Sattelite advice

[T.A]

I have installed a television hooked up to a maxview sattelite kit. I have had this installed for some time now but have never got around to testing it out. Well last weekend we were down at the boat for the weekend and SWMBO was pestering me to put the football on! So I attempted to set up the sat dish on the roof after a while I managed to get a signal which originally was showing 36% (I think signal strength from memory) and 10% (was it signal intensity?) these two figures jumped to the seventy % area when I had a signal from the Astra 28 east sat but all I could get was European stations BBC worldwide and numerous German, French etc. I could get no english channels (or should that be UK?) SWMBO was very dissapointed at missing the footie, any ideas where I was going wrong?

[alan_fincher]

I don't know about "Astra 28" - aren't they usually referred to as Astra 1, Astra 2?

 

Why do you think you have the correct one, if you can't find the channels on it you are expecting.

 

It sounds to me like you found something like "Astra 1" or "Hotbird", rather than (from memory), "Astra 2" which is where I think BBC & ITV channels are.

 

Alan

[GSer]

The satellite I use for sky is 19deg east of south and at around 1deg back from vertical, there are two satellites very close by but one has a much weaker signal than the other and its the weak one that I need. The two signals are strength and quality, and its useful to remember you can get a picture with just a little strength showing, as long as you have good quality strength.

 

Paul

[blackelle123]

I have installed a television hooked up to a maxview sattelite kit. I have had this installed for some time now but have never got around to testing it out. Well last weekend we were down at the boat for the weekend and SWMBO was pestering me to put the football on! So I attempted to set up the sat dish on the roof after a while I managed to get a signal which originally was showing 36% (I think signal strength from memory) and 10% (was it signal intensity?) these two figures jumped to the seventy % area when I had a signal from the Astra 28 east sat but all I could get was European stations BBC worldwide and numerous German, French etc. I could get no english channels (or should that be UK?) SWMBO was very dissapointed at missing the footie, any ideas where I was going wrong?

We found that if we attached the dish to the boat itself the signal failed (something to do with static possibly), yet since we have attached it to a pole we don't have a problem. We have tuned into Astra 28 and can pick up some Astra 19 aswell. I believe our signal is around 76 and the other figure is around 72.

Perhaps try mounting the dish away from the structure of the boat!

[chris w]

I have installed a television hooked up to a maxview sattelite kit. I have had this installed for some time now but have never got around to testing it out. Well last weekend we were down at the boat for the weekend and SWMBO was pestering me to put the football on! So I attempted to set up the sat dish on the roof after a while I managed to get a signal which originally was showing 36% (I think signal strength from memory) and 10% (was it signal intensity?) these two figures jumped to the seventy % area when I had a signal from the Astra 28 east sat but all I could get was European stations BBC worldwide and numerous German, French etc. I could get no english channels (or should that be UK?) SWMBO was very dissapointed at missing the footie, any ideas where I was going wrong?

 

Yes, you needed to swing the satellite dish about 8 or 9 degrees towards the south (ie: towards the right, looking from the back of the dish) and you would have picked up all the English stations. You were on the wrong Astra satellite - we all do it sometimes when setting up!!!

 

Chris

Edited October 13, 2008 by chris w

[T.A]

Many thanks for the help. I first of all tried to connect the dish to a mooring stantion but shouting across the pontoon what's happening now was getting me nowhere. I then decided to have a go at the roof option where I could see what was going on. When I first bought the maxview kit I did try it out by fixing to the roof and did manage to get the BBC on however when anybody moved the signal was lost. So this time I went for the stantion option but being in a marina the line of site has boats mainly cruisers and a bridge and some trees. I have seen some dishes in the town fixed to buildings with buildings in their line of site so I thought perhaps you do not need a clear line of site? Was I wrong?

[NB Alnwick]

There are four satellites all quite close together (in terms of their orbit) so it is easy to aim at the wrong one. The biggest problem we find is when another boat goes past too fast causing us to bump around and lose the signal just at the crucial moment of a programme . . .

[Dominic M]

There are four satellites all quite close together (in terms of their orbit) so it is easy to aim at the wrong one. The biggest problem we find is when another boat goes past too fast causing us to bump around and lose the signal just at the crucial moment of a programme . . .

Ah well, Graham, you need to put a spring on your satellite dish

 

To the OP: wrong satellite but easily done. The score was 2-0 by the way.

[whammy]

Many thanks for the help. I first of all tried to connect the dish to a mooring stantion but shouting across the pontoon what's happening now was getting me nowhere. I then decided to have a go at the roof option where I could see what was going on. When I first bought the maxview kit I did try it out by fixing to the roof and did manage to get the BBC on however when anybody moved the signal was lost. So this time I went for the stantion option but being in a marina the line of site has boats mainly cruisers and a bridge and some trees. I have seen some dishes in the town fixed to buildings with buildings in their line of site so I thought perhaps you do not need a clear line of site? Was I wrong?

