How do I keep a triple sat dish stable after directing towards the satellites?

Question

I have a triple sat dish to receive tv channels broadcasted through three satellites. .

It is a very convenient dish, it is small making it easier to install out of sight and allows us to watch a interesting wide variety of channels. Ranging from Thailand to Latin America. The disadvantage of such a dish is that directing it towards the satellites requires quite some precision. When the ideal direction is found it always is a tedious task to tie the bolts in such a way that the dish doesn't move. 1 mm off and you don't have reception. A tuning process that also needs to be repeated after storms or a change of season.

I am just wondering if there is tightening mechanism that would allow precise directing while not needing tightening the bolts afterwards. Something like a winch that remains stable on every given position.

Answer 1

My strategy with satellite dishes was to get the dish aimed close to the final alignment, and then hand tighten the bolts. After this, I used light taps to change the alignment. Once aligned, tighten the bolts the rest of the way. Because the bolts are already snug, I never had problems with the dish moving further.

Answer 2

It would be nice, but things don't work that way. Any device that allows adjustment will by necessity introduce some small slop in the system. In systems where the mere tightening of the locking bolts introduces error, the slop required to allow movement is simply too much.

Even so, the typical mounts we see could be improved upon to make adjustment easier, though locking bolts would still be required. I suppose dish providers decided the extra cost of such mechanisms was unwarranted and thus they stick with the current slide and guess system.