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TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
— 1 -12/2012
—
www.TELE-satellite.com
on the Moteck manual I can, to some
extent, receive almost every desired
satellite. At the very least I’ll see a re-
ception indicator. The signal for stable
reception isn’t always good enough.
That’s why it pays to have a second
motor. All I have to do is press the ‘2’
button once and then the arrow but-
ton. Now I can fine-tune Motor 2 up or
down in the receiver’s motor menu until
I have a good signal. Now save the cur-
rent position and it’s all done!
As you can see in the pictures, it’s
quite obvious how I was able to im-
prove the reception of HISPASAT 30.0W
without having to get up from my easy
chair. It doesn’t get easier than this!
When everything is correctly set up,
you can switch between satellites very
quickly: ‘1’, select a channel, ‘2’ and
then back with the arrow button. You
have to get a feel for it; you have to
allow enough time for Motor 1 to drive
to the desired satellite position before
you switch to Motor 2. The DiSEqC
switch only provides power to the cur-
rently active motor. The switch setup
is actually necessary since the receiver
couldn’t provide enough power to drive
both motors at the same time anyway.
Some final thoughts: I’m amazed my-
self at the capabilities of this construc-
tion. No more fumbling around on the
roof; I can now receive all of the satel-
lites for this size of antenna guaranteed
without having to go to the antenna. I
can even receive those older satellites
that have begun to drift and thus re-
quire an elevation adjustment on the
antenna. Maybe this workshop will give
some manufacturers an idea: develop a
two-motor combo system for the two-
axis control of a satellite antenna? Or
design a satellite receiver that can con-
trol two motors at the same time?
Here are a few more construction
tips: it would help to have a signal ana-
lyzer handy, preferably with DiSEqC
1.2
support and
also a real-time
spectrum.
The
signal analyzer overview in every issue
of TELE-satellite would certainly help in
finding the right meter.
One thing for sure: you should at first
have a direct view of the antenna while
working. It is somewhat remarkable
what you can do with two motors. It’s
a good idea to avoid any collisions by
setting motor limits; improper use can
lead to damage. Not only that, make
sure that the LNB cables and especially
the ‘F’ connectors are in good shape; a
minimum of five LNB cables are used
and if only one of them is faulty, a se-
vere failure chain of events could occur.
I should know; I speak from experience
here.
The final tip: it’s best to work on the
antenna in the evenings. The Moteck
motors have an LED that shows the
status of the motor. In this setup it
would be easy to identify which motor
was currently active. It’s a great help in
finding out if the two dummy channels
used for motor control are functioning
correctly. Now it’s your turn to have fun
with this project!
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After we surfed back to channel 1 and used the arrow button
to go back to a HISPASAT channel, the antenna then turns to
HISPASAT. This time the elevation position stored in Motor 2 was
driven to first, only after that did it switch to Motor 1.
18)
But we want to improve the reception a little bit more. To do
this we switched back to Motor 2 (‘2’ button).
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With the arrow button back to GOD TV Europe.
20)
And after we adjusted the elevation position in the ‘Positioner
Menu’…
21) …
we were able to achieve a signal level of 70% on this channel.