Am I wasting my time if dish is warped?? Gilbertini1.0m.

[gbmitie]

I have a new stab diseq1.2 motor and want to use a gilbertini dish 1.0m that I bought from Germaany more than a year ago. The packaging was slightly damaged and back of dish where it turns over towardsback was sligtly kinKed. otherwise it looked ok. I set it all up today but cant get 1%west or 8%west, my latitude is 52.84 and longitude is -8.98. I dont know the offset angle of dish but as counter starts at 20% I am asuuming that it is. I then used map that came with motor and set it up as follows, 53 on motor and 22,4 on dish. I can assure you that pole is 100% vertical etc. I can easily get 19%E and 13%e and 30west but cant get 28%east!! I did a few tweaks but always get back to my original settings for best pic. I think the dish is slightly warped and wonder if that will scupper me?

HELP?!!

GBMITIE

[Keano]

m8 if your dish is warped or dented then forget it.

You need to have it perfect to get the best from it.

If you can see with the eye its not right then thats good enough to tell you dish is f**ked.

[bgsats]

As Keano says, if it's damaged it will never work absolutely 100% - but ......if it's just minor damage at one point (particularly near the rim of the dish) and the dish isn't warped, it shouldn't be a serious problem. If it's warped, you should be able to see this if you can stand directly above the middle of the dish looking down onto it. Try to line up top and bottom of the dish at both the left and the right at the same time - if it's warped, you can't!
The fact that you can get the 3 sats mentioned (presumably with a good signal) suggests all may not be lost. Is it possible you don't have the centre of the arc correctly set?

[gbmitie]

many thanks to you both, i was out working all day and now a bit like the dish. I am going to try again tommoro for a few hours and then give up. Will try your trick and see. The last motor i did was a nokia ******* with 85cm dish about 4 years ago and it took me a day but it worked and has never let me down including high winds!! . As I am moving I thought I would get a slightly bigger dish and as I would be lifting it myself opted for the gilbertini. I am going to use it with a hummy 5400 as I like my hummy. I also have a triax 1.1m when I move but it looks bloody heavy!!

I keep thinking I have got the arc wrong as well but cant figure out what I may have done wrong. I am in west of ireland and used google maps etc. I am going to use 13east as my starting point and I think all the sats I want are already in the hummy with no 1 as Hotbird.

I must admit I cant get my head around the motor elevation at 53 or near as dammit and the dish at 22.4 or as near as dammit. I am sure the figures on my nokia were different!! Ladders are at other house now so cant look at nokia until monday!!

Will report back

gbmitie

[echelon]

if you are in ireland at -8 or so then you should line up due south on that bird , not 13e hotbird

the zero on the motor should point due south and in your case thats about 8 west , not 13e

so my advice is try to line up on 8 west , or something close to it , as your zero point

I have no idea why you are trying to use hotbird as a reference as that would be for someone on longitude 13e to use as the zero point of the motor

and using a warped or damaged dish may not help but if its ok on some sats it should be ok for others too

[satwyn]

if the dish is warped then get rid but you get 30W but no 28E which is one of the strongest sats out there

[gbmitie]

A little feedback, I had an hour to spare this morning and had a quick go, I got ASTRA 28east but had to fiddle with motor elevation but I got it ok. As it was 12 noon I then got 8west ok so now I have due south!!. I had a good look at dish and it does not look too bad, its the bit that folds back that is kinked and this throws me a bit. I am busy for a few days so may not get a chance to set motor but with due south found I am hopeful. At least I now know I can get 28east, 19east, 13 east, 8west and 30west. So the rest should follow.

I still have dish on 22.4 but motor just under 52.

gbmitie

[bgsats]

Is the motor set to zero on the E/W scale when you're on 8W?

[gbmitie]

Had a spare hr today and I think I am rushing this install but here goes. I had the motor set to 0 for 8west, i then used the hummy 5400 to move dish to what i thought was 8west on the scale. I then moved dish and motor mount to 8west. Howvever I think I may have coked up as I dont get 13 or 19 now. So I have boobed. The hummy I have has already got a channel lsitings installed and sats assigned from no 1 on. The stab has presets as well.

Q How do I line up the sat for 8west on the hummy or put another way can i use the already programmed in sat on the hummy for 8west, I think its number 11 and will that allow me to get all the otehr sats. The mistake I have made is that I have saved AL JEEZEERA on 8west under thor 1 and under 11, eg get al jeezera on boths sats. I am home now with a hangover and will read instructions again.

