Problem winegard c/ku satellite dish

mrel

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Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
32
Have old Winegard C/KU band satellite dish with motor to move the dish,due the week strong wind saw wind move dish up and than back down.
Loss signal on all satellite ,manage to restore some of the satellites signal on west side 135,133,131,127,125,123 west.
But satellites 107,105,103,101,99,97,95,91,89 west not getting any signal.
All satellites mention use to get signals but not after strong wind,
What adjust need to be done to get all satellites back.
El
 

mmckenna

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Jul 27, 2005
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Hiding in a coffee shop.
The mount probably twisted/deformed. It's been nearly 30 years since I had to align one of those.

I remember having to make sure the axis of the mount was facing North. I remember having to set declination based of Latitude.
I also remember after doing all that, having to go through the arc of the antenna path and make some fine adjustments.
I also recall a fair amount of cursing and tweaking to get things right.
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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Dec 22, 2013
Messages
6,859
Last time I had one of those , the jack screw wore out at the far end of travel and would not reverse. A bungi cord strapped the length of the actuator arm was all it needed to help it find the thread to retract. And yes, the system has to be calibrated along the arc.
 

Paco-Jerte

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Nov 28, 2007
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Location
34.0500° N, 118.2500° W
Have old Winegard C/KU band satellite dish with motor to move the dish,due the week strong wind saw wind move dish up and than back down.
Loss signal on all satellite ,manage to restore some of the satellites signal on west side 135,133,131,127,125,123 west.
But satellites 107,105,103,101,99,97,95,91,89 west not getting any signal.
All satellites mention use to get signals but not after strong wind,
What adjust need to be done to get all satellites back.
El


google "satguys" and the first result is the site that can offer you many answers about CBAND.
but do not go to one called Rick's xxxx xxxx they are the worst in reputation and will get you banned just about for anything.

good luck
 

prcguy

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Jun 30, 2006
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Location
So Cal - Richardson, TX - Tewksbury, MA
The procedure to align is too complicated to list here. I would first check all components on the antenna to see if anything is broken or worn out and replace anything questionable. Then go to one of the satellite forums and get the alignment procedure. Its not that complicated, you just need to read through it a bunch of times to completely understand the concept and recognize what's going on during the alignment.
 

n2nov

Active Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2002
Messages
832
Location
Staten Island, NYC
manage to restore some of the satellites signal on west side 135,133,131,127,125,123 west.
But satellites 107,105,103,101,99,97,95,91,89 west not getting any signal.
I take it that you are closer to 100 degrees west than I am (74 degrees in NYC).
I was a satellite dealer/installer for the 10 foot and larger dishes in the 80s and 90s.
You look like you have lost the top of the arc and are better on the bottom of the arc
closer to your western horizon. That tells me that your elevation at the top of the arc
needs adjustment up or down, but the azimuth setting on the pipe is close if not spot on.
Aim the dish to a satellite due south of you (same longitude) and slowly raise and/or lower
the elevation until you see a signal. Find the top of the "box" where you lose the signal and
also find the bottom of the "box" where you lose the signal, then set it in between the two.
Track your arc through all of the satellites down to your westernmost bird. The azimuth
setting on the top of that pipe would need a slight adjustment clockwise or counter clockwise
if the westernmost bird (clearly above the horizon) is noisy. Again, find the two limits of the
"box" where the signal gets noisy and set it to the middle of those two spots. Track through
the arc completely from western horizon to the easternmost limit of your motor and you
should be good or only need minor tweaking of the above steps. While you are at it, I would
also check for loose bolts, coax cable, etc.
 

Kg9jz

Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2018
Messages
10
You are completely wrong. A bad F connector will not cause a satellite dish at all to not receive half of its arc. If it can still receive horizontal and vertical transponders on the western arc and not the eastern arc, it is because the dish is out of alignment, NOT because of a bad F connector.

I have a C and a Ku dish myself. The problem is the wind blew it out of alignment.

This is for the C band dish itself since its a lot easier to peak then if you have a smaller separate Ku dish that on a Horizon to horizon motor. Need to tune to one of the transponders on around 101W and have the signal strength screen up on the tv for the satellite receiver. If there is no signal, gently lift up or push down on the dish and see if the signal strength comes back and can get a lock on it, but you either need to be watching the tv screen itself or get a C/Ku band satellite meter with an LCD screen. Dont get one of those cheap ones with a needle thats about $7, those are worthless. I have a Satlink WS-6916 that I can take out with me to the dish and watch real time adjustments. If not, try to have the actuator move east or west a little without changing the transponder and channel. Depending on what receiver you have and if you use USALS or Diseqc to control the dish position, or if you are actually still using the C band receiver to control the satellite positions, you can go into the settings of the receiver and should be able to manually move the dish east or west without changing the saved settings for location. One of those options should give you an idea on what exactly happened.

