Supporting the super jack.

How do you move your dish across the satellite arc? Discuss your motorized equipment here.
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belter-one
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Supporting the super jack.

Post by belter-one » Mon Oct 28, 2019 12:13 pm

Hello,

I am about to re-position the super jack (that moves our 10 foot dish) such that we will be able to get over to 65W, even if it means losing 139W. I attempted to move the dish from 87W to 85W, and the actuator would not move. I went down to the dish and saw that the nut was very loose on the bolt that connects the actuator arm to the dish. I will tighten this up, and expect the actuator to move to the east again, once the tightened bolts re-establish the normal path for the actuator arm to push and pull through the Clarke belt. However, I cannot help but notice that the actuator sleeve will have to be tightened very close to its end (where the threaded arm exits and enters the sleeve). This puts a lot of torque on the bolt, nut and the actuator arm. I am inclined to find or make a scissor jack and position it, carefully, so that the sleeve is supported near the bottom, removing this torque. It might seem a little AR, but has anyone else bothered to do this? Any suggestions would be welcome.

Enjoying a cold, crisp sunny morning,

belter-one

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Re: Supporting the super jack.

Post by tek2000 » Mon Oct 28, 2019 1:59 pm

Didn't you get an actuator plate with your dish? Rather than bolting the actuator jack to the dish arm, you bolt the actuator plate to the arm and the jack to the actuator plate. This gives the jack more leverage and allows for more travel.

BTW, there is nothing much on 65w c band for us (south american beam), but if you can get it down to 55.5w and 58w, there is quite a bit of ITC content. Another strategy you can try is to install the actuator jack on the other side of the dish and start pushing from 55.5w up to 139w. Nothing much on 139, 137, 135 or even 133, so you could set the limit to 131w to avoid flopping.
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Re: Supporting the super jack. Not. :-)

Post by belter-one » Mon Oct 28, 2019 2:27 pm

Hi tek2000,

Thank you for the reply. I do have the actuator plate installed. I will upload a photo later today, to see if I managed to do it wrong somehow. I went down and observed that the actuator assembly moves with the dish, and is not stationary, so a stationary support will not work. I have enough room left to get the east arc of interest. I am not worried about losing anything above 133W. There is a FTA WeatherNation channel at 65W that looks interesting. There is also some awesome stuff further east, as you kindly mentioned. Thank you for your help, and may the Clarke belt smile upon your receiver.

Uploading pictures later today,

belter-one

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Re: Supporting the super jack.

Post by belter-one » Mon Oct 28, 2019 5:01 pm

Actuator-assembly.jpg
Actuator assembly in all its glory.
tek2000 wrote:
Mon Oct 28, 2019 1:59 pm
Didn't you get an actuator plate with your dish? Rather than bolting the actuator jack to the dish arm, you bolt the actuator plate to the arm and the jack to the actuator plate. This gives the jack more leverage and allows for more travel.

BTW, there is nothing much on 65w c band for us (south american beam), but if you can get it down to 55.5w and 58w, there is quite a bit of ITC content. Another strategy you can try is to install the actuator jack on the other side of the dish and start pushing from 55.5w up to 139w. Nothing much on 139, 137, 135 or even 133, so you could set the limit to 131w to avoid flopping.
Hi tek2000,

Thank you for this useful information. Please see attached, a photo of the actuator assembly including the aforementioned actuator plate. I believe this is installed correctly? I'm going to go down and move the actuator arm back a little more, in order to get more of the eastern part of the arc.

Have a Great day,

belter-one

P.S. Viva la Canada!

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Re: Supporting the super jack.

Post by fatso » Mon Oct 28, 2019 6:04 pm

Nice. It looks like you are on the west coast with that mount. Just an aside to prevent rust build up, I always lube my nuts (the ones on the dish :lol: ) with grease. The cap bolts and screws too. It keeps everything looking new.

There are two satellites at that orbital location. Eutelsat and Starone. They have different beam patterns. I think I saw Cine Brasil on there last time. On the ku side TV Marti is still there but others seem to be gone for me. It couldn't hurt to do a blind scan on these birds cause they keep moving things around all the time.

starone65.png
eutelsat65b.png
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Re: Supporting the super jack.

Post by belter-one » Mon Oct 28, 2019 7:42 pm

Thank you,

For that useful information. I will start to lube them, after I replace them. I did not before because I thought they would loosen with lube. Silly me. I will blind scan these birdies, If I can get that far east, and report the results. My latitude is circa 124°W. I wonder if that matters?

A beautiful evening here,

belter-one

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Re: Supporting the super jack.

Post by dishcrank » Tue Oct 29, 2019 3:40 pm

I wouldn't lube unless you are in a hot, humid location by the sea where corrosion is a huge problem. Just get a can of anti-rust metallic paint and spray paint them black.

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