail without knowing where true south is or which is the strongest closest satellite.

Thanks for all your help in advance

[Jimdefruit]

Welcome to the forum pshack.

Dont start off with the strongest signal sat. Ste out with the southern most sat from your position. and centre the motor by adjusting from that position. In your case true south and Thor are very nearly the same thing.

Once you have that set, the motor angle should take care of the rest of the arc.

[remlap]

Dont expect that LIDL dish to last long, waste of time and money.

[Yorks]

Ok, I'm not from the 'old school', and stand to be shot down in flames, but if I were you with that set up, I would try usals.

I had no option but to do this with my install as I was fitting a second dish, which due to obstructions, could only track the arc from 12.5w to 58w. So there was no way that I could set up on my due south sat - which is also Thor at 1w.

I also have a TM1500 and Moteck SG2100A motor. I used 30W to set to, but would do as Jimdefruit suggests and set up on Thor 1w.
With your motor set at zero bolt it to the dish and make sure that dish and motor are exactly in line. Then mount the whole assembly onto your pole and point due south. Having entered your correct longitude and latitude in your receiver and set it USALS, power off and connect your cables. Power on and send your dish to 1w. Now slacken your motor on the pole and turn both motor and dish around the pole until you receive a signal for 1w. Once you have got your strongest signal, tighten the motor on the pole, and then do the same with your dish elevation angle on the dish itself, until you have peaked the signal in the vertical plane. Once you have done this tighten everthing up. That should be it.

I find that USALS works extremely well on my Technomate with this motor, and have never needed to adjust anything.

Good luck,

Regards,

Yorks.

[BGonaSTICK]

No way is your declination angle 22.4

More like 7.5

[Yorks]

You're right Stick. The declination angle for the SG2100A for a latitude of 53 degrees, is 7.6. This is subtracted from 30 for this particular motor to give you the dish bracket angle. So the dish bracket needs to be set at 30 -7.6 = 22.4

Yorks

[BGonaSTICK]

Be careful though - some of the SG2100's you have to subtract from 40, not 30. Check your manual.

[Yorks]

Right again boss . But I think the SG2100A is 30 where the SG2100 is 40.

What am I rambling on about. Just RTFM. :roflmao:

[BGonaSTICK]

Yes, I think that could well be right. Mine is the older SG2100 (not 'A') at it requires the '40' variation.

[pshack]

Thanks for all the help guys. Have got it all set up now, after a few days tweaking

Originally Posted by remlap

Dont expect that LIDL dish to last long, waste of time and money.

My mate has had one for two years without any problems ! ! For £14.99 I think that's not too bad