Pics of install

[flyfish]

I need to get a thicker mast. When the wind blows the dish bounces a little. Also, is the mast plumb enough?


From the dish to my neighbor's two story house is approx. 70-90 ft. My dish is sitting up 7 ft off ground. The height on the houses in the background is approx 25-30 ft to the top of the roof. Could I still get a signal if I lowered the dish 1 foot?

[rainman]

my self personaly would try to center the bubble. helps on the lower sats.

[Sadoun]

It looks off. It is better to center the bubble.

Also, if there are no obstructions facing the dish (we can't see it from the pictures), try to lower the motor on the mast to about 12" from the top of the Tripod.

If the reason you reaised that high is to keep it away from pets,kids, or obstructions, then I can understand.

[flyfish]

I'll take some more pics tonight and y'all can tell me what you think. It took me 4 hours to find that signal and now I'm somewhat terrified of moving the dish down. From where my sat is mounted there is a two story house. I have my dish pointing at 173.0 and it is pointed between two houses. That is at zero on the motor. IA5 is at 97 and my lat is 98.5. Once I move to that sat and then go to reference everything is at O but once I exit the dish goes back to IA5. Is there any remedy for this or should I adjust my dish before I exit from the positioner mode?

[Sadoun]

If you only have one satellite scanned, the dish will always move to tat satellite when you exit the menu.

If you can track the ARC and you are getting signal from other satellites, then there is no need to move anything.

[wejones]

Re centering the bubble... the pictures seem to only show it tilted slightly to the south... ie the tilt east/west isn't shown. If it's only tilting to the south, but is plumb east/west, then you can make up for that tilt by adding that amount of tilt to your latitude adjustment on the motor mount. Of course, it might be a bit tricky figuring out how much to add (I think I'd find a way to attach the level on the dish side of the mount, with the bubble in the same position, then adjust the motor mount to center the bubble).
However that pole seems flimsy enough that it might be easier to just bend the pole till it's plumb. Of course, it's not stictly necessary for the pole to be plumb, but it sure makes things easier.

[flyfish]

Rainman, Sadoun, and Wejones, I can't thank y'all enough for the help. I'm expecting a consulting bill anyday!!!!!! I went ahead and bent the mast just a hair and the north and south became perfectly plumb. The west and east are perfectly centered, I just forgot to add pictures of those directions. I'll have them tomorrow. I think I'm going to get rid of the mast that came with the tripod and go to Home Depot and buy a solid galv. 2 inch mast to stick in the tripod. It seems to bounce around a little when it gets windy and that's just about everyday down here!!

Is there anything that I can add or upgrade now to my system? I'm ready to buy some more stuff now. Natalie was also a big help too, Sadoun.

[Sadoun]

flyfish,

Glad to hear you've got it under control. I know small adjustments go a long way. The mode solid the mast the better.

Enjoy your hobby.

[Sadoun]

I see you have added new pictures. It looks like you have a clear Southern sky and no problem with the houses back there. Remember that with an offset dish, the angle of the satellite signal is higher than you would expect.

BTW, I like your garden. It looks like you have some tomatos and other vegetables. That is fantastic.

I have a small garden in my backyard with some tomatos, jalapeno, parcely, mint, herbs, and cocumber. Last summer we didn't buy a single tomato from the grocery store.

[rainman]

yeah and garden fresh tomatos taste better than store bought anyway. don,t have a garden my self but mom has one and it's walking distance.LOL

[wejones]

We can't plant a garden up here. :-( Anything worth eating, either the deer or squirrels get to before we do. The deer ate EVERYTHING in our garden except for the zuchinni (?sp?), and I think that was only because it grew faster than they could eat. We finally moved our tomatoes onto our deck in pots, but the squirrels ate them. Tried strawberries, but the chipmunks ate them. The deer even eat our flowers. I enjoy living in the woods, and enjoy seeing the deer and squirrels, but I wish they would leave me something to eat. I'm going to have to take up hunting I guess.

[flyfish]

I know what you're talking about, wejones. A friend of mine lives out in the hill country and the deer continuously shred his garden. Take some chili peppers, let them dry out and put them in the blender then sprinkle that powder onto the plants.

I have full sun down here so everything grows pretty good. I've already harvested about 6 bushels of green beans so far and have about 200 green tomatoes on the vine.

[N4ST]

Originally Posted by flyfish

From the dish to my neighbor's two story house is approx. 70-90 ft. My dish is sitting up 7 ft off ground. The height on the houses in the background is approx 25-30 ft to the top of the roof. Could I still get a signal if I lowered the dish 1 foot?

Taking your worst case estimates of the house being 70-ft away and 30-ft high would result in an elevation angle of 23.2 degrees for the bottom of the dish at ground level or 19.3 degrees for the bottom of the dish 5.5-ft off the ground (~centered at 7-ft). Don't know your location lat (you said your lat in a post, but you actually gave your longitude) or could have figured it out, but is the satellite elevation angle greater than 23 degrees in the direction of your neighbor's house? If it is, you can mount the dish as low as you want, at least for reception purposes.