Need some help C-Band Aligment

[kelleyga]

OK, I can get any satellite manually pointing to it, by just seeting elevation and moving to where it is at, exampl PAS3R (43 degrees), Intel 805 (55 degrees)
My true south satellite AMC9 does not cover Costa Rica. So how can I align?

10 Feet Mesh Dish
Mover
Viewsat and Fortec Receiver
VBox to move dish

1) I calculated 78 degrees as my elevation for aligment? Is this Correct?
2) I was thinking that because I can not get any of my true south satellites, that I would set the elevation to 78 degreess and move the dish all the way down. Then move it up litlle by little and manually move the dish right to left and left to right until I could get PAS3R (which I already scanned), but I was not succesfull on doing that. I am not sure how to align. I would be happy if I could just be able to move using the mover from PAS3R to Intelsat 805, that will be great.
3) What about declination? What is the one for Costa Rica, I have not set that up yet, I got this dish from a friend from Tampa Florida, so I guess is set for that location. I can see the screw there. Is the declination the distance between the scare long bar and the dish from behind?

Any Ideas?

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[turbosat]

Get the figures for your location from dishpointer.com. You'll need to set the elevation for your location, if there are no satellites close to your longitude, that is, your 'true south' satellite, pick the closest one and try to pinpoint it. With the polar mount you shouldn't have to set the elevation but one time, same with the declination. Then it's a matter of tweaking your azimuth (east west tracking of the polar mount). That may mean you have to adjust the dish/mount on the pole a few times until you get the dish tracking properly. I don't see a reason why you couldn't adjust your dish to track correctly with some minor adjustments, after setting the correct elevation and declination first. Find that first sat, then look for the next closest ones to the west and east from that one, adjusting the azimuth as necessary. Some minor elevation tweaking may help too, as you learn the process.
edit: here's what I got from dishpointer for Costa Rica for AMC9
Address: Costa Rica
Latitude: 9.7489°
Longitude: -83.7534°
Satellite: 83.0W AMC 9
Elevation: 78.5°
Azimuth (true): 175.6°
Azimuth (magn.): 176.2°
You might try checking it again and putting in your location more closely, as in, City name etc, to get possibly closer coordinates but that should be close enough for a start!
2nd EDIT: I haven't had any luck determining the declination offset for a polar mount yet, charts I found are for N America only, but at 9degrees 56M latitude -you won't have MUCH declination at all, as you are practically tracking the equator from there!!!

 

[Anole]

Geo Orbit

This site has a wealth of BUD tuning info.

 

[kelleyga]

Which site

 

[Lak7]

If you have no Sat to Lock on to, use a good Compass.
I clamp a piece of straight wood to the Mount and rest a Compass on that. I flip the top all the way open so I have something to Square the Compass to the Wood.
Wood needs to be long enough so the Metal does not interfere with the compass.

Click the Link:

Footprints by Dish Size - Adjusting the Polar Mount for Prime Focus Antenna - C/Ku-Band Satellite Systems - Tuning, Tracking, Azimuth, Elevation, Declination Angles, F/D Ratio, Focal Distance, Inclinometer, LNB/Feedhorn Assembly, Actuator Assembly, C

 

[kelleyga]

Thanks Lak 7, I will try that.

I was already readying on the Geo web site.

I have a question:

On the declination for my location it is 0.5 almost 0.

so the distance between the back of the dish and the mount at true south should be almost parallel right, or should it be like a triangle.


AT TRUE SOUTH IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE


---------------- back of dish

---------------- mounth where I rest declinometer to set elevation,.


If the above is correct, then I have a problem as the declination screew does not go all the way so I can set those distances pararell to each other.

Now if I use the piece of wood wich I have a good one here. Once set at true south, how do move it to lets say 43 degreees to get PAS3R? how many ticks from the top to PAS3R?

 

[kelleyga]

Thanks Lak 7, I will try that.

I was already readying on the Geo web site.

I have a question:

On the declination for my location it is 0.5 almost 0.

so the distance between the back of the dish and the mount at true south should be almost parallel right, or should it be like a triangle.


AT TRUE SOUTH IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE


---------------- back of dish

---------------- mounth where I rest declinometer to set elevation,.


If the above is correct, then I have a problem as the declination screew does not go all the way so I can set those distances pararell to each other.

Now if I use the piece of wood wich I have a good one here. Once set at true south, how do move it to lets say 43 degreees to get PAS3R? how many ticks from the top to PAS3R?

 

[turbosat]

That will vary with how many pulses or counts your motor provides per inch. It will be a good distance east though, from your south satellite. On my c-band dish with the GI 650 I can usually estimate a count of about 20 from one sat to the next , at 2 degree spacing, i.e. say AMC9 is
4570 on my reciever, the next closest would be 4590 or close to it. But it'll be a bit different from one motor/receiver combo to the next.

 

[Lak7]

There is a Web Page for everything.....
Satellite dish polar mount set up near the equator

 

[kelleyga]

I got it. I was doing all ok, but then I found out the BSC621-2 is really picky and I needed to rotate. GOod. thanks.

 

[Lak7]

What are you watching?