First timer needs help setting up new dish and motor.

[skewed]

Good morning everyone. I got my package in from Sadoun last night and I have the dish and the motor asembled. It is a 36" with a digipower motor.

This is my info from there site:

Your LocationSatellite DataDish Setup DataLatitude: 30.0124°
Longitude: -91.8098°
Name: Moteck SG2100
Distance: 36784km
Motor Latitude: 30.0°
Declination Angle: 5.0°
Dish Elevation: 25°
Elevation: 55.0°
Azimuth (true): 180.0°
Azimuth (mag.): 178.7° using


When it comes to the true south setting to align the motor should I point it at this imaginary place in the sky or should I point it at my closest sat?
From what I can tell it will be Galaxy 17/nimiq 1 at 91 west. Is this right? If not please explain.

Also I have a viewsat ultra, after reading the instructions and looking through the receiver I am not exactly sure where/how to enter in my quardinates, also do I have to enter in the quardinates for each and every sat I want to hit? How should I use this motor?

I'm sorry for asking stupid questions before I start to mess with it but I had so much trouble hitting 123 with 1 sat I got to the point where I wanted to throw everything in the trash. I just want to go in calm and cool with this install, especially since my wife has put me in a self imposed re-hab by not allowing me to drink beer durring the installation process!!

Thanks in advance!

 

[brentb636]

Good Going, it should be happy day !
1) Physical settings:
a. Motor latitude scale set at 30 degrees ( your latitude), you'll never change this setting.
b. Dish elevation scale set to 25 degrees , this is a major tuning point, notoriously inaccurate on some model dishes.
c. True south satellite will be Galaxy 17 at 91 W. Use Transponder 12060 V 26700 on the Ultra tp list.

I don't have an ultra so we'll wait for someone else to chime in on setting up USALS , but you will only have to enter the information once , and then the receiver will calculate the sat positions and move the dish on command.

You may get to the point where a beer might calm you down, but we'll wait on that.

Once you have your USALS set up in the receiver.
1) With motor at zero point on it's scale, manually aim your whole dish assembly until it is aimed at what you think is south ( does not have to be exact ).

2) In receiver, bring up the Galaxy 17 antenna settings page, using the 12060 V transponder, and have the receiver send the dish to position . ( An ultra owner probably knows the menu item ) . At this time , the dish should move just slightly . The receiver now thinks that the dish is aimed at Galaxy 17.

3) Your job is to nudge the whole assembly on the pole gently one way, and then the other , until you pick up a trace of QUALITY on the receiver scale. The QUALITY indicator is showing the degree that the tp you are aiming at is locked in. Once you get ANY quality, it is just a small matter of time before you can adjust it to it's max point. You will only use the Dish elevation scale, and azimuth adjustments to do it.
Good luck , and lets hope we get an Ultra owner pretty soon.

 

[ElroyJ]

The motor should be in the center and the whole dish and motor setup should be alligned to true south and of course the pole should be plum. Not magnetic south. Use a compass to align it to true south, yes an imaginary place not a satellite.

I don't have a viewsat so I don't know how to set that up but you would then setup the viewsat and start with your true south satellite first.

Make sure the lnb setting in the receiver is correct. Then set the 91 satellite for USALS and make sure you enter the lattitude and longitude to configure USALS. After that is set then tell the receiver to move the dish to the position for your true south satellite 91. When it is done and it moved (might not move much if its real close to true south) then you can start adjusting the elevation or azimuth of the dish to bring in the signal. Move in slow increments and wait for signal quality to show.

Before adjusting make sure you enter a strong transponder from that satellite so you can use it to adjust the dish.
Look here for a stong transponder.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/85225-i-need-strong-transponder-aim-my-dish.html

 

[skewed]

THANK YOU!! You have explained alot about how the motor works. I just hope a viewsat owner can tell me how to use the menu, it appears that the I have put in my ulcs in every antenna setting as I cannot find a central location for it. Also there is no button on the remote to move the dish so I am guessing that I will have to go into the settings and select a sat each time I want to change, or does it do it automaticly?

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Lak7]

I have a Viewsat Extreme, try this:
Go to the Antenna Setup Menu
Set Motor to USALS, submenu appears, enter Long and Lat - try Arrow Up / Down to change to West, as east is the default. Select "OK", wait for "Antenna Moving", then exit, saving settings.
This is from memory, may not be entirely accurate.

 

[SatPhreak]

Set motor to USALS a pop up menu will appear. Press right arrow, enter your longitude, press CH - for West than OK. Press left arrow, enter your latitude, press CH + for North than OK. Then press OK for motor to move. Press exit to move out of the submenu, save changes when prompted. You only need to enter you lat and long on one sat, it will stay the same for all the sats.

 

[skewed]

Well I set up long and lat in the reciver. I mounted the mast last night and I was able to get it pretty plumb. The game plan tonight is to put the dish up. I have been rehearsing my game plan over and over in my mind.
See if I got it.
1) mount the dish/motor to the mast.
2)Point it at what is my true south, an imaginary place in the sky.
3)climb down from the roof and select 91 west and gove the dish to that point.
( now the dish thinks it is pointed at 91)
4) get back on the roof and find 91( already noted that I will have to adjust for elevation using the dish adjustment and the right/left by turning the entire motor/dish on the mast. I am thinking this will be the hardest part as the clamps will not hold it from sliding down the mast when I loosen them. Any Tips?
5) once 91 is found select another sat from my list and move the dish to it.
6) check for quality and if so blind scan.
7) repeat and enjoy.

Does this sound right?


Also 2 more things. Once I have all these sat channels scanned in, when I change to a channel that is on another sat will the motor automaticly move to that sat? How long does it take to move from one to the other? I know it must atke a while to go from 74 to 123.

What about the guide my manual for my viewsat says it has a 7 day guide. On 123 it only tells me the channel and no other info at all. Is this because my quality is not high enough or something?

Thanks again in advance.

 

[brentb636]

Sounds like a plan, although, I used to take a small TV to the roof with me( and the receiver) to watch my progress in real time.
My motor movement from 72W to 123 W is about 30 seconds . Your motor should be in the same ballpark. There is no useable guide on any FTA birds that I know of. The 7 day guide is for pirates stealing the Dish Network signal. It's kind of obvious what use the manufacturers' plan for their boxes.

 

[DishDigger]

5) once 91 is found select another sat from my list and move the dish to it.

Does this sound right?

I may be misreading your statement, but when you get the 91 adjusted, you lock down the motor/dish to the mast and let the RECEIVER do the aiming for the rest of the sats. You use the south-most satellite as a reference to set the assembly so that the receiver "knows" where everything else is.

 

[skewed]

I was able to get it running. I am now to going to break off onto another thread because I have other questions about getting channels.

Thanks goes out to every one who has helped me with this.