Calling Uncle = Please Help

[mickel1138]

Ok,

Installed the Dish, an 80cm Fortec with Quad Invacom LNB, DG240 motor.

Since I live right in 97 long, I made to motor go to G25, i didn't quite move ;-).

Anyway, I tried pointing it, move it slightly, put no luck.

All I was able to get useless DN at 110, and I use it as a reference, then go back to G25, and use the signal meter to peak it. Still nothing.

Also while moving, the signal meter spikes just before it gets to 110, also at 119, and when I try to correct it by moving the dish, I can't seem to get a decent signal.

I also wonder if I pointed the dish correctly, I set the motor as instructed, and set the dish mount to a little below 35. Motor is 63, arm is 35, dish at 30.4 (63-35=38+30.4=58.4) when I put the inclinometer on it, it doesn't read that way tho, probrably figuring it wrong. Anyway, G25 is at 179.7 and 57.7 for me. So maybe 1 degree to high.

Did I get everything right, does it just take more patience. Was pointing the thing for about 3 hours. And picked up some stuff that wasn't G25, got a signal on the meter, but no level.

Any hints?

Thanks,

Mickel

[William Eng]

Originally Posted by mickel1138

Ok,

Installed the Dish, an 80cm Fortec with Quad Invacom LNB, DG240 motor.

Since I live right in 97 long, I made to motor go to G25, i didn't quite move ;-).

Anyway, I tried pointing it, move it slightly, put no luck.

All I was able to get useless DN at 110, and I use it as a reference, then go back to G25, and use the signal meter to peak it. Still nothing.

Also while moving, the signal meter spikes just before it gets to 110, also at 119, and when I try to correct it by moving the dish, I can't seem to get a decent signal.

I also wonder if I pointed the dish correctly, I set the motor as instructed, and set the dish mount to a little below 35. Motor is 63, arm is 35, dish at 30.4 (63-35=38+30.4=58.4) when I put the inclinometer on it, it doesn't read that way tho, probrably figuring it wrong. Anyway, G25 is at 179.7 and 57.7 for me. So maybe 1 degree to high.

Did I get everything right, does it just take more patience. Was pointing the thing for about 3 hours. And picked up some stuff that wasn't G25, got a signal on the meter, but no level.

Any hints?

Thanks,

Mickel

It does take more patience the first time. It took me a week my first time!! Best thing to do is try to get your southernmost satellite first. Set the motor angle first and vary the dish angle. When you get a max peak, turn the whole thing slightly east/west to get a peak signal.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by mickel1138

Ok,

Installed the Dish, an 80cm Fortec with Quad Invacom LNB, DG240 motor.

Since I live right in 97 long, I made to motor go to G25, i didn't quite move ;-).

Anyway, I tried pointing it, move it slightly, put no luck.

All I was able to get useless DN at 110, and I use it as a reference, then go back to G25, and use the signal meter to peak it. Still nothing.

Also while moving, the signal meter spikes just before it gets to 110, also at 119, and when I try to correct it by moving the dish, I can't seem to get a decent signal.

I also wonder if I pointed the dish correctly, I set the motor as instructed, and set the dish mount to a little below 35. Motor is 63, arm is 35, dish at 30.4 (63-35=38+30.4=58.4) when I put the inclinometer on it, it doesn't read that way tho, probrably figuring it wrong. Anyway, G25 is at 179.7 and 57.7 for me. So maybe 1 degree to high.

Did I get everything right, does it just take more patience. Was pointing the thing for about 3 hours. And picked up some stuff that wasn't G25, got a signal on the meter, but no level.

Any hints?

Thanks,

Mickel

What is your latitude. I don't understand your calculations at all, ie where did the "30.4 (63-35=38+30.4=58.4)" come from????? Does this motor have an "elevation" scale or just a "latitude" scale? I can't remember, but if it has elevation and latitude, make sure that you are using the right one. Basically, the motor "latitude" setting should be about 0.6 degrees more than your latitude, and the motor "elevation" should be 0.6 degrees less than 90 minus your latitude. Your dish elevation should be 35 minus your declination (which you can calculate via http://wejones.ftdata.com/bjdishcalc2.htm ), which will give a dish elevation somewhere around 30, depending upon your latitude, however, as has been mentioned many dozens of times in this forum, the dish elevation scales on these Fortec dishes can be WAY OFF, perhaps +/- 5 degrees, depending upon which dish and which bracket you have. The inclinometer won't help much on the dish elevation, since there isn't any meaningful place to measure what you need to measure, although it can verify the motor elevation settings.

Also very important, you say you didn't have any luck finding G25, but you don't say how you're trying to find it, ie the LO settings in the receiver, and what transponder are you monitoring while searching, etc. As you have found out, using those little signal meters can be frustrating when trying to find a sat in between strong DBS satellites, so you'll probably need to take your receiver and/or TV out to the dish to use the receiver's meter.

[keebs]

i don't chime in very often but when i do it is usually about patience. it probably took me more than a week to align my motorized dish. I can just see it now, sweating your ass off outside wanting to mash this stuff with your truck!! ha ha ha!

[mickel1138]

I'm on 97.4 and 27.7, and when I calculate the angles to G25 for a statis setup, it says I need to look at 179.7 (south) and 57.7 elevation.

The DG240 has both elevation and latitude, each on one side. The coronsponding latitude (27) in elevation is 63, now the motor tube has a 35 degree declination. So now we are at 28 and the dish has to compensate the rest. In the book from the DG240 it say 35-declanation which is 4.5, so that's 30.5. So I set the dish at 30.5 inclination.
And 28 offset from the motor, + dish = 58.5, so i'm about 1 degree to high. Makes sense, because when I move it 110 and 119 for reference, I get a peak signal when passing (motor is moving), and then I can never peak it again. So I already figured my elevation is off.

