It is possible, read: http://www.viara.cn/diseqc/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DiSEqC

The dvb-software has to be support that feature too!

Samersult, welcome to the forum

If you already have a motor on your dish, you will need to find out which time you have. A DiSEqC 1.2 motor requires just the coaxial cable running from your receiver to the dish. This cable connects to the motor and then another short piece of coaxial cable from the motor to the LNB on your dish. A 36 volt actuator or H to H mount on the other hand is driven by a separate 4-core cable. This consists of two wires that provide 36 volts to drive the motor and another two wires to pick up the signalling information.

As your DVB card is DiSEqC 1.2 compliant, it means that you can connect your card directly up to a DiSEqC 1.2 motor. In order for the dish to move, the DVB software will instruct the card to send DiSEqC 1.2 signalling to the dish motor and it will draw current from the coaxial cable to drive the motor. If you have not yet chosen a motor yet or have a motor and wish to use your card on it, the following explains how to drive either motor:

DiSEqC motors are quite common and are fairly straight forward to install compared with an actuator since it requires only one cable and are generally designed to universally fit the piping from most small dishes. Unfortunately, as DiSEqC motors can only consume up to around 300mA due to the limited amount of current supplied my most receivers, the dish rotational speed is generally quite slow at 2 to 3 degrees per second. They are also not very robust due to their low power (~3 to 5 watt) motor and thus not recommended for dishes over 80cm, especially in areas subject to frequent strong winds

In order to drive a 36 volt actuator from your card, what you will need is a DiSEqC to 36 volt converter. The most common converter available at the moment is known as the V Box. What this box does is picks up the DiSEqC signalling on the coaxial cable and then drives the 36 volt motor based on the DiSEqC signals. The main advantage with a 36 volt motor is that these are designed to withstand very strong winds as well as move the dish quickly. For example, the power rating of a 3 amp actuator works out as 108 watts, which clearly means business when compared with a typical 3 to 5 watt power rating of DiSEqC motor.

While most DiSEqC motors are designed to be ‘universal’, when it comes to 36 volt actuators, there is a wide range available, such as those designed to universally fit standard dishes to those designed for driving large dishes. My recommendation for a new 36 volt motorised satellite dish setup would be a Triax TD dish (80cm to 1.1m depending on what you want to pick up), Triax TD polar mount and a 12” actuator.

Finally, just note that setting up a motorised dish is not as simple as placing the dish on the pole and expecting it to track the satellites. What you will need to do is get the correct middle position. To start off, adjust the motor such that the dish is midway on its hinge. Then adjust the dish manually by physically rotating it on its mounting arm such that the dish is pointing pure south. You’ll need a good compass to do this. Finally, adjust the dish’s inclination and declination angles to match your area. With a Triax TD dish, you will need to subtract the declination angle from 40 to get the angle mark where the dish clamps. With most other dishes, there are usually measurements from 0 to 10 for the declination angle. The following webpage gives a list of inclination and declination angles based on the user’s longitude and latitude.

http://www.satellitehelp.com/installation_index.asp

Finally, you may need to adjust the height and angle manually a slight bit to track the arc properly. I'll likely provide a motorised dish guide later on as there is a way to set up a motorised dish without a compass and just using a meter as well, but there is too much info for me to write out all in this one post.

Good luck with your set up

Thank you very much for your reply Sean. I was really confused as whether DiSEqC 1.2 compliant DVB cards can really control the motor, now I understand that it must be a DiSEqC motor, well does that mean positioners are rendered obsolete, cos many people still use them in my country, and what about USALS is more advanced enabling direct motor control without user intervention.
Finally I would like to know why I can’t receive signals from the ALL satellites out there
They (the technicians I asked) say it has to do with the Satellite’s footprint
But this sounds confusing if my dish can only receive signals from satellites that have a footprint in my area I would be able to receive these signals without changing the position of my dish (what does tilting the satellite a few degrees east or west have to do with signal reception as long as I’m already in the footprint of this satellite
I know I must sound weird because as I said it’s all new to me so thanks for you’re trouble again.

