dish elevation question

[quasimodem]

trying to set up a Primestar eliptical dish.
no motor yet, so I'm just trying to point the dish to Galaxy 123...
using Satellite Alignment Tool, I've entered my lat. and long.
the Azimuth is 158 degrees, the elevation is -50 degrees.
on the page with the "offset antenna tab", I entered the width and height of my dish
(890mm x 660mm)
the azimuth on this page is reported to be 240 degrees, elevation 19.26 degrees.
also on this page is listed offset angle: 27.13, elevation: -50, and "expected measured antenna": 62.87 degrees.
what I'm having a bit of difficulty deciding is what angle do I set the dish to?
there is a pivot point with gradations (like most dishes)...what degree do I set this at?
thanks
~Q

 

[Anole]

Well, you totally confused -me-. -
What's your Zip or Postal code, or major city?

I think if you might be over-thinking the problem. Size is not a factor.
I like GeoSatFinder (but many others are fine) to get my aiming info.
Put in your location/zip, and it should spit out the elevation, azimuth, and skew.

Your mounting pole must be plumb. Vertical.
Measure it on three sides, and make SURE!

Use a compass and try to set the azimuth of your dish (if there are two, you want the magnetically corrected one) to correct direction.
If you are actually in the north east, then 240 degrees -may- be correct.

I have a mount in my hand that might be identical to yours.
On the east -- side of it are graduated markings.
Set the white/silver/red -edge- of the metal beside the bolt, to the elevation you got from your sat finder program.
Somewhere around 20 degrees could be in the right ball park.

Lastly, you need to twist your LNB a bit in the mount to get the skew correct.
On some dishes, you actually twist the dish on it's mount...
Post a couple of pictures of the back of the mount.
The mount I have will skew, but I think the stock (more common) elliptical Primestar will -not-.

edit: 35" wide by 26" high. That should get you something.
Tuning may be troublesome with the 125 bird right next door, but that's just a fine-tuning exercise.

 

[quasimodem]

this is my location's lat and long:
Latitude: 43-08'30'' N
Longitude: 072-12'54'' W

any help would be greatly appreciated....

 

[gertnerbot]

Elev. ETC

Compass Reading: 254.9 deg.
Dish Elevation: 19.4 deg.
LNBF Rotation: +39.8 deg.

Hope that helps!

 

[turbosat]

anole got it, around 19.2 elevation on your primestar mount. Start there and pan the dish slowly east/west while watching the receiver. Be sure you have an active transponder on that satellite in your rec, watch the signal meter while turning the dish on the pole. Go slow, and adjust up or down a little if you don't see any activity. Takes time and patience. When I'm messing with one of those, I turn the elevation bolt 1/2turn at a time, until I hit the signal. Those angle guages on the primestar usually are pretty close but you might end up at around 19 or 21. You'll get it.

 

[quasimodem]

thanks so much guys...
the link to Geosatfinder was very helpful.
I've set up dishes for Direct TV and Dishnetwork before, so I should be able to figure this one out, now that I have the correct coordinates.
When I found the Primestar dish at the recycling center, it was set for around 55 degrees...the Primestar bird must've been pretty high in the sky.
thanks again for the prompt and helpful replies...
as soon as I get a clear day (it's rained 24 of the past 30 days here in the Northeast),
I'm up on the roof to set this dish up.
I've been looking at motors, but because the Primestar mount kind of gets in the way of a traditional motor mounting I think I'm going to have to build an adaptor...
I'll be back.
~Q

 

[Larobpra]

I've been looking at motors, but because the Primestar mount kind of gets in the way of a traditional motor mounting I think I'm going to have to build an adaptor...
I'll be back.
~Q

Lots of ideas for motor adapters here- http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/179369-info-primestar-dish-lnbf.html

 

[turbosat]

A suggestion: put the dish on the ground if you can, it'll be much easier to work on. And if you decide to motorize it later, you'll NEED to be able to get to it to work on it, motorizing primestar dishes does take some fabbing. A corner post for chainlink fencing is just the right size, and around 12bucks+tax , couple of bags of quikrete and it's there! But, if the roof is where you have clear line of sight, that's the way to go.

 

[quasimodem]

thanks all-
and turbosat, I'm at the bottom of a 1600' hill that is directly to the south of me, so my second story roof is the only spot where I can get any decent signal. I have the original roof mount for the dish (another lucky find) so setting up should be pretty straight forward. I figure I'll get the mount up and see what I can get for signal quality before I spend any time with motor adapting.
From what I can tell, most good motors will clamp onto a 50 to 55 mm post...so I'll still use the same mount and just adapt how it mounts to the dish.
On another note:
LNBF Rotation....is this sort of the same thing as skew? Geosat finder says my rotation is +39.6 degrees. But I see no easy way to "turn" the lnb and the dish doesn't skew either.
If, for now, I'm only trying to get in Galaxy 12/18 do I need to figure out a way to do this?

 

[Anole]

skew adjst:

Here are some pictures of your feedhorn, mounted to several different LNBs.
Should be self explanatory: Loosen. Twist. Tighten. -

 

[quasimodem]

hey thanks for the pics, but I don't think my lnb is quite like any in the pictures.
I'll take some photos and upload them tomorrow.
this place is great.

 

[quasimodem]

funny thing about getting old...I turned 59 this spring...
my eyesight was always 20/20 until one day (after I turned 50) I tried to read the phone book...then I tried it at an arms length!!

when I tried to photograph my lnb, I zoomed in to get good detail and low and behold I "saw" gradation markings. now I can "see" how to adjust the skew on the lnb (even tho' it doesn't look like any of the thumbnails Anole uploaded).

I should be good to go now. this weekend looks like it's going to be dry enough to climb up on my roof. I'll post back, hopefully with some good news and not more questions about how to do this or that.

thanks again to everyone. your help has given me confidence that I'll be watching a few channels this weekend.

~Q

 

[turbosat]

Let us know how you make out quasi, and beware of that heat (on the roof).

 

[Anole]

If you'll click on the first thumbnail, you'll get a bigger picture
If you click on THAT picture, you'll get the full actual size picture I uploaded.
This used to be a lot easier, but ...

Anyway, if you'll look at the full sized first picture, you'll see the bolts that hold the feedhorn to the dish-arm, and the bolts which you loosen to twist the LNB for skew.

There are also other different-looking LNBs, but those were the pix I had on hand.
Should be good enough to show you where to stick ... uhhh... the wrench.
Post a photo of yours.

 

[quasimodem]

here'w what my lnb looks like...
the gradations are on the end where it attaches to the arm....

 

[turbosat]

yep, loosen the 4 little bolts and you can adjust easily.