Dish setup Tavistock Devon

[dizz]

I've got a new motorised dish that I want to get properly aligned. Can anyone recommend anyone located in West Devon that can do this for a reasonable price. Cheers D.

[simon 2003]

have you had a go yourself m8 save yourself 150quid+,really quite easy if you have basic diy skills

[percivjr]

Yes, really easy with the aid of this site: h**p://www.dishpointer.com/

Set it up on 0.8W (that's close enough to due south), adjust azimuth and elevation for maximum signal and you're done.

Took me about 10 minutes.

[dizz]

The problem i've got is that I'm able to get single sats (mostly above 19d east), but I'm not getting the full arc. I've checked the post is level, line of sight, motor dish/elevations, etc. The only thing I haven't adjusted is the lnb position in the mount, but that shouldn't make any difference should it. I'm waiting for a cable crimper to arrive so that I can remake the joints with decent fittings and then i'm going to try again. I don't really want to spend a load of money on a meter i'll only use once and I'm just a bit frustrated with climbing up and down without getting anywhere. How close to the the thor sat with an 85cm dish do I need to be to start getting a result?

[satwyn]

on 1w lnb vertical as a guide a meter would help even a cheap one is better than nothing good luck

[Homer]

I usually set motorised dishes up with a clear view of the tv screen showing the satellite receivers signal strength and quality bars. When the bars go green on mine it also guarantees that you are on the right satellite as they are dependant on the specific transponder details.

Once you have a reasonable signal, rotating the lnb and moving it forward and backwards to peak the signal is necessary and will make a very large difference to signal strength. The cable connection at the bottom of my lnb is quite a long way from vertical, but is correct since I have peaked the signal.

I have never used crimp connections, so I don't think they will improve your signal as much as you hope.

Are you getting anything at all on 1W ? Do you have the correct transponders ? What receiver type is this ? Is it a USALS motor ?

Oh, and if you are setting the dish elevation to book settings, be aware that dishes like the Triax ones can have the back bracket either way up for different latitude ranges. If yours is upside down to what you believe it is, then the elevation will make no sense ! If you are simply moving the dish up and down to peak the signal, then it will not matter.

Good luck again :-)

[percivjr]

The only thing I haven't adjusted is the lnb position in the mount, but that shouldn't make any difference should it.

Don't forget LNB skew though. Probably won't make a huge difference. But every little helps - as Tesco will tell you.

[dizz]

Thanks for the advice guys. Motor is a technomate 2600 and the dish bracket only goes one way. Box is icecrypt s4000hd (same as Octogon 1018) which is usals compatible. Basically i'm getting nothing on 0.8w. TP I'm using is 11325 which I think is the correct one to use.

I do have a cheap slx meter, but its a waste of time as when I peak its levels the box still shows 86% strength, 0% quality which I think is just the background reading. This is the same using both tuners on the box.

The interesting thing is that when I move it from its reference to Thor using usals it seems to move east rather than west. If I select another sat it appears to move the right way. The only other thing that I can think is that I may have a faulty lnb, is there any way of checking its functionality? It is a smart titanium. Also I have about a 20m cable run, is this a problem? I don't think it should be.

[Homer]

Hi dizz,

11325H should give you BBC World News in the clear on 1W, so is a good one.

LNB skew with a universal lnb is of course done manually by rotating the lnb as I mentioned earlier. Vital ! Do that on a satellite you can view to start with ! Ir may enable you to see weaker satelittes.

Dish moving the wrong way ? Thats an odd one. Have you set your lat long up correctly (You need to do so for USALS) ?

Faulty lnb ? I can only suggest substitution, as I have no other way to test an lnb.

Cable run ? Clearly the shorter the better, but I guess mine is around 17m with a similar motor.

[jayprince]

If I was you mate I would reset the motor to zero and set both your dish and motor on Atlantic Bird@5west.

This is the sat that I set my motorised system on and I live on the North Cornwall coast and there is about 0.7 degree difference on our positions.

When you have the highest signal you can get at 5west,just nudge your dish and motor a midges east,leaving the motor on zero setting and you should be bang on the arc.

Cheers
Jay

[Homer]

Jayprince: Do you think his dish is big enough to pull in 1W in Devon ? I'm an East coast guy, having lived in Kent and the East Midlands !

[jayprince]

Homer,it should be O.K. using an 85cm dish down here for the Thor Sats.

I use to get Thor with no problems using a 80cm dish and a Technomate box.I now use a 1metre Gilbertini with a Sharp 0.3lnb and get most of the transponders with the following results;

BBC Entertainment. 83% strength.
Canal Sport1. 82% strength.
Canal First. 83% strength.

There are a number of transponders that I am unable to recieve but I am happy with 100+ channels.

Also you must bear in mind that I am using a Dreambox7000 which has probably got the crappiest tuner in the history of crappy tuners.

I can even get a few Showtime channels@7West and about 12 channels at night on Amos@4West.

If he lines up the dish O.K. he should have no trouble at all receiving Thor Sats.

Cheers
Jay

[satwyn]

0 quality probably wrong sat 20m cable no problem make sure long lat set properly in receiver menu

[renibacterium]

I am in Devon just east of Plymouth. Try setting on Amos 4 deg W for due South as we are about 4 deg west of Grenwich (0 deg). Works for me.

[dizz]

Thanks for all the advice guys. It is really appreciated. I'll give it another go tomorrow and let you know how I get on.

