motor/dish setup question

[badmotorscooter]

I have all my gear setup and I have been able to pull a couple audio channels from my most southern satellite AMC3. That is weird because according to the list there isn't any on there. I also tried to pick 123W, i can't get a thing. upon checking a few more sats, all my signal level is 80% or above, unfortunately the quality isn't above 10. One thing i found interesting is when i scanned 97W, it picked off channels that were on 93W. So obviously it seems my azimuth is off. My pole is perfectly plumb, I have checked it in several places with a level and an inclinometer. The dish elevation is spot on as well according to my inclinometer. My settings as measured are just as the sat finder says they should be.

Motor Latitude: 39.5°
Declination Angle: 6.2°
Dish Elevation: 24°
Elevation: 44.2°
Azimuth (true): 180.0°
Azimuth (mag.): 183.9° using Compass

My issue I think is the azimuth setting. What I did was find magnetic south and adjust the whole assembly to 87W. Am I FIRST supposed to move the dish to 87W from the Zero point BEFORE I move the assembly to fine tune it?
I am supposed to set my assembly at magnetic south or the true south? I assumed it was true south, but when i swing towards magnetic south thats when i picked up what i thought was 87W. I could not pick off any pbs channels but some of the transponders had 90% quality, others had none. As you can see in the picture, the dish is setting in the middle of nowhere. I assure you there is an open field there, my house just isn't on google yet.

My equipment is DMSI SG2100, Samsonic 30" dish, DMSI standard lnb.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[brentb636]

Initially, you should use your receiver, in USALS mode, to move the dish to a "HOT" transponder on your true south bird. If using 87W, I'd suggest 11716 H 4859 as a strong transponder.
After the dish moves, THEN you adjust your azimuth to maximize the quality on this TP. After you have maximum Q ( I'm getting 65-70 % on a Merc II with 31" dish) , you can systematically tighten down the mounting bolts, and check out something like 123W for accuracy.
Remember that you may also need slight changes on the dish elevation scale .
Hope this helps.

 

[ussexplroer]

Rules with motor

If you have a motor:

1. Plum Pole (I leveled all 4 sides of a round post)
(Magnetic level) - Says you already did this. Good

2. Set elevation on dish and thighten (This is read in your motor manaul)
Make sure LNB is set to 0. Example: My lnb had a line with number on each side. Then the lnb holder had a arrow. Since we use a motor. Lock it down at zero.

3. Set receiver for usals and goto true south satellite. If there is nothing on it. Use the next one. The motor will move to the proper distance. Mine was like 1.1/2 degree difference. My motor also had numbers to tell me how far over it was.
4. Set transponder for highest transponder.
5. Adjust dish slightly right/Left, UP/Down. I used a cheapo signal meter too.
6. Once I got a signal. I then turned to a good transponder that had a channel on it. THen readjusted to quality.
7. Then tighten stuff down a little more. Move to most east sat, set transponder. Adjust, then repeat with most west sat. Then move back to south. I found a spot for all three that provided good 60-90% quality.
8. Finish tightening down. (Be careful not to over tighten, It can bend the pole). Especailly if it is a thing fence pole.

Honestly I would never use the audio side to find a sat. I never had a problem after finding it. THat is the key finding it. Plus I setup a few DBS services before that. I picked up the East to West thing from a C-Band howto guide. Even though this is KU. Seemed to work pretty good. Via usals that is.

Later,

Josh

 

[badmotorscooter]

ok cool, think i got it nailed down on what i need to do. I still need to know if the setup needs to face magnetic south or true south before i move my dish from 0. My plan is to send motor to 0, realign the motor/dish to magnetic south or true south?, then using usals send that puppy to 87w. At that point I will adjust as necessary to get best quality. From there I will try the far east and west sat thing.

 

[brentb636]

Approximate south is good enough with the USALS method. You are going to manually move the assembly on the pole to find the satellite. The close to true south that you guess, the less you will have to move the dish assembly on the pole (azimuth adjustment) .

 

[badmotorscooter]

Got it!, now I just have to count down the hours until I can get out of work. I will likely be getting out the flood lights tonight.

 

[skewed]

You and I both, I just need to figure out a way to secure my ice chest to the roof so it dosent slide off. I have just set up mine last night. I really hate to start trying to teach someone how to do it this soon but all I did was assemble the dish and motor on the ground, mount the mast plumb. I went up on the roof and placed the dish on mast and pointed to what I assumed was due south. I went inside the house and hit go to reference then went back up and aimed the dish about where I thought it should be. I went back inside and bam, perfect signal. I did not even have to change the angle on the sat! Following the instructions for my area nailed it. Now I surfing the skys and still have some problems to figure out. Just follow my new thread for the next step of troubles you will find.