I have had a frustrating month with FTA and yesterday topped it off.
Background:
We have Bell Expressvu on the house with a 9200 and all is good, but like most men, I wanted more which meant FTA. My wife makes a rule which is that I am only allowed one dish on the house, which is the Bell Expressvu. So, we have a clothes line the runs from the deck to the back of the yard which both sides have a pole that is about 12 feet high. We never use the clothes line so I decide that is the perfect spot for a new dish as it is high and will shoot over the trees and have the best potential for LOS accross the arc in the whole property.
FTA Stuff Ordered and Delivered
So I paint the pole black (it was rusting) and order all my FTA stuff. SC 75E dish, Pansat 2800a, SG2100 Motor and an installation kit for some wire. Everything arrives but the SG2100 pole is to small for the SC 75E, so I order the 50mm from Sadoun. In the mean time I put the dish up and align to T5 and AMC4. Love the Fox channel but I thought I would like T5 more, but I do like the news on there. Everything is working fine, but I really want G10 if I am fixed untill I get the motor up and running.
So the next weekend I try for G10. No luck. 45 Minutes out there. The sat finder was going crazy but I could not lock on. I would lock on to the sats to the left and right of it, but could not get it. I make a post on here and Iceberg tells me to use the Sat B side of the lnb because it points straight into the dish.
Now all the big problems.
The 50mm pole arrives and yesterday I try to set up the motor. Reading that the 50mm tube is great, I buy it, but problems arrive. I take the 42mm pole off the SG2100 no problem but the 50mm doesn't fit all the way on as the hole I put the bolt through is not perfect because the 50mm doesn't go all the way. I beat the hell out of it trying to get it to fit and still a no go. Very very close but not enough for the bolt. So i get a smaller bolt and tighten that as much as I could. No movement by hand which is good.
So now I want to put the dish on the SG2100. Another problem. The 42mm had a hole in it for the dish bracket to bolt to so you can elevate the dish properly. The 50mm has no pole, so I don't know what to do as the elevation on the dish is very hard to do now. Any help here would be very nice!!
The problem with the clothes line pole in the back yard is that it isn't perfeclty plumb. It is 90 degrees up and down but looks like this from the side:
....
...
..
.
So I mount the SG2100 bracket and wedge some metal at the bottom to make it level. (At least I thought I did). I mount the dish to the motor and hook up all wires. I set the latitude on the motor to 51.6 but I don't know how to read it. I think I use the pointy part on the elevation scale but there is also a O on there too. I then want to point to F1 at 107.3 as it is close to my longitude of 109.8 in the sky. I turn on the 2800a and set my long and lat and tell it to goto F1. The motor moves a bit (I have the receiver outside with me with a tv right there). My sat finder goes grazy but no signal on the 2800a. I run to my dad's house and grab a star choice receiver. Hook it up and I am algned to F2. So I move east more and get F1. Peak it to 99& on the Star Choice receiver and hook up the 2800a and lock down the dish. Still no signal on the 2800a. MAJOR LESSON TO NEWBIES HERE. DO A BLIND SCAN ANYWAYS! The 2800a transponder for F1 was not active! Boom, finds transponders but no FTA channels but I know I am there because of the Star Choice receiver. On the 2800a. Quality of 76%.
Here is the problem. Nothing else on the arc falls in when I use uscals on the receiver. I am assuming I am not level on the SG2100. Am I right?
Also if I am not level, would I only be out on the elevation on every sat? Like if I wanted to motor over to G10. Do I just move the dish up and down and it will lock in?
Any help would be appreciated.
Sorry for the long post, but the more background the better in solving problems.
Background:
We have Bell Expressvu on the house with a 9200 and all is good, but like most men, I wanted more which meant FTA. My wife makes a rule which is that I am only allowed one dish on the house, which is the Bell Expressvu. So, we have a clothes line the runs from the deck to the back of the yard which both sides have a pole that is about 12 feet high. We never use the clothes line so I decide that is the perfect spot for a new dish as it is high and will shoot over the trees and have the best potential for LOS accross the arc in the whole property.
FTA Stuff Ordered and Delivered
So I paint the pole black (it was rusting) and order all my FTA stuff. SC 75E dish, Pansat 2800a, SG2100 Motor and an installation kit for some wire. Everything arrives but the SG2100 pole is to small for the SC 75E, so I order the 50mm from Sadoun. In the mean time I put the dish up and align to T5 and AMC4. Love the Fox channel but I thought I would like T5 more, but I do like the news on there. Everything is working fine, but I really want G10 if I am fixed untill I get the motor up and running.
So the next weekend I try for G10. No luck. 45 Minutes out there. The sat finder was going crazy but I could not lock on. I would lock on to the sats to the left and right of it, but could not get it. I make a post on here and Iceberg tells me to use the Sat B side of the lnb because it points straight into the dish.
Now all the big problems.
The 50mm pole arrives and yesterday I try to set up the motor. Reading that the 50mm tube is great, I buy it, but problems arrive. I take the 42mm pole off the SG2100 no problem but the 50mm doesn't fit all the way on as the hole I put the bolt through is not perfect because the 50mm doesn't go all the way. I beat the hell out of it trying to get it to fit and still a no go. Very very close but not enough for the bolt. So i get a smaller bolt and tighten that as much as I could. No movement by hand which is good.
So now I want to put the dish on the SG2100. Another problem. The 42mm had a hole in it for the dish bracket to bolt to so you can elevate the dish properly. The 50mm has no pole, so I don't know what to do as the elevation on the dish is very hard to do now. Any help here would be very nice!!
The problem with the clothes line pole in the back yard is that it isn't perfeclty plumb. It is 90 degrees up and down but looks like this from the side:
....
...
..
.
So I mount the SG2100 bracket and wedge some metal at the bottom to make it level. (At least I thought I did). I mount the dish to the motor and hook up all wires. I set the latitude on the motor to 51.6 but I don't know how to read it. I think I use the pointy part on the elevation scale but there is also a O on there too. I then want to point to F1 at 107.3 as it is close to my longitude of 109.8 in the sky. I turn on the 2800a and set my long and lat and tell it to goto F1. The motor moves a bit (I have the receiver outside with me with a tv right there). My sat finder goes grazy but no signal on the 2800a. I run to my dad's house and grab a star choice receiver. Hook it up and I am algned to F2. So I move east more and get F1. Peak it to 99& on the Star Choice receiver and hook up the 2800a and lock down the dish. Still no signal on the 2800a. MAJOR LESSON TO NEWBIES HERE. DO A BLIND SCAN ANYWAYS! The 2800a transponder for F1 was not active! Boom, finds transponders but no FTA channels but I know I am there because of the Star Choice receiver. On the 2800a. Quality of 76%.
Here is the problem. Nothing else on the arc falls in when I use uscals on the receiver. I am assuming I am not level on the SG2100. Am I right?
Also if I am not level, would I only be out on the elevation on every sat? Like if I wanted to motor over to G10. Do I just move the dish up and down and it will lock in?
Any help would be appreciated.
Sorry for the long post, but the more background the better in solving problems.
