How far it should move (SM3D12)?

[boroda1]

Specs for Satcontrol motor:
Horizontal Rotation95° (99° max.)Inclination (motor elevation)75°
What does it mean? How far East or West it should move my dish?
My coordinats, as set in receiver: 37.2°N 121.8°W. Last night I tried to scan AMC6 at 72°, just for experiment, instead I got channels on satellite at 79°:
Utah Program110, Program120, etc. Motor is controlled by USALS from receiver.
My question: what are my East and West satellite limits?
Does anyone has a clue?

[Sadoun]

The motor wll move around 50 degrees to the East or West of your TRUE SOUTH point.

Check your Longitude in the receiver's menu and make sure it is correct

[boroda1]

Yes, it is correct, 121.8°W, and thanks for the straight answer.
But how do I couint these 50° ?
There are two, on my mind, possible ways, one: go by satellite position,second: go by Azimuth.
First calculation: 121°8 - 50° = 72°, if this is correct I should get AMC6, but I don't!
Second calculation: 180° - 50° = 130°, if this one is correct, then, according to this table,
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installati...Calculator.htm
I should only get a sat with azimuth for 130°, which is AMC3 at 87°, but I can go further East than that!
So which of two calculations is correct?

[rainman]

the first caculation is correct may need to adjust your motor on the pole to receive your end sats.

[elgemcdlf]

I am getting 60 degrees in movement either direction of true south. My south sat is 87. I can get down to 30 with no problem. You most likely are not lined up on your true south sat correctly. Tell USALS to go to 121 and peak the dish. Now get the thing tracking the arc properly and getting down to 72 should be no problem at all. Might even get Amazonas but that will be at the extreme limit of travel.

The number Sadoun quoted you is most likely the end of safe travel so it is totally up to you to press farther than he says. He is far more knowledgable at this than I am I get the same travel out of my SG2100 so I consider both motors basically equal.

[boroda1]

Thank you, everyone!
I do have a strong signal on my most south sat 121 E*9, but as I see, everybody is suggesting further alignment, so I will try to get even better one in hope to fix the arc. This forum is great, and I really appreciate such support!

[elgemcdlf]

Yes you may have strong signal but is your motor pointed at 0? or very close to it?

[boroda1]

Originally Posted by elgemcdlf

is your motor pointed at 0? or very close to it?

Yes, I do think so, as far as receiver shows correct satellite names on menu,
since last friday. The older situation was that receiver was showing wrong satellites: IA5 was shown with CCTV channels from 95° sat, and G10R was showing "You have a dish1000" from 121° E*. So I moved motor 2° to the West, and now there is a match between my channels and Lyngsat site.
I don't think, I need a compass again for fine tuning, do I?

[elgemcdlf]

Sort of. If you were pulling 121 when USALS was pointed to 123 you were both too high and to far east in theory. You are creating an arc of travel utilizing two adjustments, motor elevation and dish elevation. That arc can take many differnt shapes depending on your settings. I personally would remove my presets for sat locations (this keeps the receiver from moving the dish) then manually move the motor to the zero setting using the switch on the motor itself. I would then start by setting 121 in the receiver and let the receiver move to 121. It will be very little movement if any at all.

Now manually peak the dish. This means rotating the dish on the mast along with altering dish elevation until you have the highest quality signal you can achieve for 121. You now have your system centered on the portion of the arc you can see from your location. Now tell the receiver with USALS you want G10R. It is only 2 degrees away so it should be there. Ok now let's get brave and take a shot at 79. Telemundo is there and a strong feed to dial in on.

If it is not there try a sat closer to center. Keep track of what you are getting and what you are not. On the furthest east sat you can get gently push up on the dish. Does the signal get stronger? Try pulling down. Same for the furthest west sat you can see. If they get stronger in opposite directions, meaning pushing up on the east and down on the west makes the corresponding sat stronger you are not centered and need to rotate on the mast a bit rotate in the direction of the down sat.

Now see how far you can get east and west and repeat the process until pushing up and pulling down make the signal weaker not stronger. You should be perfectly centered now on the arc. You next chore is properly tracking the arc. Lowering dish elevation spreads the arc out and raising dish elevation brings the ends closer together. It is a combination of the two settings. If you are not getting the ends of the arc go to your notes you have been taking on each sat and figure out if your arc is falling short or running wide.

Whatever you alter dish elevation at this time you need to make the same setting change in reverse to motor elevation. So if you determine your arc is wide raise your dish elevation 1 degree and lower the motor elevation 1 degree. Now try your ends again. Keep playing until all the sats in your viewing area of the arc are peaked.

