4" more actuator gets me....?

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straffer44

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Oct 30, 2013
36
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peterborough, ontario
With my 10' mesh dish and actuator my arc is from 83W to 135W (and lower but the trees interfere) . The system is set up as it was given to me. I was looking where the actuator is mounted and thought I could gain almost 4" in length (if the lowest sat was 133W). The actuator is a von weise model v024 which i assume is 24".

The lnb is C/Ku and I was hoping to make it to 58W to get France24.
I will have to wait for some warmer weather but I might be worth a try.
Looking at lyngsat it doesn't look like there is much in between 83w and 58w.
 
Are you aware you can probably swap the actuator over to the other side of the dish, (the 58w side) so you can get lower on that side? It's also possible to add some angle iron onto the dish mount, so the end of the actuator is further out from it's normal attachment point, and has more of a leverage throw.

There are 36" actuators, but they are usually for much larger dishes, AND, they are highly dependent on the polar mount being properly made and balanced. If not, you get what is called a "flop point" where your dish can "flop over". Then the actuator can't pull it up without somebody physically lifting the flopped side of the dish, and hoping it didn't damage anything. It's not a good thing.

It's all a bit of good installation, a proper designed polar mount, a proper length actuator for the dish, and a bit of compromise to balance off how far you can go to either side.

My Perfect10 10ft dish with 24" venture actuator is capable of going from 58W to 135W without flopping over, and has perfect balance. However, 58w side, and 135w side is in the trees for me. I have a narrow window from about 63w to 123w due to being surrounded by woods.
 
I've got 24" v-76 (I think) Von Weise movers on all 3 my dishes and I'm able to get from 37W all the way to 139W. I modified the actuator mount on that "new to me" Raydx dish I got a few months back and although I haven't gotten that one tweaked in completely on the arc yet I do believe it will go East to 30W. And BTW, over the years I've gotten 3 old dishes that were setup by installers years ago and NONE of them were maximized for travel! Back then there were a limited number of satellites that actually had programming on them so they obviously didn't bother to do any more than each setup required. Ennywho, a picture of your polar mount at both ends of your current arc would help a bunch. May be able to post a few myself to show how my systems are setup.

There's some stuff to be had from time to time back East of 58W. I'm able to pick up NFL TNF on 40W with a linear LNBF even though those signals are circular. 72W has an NBC mux and also a fair amount of news type feeds that come and go. So there's a fair amount of stuff to be had if you just scan it in.
 
Best to mount the actuator on the same side of the pole where the furthest E or W satellite, in your viewable arc, is closest to the horizon .
Your arc seems to be 'short'. Does your actuator actually extend 22+ inches?? Maybe the limit switch is set too 'short'.??
My BUD goes from 139W to 55W with a 24 inch VonWeise using about 23 inches.

At my location 55W is Elevation: 21.8°
139W is Elevation: 21.7°

At peterborough, ontario
139W AMC-8 (GE-8) Elevation: 12.0°
55.4W AMAZONAS Elevation: 34.0°
So it looks like the actuator should be on the west side unless you're interested in satellites further east closer to the horizon.
 
I have a 24" and I have the actuator on the West side. It is setup so the actuator arm is just about all the way in with the sleeve connected close to the tip. (Where are actuator is connected on the outer sleeve is important for range of motion - I found that out and learned through trial and error) My current setup starts me at 139 and I have scanned all the way down to 55.5 as i love all the radio stations on that bird. I have further play, but i have not bothered moving the bird any further east as i have not yet been aware of anything worth receiving on Cband east of that. (I don't do sports) I have the satellite located in a position where I have clear line of site for 20-139. - The benefits of living on 80 acres. My KU dish turns between 30-125.
 
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I've had a 24" mounted on my 8 foot dish on the west side for going on 5 years without major issues. I get 58W - 139W but once I got to either 58W or 139W I noticed the L-shaped angle bracket that my actuator attaches to was bending.
I drilled holes and mounted a 1/4" thick piece of angle iron to it and that fixed it. Good thing there's nothing past 139W or I'd almost hit the ground too. I have my original 6 foot dish aiming at 58W or 55W and I can manually move it if I need too
 
Range of 10' Winegard Pinnacle with 24" actuator,no mods necessary;
100_0471.JPG 100_0472.JPG 139w to,well have no idea,trees/ buildings block most east of 72w
 
Well I measured the length when fully extended and its about 17" not including the last 1" or two where it attaches. I have included a few pictures of the mount. I think clamping further down on the actuator will work. Just have to see how much is lost on the bottom of the arc. Not much there except reelz.
Thanks for all the replies.100_4042.JPG 100_4047.JPG 100_4049.JPG 100_4050.JPG 100_4052.JPG
 
Looks to me like you need to make some MAJOR adjustments to that thing so you can get more travel out of the dish. But before you do anything to it, in the first picture on the left, what satellite are you on and or are you on the West Limit Switch?

