LNB Sliding Question... and hey, I finally have an avatar ;)

[CharredPC]

I have my arc working fine, but it's come to my attention that to get the best quality, my lnb has to be slid all the way forward. Now, I KNOW that ain't right I would think that means something like my dish's elevation is a tad off, so the focal point isn't spot-on... hence the lnb having to be moved forward to compensate. Sound correct? If so, would the adjustment be up or down? I think I almost figured it out by doodling it out with arrows, but my brain went on strike...

As I understand it, I'm not utilizing 100% of my reflector if the lnb is slid all the way forward.. fixing it so I can slide it back would mean I'm using the full area of the dish for signal collection..... right?

So just want to verify before I start mangling my nice PAS9-recieving setup

Oh, and yes, that's an authentic VOOM hat.
Think of it as a physical representation of digital nostalgia...

 

[Mr Tony]

the LNB can be forward or all the way back...Its what gives you the best signal quality

 

[CharredPC]

Even if it seems like the MORE I slide it forward, the better quality gets? Like, I'm at the end of my slide-limit now, but if I could go further, I'd have even BETTER quality....


... that just doesn't seem right

 

[Mr Tony]

theres lots of things in FTA that don't seem right sometimes

Example is when I motor to G10, my signal is only 45-50 on 11799 transponder
But on my fixed dish, it’s a 60 quality
Same size dish but the fixed dish is skewed more than what the motorized is

 

[CharredPC]

Okay, have another question

With Cascade's help I've diagnosed that my arc is still way off. Grr!
I decided to do it right this time and use USALS and my true south bird (Anik E2/F2 at 111.1W). It's not exact, but 0.689 degrees off is as close as I'll get to a TS signal (I'm at 111.7099W). I found it, got it locked in (11831000, V, 7300 .. scrambled Shoppers Drug Mart trxpndr) and tightened everything down. Here's where the issues come.

Now I try using USALS to go to different birds; let's try Satmex5 at 116.8W. That's only 5.75 degrees off from my true south... no, not there. I have to go 45 more steps to the West to hit it! Ok, maybe Anik E2 isn't where satcodx says it is, let's try going to an eastern bird, like AMC1 at 103W. It takes an extra 75 steps east to lock onto it!

I think this is cuased by the motor elevation being way off, if I recall the Sg2100 manual correctly (don't have it in front of me). This could also explain why my setup acts so funny, why skewing helps sometimes when it shouldn't, why signals are spread out like butter over 5-10 degrees instead of being at a specific location... I just need to know, up or down? I swear, I used a level on the mounting pole and have the motor's elevation set to 50, as per the manual, but this setup is definately off :

Help!

 

[CharredPC]

I don't know if this will help, but attatched is a lousy picture of my setup.

The dish elevation is set to 24, the motor elevation is set to 50.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Did you slide the LNB back into the normal 'all the way back' position?

That is pretty wierd!

 

[CharredPC]

Did you slide the LNB back into the normal 'all the way back' position?
That is pretty wierd!

I thought so

Haven't slid it back yet, no; still higher quality with it forward. I swear there's gremlins in this setup somewhere, and I know once I finally figure it out things will drastically improve. I guess I should be happy that I found the problem... even if correcting it takes awhile

 

[Shawn95GT]

Maybe the LNB forward is skewing your effective elevation? I know - it's a W.A.G.

Shawn

 

[CharredPC]

Maybe the LNB forward is skewing your effective elevation? I know - it's a W.A.G.

Just tried that; actually made it worse! Now takes 90+ steps to get to AMC1 from it's USALS position

 

[CharredPC]

Started the drastic troubleshooting;

Did away with the masting pole setup. It wasn't as stable as I'd like, and it could have been part of the problem. Could have, but wasn't.

Now mounted using the standard 'foot' and bar that comes with the Winegard. Exact same issue... guess it's in one of the motor/dish adjustments.

Maybe this will help:
The USALS location of T5 actually works, as does the USALS location of Galaxy 13/Horizons1 when my true south is set. Everything else is skewed...
Maybe one of these scenarios?

http://www.geo-orbit.org/sizeimgs/adjarcsr.gif

EDIT: Never figured out why USALS refused to work, but got the setup alot more stable. Yes, you were right, Iceberg... it didn't move MUCH, but it moved enough to jitter the picture apparently- so no more huge pole. Attatched is some pictures of my much more 'responsible' setup, and a shot of my HTPC in action I still only get about 34% quality on The Tube, but the picture stays whole 90% of the time now instead of 50%. I'm having a heck of a time tuning everything back in, but G10, AMC4, and T5 is plotted out... wife'll be happy for now.