Motorized FTA installation

[danleeper80]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a little new to the FTA world however I've set a few DSS dishes in the past (Directv 3lnb) however I'm having trouble locking on to anything using a motorized setup I purchased:

My Setup is:
Manhattan RS-1933
WS7630 Dish
SG6000 HH Motor
DMS Spitfire Elite Universal LNBF 9.75/10.6GHZ

I'm at Latitude: 40.8659° Longitude: -75.8011° so that makes my Azmiuth 12° 2' 45" W. I set the motor at it's recommended elevation of 50 degrees and my dish at (40-6.26 declination) so 33.74. I aimed it at true south with 0 skew and selected a few different sats however I get no signal on any of them even performing a blind scan. I also have one of those cheap-o signal meters and I've played with the adjustments slightly however no lock. Any suggestions or tips I should be doing to get this setup moving?

Thanks folks!

 

[northgeorgia]

Welcome to Satellite Guys!

There is a FAQ on this at http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/190527-How-to-set-up-a-Motorized-KU-Band-dish

Which satellite is closest to your true south? I was curious as to which satellites you were using to test out the signals. More than likely the azmiuth and/or elevation is just slightly off and will need adjusting. From what I can tell, your motor seems to be set ok, but could you take a snapshot and send it along so we can take a look?

 

[danleeper80]

Thanks for the info. My True south sat is supposed to be brasilsat b3 but there's no active transponders according to Lyngsat. I've been trying my alignment against AMC 6 and Galaxy 19. I have no LOS issues until I get extreme west and no obstructions to the east. I'm doing this on a porch roof where I had my D*N before (reusing the mast it's plumb) I'll throw some pics up tomorrow.

Dan

 

[northgeorgia]

Brasilsat B3 at 92W? If so, try for 91W -- It's pretty darn close to your true south and the ABC News One stations are on 24/7 and are pretty strong (12010 Freq., Vertical pol., 11574 Sym Rate). But if you're in NE Pennsylvania, that doesn't sound right... Scranton is around 75W. If that's the case, then yeah, I think AMC 6 at 72W is your best bet. The NBC mux is usually up on there at 12052 V 6891.

When you're back at your dish, make doubly sure that the mast is still plumb, and even more to the point that your new motor is level, too! I'm still convinced it's likely that your dish needs to be tilted a bit up or down and/or the motor moved slightly left or right on the mast. Even being a hair off makes a huge difference in FTA! I look forward to seeing the pictures tomorrow

 

[danleeper80]

Sorry for the delay the weather didn't cooperate. I snapped a few pics of my setup and the install site. I double checked my mast it was dead on so no issues there. I haven't had an opportunity to really mess with it today but here's what I got.

 

[Lak7]

One quick "guess" here.....
What I indicated with Green line is probably the Latitude scale, and the Latitude marker in circled in Green.

 

[northgeorgia]

In addition to what Lak7 said, which looks to be the biggest problem, do make sure the motor mount is plum -- at a 90 degree angle --with your mast, so that when you make the adjustments, they will be more accurate.

 

[KE4EST]

Welcome to the site Dan!
Take the motor off and just try and hit 72W or maybe 83W. Learn how to lock a signal and peak your dish before you try using the motor. This is sorta a different world than DirecTV so learn and and get the feel for locking signals before the motor.

 

[danleeper80]

Thanks all for the help I'm up and running & motorized! It appears that I was having a LOS issue moving my dish higher up the mast helped tremendously as well as some helpful tips from everyone about the nbc mux on 72 and my motor settings thanks again!

 

[turbosat]

Good work! I've run into the LOS bug before too, using these offset dishes really makes it harder to guess whether something is in your line of sight or not. I'm having a black walnut headache with 72W myself, but I just don't want to drop a 70' walnut tree. So I just moved a spare dish to a good spot to see around it, and now have a fixed dish on 72.

 

[KE4EST]

Glad to hear you got it going.

 

[carlospr43]

Hi, glad you get it going. I have a question for you, does the Manhattan RS1933 with the latest 4.4 firm handles OK the motor???? Are you using iseqc 1.2 or USALS?? Thanks!!

 

[danleeper80]

I'm using USALS with the 4.4 firmware, it's quick to say no signal on a satellite after just moving to a new location however if I give it 30 seconds or so the channel comes up. Otherwise it's been smooth sailing....

 

[carlospr43]

Thanks!!!!

 

[jugghedd]

Glad I read this. Im having similar issues. after trying to fine tune my dish, I lost everything. Seemed like I couldnt even get back the ones I had before. Turns out the leaves popped on a couple trees over the weekend blocking things a bit. Luckily, on my property. Time to cut some limbs and try again.

One question regarding the True South sat. If Im in upstate NY, 74.3 Longitude, should I try to put my dish at 2 degrees to the west while aiming at AMC6? Seems like aiming in set to straight on when you're off my 2 degrees would throw off the whole arc.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Jugghedd,

Have you reviewed the motor install FAQs?

When installing a dish and the satellite does not EXACTLY line up with your true south, you must first drive the motor to this azimuth heading.

This is why USALS simplifies a motor install. With USALS the first satellite motor placement is based on a calculation instead of a guess!

 

[jugghedd]

I read every document I could find. I apologize if I missed the answer somewhere. If I had USLAS or a capable motor, that would make this a simple issue. Its a C band large dish with an actuator. trying to guess what 2 degrees is by eye hasnt been very productive.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Sorry, I assumed that you were installing a similar system as the original post.

Motorized installs are more difficult with DiSEqC 1.2. The installer must be much more dependent on the accuracy of first correctly setting the pole to be perfectly plumb then setting the mount for Azimuth, Elevation and Declination.

Once these angles are set, then the dish is slowly motored to the nearest true south satellite and the position saved. Then the dish is driven to each the East and West edges of the arc to confirm the mount was set at exactly true south while at the peak of the arc. Work the dish between these three points and making slight changes to the azimuth, elevation and declination until the signal is optimized for these three extreme satellite positions.

 

[Anole]

aligning a BUD

On any dish, a plumb pole is a must.

On a C band setup, you should make every effort to determine and set the declination accurately right from the start.
Then leave it alone.
Not all documents and web sites are trustworthy.

From there on, adjusting azimuth and elevation at the center and ends of the arc should be sufficient.
If you -think- your declination is off, you should start over and review your proceedure.
There is no more excuse for bad declination than an out-of-plumb pole.

 

[FaT Air]

jugghedd, Maybe this will help some: BUD Manual