Dish set-up

[Matt34]

Hi all

I’ve been having intermittent problems with signal levels and dish alignment for a little while now. One minute everything is fine, good signal and quality levels on all satellites, then I move the dish and on the odd occasion everything is lost. Up the ladder with the signal meter and find the dish is off signal very slightly, tweak it, and everything is fine for a while.

The Technomate motor seems spot on with no play, but the dish elevation bracket is quite poorly manufactured (in my opinion) and I’m guessing that this is where the trouble lies (the dish is a 1metre ISS). No matter how tight I get the bolts on the dish, it seems to be the bit that needs adjusting each time. Is there a trick to setting this up or should I have bought a Triax?

Thanks for your help

Matt

[robbo71]

The bracket on the Triax dishes, whilst they don't move, are still awkward to adjust. I have heard that the Gibertini dishes are better.

The ISS dishes as far as I know are cheap rubbish. Is it possible to drill a hole in the bracket somewhere and put a self tapper in there to stop it moving?

Robbo

[Matt34]

Hi Robbo

A couple of self tappers might do the trick as each side of the bracket appears to move slightly - I'll try that tomorrow if the weather is OK. Thanks.

Think I might look around for a better dish (this is my first) as the ladder thing could get a bit tedious after a while.....

Cheers

Matt

[robbo71]

The problem with the Triax is that is really difficult to move it by a small amount, and also when you tighten it up, it moves a tiny amount. The Orbital dishes have a plastic mount, which I don't think is very good. I'm sure I saw a picture of a Gibertini somewhere and it looked more solid and easier to adjust.

The maplin Fortec star mounts are rubbish too.

[Matt34]

Thanks Robbo

I'll remember that when I'm looking. The bracket on the ISS dish has so much play in all the bolt holes and in the indent where the bracket is supposed to swivel that the slightest adjustment of anything means something else invariably moves a bit.

At least I'm learning lots about setting up a dish... I get plenty of practice

Cheers

Matt

[robbo71]

Originally Posted by Matt34

Thanks Robbo

I'll remember that when I'm looking. The bracket on the ISS dish has so much play in all the bolt holes and in the indent where the bracket is supposed to swivel that the slightest adjustment of anything means something else invariably moves a bit.

At least I'm learning lots about setting up a dish... I get plenty of practice

Cheers

Matt

Yeah, thats good, I'm on my 4th dish now, and I still haven't found the right one. But my wife has banned me from buying any more.

Given the choice I would get an an ASC Signal 1.2m, but I will have to get a divorce first.

[Matt34]

I know exactly what you mean

[raindancerob]

lol think everyone knows hay

[Curious123]

Originally Posted by robbo71

The bracket on the Triax dishes, whilst they don't move, are still awkward to adjust. I have heard that the Gibertini dishes are better.

The ISS dishes as far as I know are cheap rubbish. Is it possible to drill a hole in the bracket somewhere and put a self tapper in there to stop it moving?

Robbo

I have got the cheap ISS rubbish dish but I have not had any problems with picking up the various satellites apart from BADR 26E Dubai One channels which seems to need slight tweaking but which I always seem to lose once I move away from it. I moved my dish from one end of the garden to other and I am now picking up a lot on the west that my house blocking but I am not picking up anything east of 28.2E. Is there anything worth picking up after 28.2E?

[robbo71]

To be honest I hardly ever venture past 28E, so I don't know. My dish tends to just flick between 7W,16E,26E and 28E these days, as I know what I want and where to find it.

I suppose I should have a wander further east occasionally.