Help Correctly Aligning My 1.2M Channel Master Dish and moteck H-H180 motor
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There are 244 replies in this Thread which was already clicked 9,628 times. The last Post () by supwiddiss.
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Here is a pic of my motor.
@geowhitt can u please post a pic of your dish attached to your motor fully set up please
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Found on another site, looks like it dosn't matter to me......
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already seen them, yea i guess it doesn't just thought it was weird thats all, its alright finding these pics but needing to know if that person is in the uk or not and where they are is the issue here!
i should say its to do with the brackets holding the dish to the motor thats causing issues, like is it set correctly? (to far back/forward) even though i already tried both, not an easy motor/dish to get aligned!
can you post a full picture front, back and sides of your dish setup please??
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It would be pointless, i have a channel master dish on a channel master polar mount with a superjack ram setup,....
my pole and mounts i made myself so i could bolt into the fence posts (for added support) the main pole in buried 50cm into concrete base.
Probably overkill but we had 50mph winds here the other day, the 200l wheelie bin ended up half a mile away in the park.....
Reading the thread from THAT OTHER SITE HERE
It looks like some of the member have swopped the top and bottom brackets and drilled more holes.
This is not an easy install.... it looks like there has been several mods made just to get this to work, and then everyone struggles to get it to trac correctly.
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It would be pointless, i have a channel master dish on a channel master polar mount with a superjack ram setup,....
my pole and mounts i made myself so i could bolt into the fence posts (for added support) the main pole in buried 50cm into concrete base.
Probably overkill but we had 50mph winds here the other day, the 200l wheelie bin ended up half a mile away in the park.....
Reading the thread from THAT OTHER SITE HERE
It looks like some of the member have swopped the top and bottom brackets and drilled more holes.
This is not an easy install.... it looks like there has been several mods made just to get this to work, and then everyone struggles to get it to trac correctly.
Hey Guys so another update: just been outside adjusted my elevation bolt to 40 (just because), and plugged my lnb into my xfinder3 and i got 15% signal on Thor 0.8w then lost it, and couldn't get it back i done that by moving the dish up and down, so im getting weak signal on the xfinder3 (sat finder), atleast im getting somewhere now, and yes i know it still needs some adjusting (thinking its still to low to the ground possible signals being blocked by neighbours fence)... hence why the dish needs to go higher (meaning it will also be anchored to the ground) to stop it blowing over) Which im hoping will fix my issue now that im able to get 15% signal (clearly i done something right) 😀👍 fingers crossed i can get signal to 99% then it should be able to track the arc (to cold outside now will try again another day)
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My Turn. Listen up!
Your HH mount is a polar mount. Being a polar mount you have to get the pivotal axis of the motor pointing directly at the North Star.
See the clip of your motor? With the red arrow? The arrow is pointing true North. Not magnetic North.
The scale on the mount may be very accurate, it may not be. I don't care. Get a digital protractor.
Get an imaginary line going straight through the pivot center pointing TRUE NORTH. That will be your latitude angle.
Next. See the first picture? That illustrates the offset dish at 0 degrees declination.
IF you get the polar angle set for your latitude. And the dish mounted at 0 degrees declination.
AND you swing the motor West to East. You will be skimming over the top of every single satellite in the Clarke Belt.
They are all parked out there ~ 22,000 miles (homey don't do kilometers).....over the equator of the rock we call home.
So you need to dip the dish. Just the dish. DOWN. Adding Declination. To let it point at satellites. Not over the top of them.
Once the latitude is set and fixed. The only time you adjust it is later to correct tracking errors that WILL need to be tweaked.
The second clip shows the dish aligned with true North, correct for your Latitude. WITHOUT declination. Imagine a globe superimposed under it.
Get it? The dish is pointed perpendicular with the motor pivot angle. And is tracking right over the top of every single satellite in the arc.
Add the correct declination.
If you have your vbox outside. Use your phone app to find a satellite that is closest to Zenith. Or the highest point in the sky that the dish will point.
Me? I run my actuator with a 12 volt battery from my Harley or lawn tractor. Polarity one way on the motor, it goes East. Swap the wires, it goes West.
Slow.
Signal finder hooked up, receiver hooked up outside (I don't even now why people buy those damed things....sat finders....JUNK).
