The Pinnacle is up!

[linuxman]

Had the scrap people from up the street come down and put the Pinnacle and it's mount on two separate pallets up on the roof yesterday afternoon in between rains. Rain quit during the night.

Got the family on the roof at 7:00 AM. My wife's choice because she had a breakfast appt. with a friend. My 16 year old daughter wasn't too happy, but what the heck.

We put the mount on the pole, I took a quick guess as to where my TS satellite was. Then we hoisted the dish on the mount, and bolted it down.

I will have to start from scratch with adjusting this dish. It became obvious to me that the original installer didn't have a clue about what he was doing. He actually used screw head bolts to hold the scaler ring on the support arms. Took me almost an hour just to get those four bolts off.

Finally got my co-rotor on, and the F/D ratio set, then the focal length set, and made sure the feed-horn was pointing at the center of the dish. Ran the wires to the junction box and put on the terminal strip for tuning at the dish. Ran the wires into the house for hook up when tuned.

Finally got the Pansat, new VBox II, and mini-dvd hooked up and turned on. I was on the mark pretty close. Got G11C-Band with about 60% SQ. Should be at 99%, tried the Ku side of G-11 and only got about 20%. Played with moving the whole assembly a little, but not much better. Swung over to G10, and got about 15% on 11720, so at least I am close to the arc.

By then it was 5:00PM, and hotter than a two dollar pistol, so I quit for the day.

I'll begin tomorrow morning early by adjusting the elevation a little. The declination seems to be okay, but elevation looks a little high to me by reading the protractor.

I hope to have it pretty well tuned in by tomorrow afternoon. I will put up pics when I am finished.

Fred

 

[turbosat]

Linux man , just curious but if you already got the Cadillac dish, why did you want another one. I think if I could find a birdview I'd prob sell my other one for scrap.

 

[chefwan]

what does the pinnacle look like?

 

[linuxman]

Linux man , just curious but if you already got the Cadillac dish, why did you want another one. I think if I could find a birdview I'd prob sell my other one for scrap.

This is for the family setup and the TV in the living room. It isn't quite the Cadillac that my Birdview is, but I think it will be pretty darn close. My Birdview runs the DVB receiver/computer receiver and TV in my study where I spend 95% of my time when I am not in the office. I also have the 4DTV hooked up to that TV and can switch inputs to choose receivers. I have a coax run to the living room TV for them to enjoy the 4D when I am watching something else because it has a UHF remote.

So I now have 3 BUDS on the roof.

Here is a pic of the Pinnacle from where I picked it up.



It looks a bit different now. I fixed the dent, and cleaned it up removing most of the pigmentation and oxidation of the paint.

I'll have new pictures tomorrow.

Fred

 

[turbosat]

I gotcha. Nice, you are single-handedly keeping SOME programming for us on c-band, hehe..

 

[linuxman]

Had a pretty good morning so far.

I adjusted the elevation just a tad, and discovered that the servo motor didn't work in the co-rotor I got from George in part of the swap deal we made. I happened to have an extra or three, so I switched it out, and BAM had 75% SQ on G11 12060 V mux.

So I started looking across the arc. Moved to G27 and got White Springs at 75%. Not bad, but could be improved. I have seen White Springs with that kind of signal on certain days. Just checked it with the Birdview and it is the same.

Moved to G10 11718 V, and getting them at 60%. Checked it just now with the Birdview and it is at 75%

Moved over to the East, and was only getting about 45% on Montana PBS. Birdview just now has it bouncing between 60 and 75%.

AMC6 the NBC mux was at 99%. Same as Birdview just now.

Moved to Hispasat and got Supershow at 60%. Some of the stonger TP's at 90%. Didn't bother to check on the Birdview.

I think part of the problem is that the motor on this mount only gives me 1600 counts from limit to limit. (has a label right on the motor that says that) So a single click moves a good distance. The other thing could be the old servo motor I put on. It was the newest of the three I had laying around, but it is still probably 15 years old. It makes a little noise when it moves. First time I ever heard one make a noise. I'll pick up a new one tomorrow.

It was very heavily overcast and windy this morning while I was doing all this. I tried pushing up and down on the dish at the outer ends, but there was no change. Course, I couldn't see the dish move at the top when I was doing it. It barely moved at the bottom when I pushed or pulled it.

I'd say I am pretty much on the arc, and pretty much have it tuned in.

Here are a few pics:







Any suggestions before I put everything away, and start scanning from the living room?

Thanks,

Fred

 

[linuxman]

Went back up after lunch and turned the whole assembly to the West about 1/16", and BAM, everything fell into place.

White Springs is now bouncing between 80 - 90%
G10 - 11718V is now bouncing between 60 - 70%
Montana PBS is now at 60% sometimes bouncing higher,
Supershow on Hispasat is still at 60% The higher strength ones are at 90%

I think I can make all those a little higher with skew and the VBox remote which gives less than a full click than the Pansat does. It is really good for fine tuning movement. This dish is really deep, and you don't get as much gain as a flatter dish, so you have to right on the money to get the best signal.

