Actuator Arm...Which Side?

[Greg Mueller]

Starting to reassemble and remount the "Perfect 10" BUD.

I'll need some help as I go......

I've got the mount on the pole and pointed south.
Adjusted the elevation on the polar axis to my latitude (47.5 deg).
Mounted the dish on the mount.
Have not adjusted the declination.

I am about to mount the 24" Von Weise jack.

Does it matter which side the actuator is on?
Does the motor end go on the west side or east side?
I'm by Seattle

Thanks

Should I wait on the actuator, untill I put on the feed horn support arms and feed horn (etc)?

 

[voomvoom]

I am about to mount the 24" Von Weise jack.

Does it matter which side the actuator is on?

I'm not sure as different dishes do differently. But, my guess is since you're on the left coast, you should probably have the primary travel be between east and noon (12 o'clock high). I have 2 c-band dishes and they both flop over after midday (true south), the fiberglass is almost, if not, immediately from the top, while the mesh will go 10-20 degrees further before it flops. By flop I mean, point of no return. It really depends on which sats you want the most, towards the east or towards the west.

Does the motor end go on the west side or east side?
I'm by Seattle

Thanks

The motor should be opposite of where you want to push the dish, from ground to sky.

Should I wait on the actuator, untill I put on the feed horn support arms and feed horn (etc)?

No.

Al

 

[Shawn95GT]

I'm also in the Western US (Phoenix) - I have the arm connected on the East side of the dish.

If you do it backwards (I did originally) you'll quickly find that you can't go all that far East before binding the mount.

In the West we are kind of lucky in that the Western sats aren't all that far West of TS - so we don't experience the problem that Al describes. If we were shooting for 180E or so, we'd run into it too.

 

[Greg Mueller]

That makes sense
Thanks

 

[AntAltMike]

And make sure that when the dish is pointed due south, that the little drain hole in the cover over the actuator motor and terminal block is straight down.

 

[Lynskyn]

Also, once you have the dish tracked, fully retract the arm and adjust it by loosening the clamp and sliding the tube to a position where the dish is pointing just below the satellite furthest to the east. That way you're not wasting any of the stroke. Then run the dish just past the far west satellite and set the mechanical limit so the dish will never flip over.

 

[iammike]

I'm not sure as different dishes do differently. But, my guess is since you're on the left coast, you should probably have the primary travel be between east and noon (12 o'clock high). I have 2 c-band dishes and they both flop over after midday (true south), the fiberglass is almost, if not, immediately from the top, while the mesh will go 10-20 degrees further before it flops. By flop I mean, point of no return. It really depends on which sats you want the most, towards the east or towards the west.
Al

That's the beauty of spun aluminum, they're light, I can go about 30 degrees before flopping. I wouldn't think flopping would be as big of an issue for the west coast guys though. I don't think there's as many birds west of their true south as there are east of ours. At least not as far west as we have them east.

 

[raydio]

I do better when I am standing behind my dish and looking at it - Shawn...is the motor on your actuator on the left or right? Mike...is yours on the right or the left?

 

[iammike]

I do better when I am standing behind my dish and looking at it - Shawn...is the motor on your actuator on the left or right? Mike...is yours on the right or the left?

Mine is on the right. When it's fully retracted, I'm pointing just west of the 139 degree location. If I remember correctly, the rule of thumb is if you're east of the Mississippi place your arm on the right (when standing behind) and place it on the left if you're to the west.

Mike

 

[Shawn95GT]

I do better when I am standing behind my dish and looking at it - Shawn...is the motor on your actuator on the left or right? Mike...is yours on the right or the left?

Standing behind the dish the actuator arm attaches to the left side of the dish. The 4DTV calls this linear East.

This is my old dish, but the new one is the same way:

 

[Harry77]

Typically East of the Mississippi the actuator gets attached on the West side, and west of the Mississippi gets attached on the east.

 

[Lynskyn]

I think you actually would have to go much further west than the Mississippi before you'd switch to the east side of the dish. Here in Houston the west side is definitely the way to go. Maybe west of Texas would be closer to the changing point.

 

[WyrTwister]

Starting to reassemble and remount the "Perfect 10" BUD.

I'll need some help as I go......

I've got the mount on the pole and pointed south.
Adjusted the elevation on the polar axis to my latitude (47.5 deg).
Mounted the dish on the mount.
Have not adjusted the declination.

I am about to mount the 24" Von Weise jack.

Does it matter which side the actuator is on?
Does the motor end go on the west side or east side?
I'm by Seattle

Thanks

Should I wait on the actuator, untill I put on the feed horn support arms and feed horn (etc)?

I live west of the Mississippi & my acctuator is on the west . Seems to work OK , after I adjusted it where it does not flop over .

Wyr

 

[dfergie]

NM and my original BUD from the early 80's is on the west side as is the one I got off a neighbor over 10 years ago...