Time to hunt for a signal. Tune to a known strong transponder on a sat closest to the highest point in the sky.
Remember the phone app? You better!
Oh yeah. While you're at it. Skew angle on polar mounts. With the dish at zenith. The 0 scale on the lnbf needs to be pointed straight up (or straight down toward the ground. So one probe in the throat of it is straight up (or down at your toes). And the other probe level with the horizon.
Again. Perhaps tweaking to peak signal later on.
Bump the dish E/W and check if you snag a signal. Pull down, push up the dish rim gently to see if you need to tweak declination.
And gently move the rim E-W. Again checking if you snag a signal. Patience, grasshoppa'. Patience.
Yay. You got your first satellite. Tweak only the decination and E-W motor position. Do NOT touch elevation.
Now you need to snag a signal a few degrees East and then West.
And then you WILL need the tracking error solution figure-outter-er sheet to learn and fix why the dish isn't tracking correctly.
ChannelMasterHH.jpg
Tuning the arc.jpgI overheard an old man tell a dude once. "Boy, you give me the liqui-sh**s".
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Display More
My Turn. Listen up!
Your HH mount is a polar mount. Being a polar mount you have to get the pivotal axis of the motor pointing directly at the North Star.
See the clip of your motor? With the red arrow? The arrow is pointing true North. Not magnetic North.
The scale on the mount may be very accurate, it may not be. I don't care. Get a digital protractor.
Get an imaginary line going straight through the pivot center pointing TRUE NORTH. That will be your latitude angle.
Next. See the first picture? That illustrates the offset dish at 0 degrees declination.
IF you get the polar angle set for your latitude. And the dish mounted at 0 degrees declination.
AND you swing the motor West to East. You will be skimming over the top of every single satellite in the Clarke Belt.
They are all parked out there ~ 22,000 miles (homey don't do kilometers).....over the equator of the rock we call home.
So you need to dip the dish. Just the dish. DOWN. Adding Declination. To let it point at satellites. Not over the top of them.
Once the latitude is set and fixed. The only time you adjust it is later to correct tracking errors that WILL need to be tweaked.
The second clip shows the dish aligned with true North, correct for your Latitude. WITHOUT declination. Imagine a globe superimposed under it.
Get it? The dish is pointed perpendicular with the motor pivot angle. And is tracking right over the top of every single satellite in the arc.
Add the correct declination.
If you have your vbox outside. Use your phone app to find a satellite that is closest to Zenith. Or the highest point in the sky that the dish will point.
Me? I run my actuator with a 12 volt battery from my Harley or lawn tractor. Polarity one way on the motor, it goes East. Swap the wires, it goes West.
Slow.
Signal finder hooked up, receiver hooked up outside (I don't even now why people buy those damed things....sat finders....JUNK).
Time to hunt for a signal. Tune to a known strong transponder on a sat closest to the highest point in the sky.
Remember the phone app? You better!
Oh yeah. While you're at it. Skew angle on polar mounts. With the dish at zenith. The 0 scale on the lnbf needs to be pointed straight up (or straight down toward the ground. So one probe in the throat of it is straight up (or down at your toes). And the other probe level with the horizon.
Again. Perhaps tweaking to peak signal later on.
Bump the dish E/W and check if you snag a signal. Pull down, push up the dish rim gently to see if you need to tweak declination.
And gently move the rim E-W. Again checking if you snag a signal. Patience, grasshoppa'. Patience.
Yay. You got your first satellite. Tweak only the decination and E-W motor position. Do NOT touch elevation.
Now you need to snag a signal a few degrees East and then West.
And then you WILL need the tracking error solution figure-outter-er sheet to learn and fix why the dish isn't tracking correctly.
ChannelMasterHH.jpg
Tuning the arc.jpgI overheard an old man tell a dude once. "Boy, you give me the liqui-sh**s".
thanks but i dont understand any of that....
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Being nice here.
It's time to start understanding because stabbing in the dark wont get you anywhere at all.
If things could be explained any better then you should ask. This is the basics of the similarities of how a telescope with equatorial mount is setup once the tripod legs are stabbed in the dirt and it's set level.
