Is 93 W really 121 Dish ? I'm confused

[tif]

This may sound a little off the wall but I'm new to FTA as you know so I guess I have to ask the stupid questions so I can learn.

Last night I done a blind scan on 93 W after getting my dish to work for the first time and it found a channel that when I view it there's a screen that simply states If "You have successfuly connected to DISH @ 121 degrees" is 93 degrees 121 ? Could my USALS be that far off and still pick up signals? I'm confused. I guess that's a normal when being new to FTA.

Thanks for all replies....
Tif

 

[AcWxRadar]

Tif,

If you don't ask, you cannot learn, so there is no stupid question.

You picked up the 121 test card on TP 12171 V on Echostar 9, therefore you are aimed right at that bird, 121.0°W and NOT at 93.0°W.

USALS will always be accurate if you have done the set up accurately. USALS is just a mathematical equation.

USALS needs four things to be accurate: A reference or mechanical starting point, the site's latitude, the site's longitude and the position of the satellite's orbit to tell it where to move to. If you entered the site's latitude and longitude correctly and selected 93.0°W but scanned in a channel from 121.0°W, then that leaves only the reference point as the error.

The reference point is set by the azimuth positioning (east to west pointing) of the motor/dish assembly on the mast, the latitude setting of the motor and the elevation setting of the dish. These are all mechanical adjustments to the dish and not data entries.

Since you did pick up 121W when searching for 93W your azimuth positioning of the dish is obviously 28 degrees too far west. If you reposition the azimuth back to the east 28°, you won't get a signal from 93.0°W because your motor latitude and dish elevation will not be correct either as the overall dish is aiming too low. The motor latitude setting is probably fairly close. It may be a little too high or a little too low, but the dish elevation is definitely too low. Not too much, but the total sum of both is a lower angle than required.

If you want to ensure that your motor latitude angle is set properly, get an inclinometer and place it on the bottom surface of the motor. You can get a digital inclinometer or an analog dial style. Either is fine, but you might like a digital one more. You can get a good one at Menards or some hardware store.

If you place the inclinometer on the truest FLAT surface of the underbelly of the motor you will read the ELEVATION angle of the motor. Subtract this ELEVATION reading from 90 and the result will be your motor's latitude setting. i.e. If your site latitude is 40.5°, then you want the elevation reading from the inclinometer to read 49.5° (90 - 49.5 = 40.5). Remember that for the motor angle (up / down adjustment) that ELEVATION + LATITUDE = 90°.

You at least know that your receiver and LNBF is set up and working properly because you did scan in a LINEAR FTA signal. You also know where you are aiming because you found the test card channel for 121°W. The rest is all a matter of proper alignment and now you also know which direction you are off.

RADAR

 

[oblio]

For me when doing a first time set up the best news was that I actually was able to find a sat (any sat will do) so at least I know the hardware actually worked after what seemed like hours of chasing ghosts. Looks like you got over that step.

Can't stress enough the need to have a vertical mount and an as close as you can due south reference sat for your motor and dish (motor at 0) as the first two steps. As for USALS, many have found that because they do not have a perfect enough installation, its perhaps easier to research active TP's on desired target sats and then to use the diseq 1.2 to drive the dish E or W to where you need to get it. Once you get two sats nailed for elevation and azimuth the rest just fall into place on the motors arc. Being in the NE there is a problem with getting a good due south reference these days so you may have to use either 72W (NBC MUx) or 83W (RTV) or both and then tweak your motor 0 reference azimuth a bit so the motor arc hits both and all the rest as well.

Also remember that the receiver is dumb so if you tell it its pointed at 93 and its really 121, it doesn't know the difference but this can really screw you up, especially with USALS.

 

[freezy]

many have found that because they do not have a perfect enough installation, its perhaps easier to research active TP's on desired target sats and then to use the diseq 1.2 to drive the dish E or W to where you need to get it.

you are talking about me aren't you?

My arc is spot on but I can't figure out that zero thing.

 

[oblio]

you are talking about me aren't you?

My arc is spot on but I can't figure out that zero thing.

Pretty much the same for me. Don't have a due south reference sat anymore after 79w moved so tried compasss, google maps for my house, etc. Ended up guessing for "close enough" and used 125w and 60W as bookends with 83W in the middle to optimize the arc. Eventually got there by brute force. Then I moved it again anyway to boost up the 125W tp's at a cost of losing a bit of qualty on 83W and 101W. Now if only I could find 30W....