How close to level?

[revx]

so... things aren't going exactly perfect putting my new setup up. I have the base of the mount installed and hitting a stud; but the fibreglass siding is flexing quite a bit holding the arms (i thought there was ply behind it). This is with a 90cm dish & sg2100. I tried to compensate for the flex by ajusting it a bit so when it did flex, it would go into plumb; but when i got the dish up (w/out lnb - the QPH-031) it still flexed to much. it's pefectly level one way but a touch out the other way... the way the weight of the dish pulls it away from the wall. it's just a touch out; looking at the 9" magnetic level the ball is still inside the lines, just off to one side a bit. is this worth tearing it down and moving to another location. this is not much fun in the texas heat. heat index shows 106 right now. should i give it a shot??? options and opinions please... (i thought about using a washer as a spacer to get the sg2100 mount to level??)
thx!
revx

[rainman]

the problem will be if the mount is flexing when using the motor it may move out of alignment. I would shoot for a more solid mount position.can you lay a board across the siding to tie into the studs then mount to the board should be solid then.

[revx]

Originally Posted by rainman

the problem will be if the mount is flexing when using the motor it may move out of alignment. I would shoot for a more solid mount position.can you lay a board across the siding to tie into the studs then mount to the board should be solid then.

yea, that's what i was thinking... i pulled it down and will re-evaluate locations tomorrow. i want to mount in on brick; but it's further east and i'm concerned aobut line-of-site past my neighbors house. got to get the inclinemeter out.

thanks for your advice.
revx

[radiobob]

As someone once explained to me...you're aiming at something the size of an SUV some 22,000 miles away, so if you're off just a little-bitty bit, you're outta luck. So, if you're off plumb, you may be okay for a couple of satellites, but you'll be messed up for the rest.

I can dig the "fun" of working in the heat; you want to get the installation done, and you've come this far, but still...you're losing 55 gallon drums of sweat, and your brain is just about fried. I spent days (lots of 'em over the period of a couple of months) messing with the durn thing. I'm not sure if I suffered permanent brain damage, but then again, how would you tell?

Nonetheless, hang in...and go ahead and bite the bullet and get your mount as close to plumb as is humanly possible. It'll pay dividends!

Lotsa luck,
Bob

[wejones]

Originally Posted by radiobob

As someone once explained to me...you're aiming at something the size of an SUV some 22,000 miles away, so if you're off just a little-bitty bit, you're outta luck. So, if you're off plumb, you may be okay for a couple of satellites, but you'll be messed up for the rest.

I know I've said this before, but the most important thing is that your pole is rigid, and doesn't flex, as Rainman said. Getting the pole PLUMB is important with respect to making things easier for you, but doesn't make it impossible to obtain perfect tracking. Years ago, one TVRO installer supposedly perfectly aligned a polar mount that was on a pole sloping something like 45 degrees, just to illustrate that you didn't need a plumb pole. When I read this, I didn't beleive it, and actually made myself a wooden model of a dish/mount, that I would sit in my recliner and manipulate. I ended up proving to myself that this was true, Ie you can get absolutely perfect tracking with a pole that isn't plumb. Actually, with these little dish motors, I think it would be easier with DiseqC1.2 than with USALS though, because with a tilted pole, your motor will end up tilted, and the "zero" position won't be at your south sat. USALS pretty much assumes that the zero is your south sat, so you'd have to lie to it with respect to both your longitude AND with respect to the longitude of the sats, to get it to work. However with DiseqC1.2, the positions of the sats would just be stored where you find them, so there shouldn't be a problem. {Saying this part from theory, as I haven't tried it, but I'm tempted to give it a try some day. )
So a plumb pole is highly advised, but isn't an absolute necessity, and my first dish actually had a pole adapter at the top that allowed you to adjust the plumbness of a sloping pole. HOWEVER, a pole that is rigid IS a necessity. THere is no way to compensate for a pole that moves as the dish moves.

Originally Posted by radiobob

I can dig the "fun" of working in the heat; .....

I hate the heat, which is why we moved to Maine, however until this week it seems like the hot humid weather followed us up here. However the last week or so, it's been really cool up here. It's been going down into the 40s at night.
Got down to 45 last night. It has now warmed up to 60. My crazy wife just left to go out water skiing with some neighbors. {She's just the observer.}

[elgemcdlf]

Just a broken record here. As Bill states a perfectly plumb pole is not a required but will ease your installation a great deal. You will also find all advice here is based on a plumb pole. Solid is an absolute. Without your mast being rigid you have nothing. It will move an unspecified amount with no consistancy so setup will be virtually impossible.