The "Just Because" thing you wrote. If you want to receive one and only one satellite, that may fly.
You stated this data for your location:Dish Setup Data
Elevation: 30.0°
Azimuth (true): 57.3°
Azimuth (magn.): 57.3°
LNB Skew [?]: 0.0°
If my arrow were pointing straight up in the sky inline with the ground pole (which I hope is 100% level all the way around it).
And you tilt the mount using the scale for elevation to 30 degrees. Like the list above says it should be for your location. Right?
The arrow will hopefully be tilted back from vertical 30 degrees also.
Okay. Then you need a compass at the very least. To spin the dish mount so that the LNB on the dish points true South. Not magnetic south.
That is the azimuth angle. If you get in front of the dish and look straight at the LNB.
Or better yet. Put a string across the face of the dish horizontally. And tie another string dead nuts in the middle of the first one.
Extend that string out to the centerline of the LNB across the top of it. Maintaining 90 degrees measured where the 2 strings meet at the dish center.
If you look straight along the LNB-dish string. Spin the entire mount on the pole so that the string is aimed at 57.3 degrees.
Then adding 180 degrees to that. 237.3.
A compass put along the string reads 57.3 degrees looking at the dish face.
And the string pointing south reads 237.3 degrees. Your true south.
Getting this 100% correct is paramount. Understanding it is paramount.
It's not a "Just Because" thing.
Declination is the next thing. Follow Saturn. Jupiter, Mars across the sky all night long.
Satellites follow a similar arc but of course are in a fixed position.
Again. My arrow and the perpendicular red connector at 90 degrees to it.
If I setup my telescope the exact same way (Your dish is a telescope...and it too has an equatorial...polar...modified German.....mount)
If I swung the telescope across the sky looking for planets. I would swing high, right over them.
So I would add declination...an angle lower than 90 degrees to the polar axis. And then I can track that planet all across the sky and be able to find it fast again even if I walked away for a bit.
Satellites follow a similar arc. You can see that in a phone app with AR view where you look at the sky through the camera.
Can't explain it any better. Cut a sheet of paper and make a mask. Read and understand every single paragraph. Because that's how you have to do it all. -
The pics i have put on are all in the UK.
My dish is not set up as yet thats to do when its warm.
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The pics i have put on are all in the UK.
My dish is not set up as yet thats to do when its warm.
Display MoreBeing nice here.
It's time to start understanding because stabbing in the dark wont get you anywhere at all.
If things could be explained any better then you should ask. This is the basics of the similarities of how a telescope with equatorial mount is setup once the tripod legs are stabbed in the dirt and it's set level.
The "Just Because" thing you wrote. If you want to receive one and only one satellite, that may fly.
You stated this data for your location:Dish Setup Data
Elevation: 30.0°
Azimuth (true): 57.3°
Azimuth (magn.): 57.3°
LNB Skew [?]: 0.0°
If my arrow were pointing straight up in the sky inline with the ground pole (which I hope is 100% level all the way around it).
And you tilt the mount using the scale for elevation to 30 degrees. Like the list above says it should be for your location. Right?
The arrow will hopefully be tilted back from vertical 30 degrees also.
Okay. Then you need a compass at the very least. To spin the dish mount so that the LNB on the dish points true South. Not magnetic south.
That is the azimuth angle. If you get in front of the dish and look straight at the LNB.
Or better yet. Put a string across the face of the dish horizontally. And tie another string dead nuts in the middle of the first one.
Extend that string out to the centerline of the LNB across the top of it. Maintaining 90 degrees measured where the 2 strings meet at the dish center.
If you look straight along the LNB-dish string. Spin the entire mount on the pole so that the string is aimed at 57.3 degrees.
Then adding 180 degrees to that. 237.3.
A compass put along the string reads 57.3 degrees looking at the dish face.
And the string pointing south reads 237.3 degrees. Your true south.
Getting this 100% correct is paramount. Understanding it is paramount.
It's not a "Just Because" thing.
Declination is the next thing. Follow Saturn. Jupiter, Mars across the sky all night long.
Satellites follow a similar arc but of course are in a fixed position.
Again. My arrow and the perpendicular red connector at 90 degrees to it.
