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Smoky said:
OK, now I am really confused.? How does one peak the skew without using the OPI.? For purposes of an explanation, please assume only one person is available to do the setup.? This has been my assumption in all I have said in this thread... only one peron to do the setup.
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If by using the word, peaking, to mean obtaining an acceptable skew when not able to pass XPol -- you don't. That is the point I? have been making here. That plus explaining that the BD will not lessen the trips you would ever have to make to the roof. That is why I have mentioned you will need both an OPI and a BD -- or an OPI by itself "if you ever have to adjust the skew by yourself". If you pass all of the time, you won't need the OPI.

Now, the matter of whether we should always strive for that perfect XPol number is another issue - but related. The forum Ron and I frequent has members that insist on the need to do that adjustment whenever we are less than perfect. Others don't believe is all that necessary. If one goes to installers school, they are taught the former. As I have mentioned, my personal feelings based on 4 years using the dish are that if one does the best possible setup -- the skew will be OK. Again, I have never had to adjust mine.


 
Tom said:
That's what my installer told me Ron and is what I've been doing.
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That is what I do.  If the cross-pol is acceptable forget it.  Like I said in all the setups we have done with our dish this was the first time we failed cross-pol and had to re adjust skew.  FWIW the skew is now about 3 degrees less than called for. Mast is plumb.
 
Ron said:
FWIW the skew is now about 3 degrees less than called for. Mast is plumb.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll remember that.

BTW how do you adjust plumb on your roof mount? Does it have fine adjustments, or do you merely level the coach and the mast is then automatically plumb?
 
Tom said:
Thanks, I'll remember that.

BTW how do you adjust plumb on your roof mount? Does it have fine adjustments, or do you merely level the coach and the mast is then automatically plumb?
Click to expand...

When installed I leveled the mast with the coach level.  There is also a T level on the mount that was adjusted to agree with the level coach.  I have also check the mast for level on a couple of occasions to make sure the levels on the mount are still correct.  Nothing has changed since it was installed.  So basically if the coach is level the mast is plumb and the levels on the mount can confirm the coach and mast is level.

 
Ron said, "However if the cross -pol is not acceptable then adjustment to the skew is required.  If an OPI is used then it is necessary to reinstall the OPI to measure the cross-pol while adjusting the Skew setting. "

This is what I mean by peaking the skew.

One cannot simply trust the skew scale on the dish.  Especially when you have overall signal strength problems (avg around 59) as I do.  The skew tuning has to be right on and the skew scale is not precise enough to guarantee that.  I suspect that if you are getting signal strenght into the 70s, you likely can get a good enough skew with the naked eye using the dish skew scale.

Boy oh boy I look forward to all the QZ experts working on my dish next month!!  :D
 
Thanks Ron, got it. So, if I buy a roof mount and can't pass cross-pol, I just adjust the jacks until I pass  ;D
 
Tom said:
Thanks Ron, got it. So, if I buy a roof mount and can't pass cross-pol, I just adjust the jacks until I pass? ;D
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Not a good idea Tom.  ;) ;D However, After the system is set up with the coach level if the coach becomes unlevel as indicated by reduced SS you can relevel with the jacks and be ok.
 
It would probably work as well as any of the other magic tricks Smoky.
 
Hi Ron? What is an acceptable cross - pol? number?
Here is what I got when I ran Auto cross - pol.
Status: Complete
Isolation: 65
Result: PASS
Should I adjust Skew or try to fine tune the dish?
Mike






Ron said:
When setting up the dish the skew is set to a setting that is determined along with elevation and azimuth. after pointing the dish and peaking for the best signal strength I go to the computer and check the cross pol. ?If the cross - pol passes with an acceptable number so 72 then no further action is required. ?However if the cross -pol is not acceptable then adjustment to the skew is required. ?If an OPI is used then it is necessary to reinstall the OPI to measure the cross-pol while adjusting the Skew setting. It is possible to adjust the skew while monitoring the computer screen either on a laptop near the antenna or by having a second person monitor the computer display can communicate the numbers displayed while adjusting the dish.

FWIW I actually failed cross-pol when I set up near Dallas this time and I had to make a second trip to the roof. ?Sam monitored the computer display and called out the numbers while I adjusted the skew. ?Took maybe two minutes to make this adjustment. ?This was the first time I had to make a second trip to the roof to adjust cross pol when setting up during our travels.
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MikeCoke said:
Hi Ron? What is an acceptable cross - pol? number?
Here is what I got when I ran Auto cross - pol.
Status: Complete
Isolation: 65
Result: PASS
Should I adjust Skew or try to fine tune the dish?
Mike
Click to expand...

A lot depends on which satellite and which transponder you are on.  I.E. when I was on Satmex5 signal strength was in the 90/s and cross pol in the mid 70/s to high 80/s.  On AMC9 I get SS in the 60/s to 80/s depending on location.  Right now, south of Houston, we have a SS of 80 and cross pol passed at 72. 

My cross-pol normally runs in the high 60s to 80 with most being in the 70/s.  Normally if you check your cross pol in the manual mode and it passes steady then pass then in  automatic mode  you are OK.  The manual check is more stringent than the automatic mode. If you just barely pass or have a lot of fails when checking in the manual mode you may be able to pass in automatic but this is not really a good setup. 


 
Well, between the words PASS and FAIL... Pass is the good one :)

Bit like my last medical lab work... The doctor read the results, and the normals, all results were
well within normal,  very well within normal range.

Some times,, normal is a good thing
 
MikeCoke said:
I went ahead & did a Manual cross-pol & fine turned all the adjustment & now I get the below.

Status: Complete
Isolation: 91
Result: PASS

Mike 
Click to expand...

That is great. Did you adjust just the skew or did you also make a slight adjustment to the Azimuth?
 
Hi Ron, I first installed the fine elevation tool I got on eBay then I adjusted the elevation to best siginal, then did the side to side adjustment.
After both of those I adjusted the Skew.

Here is another question for you. I read on Direcway's site the you should use a Wireless Access Point & not a Wireless Router. They Say"
A router is not the best choice for this type of network. A better choice would be a hard wired hub or a wireless access point."
I currently have a D-Link DI-514 Wireless Router I use for thr Network in the house.
Is there a Wireless Access Point or Wireless Router that works well with the DW 6000/7000?

Mike

Ron said:
That is great. Did you adjust just the skew or did you also make a slight adjustment to the Azimuth?
Click to expand...
 
Sounds like you have the correct process.  Normally when I peak the signal using elevation and azimuth with the skew set to the value obtained using the Look angle software the skew is OK and no adjustment is required.

I use a Linksys WRT54G wireless router which works very well for us. The main computer is connected via cable and the second computer is connected via wireless when used.
 
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