re-aligning motorized dish

[echelon]

sounds like its slipped to me too

providing you have the motor elevation set to around say 54 degrees for liverpool and the dish elevation set correctly as well , usals should work

select usals after putting in your longitude and latitude , so the motor moves to the correct place , so say al jaz on 0.8 west

then connect the box directly to the lnb itself, so the motor does not move as its not in the circuit

adjust the actual motor left or right on the pole mountings (after slackening them), plus try elevating the dish up or down on its mounting at the same time until you get say al jazeerah english on 0.8w or whatever, then peak the signal and lock up the pole mounting nuts and the dish mounting nuts too

then put the motor back into the circuit and test other satellites by selecting them and checking FTA channels only for now

my motor is set to say 53.5 latitude, my Triax dish is set at around 27 degrees I believe , and my usals is say 53.5 latitude and 2.1 west longitude, yours is different in Liverpool so ensure you use your own GPS for Liverpool and not mine for Manchester, but its the same principles for all of us with motors, just different readings and settings , mine is on a darkmotor for example

I use a black marker pen to mark by dish setting , motor setting and pole mount setting when its all working correctly

I also ensure that I have vaseline on all the exposed threads etc, to try to prevent rust and ensure they dont rust in situ, which may mean the nuts cannot be loosened in the future, if rusted solid

ps:- bear in mind that for usals you can use fta channels on 19 east and use 19 east as your starter point

or use hotbird at 13e and use FTA channels on there as your starter point

but we tend to use 0.8 west thor as its near the top of your arc, meaning that the lnb is almost vertical with the wire pointing down

a typical USALS for Liverpool is latitude 53.5 degrees North on the motor elevation and sat box setting, and 3.0 degrees west for the longitude setting in the sat box , so further west than me but a similar latitude

[JOE.MADDISON]

one thing for certain is dish has to be pointing to 19 to rec channels.from it so needs to be re aligned

[fozzer12]

hi My elevation is set to 35? also how do i connect directly to the lnb thanks

not sure if that for my dish or motor i posted it the other day

[JOE.MADDISON]

easy way take small tv and the sat boxto dish,take the plug out of lnb,run a short lead from lnb to box switch on and follow above instructions

[echelon]

hi My elevation is set to 35? also how do i connect directly to the lnb thanks

is that the dish elevation or the motor elevation ? (check both sides of the motor , one may be latitude and the other be elevation) , its probably the motor elevation, which is NOT the latitude setting, the latitude is probably on the other side of that motor bracket

the way I do it is to set the motor to 53.5 latitude (not elevation) , set the dish to say 27 (elevation) , then do what Joe said and take the box and tv and sat cable outside , send the box to 0.8w (ignoring the markings on the motor, which will probably be near zero but not on zero) , then connect a lead from the lnb outlet down to the ground and into the sat box , with a portable tv connected

in my case I use a simple sat box like a spiderbox , set to the correct GPS for Manchester , and with the fta channels loaded. once its all working outside, I then reconnect the VU box inside and test, as long as all the boxes are using USALS and all set to the same GPS coordinates , they all work, no matter which make they are

nb:- once the motor is set to 53.5 , lock it and do not adjust it at all

adjustments are made with moving the dish up and down , and the whole motor assembly left or right on the pole

[fozzer12]

Hi just tried this evening to get my other sats but ended up losing thor 0.8w. I have my elevation set to 35 and my longitude set to 54. just not sure if I am doing it right was trying on al jazzera english on 0.8w but could not get a signal. I had longitude 002.991 west and latitude 053.421 north these were the usual settings I used originally when I got most of my sats. I was able to get 19e and 13e back using positioner setup but couldn't bring thor back. Will try again anything else I need to check or do thanks

[Mickha]

When setting up a motorized dish, using USALS, you need to follow the basic steps.
Ensure your pole is secure and plumb
start with your motor at 0, and your LNB pointing straight down, in other words no skew
You then use your receiver, with the correct Latitude, and Longitude, which you seem to have, to send the motor/dish to a suitable satellite, in your case 0.8W, so the motor should move just over 2 degrees east.
You then physically move it, on the pole, to get the strongest signal possible, on 0.8W, always easiest to use a satellite meter, a sub £10 works perfectly well.
You then adjust your mountings, to get the best signal, tighten everything up and send it to your furthest available Easterly satellite, and you furthest available Westerly satellite, to check the readings. Your furthest available Easterly satellite seems to be 19.2E, due to something blocking your dishes line of sight.

