Confused by motorised dish

darkmaster2

I bought a Motek dish motor from Satellite.ie recently, I set it all up with a 1M dish, and after 2 long days in the sun I finally got it to follow the clarke belt.
When the motor is set to 0 Degrees the dish points at 8W (Telecom 2d) which is due south from here. Then when moving the dish manually east to west most of the satellites show up on the cheapo meter.

The problem im having is on the reciever. The satellite positions stored in the reciever send the dish to the wrong location, so I have to manually move it and then store the position. Will I have to do this for each and every satellite? I tried the "recalculate" setting but the positions are still out. Is there something im missing? I can get hispasat 30W across to Astra 28E so im assuming its following the arc ok. the reciever is the fortec star 5100 ultra BTW.

Any ideas?

Tony

I dont think you are missing anything TBH, almost every receiver I have set up works best with manual alignment. I usually find a strong satelite and just work east or west one satellite at a time, try a few differnt transponders on each as they may be on a beam not receivable from here or may simply work part time, also watch out for satellites with similar transponders such as astra 1 and 2. If the receiver uses "go to" function make sure your latitude and longtitude are set correctly.

Hope this helps

darkmaster2 wrote:

The problem im having is on the reciever. The satellite positions stored in the reciever send the dish to the wrong location, so I have to manually move it and then store the position. Will I have to do this for each and every satellite? I tried the "recalculate" setting but the positions are still out. Is there something im missing? I can get hispasat 30W across to Astra 28E so im assuming its following the arc ok. the reciever is the fortec star 5100 ultra BTW.

Any ideas?

darkmaster2

Thanks Tony, those motek motors are pretty decent for the price, I thought it might struggle on the old 1M dish I have, but it handles it fine.
Now for some more sat hunting!

Tony

Yeah I'd have to say they are the best diseq motor I've used so far, enjoy

darkmaster2 wrote:

Thanks Tony, those motek motors are pretty decent for the price, I thought it might struggle on the old 1M dish I have, but it handles it fine.
Now for some more sat hunting!

watty

Yes, you need to set up the GOTO X feature with your own position. About 21 sats on the Motek motor and Palcom DSL4 receiver here using a Lidl LNB and Lidl 80cm dish as sold with analog rx.

Hagar

darkmaster2 wrote:

When the motor is set to 0 Degrees the dish points at 8W (Telecom 2d) which is due south from here.

I've only done a couple of these but you could be out by 8 degrees. If the dish is pointing a 8w should it not think it is pointing at 8w not a fictitious 0 degrees due south?
Are you not just setting up two arcs which intersect at 8w but are wrong everywhere else?

Tony

Hagar wrote:

I've only done a couple of these but you could be out by 8 degrees. If the dish is pointing a 8w should it not think it is pointing at 8w not a fictitious 0 degrees due south?
Are you not just setting up two arcs which intersect at 8w but are wrong everywhere else?

The o degrees is just a point on the motors travel IE the centre or highest point so lining this up on 8w for locations in Ireland is usually the way to go.

watty

Yes, Tony is right. *WHEREVER* you live the "0" of the motor is true due south. South only ever equals a *real" Zero degrees if you live on Greenwich line from north to south pole.

Limerick is about 8W. Dublin maybe 6W. London 0W In all cases the motor arm is at zero / dish at highest point on arc at due south. But In Limerick a Due South Satellite is at 8W.

Dont confuse motor scale (rotation degrees), Satellite Degrees (arc around Equator) and what due South is at your location (location i.e. 52N 8W).

Turksat is NOT at 45E + 8W = 53 degree on motor scale. It is more complex geometry automatic in receiver. Or download a calculator, as the distance north of equator modifys the angle too.

The only fixed thing is the motor scale *MUST* read "0" and thsu dish at highest arc when the dish is pointing true due south. Which for most people is NOT Zero Degrees!
(i.e. it is 180 in New Zealand and somewhere between Alaska and Far East Russia (Kamchatchia?)

darkmaster2

Thanks Lads, I got it all sorted by using the USALs function. Some interesting feeds found already!

Hagar

Cool enough.