This weekends satellite project

[PopcornNMore]

Well after all that work I am back to using the 76cm dish.

I might purchase this 90cm dish and attach my new Invacom 0.3dB LNB.

http://www.futurevisionsat.citymax.com/catalog/item/548162/2420197.htm

 

[voomvoom]

I have a Fortec 1.2m dish with a Stab H-H 120. It is perfect when going downhill. And trust me Popcorn, it sometimes takes minutes (seems like an eternity) to climb the arc. And if I go, like to the next bird or 2-3 over maybe, it will capture it OK. But, if it travels 20-30 degrees or more (at least traveling up-hill) it does not capture any bird. I have to reprogram it to go for another bird (usually the one closest) and it will go there, then I reprogram it to go back to where I originally wanted to go. Maybe I'm not giving it enough eternity in it's uphill travels or I'm too impatient. After reading the thread about "Stab HH120 and slack", I'm not sure the two aren't related. Although, I don't know if mine has slack or not, it kind of makes sense. In the end, I'll put up with the slowness and the not landing on the sat to enjoy the better picture the 1.2m gives me. What I'm saying is if you try a Stab H-H 120, it may not be much of an improvement, if any. It doesn't sound like you will try, but in one of your post you at least had a thought about it.

Al

 

[Greg Mueller]

Perhaps you could rig up a counter balance on the 1.2M so the motor doesn't have to work so hard going up hill. A simple arm with a barbell weight might do it

 

[WyrTwister]

I can sucessfully move the dish from Echostar 3 (61.5W) to Nimiq 1 (91.0). When I move the dish lower like to Echostar 8 (110.0W) the dish moves, but is unable to retun to Nimiq 1 without manually moving it.

Because I made the mount so lightweight I was sure that it would work.

Now my only option is to buy a STAB and hope that works or return to using my 76cm Winegard dish.

Any suggestions?

Thank You,
Dave

I did a 90 cm mini-bud on a STAB HH100 w/ a C band Scalar Ring , Feed Horn , Polorotor & LNB . All this stuff is MUCH heavier than a Lu linear LNBF . If I stayed within the chart for analog sats I was fine . But If I messed up & let the dish fo too far , while sat hunting , I had to go outside and help it get back to center .

Never had any problem with this combo doing Ku . By the way , the 90cm dish is steel .

Wyr

 

[WyrTwister]

A big disappointment! All the time I spent painting and installing the dish only to have it not work. The STAB motor control has the same 1.2m restrictions.

I will probably disassemble the 1.2m and put back up the 76cm Winegard.

The moral of the story probably is to always use the manufacturers recommended size poles and mounts and not try to experiment. However, experimenting is half the fun of FTA satellite.

I saw a post where someone mounted a 1.2m dish onto a heavier CM mount using plywood. He also used a SG2100 motor drive. If his is heavier, how is his able to track the arc? I just don't get it.

Probably depends on your longitude and what birds you go hunting for ?

Wyr

 

[aegrotatio]

Don't be suprised if you have to muck with your settings on elevation and motor settings to get the motor to track the arc right due to your custom mount. Lots of patience....

That motor has lots of "play" in it. Ever since I installed a bracket with two LNBs on it, when I move past true south the entire dish "falls" an extra 4-degrees as it turns. It's annoying since it does that right where my birds of interest happen to be. Really annoying.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I am not down for the count yet.

What if I used this CM mount and attached it to the board as shown in the attached picture?

To me this seems heavier and would be even harder for the drive to turn, but maybe it needs the extra support. Another member used this mount on plywood with a 1.2m dish and he said his worked.

If the SG-2100 is advertised as supporting up to a 1.2m dish why doesn't it work? I would say this is false advertising.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank You,
Dave

 

[voomvoom]

Perhaps you could rig up a counter balance on the 1.2M so the motor doesn't have to work so hard going up hill. A simple arm with a barbell weight might do it

That's an excellent idea Greg, thanks. I'll see what I can figure out. Something I failed to mention before, I also have the Invacom QPH031 quad lnbf, which is also quite heavy. This is new equipment for me and maybe it's supposed to be slow.

Al

 

[dishMIKE]

By the way has anyone heard from saidas lately on how his SG2100 is doing with his 1.2 set up ? Mike

 

[PopcornNMore]

Thank you dishMIKE. Saidas is the person who mounted his 1.2m dish onto the SG2100 using plywood. His mount seemed much heavier than mine. I wonder why his moved so good and mine didn't.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=50401&highlight=plywood

 

[PopcornNMore]

Well last weeks project is now this weeks project. The 1.2m dish is once again back up and I will begin taking some measurements. I figured that I would rather have half the arc with great quality video rather than the entire arc with good to poor quality.

I switched the mount on the plywood the opposite way so that the elevation would need to be raised instead of lowered. This also cleared two bolt heads that were in the way before and dug into the back support ribs. It looks great!

The neighbors were looking out their bedroom window at me as I was installing the dish. They probably were thinking "Oh no, he isn't putting up that big antenna again".

I am going to try the counter weight Greg suggested to see if that helps. Thank you all for your suggestions.

 

[raydio]

If you want it to work as it was designed, then you will need to get the CM polar mount which should bolt right up to your 1.2 and use an 18" actuator. USALS motors will not work on a dish of this size and weight. Even the STAB 120 will not turn it correctly.

 

[Larry1]

The motor elevation may have something to do with the stresses put on the motor to turn the dish. I am at approx 45deg, and my Stabb HH90 turns my Winegard 1m dish with Invacom quad very smoothly. The Wingard is larger than some 1m dishs as it is 105cm wide and 114cm tall. I also had to add some metal to the mount, as I had a pole mount (like a big muffler clamp and not the type that wrapes around the pole like the small dishs have) and it would start to bend when snugged down. I put 2 U bolts to hold the clamp part in place and a long hardend bolt through the hole in the motor shaft to prevent the mount from twisting on the motor shaft. This firmed the mount up, but added extra weight for the motor to turn. My location is 44° 01' 42" N - 78° 23' 15" W, and to turn to StarTv Network on IA7 (129W) is about the maximum for the motor, but does so without a problem. Maybe over time the motor will give out, but so far it has worked great. I have got a new motor that I won here at Satelliteguys, but have not got it put up yet. It is a SaTracer 3 SW (SM3D22) and it is huge. It is rated for max. 140cm dish. You might want to try one of these motors if your SG2100 does not do the job for you.

 

[PopcornNMore]

No offense, but if I wanted it to work as designed and went out and bought the proper mount and pole it wouldn't be fun and wouldn't be a project.

I was able to get the 1.2m dish back onto the SG2100 motor drive and aligned the arc. I am able to sucessfully turn from PAS9 to ANIK F1 with no problems. I didn't want to go beyond ANIK F1 just yet, but will do so tomorrow. I may just add a dedicated dish for Galaxy 10R and I will be happy. The new dish works great!

Thank you Larry1, I will certainly look into The SaTraccer 3 SW.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Larry, the SaTracer 3 SW is rated to hold a maximum size of only 120cm.

http://sadoun.com/Sat/Products/SATCONTROL/SaTracer-3SW-SM3D22-Satcontrol-HH-diseqc-MOTOR.htm

 

[Larry1]

The booklet (and the outside of the box) has a couple of different specs from the web site. The differences are:
(differences from the web page you listed and the printed booklet and box)


Maximum antenna diameter --- 140 cm Aluminum

Maximum permissible wind speed for a 85-cm/140-cm dish --- 140 km/h/80 km/h (km per hour)



A few discrepancies on their web page are:

Maximum antenna diameter --- 120 cm Aluminum or 95 cm Steel

and then they say:

This motor will work with the following dishes amongst others
Fortec Star 120CM
Which is 18 Gauge Steel.

This dish is 17kg, which is over the ratings for the motor. Even the 1m Fortec dish is over at 13kg.

From the booklet:

Under normal circumstances, the motor works with any (offset) dish up to 85cm in diameter. If the dish is not too heavy (up to 12 kg), and is not exposed to hurricane winds or heavy snow, a bigger dish can be mounted as well. When mounting a bigger dish, make sure that it is not too heavy, that its parabolic surface is as close to the mast as possible, and that the dish rotates around the center-of-gravity point. If these conditions are met, the motor operation will be error-free with an aluminum dish as much as 140 cm in diameter.

---

So it looks like it will handle a large dish but just not sure of how large. The 12kg and that its parabolic surface is as close to the mast as possible, and that the dish rotates around the center-of-gravity point seem to be the key points to keep in mind.

 

[WyrTwister]

I am not down for the count yet.

What if I used this CM mount and attached it to the board as shown in the attached picture?

To me this seems heavier and would be even harder for the drive to turn, but maybe it needs the extra support. Another member used this mount on plywood with a 1.2m dish and he said his worked.

If the SG-2100 is advertised as supporting up to a 1.2m dish why doesn't it work? I would say this is false advertising.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank You,
Dave

My guess is it is both dish size and weight ?

Wyr

 

[PopcornNMore]

Thank you guys for providing this information. I will be sure to check out this new motor drive that can handle up to a 140cm dish.

 

[digiblur]

Thank you guys for providing this information. I will be sure to check out this new motor drive that can handle up to a 140cm dish.

I hope they designed this one better than the last model. Mine didn't last 3 months on a 90cm before I noticed problems with tracking the arc. Depending on the satellite position you'll have to pass the satellite up and then come back otherwise it won't stop at the right position.

 

[Likvid]

Thank you guys for providing this information. I will be sure to check out this new motor drive that can handle up to a 140cm dish.

Why don't you get a original Channel Master mount for that dish with 36v motor?

I have source with stock left if you want to buy one.