Arc Tracking question for you guys

[pokey31]

I am setting up my a sg2100 motor with a winegard 76cm dish.

My true south satellite is AMC-9 around 83 degrees west. I found this sat by physically moving my dish and using a satellite finder, and now the sg2100 motor is at 10 degrees instead of 0 degrees (where it "should" be i believe when i am on my "true south" satellite.) My question is, should i figure out a way to make my motor be at 0 degrees while my sat is on my true south satellite (amc-9) or does it matter at all? since it is on 10 degrees while it's on my true south satellite, will it hinder my motor from tracking the arc properly?

ive been at this 9 hrs. today, please help! thanks.

 

[voomvoom]

First I would try out the arc where you now have it. It shouldn't take you long to find out if it's not tracking correctly. You have nothing to lose in trying. If it is, then you're all set. If it's not, you would probably come closer to tracking the arc by setting the motor and your south satellite on 0 degrees as you suggested. Are you sure you're on AMC-9? I don't think it has any regular channels, just wild feeds. Hope you have better luck than I have/did at times. The most recent adventure of mine got me a signal in about 10 minutes, but it took about 6 days to finally get my arc right.

Al

 

[pokey31]

Iceberg said amc-9 had a tp at 12020 v 30000, and sure enough i found a signal there.

Ive found sbs6, amc5, and amc9 by nudging the dish east and west........but when i try to find the intelsat 5 sat with alot of channels on it, i cant find it.........it seems like the more i stray away from sbs6,the harder i have problems finding satellites.

Thanks for you quick response, im always open for better suggestions.

 

[sikma]

I've never tried to aim a ku dish with a polar mount, but I've done plenty of 10' c-band dishes. If the pole isn't EXACTLY plumb you will stray from the arc the further you get east and west of center.

 

[voomvoom]

It sounds like your polar axis is off. You probably should set AMC-9 and your motor to zero. And give it another try.

Al

 

[pokey31]

that's what i will do........will post results in a few min (HOPEFULLY!!!)

Thanks!!

 

[kc5qih]

I thought that you were supposed to physically set the motor bracket up true south, then add the motor, set it to 0; adjust your motor elevation; dish elevation, then peak your dish to that true south satellite; and you should be pretty close to the arc. That is what I did and I can track the arc all the way from both sides..

 

[pokey31]

Sounds like mine is off a little bit......i tweaked it some. My true south satellite was at 5 deg. on the motor now instead of 10 degrees.........my true south satellite also gets a better signal now, but the further i stray away from it, the weaker my signal gets on the other satellites.........sounds like i need to tweak amc-9 (my true south) closer to zero degrees on the motor. You are correct kc5gih, except i had to learn it the hard way.......after 10 hours, i definitely know more about tuning in satellites..........im done for the day, however, tomorrow i plan on accomplishing my mission.

 

[Arion]

Your motor should be at zero degrees for your true south sat. The mounting pole, motor and dish should be in perfect alignment. Rotate the entire motor dish assembly to lock in to your true south satellite and then tighten the bolts that mount the motor to the pole. In addition in your pole is not vertical all the way around you won't track the arc right.

 

[voomvoom]

kc5qih,
You are, but there can be a problem finding AMC-9 from scratch, because there's not always a signal to find. My particular problem was my true south was 84 degrees and there's a C-band only satellite at that location, which doesn't work to well for Ku-band. So I tried AMC-9 with no luck, so I went to AMC-3 at 87 degrees and found a signal. This only took about 10 minutes, but it took me 5 or 6 days of tinkering and fine tuning to get the arc right. In that time period I realized that my Pansat had AMC-9 preprogrammed at 85 degrees, which is where it previously was and currently there is nothing there. And I had to reprogram the Pansat to 83 degrees and haven't had any more problems with AMC-9, except when there's nothing on it.

Al

 

[hubba]

If you are at 82.552883 W you need to set your motor at 0 again and loosen the pole clamps and turn your dish till you get signal on AMC-9 around 83 degrees west. Then tighten it down. Then peak and tune for best signal.

 

[voomvoom]

pokey31,
I see you have a 3500. Check and make sure AMC-9 is set at 83 degrees and not 85 degrees. If it's set at 83, you should be OK, if it's set at 85, you probably need to change it to 83 degrees. That's what I had to do in my 3500.

Al

 

[pokey31]

How do i change it to 83 from 85 if it is wrong? im usually a quick study, but i got all of my equipment in today (dish, motor, lnbf, and pansat) and have been somewhat scatterbrained trying to get it all to mesh together.

 

[pokey31]

okay, my amc9 is 85 degrees, cant figure out how to change it.

 

[voomvoom]

Go into USALS. Get there by : Menu : Installation-Select/OK : Password : Antenna Setup-Select/OK : AMC-9/ku-Select/OK : USALS-Select/OK : Satellite Position- punch in 8 : 3 : 0 , the right or left arrow will change the E to a W , then down arrow to Store-Select/OK. It should now be set. Hope my instructions are simple enough to understand. This should work.

Al

Edit : Don't know how it will work, I think when you do this the dish will automatically move to what it thinks 83 degrees is. But, I think you will need to reset your 0 with AMC-9 again. Hope this helps.

 

[kc5qih]

Yeah I imagine AMC 3 is hard to tune to...i am lucky in the fact that IA5 is my true south satellite, and i mean literally true south..its at 97 west and my longitude is 97 ....so im lucky there; plus there are tons of active channels on there to tune to. As far as AMC 3 goes there is an analog test pattern there; theat i need to find to see if my old analog receiver still works but i can't decide if i can even see the active transponder signal on my digital receiver. So I guess I'd just have to wait to see a post on a feed or something..but who knows...just to make . But to Pokey 31 ; dont get down..it took me 3 days to get mine settled in a spot that makes me happy.

chris

 

[Mr Tony]

analog test screen is on TP19 V for AMC9

There are a couple feeds for AMC9...you dont need an active picture, just an active TP to tune

 

[kc5qih]

so basically all i have to do is program in any vertical transponder and do a scan until my receiver picks up a signal with some quality and then just store it there and then run the cable from the satellite output of my fortec ultra to the satellite in of my uniden analog receiver and i'll be able to view it?

 

[Mr Tony]

I would slave the Analog to the fortec by using the loop out

Program a vertical TP in the Fortec setup (even if its bogus but there are legit data one there)

Go to AMC9 and make sure you’re on that vertical TP. Tune analog to 19 (frequency 12080) and it should be color bars with the scrolling AMC9 logo

 

[kc5qih]

so the AMC 9 transponder is Vertical? Lyngsat has it listed Horizontal....which is right?