SG2100 Arc Problems

[elgemcdlf]

I shall start with basics. Fortec Platinum receiver. 76cm dish & SG2100 motor. I have installed a previous system with no problems whatsoever with the exception of the motor being different. SM3D12 in that instance. Hit 87 degrees with roughly an 88 for signal strength. Tracked fine all the way out to 79 degrees and then up as far as 121. That is where it got lost on both ends. Motor is set to 39 degrees (I am at 38.9 zip 47838) with elevation set at 26. Should be 21. I currently have the dish catching both 123 and 79 but missing all in dead center of the arc. Roughly 83 through 101. This motor has given me fits for countless hours.

I have attempted raising and lowering the motor a degree at a time with no luck. Everything is mounted properly. Any ideas on which direction to turn? Motor up elevation down? Motor down elevation up? With the strongest signal for 87 degrees I need to lower the elevation 4 degrees to catch 123 and then I loose most everything else.

TIA
Steve

[rainman]

sounds like you need to rotate motor on pole east to west to get on the arc. :mozilla_smile:

[pmb1010]

It almost sounds like your mounting pole is flexing from the weight of motor and dish, causing an out-of-plumb condition.

Have a look at the "fine tuning" section of this:

http://www.stab-italia.com/eng-hh90.pdf

It might be helpful.

[elgemcdlf]

I will look into pole flex. Thanks for the direction to look. As far as locating true south. That portion has been accomplished. Not tracking the arc properly is what is going on. Moving the dish east or west will only create problems out on the east end of things. In other words complicating the issue. The pole is plumb when in the zero position but I have not checked it in a dish rotated position. Thanks again.

Steve

[starman]

For your locatoin, 39 degrees latitude, your declination should be 6.1 degrees. With the SG-2100, use 30-6.1=23.9 degrees. So, set your motor to 39(on the latitude scale, not elevation), set dish elevation to 24. That should get you close. Line it up on your TS, 87 degrees. If you are still way off, check that the back of the motor bracket, next to the mast, is parallel to the mast. I re-did someone's install recently where they had tightened down the bottom of the bracket more than the top, that set everything off about 5-8 degrees. The bottom of the bracket was buckled in. The only other thing I can think of is your lnbf arm might be off center.

[elgemcdlf]

Update on the arc problem. Sure enough the weight had caused the mount to move. Roughly 5 degrees. Resolved that issue and found the arc with the exception of G10. Hit it dead center but to high. If I lower the elevation I loose good signal and some completely out east. I gave up on G10. At the present time I have excellent signal strength from 30 degrees up to 121. Just gonna pull G10 from my 8' dish

On another note from this point forward is is purely Fortec Star dishes for me. Much sturdier than the Winegard. I had absolutely no problems when installing the Fortec dish. I may try it with a SG2100 motor since I see so much rave reviews about it. Been quite satisfied with the SM12 motor I have on the Fortec though.

Thanks for all the help.

Steve