New system install, no signal - help!

[lee171181]

I have just purchased a new system (TM 1500ci, 90cm dish, usals/diseq motor etc..) and have just installed it following your guides on here and the manuals but am not receiving any signal. I hvae looked up my lat/lon and dish elevation and set these up correctly on the motor & dish brackets, aligned the satellite due south with compass & then attempted finding satellites using usals but wherever I move the satellite to, the signal never changes above 28ish% so something must be wrong, but I dont know what!

I have double checked all the settings & figures and they all seem ok, the only thing im not too sure about is the dish elevation, - every guide I look in this seems to be a different figure so im not sure which one to follow?

Also im not sure about declination angle and how this needs to be setup in relation to the elevation, maybe this is where im going wrong?

Does it matter whether the lnb is twisted on the end of the dish or should it be perfectly straight?

Im thinking the fact that im not getting any signal must mean im completly out of line with the sat arc but I can only assume that the elevation is the problem. The equipment def works as I tested moving the dish by hand before I installed it and managed to receive high signals on the box!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Lee

[Jimdefruit]

Lee, you say that you have set up due south using a compass. Have you allowed for the difference between true south and magnetic south?

[lee171181]

I did see that but was'nt too sure how to work it out? As I say I dont think its that angle that is the problem as I have manually moved the dish as I currently have it setup from east to west and the signal never changes so I think its more the 'up and down' angle or the elevation thats the problem or am I completly wrong??

[BGonaSTICK]

You need to allow for magnetic variation or your due-south satellite will be anything up to maybe five degrees out.

Your LNB should be dead straight, and you need to check your motor manual to determine how to set the elevation on the dish scale.

There are only two up/down settings you need to make - the motor bracket (based on your Lat) and the dish scale based on your manual.

Where are you and what motor do you have?

[lee171181]

How do I work out the magnetic variation?

The motor is a rotor sat HH90, I am in kent in south east uk & have worked out lat 51.09N and lon 0.28E, according to the guide the dish elevation is 37.6 degrees although this seems to vary with the guides on here. These are the settings I am currently using and it doesnt seem to work so something must be wrong somewhere.

Is it better to use diseq rather than usals to configure?

[BGonaSTICK]

Stand behind the dish, and swing it to the right (West) from where your compass tells you 'South' is by around three degrees.

I find it better to use DiSEqC, but USALS was designed to make things easier once you have found 1W, which is your due-south reference satellite.

Does your motor look exactly like the one attached? If so, it's a STAB and the manual is this one. Can you check if that looks right?

Does the motor have a latitude scale stamped on both sides of the bracket? If so, you should set this to 51 and obviously ensure you're using the 45 to 70 latitude range.

I agree with your calculation based on the STAB manual that your dish scale should read 37.6 degrees.

Once you've corrected your azimuth by three degrees, you should be very close. Drive your motor to 1W with the receiver and then make tiny adjustments of the motor on the main pole and dish elevation until you find 1W. Then you can either carry on with DiSEqC 1.2 or switch to USALS.

Good luck.

STICK

[wod]

are you using a signal meter or just using the receiver to help align the dish ?

[lee171181]

Yes it is the Stab motor the same as the one attached, I am currently only using the receiver to help align the dish, is it worht using a signal meter as well?

I will try the suggestions and see what happens.

[wod]

as you say you are using the receiver only input the frequency of bbc world on 1west 11325 H, 24500, 7/8 in and move the dish with motor around the pole till you get the best signal on the channel and then lockup the bolts on the motor

[lee171181]

ok realigned the dish and can now pick up stations on eutelsat 16 deg and astra 19 deg but dont seem to be able to get many others, does this mean that the declination angle is out?

also many channels have good signal but just black screen, is this because of bad signal or that channel is not free or something?

My main reason for getting this was to receive football so does anyone know what channels this is on, I have found the premier sports portal but not sure how to access the stations, is it red button or something?