I only looked at one C-Band satellite, and that was G11 TP #1 and it was at 90%+ SQ, so I think I am good to go.

I'll put the new servo motor on tomorrow. I have access to them locally. I'll start scanning, and take another look in a couple of days.

I think this dish ranks right up there with the Birdview for signal finding. The H-H mount goes all the way from Hispasat to 148W. It won't go any further East than Hispasat. Only about 3 clicks left before the limit.

Thanks for all your interest!!

Fred

 

[voomvoom]

Fred, you are definately the "Man". Nice pictures and 3 C-bands. Wow!!!

Al

 

[linuxman]

Thanks Al!!

It was all because of guys like you who helped me so much with the first one.

I learned more by the mistakes I made on that old Winegard, and you guys were so patient to help me and encourage me, and now look what you've done.

Almost unbelievable, 3 fully functioning C-Band dishes, and enough Primestars to start selling them.

I am thinking of turning all my Primestar dishes into stationary ones for the satellites that I watch most often on Ku. Save the wear and tear on these old motors for those channels.

Even with all that I have, there is still nothing like the analog feeds I get on the 4DTV and used to get on the Drake. They still look the best to these tired old eyes.

I'll never forget the first analog channel I tuned in on that Drake 1524 last summer. It was the thrill of a lifetime.

The thrills have gotten to be bigger and more often. I love this hobby.!!!

Fred

 

[Anole]

OH! I see why you got this dish.
It's got a similar motor to the Birdviews.
I must've overlooked that if it was stated.
It's a beauty.

Well, the one question I want to ask, is "why not increase the number of clicks per degree?"
I don't know how the mechanism works, since I haven't seen one, but there's got to be a way.
And I wouldn't be using reed switches either!
There are hall effect devices available for next to nothing, and you could probably space two, three, or four of them around some shaft in the system to get more counts.

If you can show pictures and do the mounting, I'm sure we can come up with a working electrical solution.
Anyone got any experience at putting their own hall-effect sensors into a dish motor?
I'm certainly not afraid to tackle it.

 

[linuxman]

Hey Anole,

I will probably have to get my neighbor who put the batteries in the 920 and the VCII board to make me some. I really need one for this one and the Birdview.

It is just a matter of his getting the time, and looking at what I have on both dishes.

His biggest concern was how many counts the VBox could handle in it's software.

I told him the Birdview had a 37:1 gear ratio, and the newer ones had a 70:1. His first thought was that he could double what I have on the Birdview that is using the 24 magnet wheel conversion kit, which would be roughly the equivalent counts of the 70:1 geared conversions.

I am sure he could double this one too, which would only be 3200 counts. The actuator on the 4DTV dish goes up to 2600 I think. I am sure the VBox II could handle that.

It would certainly make it more precise when tuning.

We may need your help when it comes time to actually do it.

Thanks,

Fred

 

[chefwan]

is that your office building that your satellites sit on top of linuxman?

 

[linuxman]

It is my office and my home. It was a grocery store at one time.

The South half is all storage/warehouse. Basically a big basement at ground level, and just as cluttered.

Fred

 

[gabshere]

looking good fred
still room for a couple more
sorry to hear about the servo , i was only getting one side "V"

 

[linuxman]

Hey George,

Not a problem! I had one. Still have a couple more, but this dish deserves a new one.

I can get a new one tomorrow for about $10.00.

I used to work for, and later bought computers and parts wholesale from Skywalker Communications. They were big into C-Band until about 1994, then became Dish wholesalers, then Direct. Now they don't sell computers or parts, or Direct, anymore, but still do some wholesaling in Satellite stuff and TV's.

Since I was listed as a dealer on the computer side, I can buy some satellite parts from them wholesale.

I just can't get them to stock diseqc switches.

I get all my coax, 3x4 multiswitches, cable junction boxes, wire ties, connectors etc from them at very reasonable rates, and they are only about 20 miles away. No shipping.

Fred

 

[gabshere]

ok get me one of those......................................... big screen lcd's

 

[linuxman]

I haven't even priced any of them, so I don't know what they are asking for them.

 

[turbosat]

Nice work linuxman>I see why you wanted it now! Looks like a well-constructed dish.
The grass is sure green across the street, you folks must've gotten more rain than us
people in the deep dry south this year.

 

[linuxman]

Thanks turbosat!

We have had a good bit of rain over the last couple of weeks. We needed it to catch up to our yearly quota. We were pretty dry for the month or so before that, but can't cut the grass fast enough now.

Fred

 

[linuxman]

I put on the new servo motor today, and made a slight adjustment of the feed-horn orientation. Moved it more to the 10:30 - 4:30 positions. I was trying the factory setting of 11:00 - 5:00.

I am getting better SQ than yesterday. It is clear today and this evening.

I am busily scanning away at all the sats in a direct march across the sky.

I would rank this dish right up there with the Birdview as far as SQ is concerned. The difference is, the Birdview does it with 8.5' and the Pinnacle does it with 10'.

I think the family will be very happy.

Fred