Motor mounting question?

[iafirebuff]

OK, all this fiddling, I am seriously thinking about a motor. The only place I can have full LOS is atop my shed. The mount up there was level when I put it up this spring, but it might be off a hair now. I was just wondering, if it is not 100%, will I hae a lot of problems adding a motor? I guess what I am wondering, if I get my true south satellite locked in good, then will the others fall into place? And, is it possible to "fine tune" each satellite? Or "manually" move degree by degree? Thaks for any thoughts!

 

[iafirebuff]

I would be putting the motor on my 80cm Fortec dish. I am also trying to figure out if I should get the 90cm dish/.motor kit from Sadoun. I am out of control with my FTA hobby!

 

[PSB]

The mount has to be EXACTLY level and plumb in all directions! Its so critical that I purposely off set my masts to take into account the weight of the dish and motor.

You should be able to shim it level!

 

[iafirebuff]

Thanks! I was afraid of that. The shed is a 8'x8' wood shed - built solid, but has "settled" a bit. I don't have much room to work on the roof of it. I have a few ideas of a place or 2 that might work in my back yard. I have one spot on a side of a hill, that I could have the dish within about 6 or 7' below the roof, about 4' behind my house. Only one corner would be in front of the dish, and it would be farther east of 97w, so I might be ok. Boy I am at a crossroads. I would like to hit 79 and or 74 for feeds, but by the time I get another dish lnb, I probably shold just get a motor. I would still like to leave a G10 Primestar dish up, and then have the 80cm for a motor dish. I guess the motor is not bad priced, I should just do it and see how level/plumb I can make the mount. Sorry for the babble

 

[Sadoun]

Larry

Installing a motorized setup on a shed will be fine. Make sure the mount is plumb (very important). Since the shed will continue to settle, once in a while you will need to re-adjust the plumbness of the post.

 

[iafirebuff]

THANKS! Time to figure out my supply list

 

[ghia]

"I am out of control with my FTA hobby! "

Don't feel like the lone ranger. I have four receivers, two fixed dishes, three lnbs, and a motorized dish. I've only been at this about a year, and I was out side yesterday trying to find another good spot for another dish!

You will like the motor!

 

[Eastcoast]

Hey Larry
I have my 1.2M motorized dish mounted on my shed and no issues.
I attached a pic but it is of the 1m dish and have since replaced it with a 1.2M.
The pole is a very heavy 1.75 in and should be 2-3/8 but still no problems.
Good Luck.

Dave

 

[iafirebuff]

Thanks for the pic! I am still looking at a few possible spots in my yard, but the shed roof I think will get them all

 

[iafirebuff]

My next "move"

Well, today I am weiging all options. What Satellite Project next?

I currently have the following possibilities, and can pick from one only:

- Motorize - Use larger dish for stationary G10
- Add A larger dish for G10/IA7, and use my 80cm for AMC6/feeds
- Upgrade my Dish Network to the dual tuner HD DVR - I want Monsters HD Channel, as does my daughter, and my wife wants her "own" dvr.

SO, the big question, what to do?

That is today's project at work

 

[Mr Tony]

motorize...but you have to keep the wife & kids happy so you might need the DVR

 

[iafirebuff]

I know....... Our current DVR is feeding my living room, my daughter's room and my wife's office. SO, thank god for my FTA, as I never get to watch Dish

 

[iafirebuff]

Well, I just heard back from Dish - no self installs. That sucks. Directv lets you. With our work schedule, and dogs, it is real hard to do. They won't even tell me when they can do it until they have my $. Thats ok, I really did not want to be under contract with them. SO, I am going to do an FTA project Now to decide!

 

[iafirebuff]

If I have a motor, and a stationary dish, what is the proper way to hook this up? ie, which switch to use and at what point is it switched?

 

[digiblur]

If I have a motor, and a stationary dish, what is the proper way to hook this up? ie, which switch to use and at what point is it switched?

Awesome! Welcome to the club of motorized. Once you go motorized you won't be able to go back. Especially if you like hunting feeds which is one of the major points I have FTA. The switch needs to go after the motor and before the LNB. You simply setup G10R as no motor with the correct diseqc port. When you flip to the channel on G10R it will just flip the diseqc switch and not move the motor at all.

 

[iafirebuff]

Update - Well, after talk with ceo@echostar, we are going to get the HD dual tuner dvr upgrade so my wife and daughter can get Monsters HD. Pretty nice deal they gave me SO, no motor for awhile. BUT, a local Directv dealer where I got my Primestars from is on the look out for me. Actually, nothing else interests me (satellite wise). So, I have all the birds I want. I will use a Primestar for a wildfeed dish, and play with that

 

[iafirebuff]

So, just to make sure I have the concept right, this is what a motor mount is like:

Plumb/level mount (pole in ground for me), I mount the motor, and dish, and set as per instructions, then I find my true south sat, peak the dish for that satellite, and then it should be set? I know there are a few more steps in the instructions, but I just wanted to make sure I have the basics down. Thanks!

 

[digiblur]

So, just to make sure I have the concept right, this is what a motor mount is like:

Plumb/level mount (pole in ground for me), I mount the motor, and dish, and set as per instructions, then I find my true south sat, peak the dish for that satellite, and then it should be set? I know there are a few more steps in the instructions, but I just wanted to make sure I have the basics down. Thanks!

Find TS and peak. Swing over to far west sat....tweak....swing over to far east...tweak...check TS...tweak... repeat until you have it perfectly tracking the arc. If you can't get it to track using USALS and have to use 1.2 then you don't have something setup right or aligned correctly.

Sadoun's site has some excellent installation instructions.

 

[Sadoun]

Here is the link to the instructions on how to install a motorized system:
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/HH-mount-installation.htm

USALS is by far easier to work with when setting up a motorized dish.

Also, it is important to be able to see the Antenna Setup menu on the TV while alligning a motorized system. If you can't, it will be hard, specially if you are doing the installation for the 1st time, or if you don't have a signal meter identifier such as the SatHawk or the BIRDOG.

 

[Mr Tony]

Plumb/level mount (pole in ground for me), I mount the motor, and dish, and set as per instructions,

after you add the motor & dish, make sure the pole is still plumb