If I setup my telescope the exact same way (Your dish is a telescope...and it too has an equatorial...polar...modified German.....mount)
If I swung the telescope across the sky looking for planets. I would swing high, right over them.
So I would add declination...an angle lower than 90 degrees to the polar axis. And then I can track that planet all across the sky and be able to find it fast again even if I walked away for a bit.
Satellites follow a similar arc. You can see that in a phone app with AR view where you look at the sky through the camera.
Can't explain it any better. Cut a sheet of paper and make a mask. Read and understand every single paragraph. Because that's how you have to do it all.STILL DONT UNDERSTAND U!!, you need to go and read my post on page 1!!! aka this post!!
Help Correctly Aligning My 1.2M Channel Master Dish and moteck H-H180 motor
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The pics i have put on are all in the UK.
My dish is not set up as yet thats to do when its warm.
ok
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The pics i have put on are all in the UK.
My dish is not set up as yet thats to do when its warm.
ok
I understand. So you have a situation where comprehension is a little difficult.
You have also posted this exact topic on satelliteguys. And many have assisted in giving you advice.
There is very little difference in setting up a dish mount like this or a Stab type smaller dish mount that you mentioned in your opening post.
If you are unable understand all of the advice of others. And the weather prevents you from being at the dish to set it up.
I would ask that you read. And read. And read again.
And then one by one list the parts that you do not understand.
But it will be very difficult to assist you if you cannot perform the correct steps in person with you at the dish.
You will need to start somewhere. And that is all listed in my two replies to you.
And the other that jump in to offer assistance.
You must understand all of the setup geometry. And there is (again) very little difference if you have setup a smaller motorized dish mount.
Let us know when you are ready to do it.
And please pick a website instead of asking all over the place. It confuses you and it frustrates us. -
Display More
The pics i have put on are all in the UK.
My dish is not set up as yet thats to do when its warm.
ok
I understand. So you have a situation where comprehension is a little difficult.
You have also posted this exact topic on satelliteguys. And many have assisted in giving you advice.
There is very little difference in setting up a dish mount like this or a Stab type smaller dish mount that you mentioned in your opening post.
If you are unable understand all of the advice of others. And the weather prevents you from being at the dish to set it up.
I would ask that you read. And read. And read again.
And then one by one list the parts that you do not understand.
But it will be very difficult to assist you if you cannot perform the correct steps in person with you at the dish.
You will need to start somewhere. And that is all listed in my two replies to you.
And the other that jump in to offer assistance.
You must understand all of the setup geometry. And there is (again) very little difference if you have setup a smaller motorized dish mount.
Let us know when you are ready to do it.
And please pick a website instead of asking all over the place. It confuses you and it frustrates us.Yes i asked elsewhere and they have been wrongly blocked me just for asking for help hence why im asking here now, not my fault its not easy to do, i can do stuff its just at the min while its cold due to the british weather, its difficult but i will get there, if i dont then i will get someone to come and do it for me (which most likely wont happen due to noone being able to do such a task)
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Display More
Being nice here.
It's time to start understanding because stabbing in the dark wont get you anywhere at all.
If things could be explained any better then you should ask. This is the basics of the similarities of how a telescope with equatorial mount is setup once the tripod legs are stabbed in the dirt and it's set level.
The "Just Because" thing you wrote. If you want to receive one and only one satellite, that may fly.
You stated this data for your location:Dish Setup Data
Elevation: 30.0°
Azimuth (true): 57.3°
Azimuth (magn.): 57.3°
LNB Skew [?]: 0.0°
If my arrow were pointing straight up in the sky inline with the ground pole (which I hope is 100% level all the way around it).
And you tilt the mount using the scale for elevation to 30 degrees. Like the list above says it should be for your location. Right?
The arrow will hopefully be tilted back from vertical 30 degrees also.
Okay. Then you need a compass at the very least. To spin the dish mount so that the LNB on the dish points true South. Not magnetic south.
That is the azimuth angle. If you get in front of the dish and look straight at the LNB.
Or better yet. Put a string across the face of the dish horizontally. And tie another string dead nuts in the middle of the first one.
Extend that string out to the centerline of the LNB across the top of it. Maintaining 90 degrees measured where the 2 strings meet at the dish center.
