Usals

[215liverpool]

Hi there

I had my satellite professional installed and from what I understand my system wasn't set up using the USALS system.

The signal that I receive off all the main satellites (Astras, Hotbird and Eutelsat) is great I get a signal in the early 80's with my 1m dish and TM1500 reciever.

My knowledge is getting (slightly) better and I want to get the most out of my package as possible.

The other day I tried to switch my motor from diseq 1.2 to Usals to try to find new satellites that I hadn't scanned onto my receiver.

I put my longitude and latitude in but I couldn't find anything. So I tried to find my existing satellites that I know I get a strong signal on under Diseq 1.2 . (eg Thor, Hotbird and Astra)

The signal I'm getting under my usal settings was about 66-68% and I normally break into the 80's on my diseq 1.2 settings.

With this in mind do you think my pole mount isn't plumb straight ? I've rounded my lat and long up and down by 0.1 degrees (the sad accountant that I am) to see if that makes a difference but alas nothing.

Taking all the above into account am I am being a numpty and I've missed something out or do I have grounds to get my installers back to line to correct the alignment on the pole ?

Many Thanks

p.s. I'm based in Barnet (just outside north London)

[BGonaSTICK]

Welcome to the forum 215

It's a good question - but I can tell you now, that if by using DiSEqC 1.2 you can achieve those figures consistently, and all the way across the arc from at least 28E to 30W then the motor is probably tracking the satellite arc in the sky very well and you have no need to worry.

If it's also good at 40+ degrees either way, then that just reinforces how well it's aligned.

If however the East was good, and the West bad for example, then you've got problems.

DiSEqC 1.2 is the best way to control your dish, and you will always do as well as USALS and usually significantly better with a little patience and practice.

USALS is good and bad news. Great for newbies doing a self-install (or installers in a hurry) but not optimal. DiSEqC 1.2 lets you fine-tune every last scrap of signal from each satellite independently.

OK, imagine this (and please forgive the overly-simplistic description - I'm not trying to be patronising)

Your dish is effectively on a simple pivot. It swings left, and it swings right. The mechanics of this are fixed, and cannot move (assuming the guy did the bolts up tight). The elevation aspect of the dish movement is a done deal. You cannot alter the elevation of your dish further without finding the ladders and a big spanner.

If the satellites were in a straight line above us, this would be a piece of cake to do. The installer actually has to set up the geometry to make the dish dip increasingly down towards the horizon the further away from due south the dish is swung. There are a number of steps involved in achieving this, but once it's done, it's done - external forces like gale-force winds excluded of course!

Getting this right involves much tweaking, but it's 90% of the job. The cold and wet bit at least!

Meanwhile, indoors on the sofa - remote-control in hand - all you can do is pivot that dish. You control how far left, and how far right. You have no up/down control.

Assuming your dish doesn't hit the wall or a small child on its way across the arc, all that's stopping it from achieving a perfect alignment on a given satellite is you with your left/right control.

This is where DiSEqC 1.2 comes into it's own. Whereas USALS just takes a single reference point on the arc where you get a great signal and logically calculates where all the other satellites should be in relation to it, DiSEqC 1.2 lets you inch the dish across the arc until you physically see the best results on your TV/meter, whereupon you can store it.

You can (and indeed need) to do this for each satellite, or the receiver will stare blankly back at you when you tell it to go somewhere it's never heard of.

Sorry, that's very long-winded, but hopefully it gives you a better insight.

[solunauk]

Not at all long-winded, IMHO, it's cleared up a lot of questions I had about Diseqc/Usals.

[BGonaSTICK]

You're welcome

[215liverpool]

Cheers guys,

I've got next week off work so I'm going to have a play around with my system next week.

I must admit I predominantly bought the motorised system purely to pick up football but I'm now being pulled in to the dark side !

[BGonaSTICK]

Football is the dark side!