Installing a motorised Dish set up

[baz]

Ive taken the plunge and spent $600 on a motorised set up. I have:

2.3m dish C Band Wire Mesh
LNB
Decoder Box
Actuator box
positioner for satellite
polar mount
coax cable
power cable for positioner

Now I have only ever installed one fixed mount dish at my house with help, so im pretty new to this.

I am going to use to find out which direction to point the dish (true north obviously).

Any tips for a newbie out there? I dont have any cards, will just be picking up FTA channels.

[xray2]

Tip no.1 just keep persevering. Very difficult the very first time as the cheap sat finders are useless in this situation.

Tip No.2 Need to remember to add the declination in Sth pole whereas you subtract in North pole and and most instruction tell you to subtract forgetting to mention which pole you're in. Took me a while to work this one out. Eg in Mel lat is approx 37 degree, and declination is 5 degrees, therefore need to set angle to 43 degrees or thereabouts not 32 etc.

Tip no. 3 Compasses are useless as it does point to true north. Of course you can approximate but if you stand near the metal upright pole where you want to determine North, your compass will be further out. What I did was work out the precise time the sun will be in due north and mark the shadow the sun makes for record, also take note of a marker you can aim at that is stationary directly below the sun at the time of due north.

Tip No4. Invest in a magnetic angle finder. I tried making my own for fun but for accuracy I ended up investing in one. I saw a reasonable unit at Bunnings recently for about $30.

Tip No 5. Good Luck

[baz]

Thanks. Sorry I have another noob question. How do I know what angle to point the dish at. I know the direction to point it at, but the angle?

[Zero Alpha]

baz the best tutorial I have seen for noobs is the one made by adp81 originally posted on vetrun. However you can find reference to in on this site and plenty of other resources already posted on motorised c-band installation. I don't want to sound like im breaking forum rules by saying "hit the search button" but if you look for that tutorial it will give you everthing you need to know in one go. Motorised C-band is very easy to do, all you need to do is comprehend the fine details. I install these systems professionally and it literally takes me 10 minutes to find the whole arc. With that said my tools cost me a lot of money. You will need to spend only $50 dollars on necessary tools and it will probably take you a whole day

[xray2]

Not easy the first time, especially with amateur tools. Took me days the first time as I didn't quite understand declination angles, and I was trying to do it with cheap sat finder.
By the way I forgot to mention previously to ensure the mounting pole s dead plumb!!!!
Angle is pretty easy, need to know your latitude for where you are and declination. Plenty of website of will tell you this. A GPS is also useful.
Try
and
Just remember add declination angle to latitiude angle in sth hemisphere and subtract in nth hemisphere

[baz]

Thanks, I had a look at the vetrun forums and found them useful. Will find that tutorial on the w/e.

When you mention 'amateur tools' what kind of tools do you mean by this? I was just planning on using a compass and a small tv outside along with trial and error?

[mtv]

When you mention 'amateur tools' what kind of tools do you mean by this? I was just planning on using a compass and a small tv outside along with trial and error?

You'll need some kind of satellite finder/meter, as a satellite receiver and TV won't help much, as you will need to have the satellites tuned in the receiver first, which is a bit difficult to do if you haven't found them yet.

Amateur tools would mean basic cheap satellite finders/meters etc.

Professional meters make dish alignment quick and accurate, but are very expensive, especially real-time spectrum analysers.

Trial & error is certainly what you'll have. It will take a while for you to get it right, but it's a great feeling when you do, so have patience and make all adjustments in small increments and give your meter/receiver a few seconds after each adjustment to 'update'

[baz]

Can't I use my decoder box which already has 1 satellite (asiasat3) tuned in to find the channels? As that is how we did it when we installed our fixed dish.

Or will that not work since I am trying to get all the satellites?

[Zero Alpha]

Thanks, I had a look at the vetrun forums and found them useful. Will find that tutorial on the w/e.

When you mention 'amateur tools' what kind of tools do you mean by this? I was just planning on using a compass and a small tv outside along with trial and error?

Amatuer Tools: Compass, Signal Meter and Angle guage.

If you place your TV in a position viewable from the dish you will be able to get away with the satellite meter inbuilt with the receiver otherwise purchase the $20 meter of ebay. You will also need to accurately measure your elevation angles. Have a look in your local hardware for tools or get the $10 satellite angle tool off ebay. I think you said you have a compass. If you have a nasty chinese one, then you may need to learn the solar compass method (ie the sun) on assisting your compass.

Have fun and good luck.

[Zero Alpha]

Can't I use my decoder box which already has 1 satellite (asiasat3) tuned in to find the channels? As that is how we did it when we installed our fixed dish.

Or will that not work since I am trying to get all the satellites?

