Setting up a Big Dish

[stone1150]

SUMMARY:

Find top satellite first then satellite at lowest arc position then program
satellites in the middle between these two then program your way down to the lowest satellite at the other end of the arc. Always adjust north-south axis before making elevation/declination adjustments. Always adjust elevation before making any declination adjustments. To determine whether to make elevation or declination adjustment, program as many satellites as possible into satellite receiver then use this chart to analytically see which adjustment is appropriate.(The best manner to understand this is to understand that the satellite arc makes a half circle and that the tracking movement of mount of dish makes another half circle and when these two half circles are aligned then dish is properly tracked.)If at any time a satellite signal quality can be improved by manually lifting or lowering the dish then your adjustments are not complete. A perfectly tracked C-band arc can appear to be 'all over the place' when you go to program the Ku satellites - do not be shocked. So repeat fine tuning steps on the Ku arc but stay away from further north/south adjustments in Ku fine tuning unless you are really convinced it will be beneficial or you can really get 'mucked up'!! Be sure, on Ku, that you are not chasing weak or half transponder channels and that your dish size relative to site location relative to transmitted footprint is conducive for high quality reception from the questionable weak signal, i.e. check the footprint of that transponder to see if it is being transmitted to your region. Ku signal strength can vary greatly from transponder to transponder within a satellite - especially on hybrid C/Ku satellites. On Ku, national news feeds are
usually strong throughout the coverage region; regional feeds may be on a spot beam; local news feeds may be uplinked weakly and dependent on a very large dish at the home station to bring in a quality picture; private educational classes are often half transponder transmissions and depend on a very large dish at the receive site to bring in a quality picture. For dedicated Ku satellites the energy level of the transponders is more even and your major problems will be one of spot beams - you may be under a strong regional coverage yet be marginal in a spot coverage.If you really want to 'play' with your system further (and your wife does not mind), position and leave the dish on the satellite with weak channels and experiment with moving the focal point (the feed) in and out slightly then with moving the setting of the F/D ratio slightly. Remember that warped dishes (antenna
symmetry), missing panels, hail damaged panels and loose bolts in the mount (especially check the bolt that connects the pivot axis tube to the mount cap) will deter top performance from your system - and Ku reception is the most sensitive to incorrect focal length and F/D settings.When you are satisfied with your efforts, recheck that all bolts are completely tight and definitely tighten the mount cap to axis tube bolt. Also, make a definitive mark on the pole/mount cap for the correct alignment just in case extremely high winds should cause the dish to rotate slightly on the pole. In high winds, position the dish at the top of the arc at which point is the least resistance to wind forces; aiming the dish into the wind will put the most strain on your installation.