Arc problem with SG2100

[Vorg]

I did a lot of reading and found a thread on this board that had some useful information. Thought I had it worked out and after 5 hours on the roof last night, I understand less then wen I started

Bought from ebay, package deal:
Winegard 76cm dish (think it's a real winegard. instruction sheet identical to pdf on winegard site cept all print is black while pdf has some blue. Dish does NOT say winegard on it like in the adds on assorted websites).

DMS International SG-2100 Motor

Invacom QPH-031

Using a Neusat SP6000 with a small color monitor for alignment. Using Nexus card with Linux VDR for primary system.

Location is: North Latitude 32.231626 West Longitude 110.891173

With my first try I was getting 82w to 123w. With tweaking I got as far over as 72w but lost 123. Part of my problem was the clamp system usedon the rotor didn't work on the supplied pipe. The straight section was too short puting one clamp in the bend and the other at the top edge. resulting in motor trying to flip forward from lower clamp and upper clamp crushing the pipe getting it tight enough to hold it back. Made a new pipe from fence post to get enough straight area as well as get a stronger pipe. I posted a reply elsewhere here about that.

I thought maybe I was also having a signal strength problem preventing me from getting the edge sats when trying to align for them. The flange on the dish was slightly bent for about 4" when I got it. THe foam was damaged as if maybe it had been droped in shipping. I put the dish on the floor and moved it around the room and found no signs of warpage. Other sites had posted that there should be 17.5" from bottom edge of dish to lnb. With holder all the way down its adjustment and lnb all the way forward I could get that just to the bottom edge of the lnb, not the center. Then others said that focal point was to the center of the 4 mounting bolts which was even worse. So I emailed Winegard and got the focal point specs. turns out the 1m dish mesures to the dish center. The 76cm is 17.564" to bottom face edge and 30.534" to the top face edge. I made a cardboard pattern to within about a 1/16" and adjusted the bend in the arm moving the LNB forward about an inch so that now with holder all the way down and lnb all the way forward the focal point is about 1/8" behind the plastic face and centered.

With the new pole up, I spent about 15 minutes using 2 different angle finders making sure the pole was vertical. I then spent another good 15 minutes with the motor mounted adjusting the elevation so that the bent part of the shaft was at 62 degrees (32 plus the 30 bend). I had to used the angled down section because there wasn't enough straight shaft above the bend to get a good reading.

Using USALs I sent the motor to the 110 postion for aligning true south because 111.1 dosn't seem to have any TP's a standard STB/DVB will reconize as a signal. WIth 110 aligned I could get 91 to 129 both CP and LP sats. Nothing for 82. markings on dish showed about 24 degrees which as correcet. By lifting I could get 79 and 129 IA7 got stronger. I checked Az, but any adjustment ether direction only made the signal weaker for ether side of 110. I spent a long time trying to adjust az abd dish elevation. figured the motor should have been right using angle finders to set it. But I finaly gave in and started on motor elevation.
According to information posted in another thread, stronger signal when lifting ment the motor was too low. So I raised it a degree and started getting 79. But after repeaking on 110 with dish elevation, I lost 79. After 3 tries of 1 degree steps, each time lossing 79 after repeaking and needing the same amount to get it back, I adjusted motor elevation while on 79. Went back to 110 and found it was gone again. Now with angle finder motor shaft after 30 degree bend is at 54. A straight edge on the dish from top to bottom edge and angle finder says its ether 65 or 35 depending on which way you view it. From the way I read the post, lifting the motor should have made 79 stronger and repeaking at 110 should have had little effect. But when the dish is at an edge sat, dish elevation as a farily big impact on AZ adjustment for those sats.

Oh, and I never was able to get 82. I'm fairly sure I have the 4x1 switch set to use the CP part of the LNB for that sat, but will have to double check. I know I was able to lock it the first time I was aligning the dish. So unless they went more spot beam for Canada...

[boroda1]

How about the sats, closer to your true south, like SatMex at 116.8 or the one at 103 with Pantagon Channel?
I would try to aim at them first before going to 79W sat.
Another thing is that signal from 110 has a kind of wide beam, and this is why you want to try use neighboring satellites for better alignment.
I would aim at 110 first then move to 103 and adjust

[Vorg]

Forgot to mention I used 105 to fine tune AZ and eleavtion after setting to 110. I use the CP sats to get close because they are so easy to hit.

Somthing else I noticed, While I had a signal I did try moving the lnb back in it's adjustment to see what effect it had and I saw no chang in ether SS or SQ. Didn't try moving the LNB bracket. was more concerned with just trying to get the sats first.

[elgemcdlf]

I would start by backing way off. If you are unable to get a secure mount on your present mast you need to replace the mast with one that will provide you with a stable mount. Next on the list is pushing up and pulling down on the dish. If you get opposite results for the opposite sides of the arc you are not centered on south properly and need to rotate the entire assembly in the direction that provided a stronger signal when pushing up.

Repeat this process until both pushing up and pulling down produces a drop in signal. You are now centered properly. NOW check the ends of your arc or at least as far out as you can receive. Is this reasonable for your location? Figure out if you are short or long when hitting the ends. If short your dish elevation is to high and needs to be lowered. To compensate for this (assuming you did peak center with only dish elevation after finding true center) You need to move the motor in the opposite direction as the dish at this stage.

Your arc will either grow in length or shrink based on your actions. Adjust accordingly.

[Vorg]

Mount already taken care of. As stated above I made a new poll out of fence post. Stronger and longer to provide a proper mounting area before this second attempt. It also put the dish up a little higher. I had noticed that at near the end of travel the dish was starting to hit the mount base. This was past any of the sats I was trying to hit, so was not a factor.

Also, I may have found the problem with getting the arc. I was looking at the PDF posted in the add on the Sadoun site for the new motor that has a built in switch. It states the motor is too high when you need to lift the dish, or as they put it, pull the poll back. So I was doing the opisit of what I needed. Next break in the afternoon/nighttime storms I'll take another crack at it.