[dizz]

Just spent nearly 2 hours out in the cold and now i'm getting nothing at all, on any sat. I'm going to test the box in a neighbors house to rule that out and then I guess i'll have to try a new lnb.

[satwyn]

I am in Devon just east of Plymouth. Try setting on Amos 4 deg W for due South as we are about 4 deg west of Grenwich (0 deg). Works for me. same here 4w but telecom 5w is easier to locate unless you have a medium sized dish especially north of uk

[den123]

hi mate you doing it all wrong first find hotbird get it spot on then you will use usuals will take you to thor ect i live in devon trust me this is how its best done where we are

[dizz]

Hotbird was one of the sats that I was finding before it went completely **** up yesterday. I've ordered a new lnb, so i'll see how I do when that comes.

[rikjaard-real]

dizz ! i'm not to far away from tavistock and i have meters and experiance of setting up diseq motors and dishs !
i currently run 80cm dish tm2600 motor tm5300usb super+ tm6800 hd and 1.5m which i constantly move around using my meter !!!

[den123]

if you get hotbird smack on you will then get all you want useing usuals trust me mate in devon hotbird first

[rikjaard-real]

happy to help ! thats what this hobby is all about vai the forums ! :respect-applause-00

[dizz]

Thanks for the help guys. I changed the lnb, but still the same. Thanks for the generous offer Rikjaard, but I've already arranged for someone with a meter to come on Thursday. If he's no good, maybe I can give you a shout then if I'm no further on.

The only other thing I can thing of is the line of sight. I'm 11m from the back of the house, with the bottom of the dish 3m from the eaves and 15m from the roof apex which is definitely less than 6m above the dish bottom. This should be fine according to dishpointer and as the central satellites are the highest I should have plenty of clearance if the dishpointer site is correct in its calculations.

I've also got a transparent dish which has a mesh built into it. Do these have poorer reception than standard dishes?

I'll update when the guy has had a look at it later in the week.

[rikjaard-real]

i'm sure the dude with a meter will shed some light on the situation !!!

:respect-055::respect-055::respect-055:

if not my offer still stands !!!

put the dish on the motor which should already be set to 50.8/51 latitude(and set to its refernce point of 0 zero)

do not tighten the dish elevation yet !!!!

now find thor 1w with your meter(tighten dish elevation)

now slightly rotate motor 1/2 degree to left(0.8exact)(east)the signal will still be locked with meter but no strenght or quality and tighten motor bolts !!

check arc !!! say hispasat30w and astra 28.2e
at this point you may have to fine tune the dishs' elevation to ensure its optamised but thats it !
(provided of course the pole is plum and level !!
:podium-016::podium-016::podium-016:

if your still stuck PM me !!!! rikjaard

[dizz]

SUCCESS !!!! Guy came early today (Yelverton TV, the Rock if anyone is interested).

I was about 7 degrees out for true south :o. Also dish elevation ended up close to 20 degrees which I'm shocked at because even at true south I would have had zilcho with the "calculated" dish elevation. This gives me 88-90 strength and 88-90 quality on a strong transponder at both ends of the arc. The first sat that showed on his meter when he moved the dish was 7e. I put this into usals after it was maxed and the rest just dropped in. I'm gradually moving across the arc and seem to be receiving most sats.

The other thing that I noticed was that when the sat was set with the meter and then the lnb connected it took about 30 seconds for the signal to come up on the receiver. Once the first sat was programmed in it took just a couple of seconds for the other sats. This contributed significantly to my failure as I wasn't waiting long enough when I was moving the dish. This combined with the dish elevation was my downfall.

I would like to thank everyone again for their friendly advice. I'm sorry that I failed to do it myself, but I'll definitely be wiser next time around. Now I've just got to learn how to use my box properly and get some decent channel lists together. At least my pole was straight :)

[rikjaard-real]

thanks for the update dizz !!!! :respect-059:

glad your sorted theres nothing worse than your new equipment not doing what you want !!!!

a plum pole is the key to success !!!:respect-059::cup-006:

rikjaard :respect-048: :respect-048: :respect-048:

[dizz]

Cheers rikjaard. Just out of interest, I've been playing with my Usals settings and when I changed the east/west setting by 0.8 of a degree my signal quality improved on some transponders by about 12 percent. Does this actually move the dish .8 degree, or is it just a proportion of a degree it moves. As the sat was peaked with a meter I'm surprised that the signal could be improved that much. A know the dish was peaked across the arc, but that is a significant change isn't it?

[echelon]

when you input your longitude it will move the motor to that position if using usals , and bear in mind you may need to change it in 0.1 or 0.2 steps to peak the signal , as the motor on the pole can be slighly out

19 to 20 degrees is usually about right for an offset dish , mine is about 19 ( triax 110cm )

take no notice of the hotbird or other spurious bits of advice , the correct setting you require is true south ( not magnetic south ) like satwyn and others said and so you should be starting around 4w or 5w for your westerly location as mentioned earlier , although you could use thor at a pinch , but 4w or 5w would be fine and also would be little or no skew at this point either , the motor does the skew for you as it travels away from 0.0 degrees


the 5W french france/arte/lcp fta channels on 11591V 20000 would be ideal for you as they are very , very strong signals and ideal as they are fta as well

or globecast paris fta feed ident on 12543H 27500 gcpe1 / gcpe2


for 1w try bbc world fta or gospel channel fta on 11325H 24500 , or the music channel on 11785H 28000 , and OTV on 12687H 27500

[dizz]

Thanks for that mate, i'll note those freqs next time I set up.