Do you have a satellite meter?

[fozzer12]

You know when you say start with your motor on 0 is this the reading just under the motor at the top. I have a v8 sat finder.

[Mickha]

I don't know your motor, but most have a scale, ??-0-??, to denote movement East, and West.
You start at 0 so that when you move the motor/dish, to 0.8W, or other satellite, then physically align the dish, 0 should be pointing at 2.9W of 0, which is your Longitude reading, also known as True South.
This should help you track the arc more accurately, but a slight deviation shouldn't affect your signal quality to greatly and only really matters on weaker transponders.

Your dish seemed to be working correctly, judging by your earlier figures, with the motor finding satellites from 0.8W to 19.2E, and the signal quality readings weren't dropping off too much, so I doubt starting from scratch will improve signal quality readings that significantly.

Given your signal quality readings on 13E, 16E, and 19.2E, I doubt the problem was your dish, when experiencing problems with 23.5E, as the signal strength, on 23.5E, is very strong, in the UK, and the distance, from 19.2E, to 23.5E, wasn't sufficient for you dish to miss the arc by that much, which meant your problem lay elsewhere, probably with the trees blocking the signal.

[echelon]

do not be fooled by the markings on the motor, Liverpool is west of the greenwich meridian so true south for you is almost 3 degrees west of Greenwich , so those motor markings will NOT correspond to anything meaningful

your motor ZERO marker is the top of your arc and would point true south of you , which is 2.9 west of Greenwich in London , meaning if there was a satellite at 2.9w with fta channels on it , your motor would be on ZERO when getting those channels

but THOR is east of you which muddies the waters , whereas had you been near Leeds you would be similar to the actual sat positions using your motor markings

this aspect casuses people no end of confusion, mainly because they are not in line with Greenwich in London, had you been in Cork it would be even worse if you used the motor markings, hence why you ignore them because they are of no use to you

yes you can start my moving the motor until the arrow points at 0 , but when you select thor on your box the motor will move to where it thinks thor is, this will be a few or several degrees away from the zero on that motor

I do not look at those motor markings once I have moved it away from zero to thor, nor do I use them for any meaningful purpose during or after lining up the dish, the zero is a useful starter position and nothing more unless you are sat on the Greenwich meridian, which few people are

you seem to have the motor set correctly at lat 54 degrees , although I would edge it to 53.5 myself

I would start with the dish elevation clamp set at about 27 degrees and select a FTA channel on thor, the motor moves the dish, then once that is done you move the dish elevation slightly up or down and the whole motor assembly left and right on the pole until that FTA channel shows up on the portable tv, then fine tune to peak the signal by slight movements of up / down / left / right , locking it up once the peak signal is achieved, then test other main satellites such as 13e , 19e , 28e and 42e, plus 30w

you may need to finely adjust across the range so that everything comes in ok (but never move the motor clamp at all once the 53.5 setting is set and locked), bearing in mind there must be no trees or buildings close by, which may block the signal in some cases

you do not have to use thor for this, you can use a 13e hotbird FTA channel, or a 19e FTA channel , such as al jaz or a news channel, meaning the motor moves a lot further away from its zero pointer (but no need to worry where it goes as you are not using that scale on the motor at all)

checking my motorised dish here in Manchester on a VU SOLO 2 HD , I find the following FTA channels are working fine with good signal and quality on thor at 0.8 west

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH
BBC WORLD NEWS
CGTN
SKY NEWS
BLOOMBERG TV EUROPE

[fozzer12]

hi got 0.8w, 19.2e and 13e back on using usals. elevation 56 and latitude 31.5. used al jazzera English on thor got signal on this channel then moved to other sats but cant get anything on 28 east or 23e. got good signal on al jazzera 91% signal and 83% quality. when i was trying to set latitude to 53.5 and elevation to 27 I was unable to do so? is it a case of just tuning in al jazzera again just at a different position till it gets on the arc?

[Mickha]

Please check other available satellites, 5E, 7E, 9E, 10E, 16E, and the same West, 5W, 7W, 15W, 22W, 24.5W and 30W, and please post your signal quality readings.