By the way Bill, Tree Dish, Log Dish what's next? Stump or Branch

[revx]

First, I'd like to say thanks for all the positive feedback and encouragement. I was really feeling dumb for trying to mount my dish on ‘bouncy’ siding. So, after not working on this project for most of Saturday and thinking things through, I believe I’ve found a new place to mount the dish on a solid brick exterior wall. I just wanted to verify a couple things….

I found this site – Make your own Inclinometer – on another thread (or maybe even a different forum) and made myself one. I then used the “SatFinder” program to generate this information for my exact LAT & LON (verified w/ GPS).

*** My East, West, & True South Satellites:
Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m) El Skew
-------------------------------------------------------------
EchoStar 3 61.5W 127.7 122.7 36.1 -41.5
Telstar 5 97.0W 180.5 175.5 51.5 0.4
EchoStar 2 148.0W 246.3 241.3 23.6 50.1

I then took the Inclinometer and verified that I could see over the neighbors’ house at 36.1˚ to my left & 23.6˚ to my right; looking south from the spot I wanted to mount the dish. I want to verify that this is the correct process before I go drilling holes in my bricks. I also wanted to verify that the anchors that I referenced in this thread will indeed work in brick.

Thanks in advance!
reVx

[elgemcdlf]

Originally Posted by revx

First, I'd like to say thanks for all the positive feedback and encouragement. I was really feeling dumb for trying to mount my dish on ‘bouncy’ siding. So, after not working on this project for most of Saturday and thinking things through, I believe I’ve found a new place to mount the dish on a solid brick exterior wall. I just wanted to verify a couple things….

I found this site – Make your own Inclinometer – on another thread (or maybe even a different forum) and made myself one. I then used the “SatFinder” program to generate this information for my exact LAT & LON (verified w/ GPS).

*** My East, West, & True South Satellites:
Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m) El Skew
-------------------------------------------------------------
EchoStar 3 61.5W 127.7 122.7 36.1 -41.5
Telstar 5 97.0W 180.5 175.5 51.5 0.4
EchoStar 2 148.0W 246.3 241.3 23.6 50.1

I then took the Inclinometer and verified that I could see over the neighbors’ house at 36.1˚ to my left & 23.6˚ to my right; looking south from the spot I wanted to mount the dish. I want to verify that this is the correct process before I go drilling holes in my bricks. I also wanted to verify that the anchors that I referenced in this thread will indeed work in brick.

Thanks in advance!
reVx

Just a quick note here before you go drilling holes into your pretty brick exterior. Be certain your dish will move once you have it in place on the wall. Why not simply sink a pole in the yard? Would make life a whole lot simpler.

[rainman]

I agree with Steve mounting the dish on a pole would be alot simpler.plus you don't have to worry about holes in your house.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by revx

I just wanted to verify a couple things….

I found this site – Make your own Inclinometer – on another thread (or maybe even a different forum) and made myself one. ....

That's a neat design for the inclinometer. I've seen the string/protractor thing before, but not with the sighting tube.
I use a regular hardware store inclinometer for most things. I also have one of those surveying transit things, ie telescope with az/el angle measurements, but it is too much work to get it set up and leveled. I also have a combination compass/inclinometer, which has a mirror to allow you to see the inclinometer while sighting, but it's not very easy to read. THere is a gadget made just for sat that does this, but it's real expensive. So I usually just try to use the hardware store thing, and sight over the edge, and then try to keep the thing stable while moving around the side to read the angle, which isn't very accurate.

With the above, once you've sighted the angle, you could put your finger on the string to lock it in place so you can accurately read the angle. Nice idea.

However, I thought of another very accurate way of doing it. I have a telescope/spotting scope on a tripod. I could just aim the telescope, lock it down, then put a regular hardwars store inclinometer on the top of the telescope. Actually, my old telescope, which was astronomical already had the elevation scale, but I would have had to level that before using it, plus it weighed 100 lbs or something with it's cast iron mount.

But I like the simplicity of the above.

[revx]

Originally Posted by elgemcdlf

Just a quick note here before you go drilling holes into your pretty brick exterior. Be certain your dish will move once you have it in place on the wall. Why not simply sink a pole in the yard? Would make life a whole lot simpler.

If I'm using the Universal mount that came with the dish, and I'm mounting it on a wall with enought clearance over it (ie it won't hit the fascia boards) what else would I need to do to guarantee that it would move? The south wall of my house faces almost perfectly south, so there wouldn't be any angle on it...

As far as the pole goes, my backyard it a little to small and very much taken over by three young children and two large dogs. I don't think a pole would be feasible... I also have doubts about the WAF (wife acceptance factor) of a pole mount. Besides that I've already run the cable to the south wall; through the attic and down into the "wire closet". I want this to be fairly permanent and look professional when done.

[rainman]

as long as the dish won't hit the wall on it's east to west travel you should be good to go.