Question about mounting a mast for a motorized dish

[skyscanner4ever]

Ok I have my 1.2 meter dish up and all the settings on the motor,dish,and receiver right, and hitting 91-92 q on my south sat of 95.2 west g-3c.

I am pulling in strong signals from 89 to 105, however barely getting 85 and nothing at all as far out to 83 and to 121.

When I put the dish and motor on the mast it looked like it pulled a bit foward, here is my question as I have never used a mounted mast before to install a motorized system and have always used a pole in the ground, however right now the mount is my only choice.

my question is this

dont laugh, but can you level a pole solely from the top? Or do you have to level it on the sides too? It seems to me if I get a perfect level from the top that it has to be level and the mount I am using has one of those little bubble levels on it and it is showing to be out a bit. Will that work as far as me leveling the mount up? I know it has to be a hair out because I am not getting anything more than 10 degrees east or west of my south sat and before when I had a 1.2 meter I was getting great quality reception from 72 to 123.


thanks for any help guys!

 

[Anole]

Some small struts (1/4" tubing?) from the top of your mast to the building, should fix that.
They are common now on larger / heavier dishes.
And the big motor doesn't help , either.

When it comes to the mast being plumb, there is no "try" nor "almost".
And "close enough", never is.

 

[skyscanner4ever]

Well I dont know if I should even mess with it right now because I am getting perfect quality or as good as I have ever had from 89 to 105, I am pulling in 85 and 87 ok wise, not too great and barely grabbing 107.3 anik. arent the vast majority of feeds on these sats? I know 72 has alot but also the other sats out that way are gone now, I used to get alot of feeds of 79 and 74. And really after 105 going west I dont think there are many feeds.

 

[skyscanner4ever]

Do you think I should do it the old fashioned way and move the dish out to 72 and make adjustments to tune it in and then go back through the arc and do the same on 123 for the west end or would that screw me up you think?

 

[Anole]

Personal call.
I wouldn't waste my time 'till I had the mast plumb 'n stiff.
Then align it once and do it right.

However, if you're happy with what ya got, have bad weather, or a dangerous climb to the dish, that's a consideration.

 

[rv1pop]

A pole "almost plumb" and "almost getting a paycheck" for the last year; have the same idea..... VERY LITTLE gets done --- Where the motor mounts, and the motor mount itself, particularly, MUST be plumb or you are going to have an extremely difficult time getting any satisfaction with your signal.

Other analogies come to mind: almost got a deer, almost stopped before going over a cliff, almost kissed my wife, almost got pregnant (almost did not get pregnant)....

Almost counts in hand grenades or IUDs but not in plumb poles ........ AND as Anole so nicely said .... Solid, secure, sturdy, stiff, supported.

 

[rv1pop]

and to satellite guys... I hope my answer did not sound as rough to you as it did to me on re-read.

 

[primestar31]

You are describing an issue with DECLINATION. That's the new dish elevation that you set the dish to, after you calculate it depending on what motor tube angle your motor has. It describes how low (or high) your dish follows the actual satellite arc, when it drops to either side of your true south position.

Of course, all that supposes that your pole is level on ALL sides. NEVER level a pole just on the top, with the possible exception of a fixed mount. If it's polar mounted, or motorized, it must be level on all sides.

 

[northgeorgia]

And just to help you feel better, doing a motorized set-up is one of the hardest things to get right

 

[Andrew K]

I have a level like the one in the picture above. It has a magnet along the side. The magnet sticks to the side of the pole. I put the level along the back of the pole to check if it's plumb, and I put the level along the side to check if it's plumb. If the bubble is anywhere near the center when you check each side, you should be okay.

 

[Jim S.]

Well I dont know if I should even mess with it right now because I am getting perfect quality or as good as I have ever had from 89 to 105, I am pulling in 85 and 87 ok wise, not too great and barely grabbing 107.3 anik. arent the vast majority of feeds on these sats? I know 72 has alot but also the other sats out that way are gone now, I used to get alot of feeds of 79 and 74. And really after 105 going west I dont think there are many feeds.

83 has a lot of feeds, but many of them are quickie reporter feeds that are only up for a few minutes. (It also has the theatrical feeds that used to be on 79, if you're into that sort of thing.)

Reuters has a permanent feed on 113, and there are a few feeds on 123, mostly small college sports or corporate conferences, as far as I can remember. (Also, G4 the video game channel uses it a lot.)

 

[Stevemo]

Have you tried pushing/tilting the dish a bit at each dish position? That will give you an idea of what is out and the STAB manuals have some good sketches on how to correct it. I've found that with my motor I can get an extra 5% from 87W when tweaking the dish but I get no real response from bending the dish at the other locations I am able to get.
Steve

 

[MikeinBaja]

I had the same weight "sag" issue. Scrounged around for an old Direcway tripod mount (they are wicked heavy) - cut a long straight section of regular "J" pole to fit inside of it (so that the diameter was then compatible) then drilled & straight bolted it through both section pieces N/S, then E/W one above the other and used lock washers.

You could hang a hammock on that baby now and not worry about it.

Camera took a dump - so sorry no pixs to share - but I think you get the idea.

 

[skyscanner4ever]

well up to date I tweaked a little and on a pansat 3500 I am getting some mid 30's to low 40's on g-18 or 123 sat.

I am also now getting high 40's on 83 sat and pulling in the rtv channels.

In between these two I am getting 70's to high 90's on most tps with the exception of a few, like on 95 i am getting low 90's and high 80's.

If i were to tweak it a hair on 123 to get it up to say 70 do you think it could pull me much off the other sats? especially since I am getting very high numbers on the other ones?