Tweaking your set up.
Motor your dish eastwards and westwards. Identify and note
the satellites that you can pick up, and use the positioner to peak their
reception.
Are you getting all of the satellites at the strength that
you expect, or are some satellites not present, or weak?
My guess is that you now are getting a fair number of satellites,
but that you might have no luck at all with a few of them, or are at least
getting marginal readings on the signal quality meter.
Don't worry, this is perfectly normal at this stage.
Even if you are satisfied with what you can receive, it is
pretty certain that you can do much better after some tweaking of your settings.
The bigger your dish, the greater the improvement you can expect to see afterwards.
Adopt a relaxed attitude, this is going to take some time
to get right. It is not a ten-minute job. Be calm, and think logically. If
you start getting a bit stressed out then stop, relax, have a drink or a cigarette.
(Stay away from the beer though, ladders and alcohol do not make ideal partners)
Tweaking your system is an iterative process, but at every
stage things should be getting better and better, with more satellites, more
signals being receivable.
Step 1.
Motor the dish eastward of south, to the furthest satellite
that you can receive reliably. Grasp the antenna and, without loosening any
bolts, push upwards and downwards on the rim. My guess is that reception will
improve, showing that the antenna is either tracking above or below the correct
arc.
Step 2.
Motor the dish westward of south, to the furthest satellite
that you can receive reliably. Grasp the antenna and, without loosening any
bolts, push upwards and downwards on the rim. My guess again, is that reception
will improve, showing that the antenna is either tracking above or below the
correct arc.
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Test Result from
Steps 1 and Step 2
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Corrective action
required
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If the dish is too high on the eastward side and too low
on the westward side then the entire antenna assembly is pointing too far
east of south.
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Mark the current position on the clamp and pole.
Loosen the clamp and rotate the entire assembly slightly
to the west. Re-peak the dish positions using the receiver. Re-peak the
declination setting on the central satellite.
Go back to step 1.
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If the dish is too high on the westward side and too low
on the eastward side then the entire antenna assembly is pointing too far
west of south.
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Mark the current position on the clamp and pole.
Loosen the clamp and rotate the entire assembly slightly
to the east. Re-peak the dish positions using the receiver. Re-peak the
declination setting on the central satellite.
Go back to step 1.
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If the dish is too high on both the eastward and westward sides,
then there is not enough declination offset, or the elevation angle is too
high.
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Mark the current elevation and declination offsets.
Firstly we assume that the declination setting is the one
in error.
Loosen the declination adjustment, peak the declination
angle setting and tighten up the bolt. Return to the central satellite,
re-peak this satellite by altering the elevation adjustment to compensate for
the additional declination you have added.
This, of course, will again throw the declination offset
angle out at the arc's extreme so keep repeating this procedure until no
further improvement can be made.
If the tracking gets
worse and worse, we obviously made the wrong initial assumption.
Be calm, take a deep
breath, and return the elevation and declination offsets to their original
marked positions.
This time loosen the elevation adjustment, peak the
elevation angle and tighten up the bolt. Return to the central satellite,
re-peak this satellite by altering the declination adjustment to compensate
for the reduced elevation.
This, of course, will again throw the elevation angle out
at the arc's extreme so keep repeating this procedure until no further
improvement can be made.
Go back to step 1.
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If the dish is too low on both the eastward and westward
sides, then there is too much declination offset, or the elevation is too
low.
|
Mark the current elevation and declination offsets.
Firstly we assume that the declination setting is the one
in error.
Loosen the declination adjustment, peak the declination
angle setting and tighten up the bolt. Return to the central satellite,
re-peak this satellite by altering the elevation adjustment to compensate for
the reduced amount of declination.
This of course will again throw the declination offset angle
out at the arc's extreme so keep repeating this procedure until no further
improvement can be made.
If the tracking gets
worse and worse, we obviously made the wrong initial assumption.
Be calm, take a deep
breath, and return the elevation and declination offsets to their original
marked positions.
This time loosen the elevation adjustment, peak the
elevation angle and tighten up the bolt. Return to the central satellite,
re-peak this satellite by altering the declination adjustment to compensate
for the increased elevation.
This, of course, will again throw the elevation angle out
at the arc's extreme so keep repeating this procedure until no further
improvement can be made.
Go back to step 1.
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No further perceptible improvement can be made.
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You've finished!
Pour yourself a long, cold, drink and watch some
television!
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