Automated positioner systems

[Se09]

Hi Guys, i'm looking some info on a satellite tracking system, that i can remotely control a singular, or multiple antennas. via a web interface - such as a satseo system. but for a 10 or 12ft dishes.

 

[Lak7]

PC Sat Card, GBox, and VNC connection?


Do you have any info on the "satseo" system you mention - website?

 

[Se09]

http://www.s3sat.com

we use a Vbox in our current setup. it works OK, but is a lot messier than we require. i want to be able to specify a bird and the tracking system do the rest.

 

[Lak7]

Messy how?

 

[merkin]

Fibo-Box

Do a search, there is a thread here about it.

 

[Se09]

a Vbox will only allow for manual east/west control. relying on the user knowing what they are looking for. I am interested in a fully automated. GPS locating system that the end user need only specify a bird. and the unit home in on the beacon. with full el/az control.

 

[Lak7]

You are talking about Sats in / on the Clarke Belt? Not GPS Sats?

May want to contact a Satellite Uplink Truck, see what they use.

 

[Se09]

No, No. these will be clarke belt sats. geo-stats. I just want a better way than a vbox.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Ground Control manufactures several auto aquire models for 1m - 2.4M mobile applications. Here is a LINK to the 2.4M model, which retails for $17K - 18K. On an average, auto-acquire systems take 5 or more minutes to locate and peak a satellite, so they are not speed demons.

How do you change satellite positions using the Vbox? Have you programmed your receiver to control the Vbox using DiSEqC 1.2 or are you manually controlling the Vbox via the Vbox remote or control buttons?

Sounds like you have not set-up the receiver to issue a command to the Vbox move the dish to the selected satellite automatically when either a channel is selected or a satellite is chosen from the receiver's list.

The majority of satellite uplink trucks use manual elevation, azimuth and skew controller. For example: After levelling the truck they set the dish to the approximate elevation and sweep the approximate azimuth looking for active transponders on known satellites.

 

[Mapleleaf69]

why not just use an old anolog receiver to move the dish for you.works rather well for me and my openbox s9.

 

[Se09]

we have our Vbox configured with preset DiSEqC commands. which does work. but its not always ideal. the ground control system is along the lines of what i looking for. reliability is key on this project.

 

[bill42]

I use a Pansat 9200 through a V-Box. An inexpensive way is to relabel the channels (or beacon) you receive from a satellite as the satellite itself. For instance, edit WVGN as G17 or 99D whatever it is located; WGN as AMC3 or 87W etc

 

[Lone Cloud]

You didn't mention what your application was.

I knew a guy who travelled around the country in a motor home doing extreme sports. He had a DirecTV dish on the roof of his rig. He used a compass and his hand, reaching out a hatch on his roof to aim the dish. Claimed he got quick and proficient at it. Of course, DirecTV signals are high power and easy to find.

It might be time for me to resurrect my two-motor positioner project. I have a Birdview solid with HH motor, a solid reed switch conversion and a Gbox. I have a Superjack actuator which I used on my first C-band dish. I bought a mild steel half inch ( or somewhere around there) rod and got some fine threaded nuts for it. Then I stated cutting the thread on it with the die. Since it was a cheap Chinese die, I didn't get very far.

But my thoughts were to use the Superjack and the fine threaded rod to raise the dish up and down and the HH motor to move it, as expected, east and west. I figured two Gboxes, one remote.
But as I said I didn't finish it. Actually when I was working on it, I had put some angle hardware on the Birdview mount and have a threaded rod in there for up and down. It's the one area that the Birdview is lacking and now mine has it. It isn't a beautiful modification though.