Its possible that the dish itself was moved sideways where the mount is bolted to the mast itself. To try that, get a scribe, pen, marker, etc and draw a vertical line from the mount itself and down onto the mast. Loosen the bolts that hold the mount to the pipe that the dish is mounted on, and physically move the dish itself to the east just a little bit. Tighten the bolts then go back inside and check the arc and see if you have gained anything back from 107W to the east. If you have gained some and still have great signal strength back to 121W and past, then twist the dish on the mount a little further east and recheck. If this did happen, then you should be able to move the dish back to where it tracked the arc. But you would have to have quite a bit of wind to do that. If the ground is really soft, check the mast and see if the wind blew the mast out of plumb. A level or grabbing the dish and seeing if the mast wobbles in the ground if you gently try to move it by hand. Worst case is that twisting the dish doesnt help, which then you can move it back and line up the line you drew on the mount and mast earlier and put it back to where it exactly was before you moved it.
 

n2nov

Active Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2002
Messages
832
Location
Staten Island, NYC
adjarcsr.gif
 

mrel

Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
32
I take it that you are closer to 100 degrees west than I am (74 degrees in NYC).
I was a satellite dealer/installer for the 10 foot and larger dishes in the 80s and 90s.
You look like you have lost the top of the arc and are better on the bottom of the arc
closer to your western horizon. That tells me that your elevation at the top of the arc
needs adjustment up or down, but the azimuth setting on the pipe is close if not spot on.
Aim the dish to a satellite due south of you (same longitude) and slowly raise and/or lower
the elevation until you see a signal. Find the top of the "box" where you lose the signal and
also find the bottom of the "box" where you lose the signal, then set it in between the two.
Track your arc through all of the satellites down to your westernmost bird. The azimuth
setting on the top of that pipe would need a slight adjustment clockwise or counter clockwise
if the westernmost bird (clearly above the horizon) is noisy. Again, find the two limits of the
"box" where the signal gets noisy and set it to the middle of those two spots. Track through
the arc completely from western horizon to the easternmost limit of your motor and you
should be good or only need minor tweaking of the above steps. While you are at it, I would
also check for loose bolts, coax cable, etc.
N2NOV
Just let you know I am in Honolulu,Hawaii Latitude 21.3099n Longitude 157.8581W.
I am looking Declination chart say 3.12 i am confuse do you add 3.12 to latitude or subtract 3.12 from the latitude?
el
 

n2nov

Active Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2002
Messages
832
Location
Staten Island, NYC
Latitude + Declination
21.3099 + 3.12 = 24.4299
It depends how accurate your angle meter is.
I used to use a meter from Sweden in the 80s that had a half degree accuracy.
 

mrel

Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
32
N2nov
Found this video on youtube .
I going to try post some picture from this video.
There four pictures two each explain one set showing adjusting Elevation and other the set two pictures show adjusting of Declination.
The Elevation show he put metal plate on the pivot beam assembly and hang a inclinometer upside down can youget good measurement that way?
Next set of pictures show adjusting declination he put inclinometer on of mounting Ring is a good place to put inclinometer?
The part where by he did elevation reading where put metal plate on pivot beam assembly hang inclinometer upside down kind makes sense , because once get reflector mount on mounting ring be hard to put inclinometer on the pivot beam assembly not much space,but is reading just good or not?
I ask these questions since you was big dish installer.
El
ps can not sent other three picture because jfif files,maybe next more pictures.
 

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belvdr

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Aug 2, 2013
Messages
2,567
N2nov
Found this video on youtube .
I going to try post some picture from this video.
There four pictures two each explain one set showing adjusting Elevation and other the set two pictures show adjusting of Declination.
The Elevation show he put metal plate on the pivot beam assembly and hang a inclinometer upside down can youget good measurement that way?
Next set of pictures show adjusting declination he put inclinometer on of mounting Ring is a good place to put inclinometer?
The part where by he did elevation reading where put metal plate on pivot beam assembly hang inclinometer upside down kind makes sense , because once get reflector mount on mounting ring be hard to put inclinometer on the pivot beam assembly not much space,but is reading just good or not?
I ask these questions since you was big dish installer.
El
ps can not sent other three picture because jfif files,maybe next more pictures.
Post a link to the YouTube video and state the minutes/seconds on the timeline that reference what you’re referring to (i.e. 0:59, 1:49, etc).
 

mrel

Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
32
Post a link to the YouTube video and state the minutes/seconds on the timeline that reference what you’re referring to (i.e. 0:59, 1:49, etc).
youtube link : Tracking made easy c-band alignment
 

mrel

Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
32
N2nov
Found this video on youtube .
I going to try post some picture from this video.
There four pictures two each explain one set showing adjusting Elevation and other the set two pictures show adjusting of Declination.
The Elevation show he put metal plate on the pivot beam assembly and hang a inclinometer upside down can youget good measurement that way?
Next set of pictures show adjusting declination he put inclinometer on of mounting Ring is a good place to put inclinometer?
The part where by he did elevation reading where put metal plate on pivot beam assembly hang inclinometer upside down kind makes sense , because once get reflector mount on mounting ring be hard to put inclinometer on the pivot beam assembly not much space,but is reading just good or not?
I ask these questions since you was big dish installer.
El
ps can not sent other three picture because jfif files,maybe next more pictures.
youtube link: tracking made easy c-band dish alignment ,has video i mention in this post.
 

KMG54

Active Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Apr 24, 2011
Messages
1,255
They can be tough to tune but all of the above is correct. I no longer have a true south sat to try, closed i can get is 89W. Mkes it tricky, but works!
 
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