Polar Mount setup

Discussion of large prime focus satellite dishes used for C-Band signal reception.
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mux
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Polar Mount setup

Post by mux » Sun Mar 26, 2017 8:43 pm

I am about to throw in the towel on this Cband dish setup. I have a feeling the problem with my dish is the polar mount. My zip code is 27958, I have an old 10' button dish and I have scanned in my true south Sat 78W. I used the dishpointer site to help me scan it in.

I ran into my problem right away and it was all my lack of experience but rather than setting my level meter on the elevation arm I used the center of the dish where the LNB arm fits into. I set my elevation between 97 and 98. It took a lot of tweaking but I was able to get it adjusted but I adjusted the polar mount adjustment so the polar mount is not set correctly.

From there I pointed my dish to 139W and had to a bunch more tweaking to get it to scan in. I am sure you all know what happened when I went back to my southern Sat. Yes you guessed it no signal. I really hope someone can help me out or I am going to be having a fire sale and getting rid of all my dish equipment.
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Re: Polar Mount setup

Post by fatso » Sun Mar 26, 2017 9:24 pm

Do a string test to be sure the dish isn't warped and go from there.
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mux
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Re: Polar Mount setup

Post by mux » Mon Mar 27, 2017 2:22 pm

I did a string test and the dish is not warped. Once my elevation is set how do I know what to adjust my polar mount to?
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Re: Polar Mount setup

Post by tek2000 » Mon Mar 27, 2017 4:37 pm

To properly set your elevation and declination angles, refer to this table:

http://www.tvrosat.com/resources.html
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Re: Polar Mount setup

Post by dishcrank » Wed Mar 29, 2017 11:02 pm

Hey mux,

Been there, done that!

Hardest part of a c band tracking is north/south heading and declination offset angle. The easiest is polar axis angle: set this to your latitude and leave it alone.

Try hunting for any bird. Once you get a lock, adjust the lnb skew to maximize gain. Then track east/west and record all birds you can lock. Adjust your north/south heading until you can track the maximum number of birds. Lastly, adjust the declination offset angle to get the birds low on the arc. Readjust the polar angle to lock the birds high in the arc. Fine tune everything!

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Re: Polar Mount setup

Post by mux » Thu Mar 30, 2017 3:17 pm

I have it figured out and it working great

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Re: Polar Mount setup

Post by fatso » Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:00 pm

An excellent TVRO reference book is "Home Satellite TV Installation and Troubleshooting Manual" by Dr. Frank Baylin. First published in 1985, it was written by a physicist with an interest in TVRO. He updated the book well into the 1990s. I always keep the latest edition on my desk.

I don't know if it is still in print, but it should be available at your local library. This book will help a lot of you guys with your installs! :bigsmile
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