As I mentioned above, while DiSEqC can control a DiSEqC motor, is low cost to purchase and setup as well as runs over your existing coaxial lead, I would only recommend going for this if you plan on using a small dish and don’t mind how slow DiSEqC motors are. The main likely reason why many stick with positioners is due to how robust and fast these are. For example a 36v actuator driven motorised dish along with a DiSEqC to 36v converter to drive the motor is robust, designed to withstand strong winds against the dish as well as rotate the dish much quicker.

The UCALS system is actually a programme that is capable of calculating the DiSEqC 1.2 commands to set dish angle. With a satellite receiver that only has DiSEqC 1.2 support, the user must manually drive the motor for a new satellite such that the receiver knows where to move the dish to the next time a channel on this satellite is chosen. When a new satellite position is entered into the receiver using the UCALS system, this system can automatically calculate the position to move the dish, with an accuracy of better than 0.1 degree. As UCALS is a software programme, it will likely depend on whether your DVB software supports this, rather than the card itself. However, like with a DiSEqC 1.2 only dish, you will need to align your dish with pure south with the motor in the middle position to begin with, not to mention the inclination and declination angles.

A satellite footprint is the area that a satellite beams down its transmissions to. For example, the satellite for Sky Digital in the UK has its footprint tightly focused over the UK and Ireland, thus those way outside the footprint would need an enormous size dish to pick up transmission from that satellite. The best way to think of a satellite footprint is to think of a satellite as a powerful torch (flash light) with an adjustable beam. If this is pointed over Ireland and UK with the beam adjusted such that countries outside these are not lit up, then while Ireland and the UK would be well lit up, other EU countries such as Germany would only be faintly lit, even though the torch would be located within the sky from their location. Satellite works in a similar way with the exception that it transmits radio signals instead of light. This means that while there may be satellites located within the sky you are located at, some may have their downlink (footprint) focused on another part of the globe visible from the satellite.

Finally, in order to pick up signals from multiple satellites, your dish must be able to move from satellite to satellite. A dish is also known as a radio telescope as it focuses in on one point in the sky, just like a regular telescope. Just as you cannot focus a telescope on two distant stars at the same time, the same goes with a satellite dish when it comes to picking up multiple satellites. As the geostationary satellites are located directly above equator, these would appear in a continuous arc. As a result, motorised dishes only need to follow this arc to track all the satellites, however in order to receive signals from a satellite, the satellite’s downlink (footprint) must cover your area, or at least to the extent that you get adequate reception with your dish.

Well, I get signal strength of 65 % and quality of 34 % which is very poor and if I try to adjust the elevation or azimuth I lose the signal altogether which means this is the optimum direction for my dish (and there are no obstructions trees, buildings).
So is there any other way to fine tune my dish besides elevation and azimuth and will rotating the LNB will really make any difference?
I would also like to know if the elevation is constant for all the satellites cos the motor only controls west to east movement (azimuth).

Thanks for your help

While most fixed dishes have a horizontal adjustment that does not affect the height, motorised dishes actually follow a curve. The dish itself is attached to a bar that is tilted at a certain angle, so when the actuator / motor moves the dish itself, it follows an arc instead of a straight horizontal line. For example, imagine fixing your current dish mount to the wall / ground at an angle of 60 degrees instead of plumb. If you then move your dish on its horizontal axis, the height it points at in the sky will vary as you adjust the dish on its horizontal axis. The same goes with a motorised dish such as mine shown below. Note that I currently have a threaded bar (long middle bar) instead of the motor:



