Motorized Dishes and True South/North
Posted by: Alan in News, Satellite, Satellite TV, tags: digital tv, fta, Motorized dish, Satellite TV, true north, true south
I’ve just added support for motorized dishes. In the dropdown box with all the satellites, you’ll find at the bottom an item called True South / True North and then various makes of satellite motors (Moteck SG2100, Satcontrol SM3D12 / SM3D22, PanSat PM900S, PowerTech DG240 and Stab HH90, Stab HH100, Stab HH120). You’ll need the True South (if you live North of the equator) or True North (if you live South of the equator) marking in order to setup your motor. When you choose the satellite motor, you’ll get the declination angle and also the dish elevation.
If you want me to add different makes of satellite motors, just let me know.
When installing a motorized dish, the key is that the pole is absolutely vertical. If it’s not then the motor can’t track the satellites along the clarke belt - you wouldn’t receive the outer satellites. If your motor and receiver supports USALS then the installation becomes a bit easier as you can plug in your latitude and longitude into the receiver and the motor is rotated to the correct satellite automatically. All you would need to do is then fine-tune the installation. Without USALS, you need to point the motorized dish directly at True South/True North (the line on the map) and then take it from there. I hope to post a full installation guide here soon.
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What a bonus it is to have the latest details on the site. Could you add a Superjack dg120 to your list of motors at a future date.
The information and guidance on here has been a godsend for me.. Keep up the good work, believe me it is greatly appreciated
Allan
Wonderful site! How about Satcatcher motors please?
Thanks, you are a great person for sharing your talents with newbies like me…
Hi, thanks for the info. I have a digipower sg2100 motor. if you can add that info, fantastic!
35 mi. west of jacksonville,site says 180 deg.,should’nt that be 185 deg for true south.
Thanks Jeff
Is moteck sg2100 the same as digipower sg2100
The Digipower SG2100 is the same as the Moteck SG2100, so please use the same settings.
@Jeffery,
The site says, azimuth (true) = 180 deg and azimuth (magnetic) = 185.7 deg to find True South. What it means is, if you have a compass corrected for magnetic deviation, use the 180 deg but if your compass is uncorrected then use the 185.7 deg (Both will point in the same direction, of course. Just the scale is a bit shifted - by 5.7 deg in your case). True South is for all locations always 180 deg, the only question is how big is the magnetic deviation.
Thanxxxxxxxxx.
I’m using a Satcontrol SM3D22. I notice at the bottom under Dish setup, it lists “elevation” @ 49.5 and “dish elevation” @ 41. Is “elevation” the motor’s elevation?
I was told that motor elevation always equals latitude, which is 34.8 for me. I’ve had much trouble with this setup. If 49.5 is the correct motor elevation, that would explain why I’m having problems.
Could you clarify?
Mike,
The first elevation @49.5 is the elevation to the (existing or non-existing) satellite exactly at True South. So, this is the angle the signal is coming at and this is what you would set your dish if it’s without a motor.
You do set the motor angle as per the scale to the latitude of your location, as you said - that’s correct. Then, you set the dish elevation on its scale to 41 (note that you must use the dish scale and not an inclinometer as your dish is probably an offset dish). And that should be it. Overall, the dish would be pointing exactly at the same spot whether it’s fixed to a motor or just to a pole.
Hope this helps a bit.
Thanks for clarifying that for me.
As it turns out, my dish has a 5 degree elevation error. Found others having the same problem as me. Checked motor elevation and added 5 deg. to give a dish elevation of 46 degrees and bang! Signal is perfect, and tracking the Clark belt perfectly.
Thanks for this awesome site, and your quick reply!
This is great!
I think there is a small bug: It does not give the closest satellite name under Sat Data but the motor name(in my case mottec sg2100. It does give the correct distance.
Thanks
Hello I have instal recently a motor the make is - MOTSAT-3 Ilusion - wath is the correct elevation ?
can you help me please. I live in Tenerife - Spain
@Rui
Never heard of Motsat 3 Illusion, sorry.
Allan,
What a wonderful website! It is worth more visiting this site than to watch DrDish TV that dedicates 5 hours for programs in german language and only 2 hours in English, giving publicity to german companies. My first question is: when will you set up a 24-hour TV program in English on Satellites to challenge DrDish that we are not fools? I so much respect the people of Germany, although we must admit that English is more widely spoken than German language.
I have a SuperJack Linear Actuator with a Reed Sensor. The model number is (HARL-3618+). When will you add its support for motorized dishes in your dropdown box? Is this model the same as SuperJack DG120 that you have already included? I have a polar mount dish of 180CM and an ASTON DS200 Positioner.
Waiting to hearing from you as soon as possible. Well done, keep it up.
Sunny.
Sunny:
Thanks for your kind words, much appreciated. DrDishTV is a great resource - can highly recommend it.
As for the motor, the different models only differ w.r.t to the dish elevation. Everything else is the same.
Btw, a great dish you’ve got there.
Alan