 

 

If you do not have a clear line of sight between your dish and the satellite you will not get a good signal or no signal at all. What size dish is the maxview and where on the boat are you mounting it and what method are you using to locate the satellite e.g. sat finder.

[T.A]

Ah well, Graham, you need to put a spring on your satellite dish

 

To the OP: wrong satellite but easily done. The score was 2-0 by the way.

It seems you could not find the satellite either I heard the score was 5-1

 

If you do not have a clear line of sight between your dish and the satellite you will not get a good signal or no signal at all. What size dish is the maxview and where on the boat are you mounting it and what method are you using to locate the satellite e.g. sat finder.

I think the size of dish is 400mm I mounted it on the roof with a suction pad device. Since the satellite is low it must be really difficult to get a clear line of sight?

Edited October 13, 2008 by T.A

[chris w]

I have seen some dishes in the town fixed to buildings with buildings in their line of site so I thought perhaps you do not need a clear line of site? Was I wrong?

 

You definitely need a clear line of sight HOWEVER, that clear line is not directly straight out from the dish. Mini satellite dishes are a cleverly shaped paraboloid so that, when it is vertical, the beam is actually pointing about 20 degrees up. That direction has to be a clear line of sight.

 

Chris

[Dominic M]

It seems you could not find the satellite either I heard the score was 5-1

How do you know he wasn't hoping to watch the Wales Liechtenstein match?

 

Edited to say: Sorry, "he" is of course you. Therefore, how was I to know you didn't want to watch the Wales Liechtenstein match? I was doing my bit for our inclusive society

Edited October 13, 2008 by Dominic M

[twocvbloke]

The satellite I use for sky is 19deg east of south and at around 1deg back from vertical, there are two satellites very close by but one has a much weaker signal than the other and its the weak one that I need. The two signals are strength and quality, and its useful to remember you can get a picture with just a little strength showing, as long as you have good quality strength.

 

Paul

 

If you're getting sky from 19.2e then you must be pretty exclusive, sky hasn't broadcast from there since they switched off the analogue signals and moved to digital on 28.2e...

 

("sky" and "satellite" are two completely different things and should not be confused!!! sky rents space on the astra2 satellites, and do not own any of their own satellites and have not done so since they sold off the two BSB Marcopolo satellites... )

 

Anyway, for UK TV channels, you need to point the dish towards the Astra 2 cluster at 28.2 degrees East of South, Google Earth can help with this, find your location, take a screenshot, print it off, then using a compass or protractor mark out the general direction of 28e, sit it next to your dish to aid the lining up of the dish, then line up your dish in this direction, tweak it a few times until you get the best signal strength. Then, and this really does help, you need to set the skew of the LNB (the bit on the end of the arm on the dish). To do this, looking from the front of the dish, move it until the cable is at 6 O'Clock, then gradually twist it Clockwise until the Signal Quality is at it's peak (70-90% is best, 100% is impossible). And there you go, TV from the heavens!!!

 

Just a note for those with Free-To-Air receivers, at the moment, Channel5, sky Three and some other channels are not available to these boxes, C5 should hopefully be giving their sky contract the boot soon so will appear, but at the moment the only way to receive it is via Analogue terrestrial (yeah, right!!!), Freeview, or with a sky "Pay once, watch forever" Free-to-View card and sky receiver. Also, there are Freesat boxes available which have the channels already programmed in and sorted to save tuning in and updating your box, just avoid Currys as they insist that they install it for you, for an excessive price, even if you already have a dish and cable set up...

 

If you feel like venturing out into the real world of satellite TV, pop over to one of my other favourite forums, www.satellites.co.uk, who have a lot of experience when it comes to dish fiddling, and were only recently 10 years old, and for those who like their footy, you'll find how to get premiership matches for less than sky charges, and it's completely legal!!!

[GSer]

If you're getting sky from 19.2e then you must be pretty exclusive, sky hasn't broadcast from there since they switched off the analogue signals and moved to digital on 28.2e...

 

 

How did I manage that then? I was pretty sure I was using the same satellite i've been using for 5 years, it certainly comes up as the same ID code number. I'm gonna go back and have a measure up again, thanks for the info!

 

Just goes to show I know nothing, just like the missus says

 

Paul

[mrbeats]

I was looking at getting satellite for my motorhome so as such I noticed in maplins last week a little device called a sat finder.

It was about £13 and would be worth it I think if it saved you an hour of head scratching and screaming back and forth to the Mrs.

If its useless Maplins do some sort of money back thing.

[dr pepper]

There are several satellites in a similar location, all around south. Do a search on google, there are several on line programs that you type in your post code, and you get a map of the marina with a line showing you which way to point your dish, I used this it works.

Also the type of dish has an effect, it the dish is oval with the narrow bits at the top and bottom, then this type of dish is meant for any satellite, and if the dish is oval with the narrow bits at the side, this dish is made for sky only.

and the dish does have an offset, its usually 22degrees, if the dish looks as though its vertical, its actually 'listening' 22 degrees up into the sky.

Your reciever box should have a function that tells you the id of the satellite, this will tell you if its the correct one.

