New To FTA

[RimaNTSS]

I'm trying to find a feedhorn cover but not having any luck. Any Ideas on where to get one? Most sites are out of stock.

Are you speaking about such a covers? You can have them both for a price of couple of beers plus shipping. Nice renovation work BTW. If I were you I would make feedarms out of stainless steel, it looks better and never rusts.

 

[RFPickle]

Are you speaking about such a covers? View attachment 125754 You can have them both for a price of couple of beers plus shipping. Nice renovation work BTW. If I were you I would make feedarms out of stainless steel, it looks better and never rusts.

Yes, that looks like the ones. I have an idea that I'm going to try. If it doesn't work well, I'll reach out to you to see if you still have them. Thanks!

 

[RFPickle]

I received the Amiko MINI HD RE yesterday. Quick service and thanks again KE4EST!! Wife is a writer so she took the pen! LOL. I'm hoping to get ever thing set up this weekend.

Also I couldn't pass up what I thought was a good deal on ebay and it came in today. It's a new (never been used) Astrotel feedhorn with servo, 1 Ku lnb & 2 C lnb's. Not sure of the status of the stuff I have that came with the dish. So I figured it best to go with a new unit.

 

[gpflepsen]

Nice progress! Where did you get the SH-800HD?

 

[RFPickle]

Nice progress! Where did you get the SH-800HD?

Thanks!! On E-bay from graigartechnology.

 

[RFPickle]

Yesterday I grounded the dish, set the lnb/feedhorn to the correct depth and got everything ready to hook up for today's first power up...And it's raining...Looks like it will have to wait til next weekend. Bummer...

 

[Titanium]

Much more enjoyable aiming on a clear and sunny day!

How is the dish grounded? It is best practice to bond the dish ground to the structure ground. This prevents voltage potential between multiple grounding points.

 

[RimaNTSS]

I have 19 y.o. Prodelin 0.98m Ku-band Rx?Tx Series Antenna System (actually never used), so there is special wire and instruction how to install it in the set. I do not think I will be installing this cable, but, anyway, it is there.

 

[RFPickle]

Much more enjoyable aiming on a clear and sunny day!

How is the dish grounded? It is best practice to bond the dish ground to the structure ground. This prevents voltage potential between multiple grounding points.

At the dish I drove in a 8' ground rod and bonded it to the mast/pole, dish supports and feedhorn support rods (because the dish is fiberglass) with 6 gauge copper wire.

At the house, the cable grounding blocks will be bonded to the house grounding block & ground rod. I'll bond both rods together with 6 gauge copper wire as well.

The polarity wire ground, is grounded to the LNB. The actuator has its own ground wiring, then they both go to power source ground.

 

[RFPickle]

I hooked everything up this morning to the ASC1 and when I went to move the dish, blew a fuse. I've got to break down the actuator and find the short. I'll use a different power source while I try to get it to work. If I can't get it to free up, I'll have to do some research and get a new one. I found some fuses (2A) and the ASC1 on again. The actuator is the only hardware that's not new. I think it's best to replace it anyways to hopefully have a trouble free set up. I'm glad I have plenty of patience...

 

[Titanium]

Best to use lower voltage without the sensor to test the actuator movement. Use a 12V car/motorcycle battery and reverse leads to "exercise" the motor once you have it free and spinning.

If the tube has corrosion or rust, soak in diesel and scrub with steel wool. Saw one video where rust was removed with Coca Cola!

Coat the tube with a thin layer of grease. Lube the gears and check for proper play when reassembling and torquing. Check the reed sensor with an ohm meter for open/close cycles as the motor slowly turns with 12Vdc.

 

[RFPickle]

Best to use lower voltage without the sensor to test the actuator movement. Use a 12V car/motorcycle battery and reverse leads to "exercise" the motor once you have it free and spinning.

If the tube has corrosion or rust, soak in diesel and scrub with steel wool. Saw one video where rust was removed with Coca Cola!

Coat the tube with a thin layer of grease. Lube the gears and check for proper play when reassembling and torquing. Check the reed sensor with an ohm meter for open/close cycles as the motor slowly turns with 12Vdc.

You read my mind on the power source!! Thanks for the other suggestions too!!

 

[RFPickle]

Found the short Sunday. It was at the terminal block at the actuator. I used my battery charger to move the dish and set the actuator limits to maximum East & West. It seems to be in great operating condition. I invested into some tools (stripper, compression tool and toner/tester) to make sure the coaxial's & ends were good to go. A worthy investment to take the guess work out and make the job a breeze IMO. I used 18-AWG RG6 Quad shield coax and some quality compression ends.

I went to Dishpointer to get the motor latitude & declination angle and set them both to my location Lat. & Long. coordinates. I used the motorized true N. & S. satellite data with the dish top dead center (highest point). I had already set the dish to solar noon south a few weeks back. I hope this will get me close when I hook everything back up this weekend to try and lock on to a bird. If I'm successful, then the fun begins on fine tuning it to sweep the arc and locking on to multiple birds and peaking out the signals. I've been reading up on this part and it sound easy. I'm betting it will take some time with this 12' dish.

 

[Titanium]

Good trouble shooting!

Very cheap insurance against corroded fittings, go to the auto parts store and buy a tube of dielectric silicone. Put a capful in any connector or coat any wires that will be dry contact bonded together. The Dielectric silicone does not harden, prevents corrosion and rejects water.

 

[RFPickle]

Thanks! We just upgraded our internet to Generation 5 and I saw the tech put this on the ends of the coax before connecting. I did not know what it was but now I will purchase some and apply. Thanks for the tip!

 

[KE4EST]

Agree if I had another alternative I would, but since my only option is dial-up or satellite, I am really liking GEN5 over GEN4, especially the beam in this area for GEN4, is so over loaded.

 

[RFPickle]

Looks like I'm doing something wrong. No signals, not even close. So I'm going to have to go back through my check list to see what I,ve missed...

 

[RFPickle]

Well it's been a year since my last post and I have not done anything to the system since then . I hooked everything back up this past weekend, made some adjustments and nothing... It's got to be something simple so I'll be trouble shooting it this weekend. I'll be going back thru all alignments to see if I have missed something. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

I have been looking for someone in the area (Waco, Ga.) to align & troubleshoot but no luck.

 

[Phalaenopsis]

I’m no C-Band expert, but here it goes: Do you have a active transponder in your receiver? Do you have the correct LNB Lo frequency? Proper skew and elevation?

 

[RFPickle]

FINALLY!! Found the issue and locked in on 87W. Oddly, it was a grounding issue. The controller does not like earth grounding. I had the rods supports to the feedhorn grounded to the dish supports and post. Once I disconnected the ground, the controller would work with the LNB connected. I'm getting both C & KU on 87W. Next task will be to program it and fine tune the arch for the other satellites.