Unable to receive Thor 0.8W

[eggie99]

Hi all
I have a problem that is i cant receive Thor 0.8 W also 5W has i have about 50 foot tree opposite in neighbours garden. So im having problems setting up motorised dish.

System Triax 1.1m dish and Dark motor with giggablue quad hd plus receiver. Did try lat has 52 but dish pointing too low and then used elevation setting at 37 degrees on motor. But cant accuratelt track the arc because
cant align it with thor or 5W. Also ppsitions on motor dont correspond with sat position for example astra at 28.2 motor postion is 33.4 tried motor reset but get the same gain.

lat 52.574
long 2.010

Can anyone help on how to align the dish without Thor or 5W but be able to get the whole arc.

Thanks
Eggie

[abu baniaz]

You do not have to focus on those. It is just that your due south satellite is where everything is straight. You are going to struggle if you want to use the non-usals method. If you want to use the Usals method, I will post further details.

long 2.010

Is that east or west?

[ronand]

The position shown on the motor is not supposed to correspond to the satellite position so don't worry about that. Have a look at both sides of the mounting bracket - the scales are different on both sides. You will need to align to the satellite nearest 0 that you can receive. Although you can use any satellite as long as you drive the motor its position first but it will take a bit of tweaking to get it to track the arc correctly. Also make sure your longitude is correct (East or West)

[eggie99]

Hi all
My long is West and lat and long correct taken from dishpointer has I am based in West Midlands. The reason is the huge tree blocking few East and West Sat's. So can't use Thor 5W and 7W to track the Arc.

I did try and use Astra 28.2 first and couldn't track the Arc properly.

@abu Can you post some info on USALS that what I am using at moment .

Thanks all

[abu baniaz]

Re-check the hardware stuff first. Plumb levels and markings on side of motor.
Reset the motor using the button on motor.
Install a channel list on receiver
Set tuner as pictured

Send motor to 0 using option in positioner setup
Select a channel on 28.2, dish will move.
Adjust assembly. Dish angle and motor position on pole. Do not adjust the motor angle.
Once you have picture on 28.2, select one on 13e. Do same adjustments.

[Joe_90]

Just to chip in - by convention longitude 2.010W is entered as -2.010 on some receivers. All longitudes west of the meridian are negative. ViX image will show East/West, though.

[eggie99]

Hi all

thanks abu for info but i did that 1st but couldnt get all the arc. So deciced to start from scratch , took old pole out and re embedding it back in garden making sure its plumb.
So once that done and set then will try alignment an and will post back the results.

see pic and Thor and other West sats are about the middle of tree.

thanks
Eggie
20200411_145149.jpg

[eggie99]

Hi all
Mounted dish about 3m high on wall pole plumb but still cannot track arc fully.

So thinking of getting bigger dish which is better plus Gibbertini 1.2m or primesat 1.3m sold by Sat Superstore.

Any recommendations on which better for weak signals pls. Also already have inverto ultra black Lnb and any other Lnb recommendations for weak signals pls.

Also will both dishes make use of either Alsat Dark motor or Technisat TM2600 motor i have both.

Thanks
Eggie

[Joe_90]

A bigger dish has a smaller acceptance angle which means it needs to be pointed at the satellite very accurately. If you're having issues tracking the arc at the moment it may get worse with a bigger dish. When you say that your current dish is mounted on a wall, is it attached using T and K brackets as in - is the pole supported above and below by brackets? A bigger dish will mean increased wind load, so the wall mounting needs to be very secure. Also, your current motor may not handle a bigger dish. Even with a bigger dish you may not ever be able to get 0.8W or 5W, unless you get your hands on a chainsaw! Try aligning your current setup with say 13E or 15W and work from there.

[eggie99]

Hi Tony

My dish is on a 6 foot pole 50mm wide and embedded in the ground. I can only receive sats on the east arc, 13e, 19.2e, 28.2e and 42e.
I cant receive on sats on the West arc dont know why that is. The way i,m aligning dish is by turning motor to 28.2 and turning whole dish and motor to get a signal.
Signal i get is about 58% but thats with the dish eleavation set at 46 degrees which is too high for the rest of sats, thats whats baffling me. My Long and Lat is 52.474 N and 2.0101 W.