If you look straight along the LNB-dish string. Spin the entire mount on the pole so that the string is aimed at 57.3 degrees.
Then adding 180 degrees to that. 237.3.
A compass put along the string reads 57.3 degrees looking at the dish face.
And the string pointing south reads 237.3 degrees. Your true south.
Getting this 100% correct is paramount. Understanding it is paramount.
It's not a "Just Because" thing.
Declination is the next thing. Follow Saturn. Jupiter, Mars across the sky all night long.
Satellites follow a similar arc but of course are in a fixed position.
Again. My arrow and the perpendicular red connector at 90 degrees to it.
If I setup my telescope the exact same way (Your dish is a telescope...and it too has an equatorial...polar...modified German.....mount)
If I swung the telescope across the sky looking for planets. I would swing high, right over them.
So I would add declination...an angle lower than 90 degrees to the polar axis. And then I can track that planet all across the sky and be able to find it fast again even if I walked away for a bit.
Satellites follow a similar arc. You can see that in a phone app with AR view where you look at the sky through the camera.
Can't explain it any better. Cut a sheet of paper and make a mask. Read and understand every single paragraph. Because that's how you have to do it all.so is this satellite data info for aligning to Thor 0.8w so my dish can track the arc correctly? Did you select kings lynn, norfolk, uk, motorised?
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Update:
i have now got 1 pallet, which is on top of my concreate base, and my dish attached to the base is now on top of the pallet, bringing it off the ground by a bit more than it was before, and yes its flat etc, see pics, obviously still no signal, but it looks better than it was before!, obviously it still needs aligning correctly but just wanted to post these pics to show what i have done today,also put the backs of stones back on due to slabs not being delivered yet..., the pallet might look slightly off to the right side but its not, ps the deinclination apparently is correct?...
does the dish face bracket look correct? (just by looking at my pics).....
also waiting on my Inclinometer to de delivered (as of today still not arrived) :( once it does it "should help alot i guess"
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You must understand. You have to set up the whole mount correctly first. Then if you wish to find 0.8 W you can do that after.
And I forgot to mention also. If you have moved the motor at all. Before setting it up properly. You will have to return it to the 0 reference that should be on the motor itself. Understand?
Very similar to the Stab satellite motors that you say you are familiar with.
From post #13. Jens is correct.
The first thing after setting up the mount as accurate as possible.
Is to find the True South satellite for your longitude.
You say yours is 0.4023 W.So selecting Thor at 0.8 W would be a very good choice.
We have to understand together. Your motor should be mounted correctly on the ground pole.
You have the elevation angle set as accurately as you are able.
You have the dish declination set correctly.
After this you do NOT move the motor on the ground pole.
You DO run the motor with electricity to find Thor.
A phone application will let you look through the camera lens and see exactly where it is in the sky.
You move the dish motor with electricity to aim it at Thor as close as you can.
Then you can gently pull or push the bottom of the dish. And gently pull or push the edge of the dish.
You need to find signal on a strong transponder on Thor.
If you find signal but find that the dish has to go East or West a little bit.
Use electricity to nugde it that way.
If you find a signal. And the bottom of the dish rim had to be pulled up in the air or pushed down to the ground just a little bit.
Then you can slightly adjust the Elevation on the dish mount.
The rest is similar to the mount that you are familar with. Use the Philosophy chart in post #87 to figure out how to adjust the dish mount for other satellites in the arc.
You WILL need to make sure that at first when you do look for a neighbor satellite.
When you do locate it and get signal.You HAVE to again check if pushing or pulling the dish rim at the bottom of it makes signal better or worse.
Then looking at the Philosophy chart.
SLOWLY adjust the motor mount on the pole.
Eventually you will be able to track satellites and keep a very good signal.
It is VERY similar to the way you set up the STAB motor.
You can ask more questions. Everything you need to know to set up the motor on the ground pole is here.
You HAVE to be able to go outside and do all of that first.
If right now, Today. You cannot do that.
Please. Wait until you can.
You seem to have the skills to edit images and add graphics to them.
And I hope when you are able to go outside to start PROPERLY doing the setup.
You have a digital angle gauge or protractor that can measure at least to 0.1 degree. It will save you a ton of time.
Because the stamped scales on the motor and dish mount are only close. They are not exact.