[fozzer12]

7e 61% quality 91% signal
9e 67% quality 91% signal
10e 38 quality 95% signal
16e 82% quality 86% signal

15w no signal
22w no signal
30w no signal

dont have other sat in my list of sats

[Mickha]

You should have a very strong signal on 30W, the fact that you're not getting anything can be down to your dish not tracking the satellite arc or something blocking the signal.
Try adding 5 West, you should get a very strong signal on the super beam, try 12564 V 29950 DVB-S2 8PSK 2/3

https://www.lyngsat.com/Eutelsat-5-West-A.html

[fozzer12]

getting some fta on 5w canale 237, fire tv, channel 24. 77% quality 95% signal

[echelon]

hi got 0.8w, 19.2e and 13e back on using usals. elevation 56 and latitude 31.5. used al jazzera English on thor got signal on this channel then moved to other sats but cant get anything on 28 east or 23e. got good signal on al jazzera 91% signal and 83% quality. when i was trying to set latitude to 53.5 and elevation to 27 I was unable to do so? is it a case of just tuning in al jazzera again just at a different position till it gets on the arc?

using your latitude set to 56 instead of 53.5 wont help you to get all the arc, no wonder you are losing sats , especially at each end of the arc , your arc is either to shallow or too acute due to this

ideally you set the motor to latitude 53.5 and lock it up , as barney mentioned over on page 1 where he said "Latitude 54 Elevation 35 which is correct" - so it was almost right where it was

then you adjust the dish elevation from 22 to 30 (where its clamped to the motor and can adjust up or down) plus left right on the pole as well by slackening the pole mountings where the motor attaches to the pole itself - my darkmotor book shows the initial dish elevation to be 27.5 degrees for my dish

once you can get the following you are tracking the arc correctly , same as mine which I checked 2 hours ago - see post 7 over on page 1 for diagrams

42 east - t urksat
39 east - hellasat
28.2 east (sly and freesat etc)
23.5 east
19 east astra 1
13 east hotbird
0.8w (thor)
5.0 west
30 west hispasat

think of it like looking at a clock face

as well as midday , 12 noon , you can rotate your head and see 9pm on the left and 3 pm on the right , as well as everything in between

you already proved that al jaz is tuned in correctly, retuning will not help you solve this puzzle

tracking the arc correctly solves the puzzle , starting with the motor on 53.5 latitude

I have found the manuals for your motor and the dish elevation should be 22.7, so not the same as my darkmotor, but your motor latitude and elevation are correct as set when you started , at latitude 54 , elevation around 36

so set your motor back to where it was before , then put your dish on 22.5 and then try finely adjusting left / right / up / down , on thor al jaz

I have attached the 2 manuals for you to read in adobe reader

[fozzer12]

Hi so is it the actual dish I need to adjust 20190811_144337.jpg. because when it is set to 54 latitude and 35 elevation I cant get any signal on thor. also I get a clear line of sight to 30w so there are no trees blocking it

[echelon]

correct , leave the motor on 54 latitude , 35 elevation and adjust that dish elevation shown in your photo above, starting at around 22.5 and try to get thor

You already know the channels are there and tuned in correctly, so its just a case of adjusting that dish elevation up and down slightly and slightly left and right on the pole too, no touching the motor setting for latitude or its elevation either , once the motor has been set , spanner it up and leave it well alone , this is a dish mount and pole mount adjustment from now on

ps:- its showing as being on 41 elevation in your photo, should be around 22.5 , but check both sides for markings , just in case one is different to the other

[fozzer12]

hi all been trying all day but back to square one with same sats. I would like to say I really appreciate every ones help and advice thanks. does anyone know any installers in liverpool thanks

[echelon]

back on page 1 your first picture of the motor setting showed us your motor latitude and elevation were almost spot on

but you never posted a picture of the dish elevation (preferably both sides if both sides are marked ?) until the picture above in post #37

assuming your motor is back where you started with the first picture on page 1 , then it would help if we had a picture of the dish elevation clamp showing where the cutout is pointing to , so we know what your dish elevation is , barney stated it should be between 21 and 23 and he was correct

if you look at my pictures below , you will see the motor elevation latitude setting at about 53.5 latitude on the left side of the motor bracket (looking from the rear of the dish)

and on my triax dish , you will see the way it is assembled (the correct way round) and my settings are on the left hand side viewed from the back of the dish, so not the right hand side

so the motor and the dish adjuster are viewed from the left hand side when stood behind the dish, nothing is seen of the right hand side

looking at your picture of your dish mount on the right below, I think your bracket is upside down, comparing it to mine on the left

who assembled the dish and motor ?