Any help appreciated in aligning the dish pls.

See pics

Thanks
Eggie

[Joe_90]

Your dish elevation seems way too high. Your motor elevation should read 38 degrees or be set to 52 latitude. Usually one side of the motor mount is marked elevation and the other side latitude. It looks similar to my setup which is at 53N and 6W. However, my dish elevation is almost parallel where it's mounted on the motor (the "elephant's trunk"). Usually dish elevation is around 30 degrees for an offset dish, which is what I assume yours is (the LNB on the arm points upward to the centre of the dish).
When you say you can get 13E, 19.2E etc are you having to change the dish elevation each time?
I'm at 6W and the wall my dish is mounted on faces South. So I start with the motor set to zero and pointing South on the pole. The dish is mounted exactly on the centre of the motor pole (elephant's trunk) and is not moved subsequently. Making sure I have my coordinates set in the receiver correctly (53N and 6W (or -6)) I tell the dish to move to 5W on the USALS menu. After the dish moves I rotate the whole motor assembly on its pole and tweak the dish elevation to peak the signal. Once that is done on 5W, the other sats should come in. In your case your due South point is midway between Thor on 0.8W and 5W but obviously the tree is in the way of both those sats, so you need to use 13E or maybe 15W. Your start point should be with the motor set to zero. At this stage it should be pointing at the tree (assuming the tree is genuinely due South of the pole). The motor elevation should bet set correctly at 52 / 38 degrees. Send the motor to 13E or wherever you can be clear of the tree. Tweak the dish elevation and move the whole motor and dish together to peak the signal. You should then be able to send the dish from 42E to 30W and check the signal at both ends of the travel.

Here's a photo of my dish pointing at 5W (nearest due south for me) and also at 28.2 E.

point_astra_28E.jpgpoint_eutelsat_5w.jpg

Is there any way you can mount the dish securely on the house wall, high up? That way it may clear the tree at your south position.

[eggie99]

Hi all

I said i would post back after putting in new post. I put in new post in the ground and set up Pole 100% plumb ( see pics ) . Have the same problem if i set the elevation at 23.8 for Astra 28.2 so can align dish on Astra and then scan rest of sats
the same problem exists the elevation has to be set quite high about 45 degrees or so ( see pic ) . If set low cant receive Astra at all until i raise the elevation and then i cant get the rest of Sats. At moment can only get 19.2E, 28.2E and 42E thats all. I cant receive any West sats because of tree. Would like to receive 13E but cant since elevation too high.

I did set motor to 0 and aligned due south and then moved motor to 28.2 and tweaked the whole setup moving motor and dish same time until i got Astra 28.2 but had to raise elevation. Has seen from Dish pic elevation high compared to neighbours dish.

Any help appreciated

Thanks
Eggie

20200503_145732.jpg20200503_145741.jpg20200503_145752.jpg20200503_145759.jpg20200503_145819.jpg

[ronand]

OK. You need to set the dish bracket angle correctly first. That should be set to 27.5 - your dish is pointing way too high at the moment

Also how did you move the motor to 28.2 degrees? With the buttons on the motor or using the satellite receiver?

[eggie99]

I moved the motor using sat receiver , first used goto 0 and moved it to 28.2 , i know elevation too high but if i put elevation down i cant get a signal , only way to receive signal is at this elevation. Tried setting at 27.5 but no luck
cant receive anything on my Sat meter only by setting elevation where it is now can i receive a signal and view picture on meter.

Just come across another scale on the left side, so dont know which scale on right or left is elevation. (see pic)/

Have any idea which is elevation scale

thanks
Eggie

20200503_161257.jpg

[Joe_90]

As @ronand says (as did I earlier), your dish elevation looks way too high. Any chance of a photo (upright, not sideways, please!) of your dish from side-on, when it's facing due south? Like my second photo where I'm at the zero point on the motor. It's hard to tell from your last photo, but the angle of the LNB as it points at the dish, looks wrong. See my second photo, where the LNB is pointing upwards at an angle to focus on the centre of the dish? The actual signal reception comes from the top of the dish and is reflected at an angle to the LNB. Your LNB arm almost looks as if it is bent, but that may be just the way the photo was taken.

Here's a couple of drawings (not mine) to illustrate what I mean: