New Install of a motorised system help - TM1500

[blueuk808]

Hi - First time doing this and failed miserably so far! Have got a technomate 1500, 88cm dish, lnb, motek motor and cables etc.

Have attached the pole mount to the wall and attached my motor which has been set to an latitude of 53.5 (Manchester). I've then attached my dish at a declination of 22.4. I got a compass which showed me shouth and aimed the dish directly south.

I've gone onto my technomate and selected the Thor satellite and I get 4% level and variable quality. I've gone back up and moved the dish manual east and west on the same elevation and declination and I don't get any variance away from the 4%.

I'm now thinking that I've either done something wrong with the inclination and declinations. Being dark and all I'll probably be heading up tomorrow to start playing around, but is there something really simple I've missed that anyone can think of? I added a load of other satellites and I can get 20% level with some of them without moving the dish so am presuming the lnb and cabling is ok

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Dave

[lincsat]

Make sure you have an active transponder on Thor, I find that BBC World is a good channel to try if you don't have a signal meter. With your setup, I usually get around 95% on BBC World

[blueuk808]

The temptation was irresistable. Loosed the evelation angle on the motor and just moved the dish around to all angles up down left right and no change in the signal level. Have been over all the instructions and really can't see what I've done wrong.

The only thing that may have caused anything is I was originally going to use an amplifier from the dish to the reciever, however when I connected it up it the reciever didn't come on - so joined it with 2 normal aerial connectors - wouldn't have thought it'd make that much difference?

Any thought?

[Robbo]

Hi blueU808,

First off, I reccommend that you follow one of the motorised setup guides,
to make sure there is nothing you have missed.

Here is a very comprehensive one by BGonaSTICK.

How to install a DiSEqC motor the right way

Also when trying to get 1W, in the motorised setting pick a strong transponder, such as the BBC world one, it is 11325H.

And the declination, can also be adjusted by trying to maximise the signal quality on a particular transponder, rather that setting it by the book.

The motor should be sent to 1W position before making any manual adjustments, the guide explains it all.

Adjust the azimuth by swivelling the motor round the pole.
adjust the declination by adjust the dish elevation using the AZ/EL mount on the dish itself.


Robbo


EDIT, Took me so long to type that, I have missed a couple of posts.

Too many unnecessary joins in the cable are not reccomeded, and neither is using Belling-Lee
connectors for Satellite. Use the proper F connectors and joiner. How long is your cable run?

[blueuk808]

Thanks for the reply linksat - afraid I'm just getting nothing at all in terms of signal strength to even think about scanning for a channel. Think I'll start again tomorrow - just went out and checked the elevation and declination and they're right - more than likely the motor's moved while I've been testing so will have to reset tomorrow - would have thought I'd get at least some movement in signal strength if I manually moved the dish around - just don't get it

[blueuk808]

Cable run is 25m outside and about 5 inside. The theory was to use the maplins cable kit outside and connect to a booster inside then run the last 5m to the box - however the booster they recommended didn't work to the extent that the stb didn't power on!?! - the connectors were a last resort to try and test the system b4 going back to change tomorrow

Will go check the transponder - I reset the 1500 to factory settings so will check that it is looking up that transponder when moving to thor.

Cheers for the advice

[Robbo]

Originally Posted by blueuk808

Cable run is 25m outside and about 5 inside. The theory was to use the maplins cable kit outside and connect to a booster inside then run the last 5m to the box - however the booster they recommended didn't work to the extent that the stb didn't power on!?! - the connectors were a last resort to try and test the system b4 going back to change tomorrow

Will go check the transponder - I reset the 1500 to factory settings so will check that it is looking up that transponder when moving to thor.

Cheers for the advice

A booster should not be required for up to 30m of good quality cable.
TBH I would be tempted to start again with the cable, and do a complete run with no joins using wf100 or ct100(or equiv), or even wf125. These can be bought from satcure. The wf100 is about 50p/metre. They do f connectors too, that are exactly the correct size for these cables.

Just read some more of your earlier post, The elevation on the motor should be left alone initially, i.e set it back so that the latitude scale matches your latitude. Only adjust the declination using the swivel thingy on the back of the dish.
Robbo

[blueuk808]

Thanks Robbo = Yeah - I was thinking that myself, but am slightly loathed to do that until I get some sort of picture or result - the way the thing is set up now it's as dead as a doornail, which is leading me to think I've done something really really stupid (won't be the first time). I'll prob just connect the cables together to try and get some result to start with.

I'll reset the motor tomorrow and point due south again. And follow the excellent guide. Reading through it I'm fairly sure I've followed the instructions more or less to the letter. Maybe I'm doing something wrong with the stb once I've got it pointing south.

[Robbo]

Originally Posted by blueuk808

Thanks Robbo = Yeah - I was thinking that myself, but am slightly loathed to do that until I get some sort of picture or result - the way the thing is set up now it's as dead as a doornail, which is leading me to think I've done something really really stupid (won't be the first time). I'll prob just connect the cables together to try and get some result to start with.

I'll reset the motor tomorrow and point due south again. And follow the excellent guide. Reading through it I'm fairly sure I've followed the instructions more or less to the letter. Maybe I'm doing something wrong with the stb once I've got it pointing south.

You may have problems with a cr@ppy join in the cable like that on Thor,
as it's not the strongest.But give it a go if you want.

If you don't get any luck, try motoring your dish to 28.E, and adjusting there, that sat is very easy to pick up as the signal from that is huge in the uk. You can always re-ajust afterwoods for 1W for getting the arc right. If you can't eve get 28.2E, I would reccommend cable replacement, or at least getting shot of the aerial conectors.The trouble with them is that some are really sh!ite, so you get too much attenuation.

The receiver setup is not too bad, using USALS or Diseqc 1.2, motorise the dish to 1W, and select the 11325H transponder in the "Motorised Setting", and look at the blue bar.
If using USALS, make sure your lat and long are entered into the receiver.
Robbo

[blueuk808]

Cheers Robbo - I'll get some decent connectors tomorrow to try and get this working.

Changed the transponder to the one you mentioned and the signal strength went from 4% to 10% - so I'm getting something!

Will have another look tomorrow - the dish is on the back of my house and there's a lean-to roof to get up to the back face of the house - being 20 stone and 6'5 and trying to keep my balance on tiles is something I think I'll leave until it's a little less slippy!

The bonus is the wife is away till tomorrow night, and considering I've turned the house into Joderell Bank it's probably best if I have a few hours to play tomorrow!