If you have no more questions. Please. Let's just wait until you can go outside and verify that ALL angles are correct.
Do not forget to return the motor to the 0 reference marking on it. Just like the Stab type mount that you know.
Stay here please. You will confuse and frustrate other guys on other sites and they will think that you are irritating them.
Everything that you need to know has been repeated in pretty much the exact same way.
The only thing left is for YOU to understand and absorb the steps to do it.
And be at your dish to perform every single step. Print this out. Use a highlighter to mark all of the procedures.
Lets all wait until you can go outside again. Because going any further will be a pain in the ass without you being able to actually do it.
Deal?????
Hopefully the admins will keep this open. -
Display More
You must understand. You have to set up the whole mount correctly first. Then if you wish to find 0.8 W you can do that after.
And I forgot to mention also. If you have moved the motor at all. Before setting it up properly. You will have to return it to the 0 reference that should be on the motor itself. Understand?
Very similar to the Stab satellite motors that you say you are familiar with.
From post #13. Jens is correct.
The first thing after setting up the mount as accurate as possible.
Is to find the True South satellite for your longitude.
You say yours is 0.4023 W.So selecting Thor at 0.8 W would be a very good choice.
We have to understand together. Your motor should be mounted correctly on the ground pole.
You have the elevation angle set as accurately as you are able.
You have the dish declination set correctly.
After this you do NOT move the motor on the ground pole.
You DO run the motor with electricity to find Thor.
A phone application will let you look through the camera lens and see exactly where it is in the sky.
You move the dish motor with electricity to aim it at Thor as close as you can.
Then you can gently pull or push the bottom of the dish. And gently pull or push the edge of the dish.
You need to find signal on a strong transponder on Thor.
If you find signal but find that the dish has to go East or West a little bit.
Use electricity to nugde it that way.
If you find a signal. And the bottom of the dish rim had to be pulled up in the air or pushed down to the ground just a little bit.
Then you can slightly adjust the Elevation on the dish mount.
The rest is similar to the mount that you are familar with. Use the Philosophy chart in post #87 to figure out how to adjust the dish mount for other satellites in the arc.
You WILL need to make sure that at first when you do look for a neighbor satellite.
When you do locate it and get signal.You HAVE to again check if pushing or pulling the dish rim at the bottom of it makes signal better or worse.
Then looking at the Philosophy chart.
SLOWLY adjust the motor mount on the pole.
Eventually you will be able to track satellites and keep a very good signal.
It is VERY similar to the way you set up the STAB motor.
You can ask more questions. Everything you need to know to set up the motor on the ground pole is here.
You HAVE to be able to go outside and do all of that first.
If right now, Today. You cannot do that.
Please. Wait until you can.
You seem to have the skills to edit images and add graphics to them.
And I hope when you are able to go outside to start PROPERLY doing the setup.
You have a digital angle gauge or protractor that can measure at least to 0.1 degree. It will save you a ton of time.
Because the stamped scales on the motor and dish mount are only close. They are not exact.
If you have no more questions. Please. Let's just wait until you can go outside and verify that ALL angles are correct.
Do not forget to return the motor to the 0 reference marking on it. Just like the Stab type mount that you know.
Stay here please. You will confuse and frustrate other guys on other sites and they will think that you are irritating them.
Everything that you need to know has been repeated in pretty much the exact same way.
The only thing left is for YOU to understand and absorb the steps to do it.
And be at your dish to perform every single step. Print this out. Use a highlighter to mark all of the procedures.
Lets all wait until you can go outside again. Because going any further will be a pain in the ass without you being able to actually do it.
Deal?????
Hopefully the admins will keep this open.too much info there, yes i can go outside today (its sunny here currently), urm returning motor to 0 .... points the dish east and down (it basically points to the ground at a weird angle), question does any of my pics look correct?
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hi you go to 1west and aligen dish fom there with your insctrion aftre that you silgh move your lnb west or left to give more signal i have motorise dish i allway set dish on 1west after tune all satllite
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hi you go to 1west and aligen dish fom there with your insctrion aftre that you silgh move your lnb west or left to give more signal i have motorise dish i allway set dish on 1west after tune all satllite
already know that thanks
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