Keep in mind here that "most" of these Von Weise actuator WEST limit switches are NOT adjustable so you change that by moving the outer tube in that clamp where the swivel joint is.
 
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Sorry I knew there was something I forgot to do. When almost retracted its pointed at 135W and when a few clicks from fully extended limit 83W.
Great job with the picture FaT Air. It explains what I was trying to say so much better.
Once back on 135W (after adjustment) a "shift" on the vbox should recalculate my sat positions.
I did not realize the internal limit for the east could be changed. Learn something new everyday :)
 
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Here's a pic of my Unimesh on the West Limit Switch, which is about 15 clicks on the Vbox X West of 139w to allow for peaking that satellite.

I noticed that your polar mounting ring is much larger than mine, which moves the rod end out from the dish mount pivot point. That's going to limit how much of the arc you can get back East, BUT, it will also make for higher counts between satellites so it's a good thing, bad thing deal. That ring on my Unimesh is only 23" in diameter and the one on my Winegard is 26".

But notice that the inner tube on mine is WAY further in than yours. What I do is "carefully" run the actuator all the way to the West limit switch until you get the E2 on the Vbox display. Once that's done, then disconnect the rod end at the dish and then turn that inner tube IN until it bottoms out against the housing inside. Once that is done then turn it BACK OUT about 1.5 to 2 turns so it CAN'T BOTTOM OUT AGAIN WHEN IT'S ON THE WEST LIMIT! You'll likely be about 1/4 inch from bottom on the West limit if you do this correctly. If you don't do this correctly then you might be in deep s**t as I'm not sure what will happen if that inner tube hits the housing BEFORE the West Limit Switch cuts the power to the motor.

Ennywho, once you complete this basic adjustment run the actuator about 15 clicks East then you can work on finding 139W (or your last West satellite) by sliding that tube in the clamp like Phat shows in the other picture. After that you can work back toward each satellite until you get as far East as you want or can go. Then set East Limit Switch a little past that last satellite, which is adjustable from inside the cover on the back end of that Von Weise mover. As others have mentioned though, make sure you don't go out far enough out to get past the flop over point, ie, the inner tube crossing over the upper dish pivot bolt.
 

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One thing I'll add. Yesterday I ran across a spare lead screw for a 24" Von Weise in my spare parts pile. That screw (Acme threaded rod) has 27" of threads on it. So if you start out on the West limit you "should" be able to use the entire 24" if you need to or can without flop over.

Re: Max dish travel, IMHO it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it! If you take the time to get ALL you can get now, it may save you having to rework it again in the future. Who knows what feed will show up where next time? :oldwink
 
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I adjusted the clamp on the actuator the other day but ran out of daylight to see what it made available. Today I carefully extended to the 17" hardware limit. I didn't get a signal on 58W (4040H26590 or 4120V27500). Just a few clicks before the limit i did get a signal on the following freq:
11722V18000 80%
12135V6999 50%
12012V30000 jumps 0-49%
When I blind scan with the alien2 set to "all" nothing scans in.
Is this 61W? If so, just a little further should be 58W.
 
thing I'd do, so as to not be 'in the blind' is watch for 3805 H 4166 to get on 83W again, then work your way east, one sat at a time.
78°W 3888 V 23000
72W 12053 V 6890
Then a big jump to
61W 3630 H 2785
58W 4040 H 28590
55W 3778 V 3589

Freq's and SR's as scanned in, May vary slightly. AND can't verify all as STB is now recording RED GREEN.
 
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You may already know all of this but in case you don't I'll mention it anyway.

If you get on a "known" sat then work your way East noting the counts between them as you go along, you can do the math to find out how many counts there are per degree, then use that figure to make it easier to get on the rest. Note though that as you go through the arc headed East the counts will eventually get to be less per degree the further you go because of the geometry of the actuator in relation to dish movement, ie, there will be MORE counts per degree from 139 to 137W than there is from 89 to 87W. The further East you go it will vary even more especially from 58 on out to 37W.

I don't know how you keep track of these positions/counts, but I made up a satellite list in numerical P order with a blank space beside the P locations to pencil the count number in. If you record these positions it will make it REAL easy to re-enter them should your Vbox have a brain fart, which does happen from time to time. Just make sure you use the LIMIT SWITCH at one end or the other as your starting point, ie, run to the limit then zero the count and start from there as those two positions will never change unless YOU do something to change them.
 
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The "extra" 4 inches did allow access to 61W. I adjusted the hardware limit and now made it to 58W. Didn't manage to get France24 but I will open a new thread on that subject. Thanks for all the great info. I sure learned a lot in the last few days.
 
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