Advice on a motorised setup

[Realist]

Finally received goodies today and already plugged the receiver into my sky dish to have a play and found 900+ stations.

Im not wall mounting the dish but cementing a 10ft scafolding pole into the ground in the garden and sticking the dish on that. I hope no bugger decides to jump over the fence and nick it now.

So I cant see me doing all thi over xmas because I cant get hold of cement etc. So.......... 10ft pole 3ft into ground leaving 7ft above ground should be ok. Will get hold of a compass and see what clear views I have from the garden and go from there.

Now LINCSAT.

How the bloody hell do I align this motor and dish?

Laters

[stevo25]

sorry im a bit late here but dont forget that the pole u set in concrete needs to be plumb as it will **** up the arc

[lincsat]

Well I'm a lousy teacher, but here goes.

Basically, you need to find 3 satellites, 1 @ due south-use Thor 2/3 at 1 west. 1 @ Western end of arc-use Hispasat at 30W and 1 @ Eastern end of arc-use Astra 2 at 28E (or depending on the mount Astra 1 at 19E)

Your mount should come with a chart of what angles you need, set your polar mount angle and delination as per the chart. Set the mount for due south/1west and go and find thor, spinning the mount on the pole and if necessary the dish elevation, when found nip up the mount on the pole but don't fully tighten yet.

Motor the dish to 30 west and check allingment make a note (but don't adjust) if elevation is too high or too low, now swing to the eastern satellite and do the same.

Now the tweaking. If east and west are too low, you need to decrease declination (so dish looks higher) and slightly lower the polar angle so all 3 satellites track properly. If east and west are too high, do the opposite.

If east is too high and west is too low, move the whole mount slightly to the west. If east is too low and west too high, move the mount slightly to the east. You will then probably have to re-set the positions.

Hopefully, that should give you an idea. I've never used that receiver or mount, so can't really help too much. As stevo says, make sure the pole is dead vertical and make sure the whole thing doesn't sway in the wind, if necessary, fill the pole with concrete.

It may be easier if you can take your receiver and a TV outside to see what you're doing, a chair and bottomless mug of coffee might be a good idea too. Tke your time, think logically, take 2 asprin and ask for help when you bugger it up.

[Realist]

Ok, not doing anything until after xmas and the new year due to holidays and time. Will have a play within the next few weeks or I'll pay a company to do the install for me cos im lazy

laters

[Realist]

System setup and installed, working a treat.

Loads of stations available and I have full access from 45deg East to 45deg West.

Thanks all for help and info.

Laters

[lincsat]

That's good, did it get mounted on the pole? Do you have any photo's?

[Realist]

Yes it did mount on a scafolding pole cemented in the back garden, I will post pics later due to time now.

Its 3:45am and Im off out the door for work so I'll do it afterwards.

Laters