Anyway, thanks for all your tips, I hope I don't have to spend a week on the roof aligning the dish, it's going to be tough finding G25.

Using a Fortec Classing NA, I have set me LO for 10750, and 22khz to auto. It seems to work on the echo sat's, have not yet found a anything lo-band. I looked at several TP's but mostly TP21 @ 12084. Since that's what I would like to see.

I'm going up on the roof again in a few minutes, the TV and receiver at in the window right next to the roof where the dish is, so wish me luck.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by mickel1138

I'm on 97.4 and 27.7, and when I calculate the angles to G25 for a statis setup, it says I need to look at 179.7 (south) and 57.7 elevation.

The DG240 has both elevation and latitude, each on one side. The coronsponding latitude (27) in elevation is 63, now the motor tube has a 35 degree declination. So now we are at 28 and the dish has to compensate the rest. In the book from the DG240 it say 35-declanation which is 4.5, so that's 30.5. So I set the dish at 30.5 inclination.
And 28 offset from the motor, + dish = 58.5, so i'm about 1 degree to high. Makes sense, because when I move it 110 and 119 for reference, I get a peak signal when passing (motor is moving), and then I can never peak it again. So I already figured my elevation is off.

OK, I see what you're doing, you're calculating "OK", although you made a few roundoff approximations. Using your latitude of 27.7, that would equate to an elevation of 62.3 using your method, not 63, which is most of your 1 degree error right there, plus you're using a rounded off declination. Ie the declination of a south sat (which you should not use) is 4.6, not 4.5, so if you used the right angles in your method, you'd get 62.3-4.6=57.7, ie just what you're looking for.
However, I'd really recommend using a motor latitude setting of 28.3 (ie equates to 61.7 on elevation scale). I'd also recommend using a declination of 4.0 instead of the 4.5 or 4.6. Basically your motor elevation will be 0.6 degrees lower, but you'll be making up for that by using 0.6 deg less declination. This will allow you to track across the arc. You cannot track perfectly across the arc using the declination settings found on the Sadoun web page, and/or tables found in most motor manuals, etc.

Originally Posted by mickel1138

...
Using a Fortec Classing NA, I have set me LO for 10750, and 22khz to auto. It seems to work on the echo sat's, have not yet found a anything lo-band. I looked at several TP's but mostly TP21 @ 12084. Since that's what I would like to see.
...

That 10750 should be right for the linear ports on the Invacom QPH031 (use 11250 when using the circular ports). You shouldn't need 22KHz for anything, unless you're using a 22khz switch. I assume you're using a standard lnbf type, not universal?
Also, make sure that the SR value on that 12084 transponder is correct. Lyngsat says that it is 22000 right now. Some of those SR values change from time to time, and the default values in the receiver may be off.

[mickel1138]

Thanks, that should help a little.

I was able to get 110 at about 98%, then moved it to 119 and got about 70% signal. So it seemed the track was "ok" for those. Then I moved back to G25 (IA5) and was only able to get a max signal of 33% and NO lock.

Just for fun I put an amplier on, that I got "just in case" but didn't help anything.

The sun is right on top above me, and the roof is getting hot, so i'm taking a break. For now, i'm trying to see if I can get some professional help.

Both for me and the dish.

I'm not giving up just yet, I hope i'm not making it to the week mark.

I'll try and fiddle with the motor a bit, I noticed my pole move a bit of plumb, and was at 91 degrees, and I adjusted it back to 90. But it's hard to get it right since I already put the support arms on.

Keeping you up to date.

[mickel1138]

Forgot to mention,

Yes I have a 22khz switch in these, put even bypassing it doesn't help me. And the only options I have LO freqs, uni and Single S. And that is set to 10750, it switches to 11250 when it's looked at echo sat's. 22khz set to auto,

I'm going to try and change the elevation on the motor and see what happens.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by mickel1138

Forgot to mention,

Yes I have a 22khz switch in these, put even bypassing it doesn't help me. And the only options I have LO freqs, uni and Single S. And that is set to 10750, it switches to 11250 when it's looked at echo sat's. 22khz set to auto,

I'm going to try and change the elevation on the motor and see what happens.

I'm a little confused about how you're using the 22khz switch. If you're using it to choose between linear and circular, then it isn't right to put 22khz in as "auto" as you say above. I'm not exactly sure what that would do. I think the auto setting is only used when you're using a universal lnbf, but I might be wrong. If your switch is selecting between linear and circular, you would want to have it set to either on or off, depending on which port you were trying to access, but with auto, I don't know which port you'd be accessing. Same thing if you're using that switch to select some other dish. The receiver doesn't know what you want to do here, so it can't be auto. The only time it can be automatic is switching a universal lnbf which it can figure out by the freq it's trying to hit.
Since you seem to be hitting the Echo sats, I'm guessing that you have the circular port connected to the "off" port of the switch, and you're never selecting the linear port that you'd want to be using for G25.

[mickel1138]

Well that's what I get for having confidence in the 'Auto'!

Again messing around with it, and switched the 22khz to ON, and behold, SIGNAL!

The Auto seemed to work for Circular stuff, I think it may have been OFF the whole time.

Anyway, yes, it's used to switch between Linear and Circular.

I now have signal, and am tracking pretty good on the belt, got at least the channels I wanted, and anything else i'm getting is a bonus.

Running down the sats now, and got at least 40% on most, and lock on almost all transponder. I'd have to tune it some more still.

As always it's gotta be something simple, but at least I got something now. As soon as I tune in IA5 some more, i'd be good to go.

Fun fact, Linear is on LBA-A port, Circ. on LBA-B port. I would expect 22khz off means port A, if I swapped to ports, I would not have any issues most likely.

Thanks!