Motorised - Past & back again...?

[Nealster]

I'm very new to this game so apologies if this is obvious to some...

I've recently bought & installed a motorised 80cm dish and a Technomate TM-6900 HD receiver. It has been aligned professionally to provide some peace of mind while scanning the skies.

The bulk of our wiewing will be between Astra 2A-2D 28.2_deg_E (BBC HD) and Thor_1_deg_W (Czech/Slovak TV). It is possible for us to receive decent signals from both of these satellites.

However, more often than not - when moving from Astra to Thor - I have to select 5_deg_W first, in order to get a signal from Thor. This basically means motoring past the desired satellite and then coming back to it from a Westerly direction.

Thanks in advance... Any thoughts, please?

[Jimdefruit]

Sounds to me like a bit of slack in the motor mount. Do you get any problems on the other satellites? If you drive straight to Thor, do you find that you can get a good signal by edging the motor via the east/west controls.

Also have you set up the dish using diseqc or by usals? Usals is an approximation and it may be that by selecting and saving the sats by diseqc you overcome the problem.

[robbo71]

What Make/model of motor is it?. If it is suffering from excessive backlash, it may be possible to cure it. The Moteck sg2100 for example can be. I could dig out the post if it is a Moteck.

[Nealster]

It has been set-up entirely using USALS, at the advice of the local dealer/installer. I'd previously mis-conceived that it was a bit more intelligent than perhaps it is.
I haven't downloaded/saved too many more satellites at the moment but will certainly try others for the same problem when I get home. I will also attempt going straight to Thor & then tweaking it with E/W etc...
Thank You

[robbo71]

If the problem is not caused by backlash, you can edit the satellite position fractionally, which will have a similar effect to making fine adjustments using the DiSEqC 1.2 E/W adjustment.

[Nealster]

It's a brand new Technomate 2200 diseqc.
Wasn't the last one up a ladder but could check for potential slack come the weekend...!
Thanks

[Nealster]

Sorry, robbo71, edit the satellite position fractionally, where?
...In the 'satellite set-up' page?
I'll be quickly coming unstuck here because I'm sat at work & not at home with the equipment in question!

[robbo71]

Originally Posted by Nealster

Sorry, robbo71, edit the satellite position fractionally, where?
...In the 'satellite set-up' page?
I'll be quickly coming unstuck here because I'm sat at work & not at home with the equipment in question!

Well, its a bit of a cheaty way of doing it, but it works for me.

On my receiver I change 'Sat degree' if I need to to get a better signal.
See this post:-
1.2 To Usals

[Nealster]

Not sure if I have a 'change Sat degree' on my TM 6900?? (will have to wait until home time again!
Many Thanks for your assistance

[Nealster]

This problem persists!!!

I've had a chance to try some things - where does the time go???
It's only with Thor 1W. I can go to other satelliets without a problem.
Further to the symptoms, when I select Thor the 'moving to satellite' bar stays on the screen far longer than for any others, even if it's the satellite nextdoor to the East, ie. Siruis 4.8E!!

I've tried the 'cheat' method by changing the posn. of Thor by .1 or .2 degrees either way. I've currently left it on 1.1W with a slightly higher signal percentage.

I have another thought but aren't sure whether I should change threads from this one?? I'll start it here but probably seach out another on the same subject...

On Multimap I sit at LAT 51:33:13N (51,5537) LON 1:47:00W (-1.7834)
The pro installer typed in the following, in USALS, before going up the ladder: LAT 51,5N LON 1.4W
I'm thinking he's put in a spurious LON value??

Now the QUESTION:
Does this effect the alignment if I now try putting in LON 1.8W, ie does the dish need re-setting with the new USALS value in?

Any help would be appreciated, it's getting frustrating, please...