Hardware Suppliers

[B16MCC]

Hey guyz, can anyone recommend a good sat hardware supplier please. I've been toying with the idea for a while and trying to learn a bit about it. I'm almost ready to buy my first system ( I think !).

I have an idea what I want, like decoder , cams, dish, lnb's and stuff, I just need to get my head round how I allign my dish. 28 Degrees East of What ??? Anyhow thats another matter. I'm in the UK by the way, I don't wanna buy from outside the mainland. Cheers...

[cortina]

www.creativesatellite.co.uk

used and trusted.

BTW 28 Degrees East of true South!!!

[northmonkey]

this was posted on toecuttersden by a nice called echelon all credit for this post goes to him.................



Easy Way to motorise a dish

After much trial this is the easiest way to motorise a dish.
And full credit goes to samson as it's his method.

First of all you must forget all about fractions of degrees etc.

It is Important to make sure that the mounting poles are very sturdy.. and as vertical in all axis as possible using a spirit level.

Attach the motor to the pole.and the dish to the motor. Facing a South direction... a compass will do.
Zero the mount ( motor) and attach the dish... so that the back of the dish is at right angles to the mount...tilt mount back to approx. 45deg., fine setting can be done later...make sure bolts on back of dish are loose enough to adjust '' Dish only'' elevation, now find 1deg.west
ie Thor...Do not use the motor at this point...find it by moving the whole Mount ( motor ) East and West and the dish elevation up and down....this is your highest Sat on the arc and we need to find it 1st....once located semi-tighten the dish elevation nuts...OK so far.
Now you need to move the motor using the receiver, tune in this frequency, 12518 h 22000 5/6 it's the canal package on Astra...disregard any numbers on the mount..there probably miles out...move dish east using receiver till a signal or the hint of a signal appears...once it does.. and it will..go out and move the whole mount ( motor with dish attached) ever so slightly west, then back inside and with the receiver move the dish east again, this may take a couple of goes but the result is a peak signal on Astra....and believe it or not a true South facing mount!!!again..( proving the numbers on the motor are b****cks)
Now semi tighten all nuts get a coffee and steam the dish West. tune receiver to 12012 V 27500 3/4 , this is a Hispa freq. and will be found as far west as astra was east if you know what i mean again you should get a signal or the hint of one...if signal ok tighten all up...if not dish may need slight adjustment..normally up a tiny bit..once mount at 45deg.no other adjustment necessary normally

Adjusting the polar mount

If the adjustments are done in the correct order, you can get a dish that tracks just perfect. You should have an unwarped satellite dish, and a straight ground pole, it will make things easier.

1- Start with checking the mounting of the feed horn. All the legs on the tripod should be of the same length. You should measure them, and do any adjustment you can if they are not the same length. Next, you have to check the distance from three different points on the edge of the dish, to the center of the feed horn. Remember, even if the tripod legs have the same length, that does not mean the feed is centered! You might have to "bend" the feed back into center of dish, or adjusting the tripod legs to get the feed centered in the dish.

2- Set the off-set angle on your polar mount (declination). This is an adjustment that tilts the dish *forwards* at an angle of about 4-6 degrees, depending on what latitude you live. You can find the exact angle for your location in charts, but if you set it for about 5 degrees, you'll be close enough to get going. This adjustment is usually done on one of the mounts connected directly to the dish.

3- You then move the dish to the highest point on your polar mount. You do this by using the actuator. You can do this by visually looking at the dish and the polar mount. You are basically centering the dish on the highest point on the polar mount. Now, you have to set the elevation angle of the dish. I like to use a meter for this, but it is also possible to do it without. The elevation angle is about 40 degrees, depending on your latitude. This is not very critical at this point because you will adjust this angle for best reception later. If you measure the angle on the mount, you might have to add the declination angle to get the true dish pointing angle.

4- You need to find a satellite that is located just south of your location. In most cases, there is a satellite close to the longitude you live. A few degrees off will not make much difference because the dish moves almost flat in the center of arc. Try a Ku band satellite because the accuracy is much higher. However, you might look for a C band satellite when you start. It will be easier to find than a Ku band satellite. Having the dish parked at the highest point of the arc, you have to turn the WHOLE polar mount on the ground pole to you hit the satellite. If your elevation was way off, you might not even get a signal. Adjust the elevation and turn the mount again until you find the satellite located "straight south".

5- Fine tune the elevation angle. Turn the mount sideways until max signal and then adjust the elevation angle until its maxed. At this point, you have set the off-set angle and the elevation angle for the satellite at the highest point in the arc.

6- Now, you have to get the dish to track on the sides of the arc. This is where most people fail. DO NOT adjust any elevation angles on the mount at this point! Move the dish using the actuator to a satellite on one side of your arc. You should hopefully see the signal from the satellite, if not, pick a satellite closer to the center of the arc. Peak the dish on the satellite using the actuator. Next, you have to push or pull upwards and downwards on the dish. You don't have to use much force, just a bit to see if the signal gets better or worse when you push/pull on the dish. What you are actually doing is to change the elevation angle a bit. If your dish is pointing at a satellite to the east of center and you have to push up on the dish to get a better signal, then the elevation angle must be adjusted higher. You adjust this by turning the WHOLE mount to the east! You have to use the actuator and move the dish a bit west to peak the signal. You go back and forth until the dish has the correct elevation. Next, you have to check a satellite on the other side of the arc. If you peaked the dish for center, and then for one side, the other side should be very close. This will depend on your ground pole, offset angle/elevation angle and quality of feed/dish.

7- If your dish is not hitting center on the other side, try the same adjustment as above. If the dish needs to be pushed up to get a better signal, then TURN the WHOLE mount in that direction. If the dish needs to be pulled down for a better signal, then turn the mount the opposite direction (towards the higher point on arc).

8- Then, go back and check the other side. Hopefully, you're not far off. You might have to go from side to side before your dish tracks perfectly.

9- If, and ONLY if you can not get both sides to peak, both sides would be too low or too high. You can then do a small adjustment of the declination (elevation) angle to get the two sides into peak. BUT, only do this if you can confirm that both sides are low or high. If the dish is to high on the sides, but fine in the center, the declination angle is to low. Increase the declination and the elevation angle the same amount. They will cancel each other in the center of arc, but track lower on the sides.

10- You should now have a perfectly peaked dish If you used Ku band satellites for the peaking, it will be as good as it can get. If you used C band satellites, you might want to do the same thing using Ku band satellites.

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good guide but I have found that in my personal experience you should set the motor to whatever the difference is between your longitude and thor , as detailed by my thread in the samsung forum ( in my case its about 1 degree east of me ) and then set the motor elevation to your latitude ( in my case 53.5 ) but apart from that your explanation looks good

also, your explanation may be good for users in the uk but wouldnt be correct for users in other countries as they should use a different reference satellite and maybe not thor ( depends on your location )