Help with motorized dish elevation

[Nosbod]

Go to dishpointer.com and get your longitude, latitude and dish elevation. Set the motor inclination to your latitude and then set your dish elevation to the figure you got from dishpointer. Swing your dish to true south, use a compass you should be able to get close. You have to set up on your southern most satelite. In your receiver select your southern most satelite. Enter in your longitude and latitude and set all satelites to USALS mode. Go into satelite setup for your southern most satelite and make sure the LNBF setting is set to 10750. The motor will automatically move to the southern satellite based on your longitude and latitude setting. If you don,t have signal or quality just do a blind scan. When you get signal go to dish and fine tune for best signal and quality.

That's it. All other satellites will automatically go the proper location.

One other thing. Be accurate with your settings. When you set your longitude and latitude be accurate to the decimal point.

Good hunting.

 

[Nosbod]

One thing that goes without saying is make sure your mounting pole is bang on level. If it is not then you are wasting your time.

 

[bobvick]

I have checked and the pole is level on both sides and on the top. The problem that I have with the dish elevation is that Dish Pointer tells me (as does the SG2100 manual) that the dish elevation should be 24.5. However, the elevation scale on the dish does not go below about 30. So, I guess I will just have to find 87 without the motor, then copy down what the elevation of the dish face reads on an inclinometer and move it back to the motor.

 

[dougruss]

Are you sure you have the Dish assembled right?

Something doesn't look right?

 

[bobvick]

There are two holes to put that top bolt through. Maybe I need to use the other hole. It came with VERY poor assembly instructions. The other hole would bring it out further from the dish. Maybe that would help. Thanks for noticing that

 

[Lak7]

Possible that the bracket that is mounted to the Dish is upside down?

 

[bobvick]

I suppose it could be, but I tried it the other way and I could never get the holes to line up right. I can try it again though. Like I said it would have been as well off to not have came with instructions. Kind of trial and error.

 

[Lak7]

Does this help?
HOTDISH90 Pictures

 

[Lak7]

Another thing, what are use using for the elevation indicator - the mark stamped into bracket?
It may just be the bracket edge?

 

[timmy1376]

I set the elevation on my motor to the correct latitude, then put the receiver on a hot TP, then aimed the dish while watching the signal bar. It follows the arc pretty good.

 

[bobvick]

Thanks for the pictures of the HotDish. I have the mount the correct way, the arrow is pointing up. I don't have the top screw on the mount in the hole farthest away from the dish. I will try moving that.
Thanks to everyone for the help.

 

[radio]

Been following this thread with interest! Recently "planted" my first motorized Ku dish to integrate with the stationary Ku and the C/Ku Birdview. Pole is plumb, finally had time today to "play." One of the best things about this site is sharing similar experiences to better each person's knowledge and enjoyment! In this case, aligning my small motorized dish has also needed some help!

Was able to dial in 87w and 83w. But, I had similar questions as already raised in this thread regarding the scales on dish mounts, accuracy, and stability of mounts. Research on the web said that the scales on my mount can be off by as much as 5 degrees, and even vary dish to dish, even if the same brand and model! The "latitude" was very close to what dishpointer dot com said. Setting up the rest today I relied on eying against the large dish aimed at the same satellite and watching the receiver's signal meter in the back of my jeep.

Routed the coax from the motorized dish up the back of the birdview, up one strut with the others, and then connected to the unused second of the BV cable's dual coax which feeds into my home. A 22khz switch at the openbox now selects the motorized Ku on one side, and on the other side of that switch, signal comes through the V-box, then the particular LNB feed is selected via a 4-place disecq located in the nosecone of the Birdview. That switch selects the C or Ku on the Birdview, or the fixed Ku on 125 for PBS.

My questions are: is the motorized mount (SG-2100) as sloppy when new as it is for me? I acquired my setup used. Doesn't take much to move the dish with just a physical bump, and I can see that strong weather could temporarily knock it out of whack. Since I've only scanned 83 and 87 in with their close proximity, Its possible something is not correct on MY dish, too that could help stabilize it..... Or, is this just a cheaply made dish and mount? (got a package deal, so I'm not at all disappointed, the dish, motor, a combination circular/linear dual output LNB and the conexsat Trio receiver all for $100. I've had that much fun with it already!

Are there dishes/motor mounts that offer more stability than this design does? Is what I'm seeing normal for motorized Ku hardware? I'm used to the build of the BUD, not the smaller stuff, so this part is new to me, too!

 

[Lak7]

I would add support arms to the LNB holder.

 

[Lak7]

Bob, I think I see your problem...
From my poor memory, I think your Ku Dish should look slightly higher than the Motor, opposite of a Bud.
Set the Dish Elevation so that it's Parallel to the Motor Shaft, then increase the Dish Elevation, look at the Dish's Elevation gauge, is the Bracket Edge close to the 24 degree mark you are looking for?
Make sense?

 

[Nosbod]

I rechecked your pictures and I see your latitude based on your motor setting is approx 34 degrees. If this is accurate then based on my paper work your dish elevation should be some where around 50.47 degrees. Make sure you motor is in the center position and make sure the dish is aligned straight on the motor mount pole and the LNBF is 90 degrees to the dish.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Are there dishes/motor mounts that offer more stability than this design does? Is what I'm seeing normal for motorized Ku hardware?

Not all dishes or motors are created equal. Unfortunately, newbies are often mislead by the marketing BS out there and only after buying equipment will learn the truth.....

Compare the cheap hardware and poor finish of the Hotdish 90 to the GEOSATpro 90cm. Not only does the GEOSATpro 90cm have higher quality hardware and an incredible finish, but it also has outstanding performance. Put these two products side by side and you would not be asking if there was a difference!

 

[radio]

Not all dishes or motors are created equal. Unfortunately, newbies are often mislead by the marketing BS out there and only after buying equipment will learn the truth.....

Compare the cheap hardware and poor finish of the Hotdish 90 to the GEOSATpro 90cm. Not only does the GEOSATpro 90cm have higher quality hardware and an incredible finish, but it also has outstanding performance. Put these two products side by side and you would not be asking if there was a difference!

I'll certainly be shopping once I get used to having the separate small dish! This was such a nicely priced used package, I couldn't help but add it to the big dish system and fixed dish setup! Thanks for the info! Hope our thread-starter also does well. Didn't mean to steer away from them, but thought my observations might have common interest to others as well! Thank you again!

 

[bobvick]

I would have gotten the GeoSat Pro dish if I had not gotten a deal on this from the guy I bought my first motor from. I had bought a Premium motor, and it did not work out like it was supposed to. Anyway, to make a long story short, he took the Premium motor back and then gave me a good deal that I could not pass up on the SG2100 and the HotDish 90. I have a Geo Sat Pro 1.2m from Brian, and it is MUCH nicer than this HotDish 90. Like I said, I would have rather had the GeoSat Pro 90cm, but I got to good of a deal on this in my particular situation.
But to reiterate, if you are in the market for a GOOD dish, get the GeoSat Pro. And I can not recommend SatelliteAV enough, great folks to deal with.

 

[bobvick]

I rechecked your pictures and I see your latitude based on your motor setting is approx 34 degrees. If this is accurate then based on my paper work your dish elevation should be some where around 50.47 degrees. Make sure you motor is in the center position and make sure the dish is aligned straight on the motor mount pole and the LNBF is 90 degrees to the dish.

If I am thinking correctly though, since this is on a motor, would I not need to take the offset angle of the dish away from the angle? The offset angle of the dish is 24.62, and the elevation is 50.47, so would I not need to set the dish elevation at about 25.85-26 as measured on an inclinometer on the face of the dish using a straight edge?

 

[AcWxRadar]

I tried again yesterday to get some satellite, some where. I was unable to find anything again. I was not able to work long and I did not have my TV set and receiver out with me. I had an idea, and I wonder if it will work. I thought about taking the dish off of the motor, and removing the motor from the mounting pole. Then position the dish (with no motor, just az/el mount it) for 87W. Once I have found 87 that way, (if I can find it), I wonder if I could measure the angle of the dish with a straight edge vertically up and down the face of the dish, and copy that number down, and then put the motor back up and position the elevation of the dish using that number I copied down when I had it as an az/el mount. I wonder if that would work?

Bob,

I like this idea of yours. Set the HOT DISH 90 up as a FIXED POINT dish on the mast alone (without the motor). Dial in satellite 87°W and then place a straight edge down the face of the dish vertically. Use your inclinometer and read off the angle from the straight edge. This must be the same angle that the face of the dish will have when it is attached to the motor. So, when you attach the dish to the motor, you won't need to question what angle you should add or subract from what. It elliminates the need to know what the angle of the motor tube bend is (whether it be 30°, 35° or 40°).

When you attach the motor, with the motor elevation set to your latitude of 34°, just use the same straight edge and set your dish elevation adjustment to obtain the same angle as you recorded when the dish was set as a fixed point dish.

If you cannot adjust the dish elevation bracket to obtain the same reading because of mechanical limitations, then the dish is either assembled incorrectly OR, if it is assembled correctly, it just may not work with a motor in that configuration. In that case, you will need to "flip" the mounting hardware / bracket on the back of the dish so that it is up-side-down. That should expand your adjustment range so that it will work. Obviously, you will not be able to utilize the original elevation scale of the dish in any way that makes sense as it will be reversed now and when you are increasing the elevation, the numbers will actually be going down and only match up at one point where it crosses over. You won't need to be concerned with that, though. Just use your inclinometer and set the dish elevation that way and simply ignore the scale on the dish bracket.

If you are inclined to do so, while you have the dish set up as a fixed point dish, you could set the dish elevation at increments of 5° or less and mark off a new scale on the dish bracket. Then, you can read from this new scale and avoid the process of having to remeasure the angle with the inclinometer every time you want to tweak it. Once it is marked out accurately, you can always refer to it later with ease. Especially so if you have to invert the mounting bracket.

RADAR