Problems / Results Re Fine Tuning 1 Meter Fortec Star Dish

[jsattv]

Installed the new Metal Plate and added a new Pivot Bolt to 1 meter (40 inch) Fortec Star Dish as advised by Anole, Turnbuckle Bill, and others in an attempt to try and Fine Tune the Fortec Dish Elevation. Had mixed results. (See posted pictures).

First of all the Nuts that fit on the back of the Azimuth Bracket were Metric - 8 mm Nuts with a 1.25 degree pitch. It was almost impossible to find these at any Store in Winnipeg. One guy at Home Depot's Nuts & Bolt Dept said they really never stock Metric Nuts or Bolts! (Canada has been Metric for some 30 years). Finally found them at a Store called Adam Supply, - 11 cents each.

HH 120 Motor Shaft East & West Play
Tried fine tuning with the Threaded Rod and never could get Tp 11966 on 97.0W to get to a Q value of 60. But by far the worst Problem with this Dish and HH120 Stab Motor is the East & West Movement of the Dish and Motor. The Motor Shaft itself with the Dish installed has a slop or travel of what seems like 2 to 3 inches, - (maybe its less). We could pull the Dish at times to the left and see Q values on 11966 go as high as 60, but as soon as we let it go, it was back to 50%. This makes it next to impossible to do any type of Fine Tuning!!

Also the last 3 days have been fairly windy here, and I see "Russia Today" at times with completely Intermittant Transmission. Looking from the ground I could see the LNB on the Dish bobbing up and down, quite a bit. Q values on 11966 in the wind were going from 40 to 0 regularly in the wind. And now after 3 days of windy weather the Q value on 11966 has slipped back to about 35%. Guess I'll have to go back up on the roof and try to recalibrate, but the movement of this Dish and Motor Combination in the wind - as well as just the East and West movement of the entire Dish and Motor (when you manually pull it, when up on the Roof), has to be seen to be believed!

One Question I do have is: Is it normal for a 1 Meter Dish and Motor to have a lot of Movement - especially East to West Travel - when mounted on the Manufacturer's own Ground Mount Pole? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Hope the Pictures re the new Plate and Pivot Bolt work out.

 

[Anole]

nice plate !

Geez, that is beautiful work!
Fantastic execution, and wonderful pictures!
I was pretty sure when we discussed this in your previous thread, that the idea would work.
And apparently it did, but other factors bit you in the butt.

Can you follow-up on the pivot bolt story?
How did that work out? Much trouble to do or to get the parts?
Does it pivot pretty tightly?

As for the east-west slop, is that the motor shaft, the motor bracket, or maybe your pole on the roof?

Did you have the movement in the wind before all this dish work?
I can't see anything you did that would make it worse.
Is the weather just more windy , now?

I'm sure we can all brain-storm this some more and find a solution.

 

[jsattv]

Geez, that is beautiful work!
Fantastic execution, and wonderful pictures!
I was pretty sure when we discussed this in your previous thread, that the idea would work.
And apparently it did, but other factors bit you in the butt.

Can you follow-up on the pivot bolt story?
How did that work out? Much trouble to do or to get the parts?
Does it pivot pretty tightly?

As for the east-west slop, is that the motor shaft, the motor bracket, or maybe your pole on the roof?

Did you have the movement in the wind before all this dish work?
I can't see anything you did that would make it worse.
Is the weather just more windy , now?

I'm sure we can all brain-storm this some more and find a solution.

Thanks Anole. The Pivot Bolt didn't seem to make that much of a difference, granted it does allow for better control, but now with the Threaded Rod you have to undo all 3 Elevation Bolts, then adjust the Threaded Rod to make Elevation adjustments anyways. My friend had the Pivot Bolt and Nut in his parts bin - it's not anything special.

The East / West slop is all in the Stab HH 120 Motor Shaft itself, and not at all related to the Ground Pole Mount on the roof which is solid and plumb. The play from East to West seems to be a lot & I am wondering if this is normal for a Motor Shaft? I mean you can grab the Dish on the left hand side, and physically see the whole Motor Shaft move from left to right!!

Can't remember the wind bothering the Dish & Motor as much as it does now. Not sure if it's more windy now than it was in March or April! But it does seem much more wind susceptable now - than before.

One thing I forgot to mention was the next day after installing the Pivot Bolt & Plate, I was on 97.0W and asked the System to drive to Ohio News Network at 74.0W. Well the Dish drove and skewed over all the way to the East way past 74.0W and stuck there! The Motor and Dish would NOT come back, even when I set in "Go to Reference" on the ViewSat Receiver. So I contacted Fortec Canada in Mississauga, Ontario and the guy said the Stab Motor had a blown circuit board, and to send it back to them at my cost - since there is a 2 year warrenty on Stab Motors. So I went up on roof (with my neighbor to take the motor off) and started loosening the new Plate Nuts when suddenly the Motor powered up and cycled all the way back to my South Satellite - G25 / 97.0W. So recalibrated & this problem has not reoccurred since.

I'm wondering if the Stab HH 120 Motor Shaft slop could be part of the Problem??

 

[Anole]

I had hoped there would be some progress on the problems over the last few days.
Looks like everyone is quiet.

If the motor has that much slop, and it didn't before, maybe it is damaged.
I'd be tempted to get it replaced, and remove one more variable from the equation.
Perhaps someone else with the same motor could comment on the slop?

 

[jsattv]

Anole, thanks for the comments. Wonder if some of the sponsors can tell us if their 1 Meter (40 inch) - Fortec Star Dishes with a Stab HH 120 Motor have the same Motor Shaft Slop or East & West travel when installed?

 

[Larry1]

I have a Stab HH90 with a 1m Winegard and have a small amount of slop left to right, but not excessive. I like your implementation of the pivot bolt. On my dish, the metal where the pivot bolt would go has been cut out at the factory.... but newer versions do have a pivot bolt. I believe that the motor slop varies greatly between each individual motor, even of the same brand and model.

 

[jsattv]

I have a Stab HH90 with a 1m Winegard and have a small amount of slop left to right, but not excessive. I like your implementation of the pivot bolt. On my dish, the metal where the pivot bolt would go has been cut out at the factory.... but newer versions do have a pivot bolt. I believe that the motor slop varies greatly between each individual motor, even of the same brand and model.

Thanks Larry1. Performance of the Dish & Motor the past week has been good, with no wind problems, so I've had no reason to go up on the roof. Getting ONN on 74.0W most days with Q up to 65 %, and Russia Today on 11966 on 97.0W is back to 35 to 50% Q value. Tomorrow up to 60 kilometer - (approx 40 MPH) winds are forecast, so I'll find out how it performs.