Yes. Most receivers already have a database of the satellites from factory. You will need to program or update all the new satellies in along with the transponder frequencies (lyngsat).

[baz]

Sorry for all the questions. I was told that the dish needs to be initially pointing true north. Wouldn't the actuator and positioner know the positions of the satellites, when the dish is pointing true north? Or do I need to program the position of each satellite manually into the actuator/positioner?

Ive got a good compass so that should be ok.

[mtv]

Yes, you must set the dish to true north and set the elevation and declination for your location, so that when the dish moves, it follows the arc of the Clarke Belt (which is where the satellites are 'parked').

This is the critical part, because if it's not done accurately, the dish will not track the arc correctly.

The actuator/positioner will not automatically find the satellites until you have programmed the positioner. To do this, you move the actuator via controls on the positioner until you find the particular satellite you require, then save that position in memory. Then once you have tuned the receiver to the transponders/channels from that satellite and saved them, the next time you select one of those channels, the positioner will automatically adjust the actuator to aim the dish to the corresponding satellite.

[Dishtrackted]

I have used these 2 sites
For reference.
Have a good look through Vetrun they have some good links.
I spent all week researching
I have spent 4 hours today and I have a signal of 24%
Will be back up on the roof tommorow
My main problem is Dish is offset and the bracket holding it has 2 pivot points.
So you move one and change the angle of the offset.
Is there a way around this?
I set my declination angle after serious stuffing around and then worked out it is either offset by 20 or 26 degrees.

Does any one know what a 85 cm Austar dish is offset by?
Do you need to go exactly true north or angle 6 degrees east of it to compensate for curvature of the earth?
I went by the sun at 12 noon to get true north.
My wife has a broken leg so she cant run out and say more less or stop either.

[mtv]

Dishtrackted,

What you are doing is different to what baz is doing. He's motorising a C-band dish and you are using an horrizon-horizon Ku motor.

Although the alignment principle is the same.

You must align your motor/dish to true north. The Clarke Belt arc compensates for the curvature of the earth. At true north, the dish is at it's highest point on the arc. As it rotates either east or west of that point, it also reduces the elevation angle and adjusts the skew.

Using an offset Ku dish works fine.

From memory, a typical offset dish is offset by around 20 - 25 degrees. The scale on the dish will indicate the actual 'view' angle, taking the offset into account, so just set the elevation of the dish for the correct latitude for your location.

The offset value should not change when the dish is moved, because it's the LNB support arm and holder angle which is fixed. eg: it all moves together with the dish.

As per the guides, find C1 and adjust your dish elevation for the best signal.

Don't get bogged down in numbers too much. It's much easier to sweep and and make fine adjustments whilst watching the meter.

[mtv]

I went by the sun at 12 noon to get true north.

As long as you did it at 12 noon after daylight saving ended, or you'll be significantly out of alignment.

[xray2]

Baz, basically if you accurately point due North and set latitute and declination angle correctly. Everything is will fall into place as it will track the Clarke Belt perfectly. However this is easier said than done. By the way the cheap sat finders won't work with C band. I tried all sorts of different ways to use it> Basically it can't be used. Invest in an inclimonitor (Ithik thats what it's called to measure the correct angle of the dish.

[Dishtrackted]

There is a print out make your own inclinator in the stuff I posted earlier.
Print it out glue onto card board and use a string with a weight.

[Dishtrackted]

Dishtrackted,.

From memory, a typical offset dish is offset by around 20 - 25 degrees. The scale on the dish will indicate the actual 'view' angle, taking the offset into account, so just set the elevation of the dish for the correct latitude for your location.



Don't get bogged down in numbers too much. It's much easier to sweep and and make fine adjustments whilst watching the meter.

There are no numbers on the scale. I was putting my home made inclinator on the back of the dish bracket to try and work out the angle.I was then told that this bracket doesnt take into account that the dish is offset.
I also have no meter just going up and down the ladder as the wife has a broken leg.
Will try a little more today and buy a cheap meter on Ebay.

[xray2]

If your're trying to motorise a KU band using Motek or similar; this is different to the C Band installation and simpler as the the cheap sat finders work well here.

[osci]

Ive taken the plunge and spent $600 on a motorised set up. I have:

2.3m dish C Band Wire Mesh
LNB
Decoder Box
Actuator box
positioner for satellite
polar mount
coax cable
power cable for positioner

Now I have only ever installed one fixed mount dish at my house with help, so im pretty new to this.

I am going to use to find out which direction to point the dish (true north obviously).

Any tips for a newbie out there? I dont have any cards, will just be picking up FTA channels.

baz.....are mounting the dish on roof or pole in the ground?
either one make deadly certain you pole is absolutlely vertical!!! thsi is particular so for the pole in the ground....