is my dish off center ???

[Magnu420]

hi guys ive just done my first motorised sat dish install (took me about 4 months,but thats another story lol)
anyway got it on 0.8w thor bbc world news signal about 95,so ive done a scan ive got 6 sats on the eastside
and 3 sats on the westside
on the eastside they are
4.8e (55 services)
9e (44 services)
13e (634 services)
19e (417 services)
26e (76 services)
28e (333 services)

on the westside im gettin
0.8w (153 services)
5w (34 services)
and 30w (135 services)

in theory i should be gettin 42e to 42w (i got a good view) but im only gettin these sats,the pole and brackets
are plumb,so my theory that the dish is slightly off center to the east ???
can anyone confirm this
my set up consists of dm500s,97'' technomate mesh dish,tm2600 motor

tia...

[PaphosAL]

It doesn't look too healthy on the 28.2ºE scan either, Mags, with only 333 services. Should be double or treble that, m8.

I'm going to stick my neck out (from my Astronomy days) and suggest that you're not quite set correctly for your precise Latitude. In other words, the imaginary axis around which your polar mount rotates isn't pointing directly at the North Star. Either that, or your dish isn't pointing directly at the celestial equator in the sky, (where all the satellites apparently sit stationary in geosynchronous orbit), but is slightly high or low of it.

If you stop the dish on 28E and then do some final altitude adjustments with a decent Sat Meter, then that tweak (in theory) should also fix the remaining Sats that you have line of sight for.

Of course, me not being motorized might mean all that is a load of bollox, LOL. But I'm just remembering how my motorized polar-mounted 80mm Refractor Telescope used to work...

Cheers- AL

[humforce]

try diffrent satellite xml or preconfig set of services

[PaphosAL]

Here's the special satellites.xml that's used in Commando 14.3 which was specially built by Satsearching for motorized setups. (See attached file, which goes in /var/etc to overwrite existing, if it exists there).

Been thinking about my 'polar axis' theory a bit more, while supping a couple of pints of Greene-King's finest (though expensive) IPA at lunchtime...

If that axis is NOT pointing directly at the North Star, but is east or west of it, then this will have the effect of your dish not pointing directly at the celestial equator from East to West in it's swing range. At one end it will be high, and at the other end low. Which way round depends on which direction the polar axis is wrongly pointing AWAY from due North...

Cheers- AL

[Magnu420]

thanks al will try them sat xml file
ive come across this which helps me a lot

[PaphosAL]

Yes, m8- that graphic portrays exactly what I was trying to explain in words.

My telescope polar mount actually contained a small spotter scope up it's axis, so you could align its cross hairs precisely on Polaris (the North Star). Maybe your Sat dish polar mount has a hole up the axis so you can do similar, by eye?

Cheers- AL

[Magnu420]

will let you know how i get on when it stops rainin
much appreciated