Stay with USALS. It is very tempting to cheat an alignment with DiSeqC 1.2 but if you are not properly aligned you are not properly aligned and trying to fool the receiver with 1.2 will do you no good at all.

Plan on 4 hours of your time getting the thing lined up properly. If you follow this procedure you should have it aligned in far less time but the point is do not rush anything. Have a small tv and the receiver outside at the dish while you are aligning.

Hope that helps
Steve

[boroda1]

Thank you, Steve and Sadoun, for your help. Finally, I vent up to the roof, to install my new KUL2. With me, I took receiver, remote, power strip, 50' orange cable and 5" B/W TV, paid $15 for it.
Now, watching, how the motor moves with USALS commands, I found out, what these 50° limits are!
They are not longitude degrees, where the satellites are.
And they are not those azimuth calculation degrees.
They are degrees on the Satcontrol motor shaft!

Motor stops at the point which is marked 50 on this scale.
Unfortunately,when USALS moves my dish to receive 79° sat,
that one with UEN and Telemundo, motor stops at mark 49° on it's reference scale. That means, those satellites at 74° and east of that are beyond the motor travel limit.
I was thinking about the "widening the arc" but if I make it wider, then USALS will show me 79° sat when dish is actually pointing more to the east, right?
So, should I say bye-bye to Amazonas and be happy tracking sats from 79° to 129°? (there is also echo* at 148, but I don't count it)

[elgemcdlf]

Ok as I try to see your thinking widening the arc could solve your problem and the travel I was speaking of was in the sky longitude wise. Could also be your arc is to wide and you need to narrow it up a bit. Start by finding the farthest east sat you can see (tv that is) and gently push up and pull down on the dish. Did signal change any in either direction? Note your results. Now find the farthest west sat you can see (tv) and repeat your up and down test. Did you receive opposite results? If so rotate the entire assembly on the mast towards the direction that produced a stronger signal when pushing up.

Not much maybe a degree or two. Repeat above as many times as neccasy until you get a drop in signal on both ends of your arc when you go up with the dish and down. You are now centered on your viewable arc.

Go back to center. Is your south sat showing signal? Work your way around your arc and note readings at each sat. Use USALS to move the dish. Plot your arc on a piece of paper and look at how the readings are which should indicate to you the shape of your arc. Basically lower declination (dish elevation) widens the arc and higher narrows the arc. Motor elevation places the arc in the sky. So if you are getting pretty even results all the way across your arc but low you need to either raise or lower motor elevation. If you are reading the center of your arc and not the ends you need to lower declination and raise elevation.

Hope that helps a bit

[boroda1]

Thanks.
Making a map of the arc is brilliant idea. I will try to do it in two weeks, weather will be cooler a bit.
I want to push up and down (strictly vertically) the whole dish assembly, as I understand, without untightening any bolts, for all the important for me satellites:
79 (east-most), 87, 97, 121 (south), 123, 129, 148(not important, but west-most).
If the signal improves for any of them while moving up/down, I will mark it on my map with up/down arrows. Then, will analize the results.
........
Back to the topic: I saw specs for Moteck SG2100, looks like that one gives more travel in each direction: 75˚EAST ~ 75˚WEST.
But I am happy with the Satcontrol so far, even without getting eastern sats.

[elgemcdlf]

Originally Posted by boroda1

Thanks.
Making a map of the arc is brilliant idea. I will try to do it in two weeks, weather will be cooler a bit.
I want to push up and down (strictly vertically) the whole dish assembly, as I understand, without untightening any bolts, for all the important for me satellites:
79 (east-most), 87, 97, 121 (south), 123, 129, 148(not important, but west-most).
If the signal improves for any of them while moving up/down, I will mark it on my map with up/down arrows. Then, will analize the results.
........
Back to the topic: I saw specs for Moteck SG2100, looks like that one gives more travel in each direction: 75˚EAST ~ 75˚WEST.
But I am happy with the Satcontrol so far, even without getting eastern sats.

You are correct about the pushing up and pulling down. Basically if you can envision this when USALS moves your dish to 79 it is aligned for 79 at this point. If you have a weak 79 we want to find it. If you have an exact opposite reaction on the other side of your arc you are not lined up on center (south sat) quite right. This is the first key to solving the arc track problem.

You only need to do this with the farthest east sat you can currently receive and the farthest west sat you can currently receive. Repeat until there is a drop in signal no matter which way you go up or down. This basically ensures you are dead center of the sat and arc for that matter. Now it is simply a matter of shaping and locating the arc. All east and west adjustments are finished. It is strictly a elevation and declination matter from here on out.

As you start getting sats farther out always use the farthest away sat from center in both directions to determine centering.