Any help greatly appreciated BUT I am getting there slowly.

gbmitie

ps if i have confused you just say. I am totally new to DISEQ1.2 AND using the humax 5400 to drive a dish, search for sats, save etc.. Like everything its probablyd dead easy when one gets the hang of it. My nokia ******* was a bit easier.

[Detlef]

My 120cm dish got ripped off its mount in a storm and fell about 3 meters. It got a bit dented but some gentle force here and there and it is just fine now.

They should be laterally symmetrical so it is fairly easy to check and re-shape it.

[bgsats]

"I had the motor set to 0 for 8west, i then used the hummy 5400 to move dish to what i thought was 8west on the scale. I then moved dish and motor mount to 8west."
I think you may be making things unnecccaserily complicated! Not sure exactly what you did, or why, but if you had the motor set to zero on the E/W scale, and you were getting 8 west, the job was as good as finished. When you're getting the best possible reception from 8W in your location, then the dish and motor will be pointing due South, so the motor should be on zero. (You should have made sure that the centre of the bracket on the back of your dish is aligned accurately with the centre mark on the stub to which you attach it on the motor - if you didn't do that, do it now, and start again, making sure the E/W scale on the motor is back on zero!) Leave the latitude scale on the motor set to your latitude (53) and when you have 8 west again, (find it by turning the dish and motor - locked together - on your vertical pole, not by moving the motor with the remote), peak the signal by adjusting the dish elevation only. The dish should track properly then,and you only need to store the positions of the sats you want.

[gbmitie]

Rght heres a report back. I only get a chance for a few hours so today I did as you suggested. Lined up the 0 on 8west, motor at 53 but the markings are a bit tricky so I am not sure if the pointer should sit on the mark or be just below it, if you understand what I mean, elevated dish and tuned in al jazeera to get 56 signal and 58 quality. Then got 1west but I had to steer the hummy and save it. What I mean is dished moved but stopped short of the sat position. Did the same for 13, 19, 28east, found them stored them, all very good signals. I should add that this time I raised the dish well clear of roofline so it could in effect spin right round. I then tried to get 30west, dish moved, got signal level but no signal quality!!! So lost. Do I go back and tweak it on 8west again??

And I am still getting acqauinted with the hummy 5400 motor system. I stored 8west and had assumed that all the others would just fall into place(silly me). But I must admit I am rushing things and may not have stored things correctly. Is there a reset facility I can do with the hummy. I have read the manual but as always it takes a while to sink in. How do I get 30w without mucking up my existing settings?? I did steer dish east and west but got nothing, although I was not sure if I was on a FTA channel at the time. The channel settings on the hummy have sats already stored. All I did was enable motor. At lest I am making progress. I
will have a bit mre time when I move. I just want to get 42east to 30west or better for my own satisfaction. I usually end up with 19e and 13e for viewing.
gbmitie

[bgsats]

1. Did you check that the centre of the dish bracket was correctly aligned with the mark on the stub coming out of the motor?
2. When you get signal strength but no quality on Hispasat, have you looked on the scale on the motor to see what the reading is? That would give you some idea of whether you found the correct sat. (In other words has the dish moved 22 degrees from 8 West?)

[supakev]

ive got humax 5400z 1.1mtr triax and technomate motor.
1.perfectly vertical pole
2.for your location line up motor to`0`zero and tune into strong channel on 8 west theres plenty,turn the dish and motor by hand to find 8 west and nip up motor on pole,adjust elevation to get maximum signal which should be more than 60% more like 80-90.
3.on humax go onto channel on 30 west when the motor stops manually nudge the motor left or right with the humax untill u get a signal and store,if u got the arc u shouldnt be far away.do the same on 42 east and the rest should follow.

takes a bit of time but u will get there

good luck

[gbmitie]

thanks both for tips, I am busy now until next tuesday so will read the humax manual, re-check the rotor settings, etc etc. And getting 30w and then 42 east is a good idea. I dont think dish is perfect so will be happy with around 60 on 8west. I am getting very good strength on the others so quite happy with my efforts.

I bring a tv out with me and use the meter on the hummy but wud you believe it each time i have gone to adjust it has been "too sunny" so cant make out the meter from atop the ladder.

gbmitie

[applematt]

I use a Dustpin Lid but all I can pick up is same old Rubbish :D