My cruiser has a mobile setup, and after a few times its easy to set up, I usually get a signal as soon as I power on, the dish actually points slightly at the ground because of the offset.

[chris w]

I was looking at getting satellite for my motorhome so as such I noticed in maplins last week a little device called a sat finder.

It was about £13 and would be worth it I think if it saved you an hour of head scratching and screaming back and forth to the Mrs.

If its useless Maplins do some sort of money back thing.

 

Some satellite boxes (the Maplin one is an example) emit a loud tone when you put it into seek mode. As you orientate the dish, the tone goes high-pitched when you hit on a satellite. The tone is easily audible outside the boat.

 

Personally. I find the tone method far superior to trying to watch a sat finder dial and twiddle the dish at the same time. Further, the tone method means that one doesn't have to insert anything into the coax and then remove it after the dish is set up.

 

If you don't have a set top box with a tone then the sat finder is probably the next best thing. Another must is a compass to allow coarse orientation of the dish to begin with. Don't stand too close to the boat when aligning it though!!

 

Chris

Edited October 14, 2008 by chris w

[GeoffS]

My reflections for what they are worth. I have a Maplins Comag receiver that has an in built Strength meter and audible tone.

I really struggled to begin with but what I finally realised is that the box has all channels from all satellites preset. When you are first pointing south ish the first satellite you often find is Astra 1 at 19.2 deg E. What is confusing is that you can have the channel on BBC1 and audibly you are getting full strength but no picture. If you change to one of the German channels Das Erste or something you will have a picture. So the audible warning is not telling you about BBC but just the satellite. If you keep moving to the East and adjusting the tilt you will then get to Astra 2 at 28.2 deg E. Now you will get the audible warning again but then the channels that are from Astra 28. It takes a while but once you have the knack it is quite straightforward.

 

My next experiment is to try to delete all the preset channels and only tune in the Astra 28's so its a bit easier to find what you are looking for.

 

For info I have bolted the dish with the wall mounting bracket that was supplied, to the front top of the cratch and I dont seem to suffer with boat movement, possibly due to it being centrally fixed.

[Yoda]

Keeping Up have a sat finder which can be printed off from this forum. It is a very simple template which only requires basic orientating.

 

Find it in a search or pm Alan Jones.

[GeoffS]

Keeping Up have a sat finder which can be printed off from this forum. It is a very simple template which only requires basic orientating.

 

Find it in a search or pm Alan Jones.

 

Not for winter use though or much of the british year! Its a sundial satellite finder.

[twocvbloke]

How did I manage that then? I was pretty sure I was using the same satellite i've been using for 5 years, it certainly comes up as the same ID code number. I'm gonna go back and have a measure up again, thanks for the info!

 

Just goes to show I know nothing, just like the missus says

 

Paul

 

If it's a non-sky box you could have added the UK channels under 19.2e, I've done it before when fiddling with my SL-65, but on a sky box, if the satellite ID is saying 019e then it is on the wrong satellite, but if it's getting UK channels, it's definitely a sky box (I.E. being thick!!!)...

 

As for satellite positions, there's places like Flysat, Lyngsat (recommended) aswell as a few others, you can find allsorts of TV out there for free, aswell as packages which you can buy cards for (but need a receiver capable of decrypting the signals) and enjoy cheaper TV channels...

 

You know, I think a dedicated section for those with satellite TV would be useful here...

[Keeping Up]

Do note that although the satellite is hovering at a point 28.2 degrees East of South, that doesn't mean that you point your dish at that compass bearing. It varies according to where in the world you are (for example if you were on the 28 degree East line of longitude you would actually need to point your dish due south!). In most of the canal-connected UK the diection to point your dish is around 35 degrees East of South (a compass bearing of 145 degrees) - here's a full table.

 

And for anyone who is still looking for it, here is a link to the Satellite Sundial thread.

[Sue]

To add to Allens excellent print outs here is a guide that should help..

Find the satellite clicky

 

You won't need the sat finder.. honest!

[twocvbloke]

You won't need the sat finder.. honest!

 

I haven't used mine for some time now...

 

I just got used to where the positions are and can usually fling my dish over in about 5 minutes, a motor would be handy, but for such a little dish, it's a tad pointless...

[dr pepper]

incedently, when its said 19.2 degrees east, or 28 degrees east, that does not bear a direct magnetic compass direction like you'd think, you dont just simply point the dish 19.2 degrees off east, it is a measurement of latitude, you sea boaters like me out there will know exactly what I mean, there is a line at zero degrees latitude that goes through the middle of greenwich from the two poles called the greenwich meridian, the satellite is 19.2 or 28 degrees east from this line.

in the north west that means pretty much point the dish south, elevation is also important, at about 20 degrees.

you can work it out with a chart and compass which way to point, however the internet based sites that tell you where to point from your post code are a lot easier, they also tell you the elevation, and some even tell you how far away and how tall the nearest object should be.

Edited October 15, 2008 by dr pepper