The reason for this is because only part of the string of satellites above the equator can be viewed in any given area. Go further west or east and the satellites are below the horizon, thus only receivable from regions to which these satellites are visible from. If you get a universal polar mount kit for your dish or get a motorised dish, the polar mount will have its own height adjustment to tilt the dish at the required angle, such that when the motor pushes / pulls the dish, it follows an arc in the Sky. The main reason to ensure it is vital to have a motorised dish set up correctly is to make sure that the curve it follows matches the line of satellites. For example, imagine the black arc in the following image being the geostationary orbit containing the satellites above the equator. Then if the dish is not properly alligned up with pure south, it will not pick up all the satellites as the only satellites it will pick up is where the dish's arc intersects the arc containing the satellites (shown in red):


As the height & horizontal adjustments don’t seem to be improving your signal, it will be worth twisting around the LNB itself. For example, if your dish is pointing more than a few degrees to the East or West, the curve’s angle at that point will no longer be horizontal. This means that in order to correctly pick up a satellites properly far off pure south, you will need to turn your LNB clockwise / anti-clockwise to match the curve at that point of the sky. As a motorised dish tilts as it follows a curve, the LNB ends up matching the curve’s angle, so with a motorised dish, all you have to do is ensure the LNB is vertical (LNBF plug end down) when the dish is pointing pure south.

Some final tips would be to check the cable and connections, especially on the dish end. I have once had a problem where I kept getting very weak stations from a satellite, only to find out that the signal cable had water seeped in it. A good way to check this is to take off the coaxial connector at the dish end and if the cable’s core looks corroded, then chances are that water has run down its core. If you do plan on getting new cable, I would recommend going for foam-filled cable. It may cost a bit more to purchase, but at least it will not corrode should the LNBF connector become lose or even detach from the LNB. I would also recommend covering the LNBF connector with water proofing tape as this will block out moisture from entering also.

Nice place! (And nice dish, too!)

Well, I'd like to know if there is a way to track satellites relative to one another I mean I was lucky in my first setup and pointed the dish correctly towards the hotbird but I couldn't get any signal for Astra or even for Arabsat as you said I don't have to change the elevation as the polar mount curves the dish as it moves so what could be wrong in my setup could it be due to inclination or declination of the dish (I only understand the elevation and azimuth but actually I'm not quite sure what inclination and declination mean -I know that the difference between true north and magnetic north is called declination and the angle that magnetic lines cut the earth is known as angle of inclination but that's of course has nothing to do dish setup ) so apparently to set up a dish correctly it's inevitable to get a little bit technical as you promised to provide a motorised dish guide (I hope I'm not asking too much) I would like to know when it will be available

One more thing, I use progDVB 4.51.3 to watch hotbird channels but when I select one of the FTA channels it crashes, could this be due to video formats if so what codecs should I install to ensure that all channels will display normally.

I really do appreciate your kind help Sean.

I have a VisionPlus PCI Card that have a LNB in and a LNB out. I connect the LNB of my antenna to the LNB in of the PCI Card. I want to know how can I use the LNB out of the card.
Someone can help me?

You can connect another receiver there. However, that output/signal is ALWAYS limited to the frequency/polarization setting actually chosen on the receiver from the dvb card.
LOOP TROUGH

Well, I'd like to know if there is a way to track satellites relative to one another I mean I was lucky in my first setup and pointed the dish correctly towards the hotbird but I couldn't get any signal for Astra or even for Arabsat
I appreciate any one's help

Hello all,
First i want to thank you for being here this thread has been a world of help ( in a way). My porblem like many others was once i got a PCI slot TV tunner and hooked up my DISHnetwork to the PCIcard ( ati HDTV wonder) I could only view one channel at a time. For two days I have searched for a way to fix this or rather get around it. With out spending more money. Looking for decrypters/decoders ect ect. Now after reading this thread i can stop my insain search for such software. thank you.

All is not lost thoe. I have desided to upgraid my DISHnet to HDTV and keep one of my old receavers to hook up to the computer. With one box for the TV and one for the comp i should have no problems turning my comp into a DVR. The reason i need to do this is because i have read many threads about the crappiness of the dishnetwork DVRs. Also im just a geek about my comp.
THanks again for all the info.
MD.