Setting up a motorised dish and I'm stuck!

[nochance61]

13 and 19 east mormally best for sport and movies. what you can get depends on what receiver you have and if any cams.

glad your getting there

 

[Devilfish]

My FTA (i.e. BBC1,2,ch4, etc) are really jumpy on Astra 28.8º. SNR is about 65% so needs to go higher. I really don't want to adjust it too much as I've got a few other sats ok.

 

[nochance61]

get your little beeper meter out and see which way the dish wants to go up or down.

check 19 and 13 east and 1 west, it may be they all want to go up or all want to go down, if so just very slightly alter the elevation accordingly. Mark the bracket first if you like.

 

[fezzy]

Hi Guys
Thought i would join the fun.
I,ve been messing with dishes for years, on and off . So have had loads of
probs like yours. Take the advice of the earlier postings and get shut of the
meter !! Get the telly out again, you will then see what you are doing , rather
than listening to beeps. I would not bother about the settings on the motor or
dish at the moment , as i have found when buying second hand rigs. You have
signals from 28 % east and thats a good start. Flick through the channels for
the best signal. Then move the motor via reciever to 19% east and do the
same again, and carry on till you get to 1% west, saving as you go. keep
doing it till you get main sats east bang on. Then you can start lookin to the
west. When you get to 1 west, drive the dish back to 28 east. Then look at
the motor angle to see what position its at, if it gone past 28 , move the whole
rig back and search with recievers fine tune till you get 28 again. Just keep
doing this and you will get there in the end , i know its messing about , but
you have to remember its a usrd rig , so it will have wear and tear.

The way i would go - 28e to 19e to 13e to to 1w, don,t forget to save the
settings via reciever every time you lock on to a sat.

fessy

 

[blacklisted]

i think nochance to wite up a detailed tut with the elp hess give at the moment

heyeey way to go m8

 

[fezzy]

Hi

The reason i say , set your east sats 1st , is that 1) You have saved to
memory. ( you can go back to them with a little tweak ) 2) When you
start to fish for 30 west and back to 28e , this will tell you if you are on
the arc correctly and also find any faults in the motor.. So to 28e - then
to 1w. Back to 28e , look on the motor to see if its 28%. If its says say
36% the whole rig needs coming back to the west maybe half inch. Then
drive to 1w. Then back to 28e. When you get it on 28% and its showing
on the motor, near as damn it, save it, but don,t forget to save every
time. Then try 19e.

fezzy

 

[Devilfish]

I'm still having problems getting 28.2e. I can get 1w, 13e & 19e perfect but nothing when I go to 28.2e. I think I may have fooked it up when I didn't really know what I was doing.

Plus my sat finder packed in on me and had to exchange it today! ​

Thanks, all this information and help is top dollar! :Cheers:​

 

[nochance61]

nothing on 28 east any way m8 lol

have a read of this tut it explains better than i can

 

[nochance61]

i like to use stab motors (normally the 100) but heres a pdf for for the 90 which points downwards like yours.

look at section 8, this will explain why you're of track (with pictures) and how to get back on, hopefully.

its also another installation guide
use usals if you can

 

[digidude]

thats a thought mentioning usals

you say the system came from 15 miles away, youre getting 1W-19E perfectly, the dreambox has a screen in the satellite setup where it states 'use goto x' and a tick box, this is the usals setup, if you havent changed this to your lat and lon (go to www.multimap.com put in your postcode then you want the figures in brackets) then it could be throwing the dish of slightly the further you travel along the arc

 

[fezzy]

It could be USALS !!
I think there is more too it. Think we may have missed something.
Back to basics - Get the telly out , and bit of advice , put that meter
away , as it won,t help here. Just a thought , send dish via reciever to
19e . Then tilt the dish up or down, and see if you get a stronger
signal. There seems to be more than meets the eye here. If signal is
stronger tighten dish and save channel, then try 28e. If i,m 53 % and
near leeds , you are 56% , where are you ?

fezzy

 

[Devilfish]

OK...I think I got it but I'm almost sure it's still not right, if you know what I mean.

I had been messing about the position of the motor at 28e and saving the position. So I sent the motor to 0º then selected BBC 1 on 28e. I loosened everything on the rig and adjusted it until I got a good picture then tightened everything up, bearing in mind that the motor might not have been at 28º at all. I then worked backwards going through the satellites, choosing a fta channel on each, using the left and right buttons in motor setup to manually move the motor until I got a picture and good signal on each satellite, then stored the position. I did this for everything between 28e and 1w and I get good picture on all these sats. Now I know it's not done right because when at 1w the motor is more like 5-10w but I get a good picture on each channel on each sat.

I'm going to go through the tuts and stuff that nochance has posted as I really want it to be setup properly and get the most out of it. But I'm fed up going up and down the ladder (and they're not mine, I've borrowed them and will have to give them back).

I've seen the 'go to x' check box but didn't know how I was supposed to use it. lol

The saga continues...

EDIT: Thanks nochance for those guides, they were excellent!

EDIT: So do you think I should start from scratch again and get the 0º correct, set the motor position again and try again? Or just leave it as is? I'm getting all the main sats east, not tried anything west yet but from what I've gathered, there's nothing really interesting west unless you're spanish!

 

[nochance61]

if i was you i think i would leave it as it is for the time being, you're getting what you want and as you say there's not much on the satellites west.

you've sort of got there hook or by crook, and to get 30 west you would have to start again. Most of the channels 30 west are on 19 east anyway and if you got a dreambox you should be clearing the main channels on astra and hotbird.

My main dish on the roof over the past year has only moved from 13 to 19 east, occasionally 42 east for a fta (biss) footie game.

Its your decision if u want to get the arc perfect

If you wanted to get it spot on it would be easier for you to get yourself a ground stand (temporary installation)and set the dish up on that in your garden till you got the hang of it. Thats what i do when i have a new motor, dish or lnbs to test out. Its just ease of access.

Anyway you're understanding how and why it all works now thats the main thing and you've done well for a first attempt.

 

[fezzy]

Hi

I would not bother moving the motor just yet ! If the sats are set and you get
strong signals , so far so good. It could be there is a little play in your motor,
and being on 28e etc , there will still be a little to play with. Go to 28e and
then all the way to 30w and back to 28e, if it hits 28e o\k , look on the motor
and see if its on the 28e mark, if not the motor want tweaking again. eg,
if its gone past a couple degs, move the move the whole rig west. If its stopped
befor the 28e mark, move the whole rig east.. Just keep tweaking. I think i
would leave it as it is for now and have another go in a couple of weeks or so.

fezzy

 

[Devilfish]

Thanks for your help throughout this thread nochance (and everyone else who offered help), you've stuck by me and it's greatly appreciated! Thanks!

There's too many built up houses and fences, etc. for it to be on the ground I think but maybe some time when I've got a few days on my hands I'll give it a go again.

:Cheers:

 

[fezzy]

All you need to do is repost , and i,ll try and help out , and i know rest of the
lads would say the same.

Good Luck!!!

fezzy