New motor set up

[madrat]

My Technomate TM-2200 Super arrived today

I have started on the mounting, pictures show pole and its concrete mould, stabiliser platform still to be cast, Will make sense when its done honest.




Now just need the wife to help, She's the best cement mixer that works for a cup of tea

Anyway according to DishPointer.com - Satellite Dish Pointer / Alignment Calculator with Google Maps my latitude is 52.538 and my longitude is -1.397 looking in the instruction book that meant my elevation angle is 37.5 declination angle is 7.55 and my dish angle is 22.45, dose that sound about rite? only thing that is stumping me is my true south reading and how to find it and what satellite will be my due-south bird a little help please.

[robbo71]

Your nearest due south satellite is 1W (0.8W as well).

The transponder to choose to align it all up on is 11325H which carries BBC World.

I can't say I've ever bothered with the figures, as I think it is easier to to adjust the dish, motor etc by finding the best signal.

The elevation figure for you motor is correct though, as it is 90-your latitude, but motors sometimes have latitude and elevation marked on them anyway.

What you can do is set the dish face so its about vertical to start with, send your dish to 1W using USALS ( in your case it probably won't move). Then adjust the dish elevation and swing the motor around the pole for the best signal on BBC World. The elevation setting on the motor should not be adjusted, and left at 37.5 or your latitude.

As a guide to where south is, you can use your sky dish as a reference, i.e about 28 degrees futher west than where your sky dish is pointing.

Do you think that bucket filled with concrete is going to be heavy enough not to get blown over once you put the dish on it?
How are you going to get it vertical? as that is essential for a motorised dish.

Robbo

[madrat]

As a guide to where south is, you can use your sky dish as a reference, i.e about 28 degrees further west than where your sky dish is pointing.

I know where south is but what about true south?

I will try to explain the mount, bear with me.

I have taken the bucket and cut the bottom off, The bucket will be turned upside down and the pole placed in the narrow end, filled with concrete and allowed to set,when the bucket is removed I will be left with the pole sticking out off a cone shape with the top cut off / \ with me so far?

Then on the roof i will lay some pond liner down and place the cone/pole in the centre, this will then be levelled with small wedges until the pole is plumb. Then a wooden frame 32"x32"x2" will be placed around it and filled with concrete and reinforcing wire forming a slab. This will provide weight and stability and because the pole is in a cone shape concrete block this will prevent the mount from lifting out of the slab.

One more question re the motor, it has 2 scales on the mounting bracket. 1 goes from 25-75 the other from 15-65, which scale do I use?

[wod]

the two scales are latitude and degrees. use the latitude scale and set it to your latitude my for example is 53 so i set it to 53 and the other scale reads 37 degrees which is correct

[madrat]

thanks

[robbo71]

That concrete affair, sounds like its going to be nice and solid. I would definitely like to see a picture of that. I need an easy way to put a pole at the bottom of my garden, without digging.

About true south, it will be roughly 28 degrees to the west of where your sky dish is looking as I said before. But you will find it's exact position, i.e where the motor needs to pointing towards when you adjust your dish for 1W.

i.e
put your lat and long into the receiver.
Use USALS to send the dish to 1W.

Adjust the azimuth by swiveling the motor around the pole
Adjust the dish elevation with the swivel bracket on the back of the dish
until you get maximum signal on BBC World.

Your dish will end up pointing at 1W and you motor will end up pointing at your true south.

[madrat]

Thanks, according to www.gaaps.com.tw 1w is where true south is for me anyway. so with the motor set to 0 I should be on 1 west, thats nice and easy

I will take some pics of the mounting as it goes.

[madrat]

put your lat and long into the receiver.
Use USALS to send the dish to 1W.

My receiver doesn't have USALS

[robbo71]

Originally Posted by madrat

My receiver doesn't have USALS

What receiver have you got?


Although being so close to 1W the motor would only move round to the west by 0.4 degrees anyway. You could do that by using the east west controls on the receiver under Diseqc1.2, and look at the scale on the motor, then store that postion as 1W.

I thought all receivers had USALS, or an equivalent, but I'm probably wrong.

Without USALS you have to move the dish round and find all the sats one by one manually and store them. Its supposedly more accurate than USALS but mine works OK on USALS, and Diseqc2.1 does not get me a better signal.

[madrat]

its a Metronic touch box 3