Problems setting up motorised Satellite a little help please.

[Sat Dude]

Hi guys forgive the long drawn out post but this is my first sat install.

I have a motorised dish setup that the motor packed up stopped moving west a few months ago I have not had time to have a look. So last week I thought I would get it sorted so I order a Superior Dark Motor and thought I would get a decent sat meter to help me and save dragging the TV outside.
So got myself a First Strike FS1.

Bear with me as I have never set up a satellite dish before I had it installed by a company a few years back. But saw a lot of threads on here so thought why not give it a go.

Okay the receiver is a tm600 Loaded with channel list and have been using usals with my long and lat 51500N and 0.000E in south east Post code al2 2 Hertfordshire. The dish is a 85 cm solid dish and the motor ***** Superior Dark Motor.

First thing is I'm a little confused with the manual that come with the Dark Motor It says in the back Elevation and declination angle table then I check my latitude which is 51 then says Elevation Angle 39 Declination 7.4 dish bracket 27.6

On the side of the motor mount it says Latitude on both sides so does the need to be 39 or what my original latitude is 51?
It is currently set at 39. And I have had to set the dish bracket to 20 to be able to get signal which is strange.

Okay removed the old stab motor fitted this and got it up on the bracket that was there from when the company had previously installed it I checked it and it is plum. Tighten it loosely and set to 0.
Started looking for thor and bbc got that messed about and tuned it a bit and now I get 28.2E,26E,23.8E,19.2,16E,10E,7E,4.8E, And 0.8 Thor but can not get any of the west sats. I tried moving to 30W Hispasat but no signal I then tried locking into Hispasat by moving the dish a bit got it locked then when moved back to thor or astra they have gone.
So it looks like I'm out somewhere can any give me a clue as to where I should be looking?

Had read though the guides on here and I see in Digis guide it said if only tracking one set or sats something may well be out.

 

[ramjet]

lock the motor onto latitude 51 for a start, then using usals move the motor to 0.8 west so the motor is in the correct place

set the dish to around 27 degrees and then adjust slightly until you get bbc world , then try 5e , 28e , 42e and also 15w and 30w, fine tuning as you go

 

[gasman]

I have the same motor and here is what i did.
Make sure your bang on 51 latitude and set dish to approx 27 then drive to thor 0.8w as suggested you should now peak your signal out by easing the motor left or right and once you have achieved the highest signal possible you should lock the motor in position.
Now is the time to peak the signal using the dish elevation by pulling and pushing the dish up or down to see what gives the best signal then tighten up.
Next drive to 28.2 E and again peak the signal using the elevation and then repeat on 30W.

 

[fruitball]

another thing to add is drive the motor to the furthist satellite east and glently flex dish up and down and see if the signal goes up and down. Then drive the motor to the furthist sat west and do the same and see what happens. Basically what you are doing is seeing if the dish is tracking the arc correctly.If you are receiving a higher signal when you flex the top of dish away from the Lnb means you need to adjust the motor elevation higher

I never trust the readouts on the side of motors because i never find them accurate enough, the advantage of having a meter is you can see for your self what the signal is and that is what you should follow.
1. dead vertical plumb pole
2. set elevation and all that on motor
3. make sure motor and dish are perfectly in line before you mount on pole
4. set your long and lat in to usals and then make motor go to your reference satellite.
5. adjust dish to get best signal.
6. nip up all bolts
7. drive to both ends of the arc and then flex the dish as i have said and ajdust accordingly
8. double check everything is lined up
9. check the skew on lnb for optimal signal. forwards or backwards , or slightly left or slightly right at your reference satellite because once set there then the motor will take care of the skew of the lnb when moving east to west.
10. have a cold beer and enjoy all the hd porn that is at your disposal!

 

[Rumpelstiltskin.]

Agree with all above except never adjust motor once set.

 

[kopernikus]

Just to help with your angle settings.
Usually the latitude of 51 deg north on the side of your dish bracket would equal to 90-51 or 39deg on the other side of your bracket. The dark motor spindle angle is (I think) 35 degrees, therefore the declination angle of 7.4 is deducted from this 35-7.4 = 27.6 degrees. This is the dish elevation. There are loads of tuts on setting up your dish and fine tuning the arc on DW ~ just browse the stickies and posts.

 

[Sat Dude]

Thanks for all the advice guys the weather has been pants today so not had a chance to get up and reset the motor to 51 and try again. Hopefully tomorrow it will be better and I can get back on it.