That troublesome arc

[Kurdt Kobain]

I spent four to five hours on Saturday trying to refine the arc on my 80cm motorised Triax dish and Technomate 2600 motor (initially installed a few years ago on a Sky zone 2 dish pole and more recently on T&K's). Whilst I can receive a signal on every expected satellite between 30w and 42e, I want to maximise the SNR % at each end of the arc and especially 16e for when watching SS on my Viark Sat 4K but finding getting the pole exactly plum and all sats as strong as possible isn't that easy.

Firstly, using my digital level box, I'm unsure where on the pole to actually measure. Should I measure on the top or along the sides of the pole? I've been measuring on the sides at each end as it seems less awkward than at the top where it's hollow but I'm struggling to get them both 90° as often at least one of the ends is around 89.XX° or less. After some frustration, I even tried levelling the pole by maximising the SNR on 6'Eren @ 1w and SS-2 @ 16 etc. instead of setting the motor to zero and using the digital level box.

When moving the dish by hand with the bolts loosened, I can sometimes get upto 61% on SS-2 but after they're tightened it usually drops several percentages and without the motor permanently get around 85% on 30w and 42e. Towards the end I managed to get 57-58% on SS-2 after tightening the bolts but this depressing dropped to just 51-53% once the ladder had been put away. Currently, TRT1 @ 42 is almost perfect at 83% but with increasing loss towards the west where Sport TV @ 30w is just 60%.

Credit to the forum member whose very useful signal meter app I used with my Gigablue Quad 4K to help align the dish. When plugging my Viark Sat 4K back in it's now getting 62% on SS-2 which was slightly better than this morning but short of the 66-67% I've had previously so still room for improvement. Any advice appreciated, especially with getting the pole plumb. Also interested to know from members who've installed their own motorised dishes, if struggling to perfect every sat how much loss are you willing to accept if still receiving all tp's?

 

[Ferret.]

I spent four to five hours on Saturday trying to refine the arc on my 80cm motorised Triax dish and Technomate 2600 motor (initially installed a few years ago on a Sky zone 2 dish pole and more recently on T&K's). Whilst I can receive a signal on every expected satellite between 30w and 42e, I want to maximise the SNR % at each end of the arc and especially 16e for when watching SS on my Viark Sat 4K but finding getting the pole exactly plum and all sats as strong as possible isn't that easy.

Firstly, using my digital level box, I'm unsure where on the pole to actually measure. Should I measure on the top or along the sides of the pole? I've been measuring on the sides at each end as it seems less awkward than at the top where it's hollow but I'm struggling to get them both 90° as often at least one of the ends is around 89.XX° or less. After some frustration, I even tried levelling the pole by maximising the SNR on 6'Eren @ 1w and SS-2 @ 16 etc. instead of setting the motor to zero and using the digital level box.

When moving the dish by hand with the bolts loosened, I can sometimes get upto 61% on SS-2 but after they're tightened it usually drops several percentages and without the motor permanently get around 85% on 30w and 42e. Towards the end I managed to get 57-58% on SS-2 after tightening the bolts but this depressing dropped to just 51-53% once the ladder had been put away. Currently, TRT1 @ 42 is almost perfect at 83% but with increasing loss towards the west where Sport TV @ 30w is just 60%.

Credit to the forum member whose very useful signal meter app I used with my Gigablue Quad 4K to help align the dish. When plugging my Viark Sat 4K back in it's now getting 62% on SS-2 which was slightly better than this morning but short of the 66-67% I've had previously so still room for improvement. Any advice appreciated, especially with getting the pole plumb. Also interested to know from members who've installed their own motorised dishes, if struggling to perfect every sat how much loss are you willing to accept if still receiving all tp's?

The pole your mounting your motor to needs to be plumb in both planes, looking down on the top of the pole imagine north, east, south and west around the pole. Plumb in all directions i just use a Sprit level. If the pole is plumb it matters not where you measure it plumb is plumb.

Assuming you have set your motor angle to your usuals coordinates send the motor to 0.8w and then turn the motor on the pole side to side to max out signal level, tighten the bolts holding the motor to the pole diagonally half turn at a time till its tight and you have lost no signal. Then loosen your dish elevation bolts and move the dish up and down to peak the signal. Thats basically it.

 

[Kurdt Kobain]

Had another try on Sunday and seem to have identified the issue. The upper 'T' bracket isn't properly adjacent on the wall to lower the 'K' one preventing the pole from being perfectly plum.

I've managed to partially correct it by moving the upper bracket as far right (east) as possible but couldn't correct it completely because it's at its limit and still needs to go a bit further. It's clearly very close because I can now get the pole to 90° but only with the bolts in the wall loosened and as tightened - it gradually decreases to 89.60° - although still better than before.

I set the dish up again and at one point was getting around 82% on each of 42e and 30w which is the best I've ever had them with the motor (considering I only normally get around 85% on those sats without it) and probably should've left it but made it worse messing with it; it's currently unchanged on 42e but down to 68% on 30w.

I've tried moving the lower K bracket in the opposite direction towards the left (west) but because it's the larger bracket with horizontal and vertical bolts, it unsurprisingly doesn't move as much. Is there any workaround such as offsetting the bottom of the pole or something?

 

[Ferret.]

Had another try on Sunday and seem to have identified the issue. The upper 'T' bracket isn't properly adjacent on the wall to lower the 'K' one preventing the pole from being perfectly plum.

I've managed to partially correct it by moving the upper bracket as far right (east) as possible but couldn't correct it completely because it's at its limit and still needs to go a bit further. It's clearly very close because I can now get the pole to 90° but only with the bolts in the wall loosened and as tightened - it gradually decreases to 89.60° - although still better than before.

I set the dish up again and at one point was getting around 82% on each of 42e and 30w which is the best I've ever had them with the motor (considering I only normally get around 85% on those sats without it) and probably should've left it but made it worse messing with it; it's currently unchanged on 42e but down to 68% on 30w.

I've tried moving the lower K bracket in the opposite direction towards the left (west) but because it's the larger bracket with horizontal and vertical bolts, it unsurprisingly doesn't move as much. Is there any workaround such as offsetting the bottom of the pole or something?

File out the bolt holes on the brackets to allow more movement.

 

[bmitie]

can u do a pic of the pole so I can get a better idea, you have me flummoxed. and better still a pic of the rig as well.

 

[weimaraner95]

Everyone installsT&K differently top bottom visa Versa . You up a ladder doing this or do you have standing access.
With the K installed it's normally the T that's moved to achieved 90° all round .
as suggested if filing the T can be done and your only a mm out then that's your best choice. Normally the K is installed to the wall then the pole is attached to the K and you then line up the T on the pole and mark drilling holes in the centre allowing you to move left/ right to get it plumb.

If the pole is the only reason for not getting full Best SNR then File the T , good luck.
Assuming the dish is perfectly centered on the motor stub
When tightening the bolts always do as Ferret suggested as you can misalign it if you say do the top first


My brick wall is all over the place , drill holes everywhere lol 😂