Setting up a satellite dish

[bottle]

Are you sitting comfortably then I shall begin.

 

Just moored and tried to align the satellite dish, could get a signal but very weak and not strong enough to actually get a picture, reason, tree just coming into leaf.

 

Ah well, not much on, so not a big problem.

 

Packed everything away and then remembered, recently bought one one of those 'stick' aerials, turn TV back on, 'no digital signal, check aerial connection'.

 

Knew aerial connection OK so just went ahead and did search/tune, voilla lots of channels.

 

Moral try stick aerial first next time and do not believe the TV when it says 'no digital signal'.

[keble]

I just got my sat setup running.

At first absolutely nothing, so sit down and RTFM. Spot the (vague) mention of a sensitivity knob on the satellite finder box.

This was turned right down - turn it up and voila! A great signal despite there being a huge metal cowshed in the line of sight.

 

Thanks for the explanations of LNB offset, Nick and DH

[john6767]

When we used satellite on the boat (we rarely do now - in fact the dish is at home in the shed now!) I was pleasantly surprised at how tolerant the whole thing was of boat movement, and that was just with a bog standard domestic type Sky dish.

 

That said we don't even have to bother aligning our TV aerial now as it seems to get a picture now no matter where it points or even if it's just laid on the roof! - the signal is so good now where we do most of our boating that I've even ordered on of these to try, and do away with the bulky log periodic aerial.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007JPOX8O/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I've never been a fan of omni-directional aerials but they may have come into their own since the digital switchover - we shall see......

 

Apologies for hijacking here, but I would be very interested in how it works out with one of these aerials, from Martin or anyone else who has tried one.

 

I have one of the Maxview "egg whisk" omni directional ones, and since the turning off of analogue it has almost always done the job very well. The problem with the Maxview is the size, and if one of those does the job as well it would be well worth it.

[Guest]

Happy to post back. Mine has not arrived yet but due any day.

 

We are in a poor signal area at home so that should be a reasonable test.

[dor]

I mentioned earlier that I was going to try using BNC connectors to make it easier to use the sat finder. It really is now a breeze to set up. I've run a short length of cable from the dish to a BNC plug and M-M adaptor. Put a BNC plug on the cable from the receiver. Put two short cables on the satfinder with BNC connectors.

 

Before it took me longer connecting up the F connectors to the satfinder then reattaching the cable to the dish than it did to find the satellite; this bit now takes seconds.

 

What I can't explain is before I changed it, with the cable connected directly to the dish I was getting a signal quality of 84%. Now, with the F connector on the dish plus the addition of two BNC plugs I was getting a strength of 87%. So my concern that the extra connectors might reduce the signal strength appear to be unfounded.

[bottle]

john6767

 

I will guarantee that as 'stick' aerial will work in a good signal area. maybe in a medium signal area and not at all in a bad signal area.

 

I have one, it did not work in a location in a town, it partially worked (could only get some channels) on the outskirts and now in the middle of the countryside and it works well, except when someone walks between it and the signal.

 

Dor

 

Have always found that when removing the Signal Finder the strength and quality always improve.

[dor]

 

Dor

 

Have always found that when removing the Signal Finder the strength and quality always improve.

 

But I was comparing the direct connection of the cable to the dish with the additional BNC connections. No mention of satfinder (and yes, I would expect the signal at the receiver to be better without a satfinder in-line).

[fudd]

I'm not as far as setting the angles of the dish yet. I'm just trying to get a power signal on the finder.

 

The F type connectors just screw straight onto the cable. I thought the connection was made by the core of the cable and the braid. Why would they need to be so tight?

I had a signal finder and it only worked with certain dishes. Could be the same thing.

[Magpie]

Blackrose.

 

Put your postcode/location on the attached site (Dishfinder)

Choose your satellite (probably 28.2E Astra???)

Move the location flag to your exact location

It'll show you where to point your dish

 

I no longer use a signal finder - this is more accurate

thanks for this Grace & Favour i have just saved this in my bookmarks - at the moment I am in a motorhome in a car park and didn't realise the local council office block was blocking my signal moved forward 10 feet signal restored!

[OldGoat]

Just as a warning to folks that are (quite understandably) confused by this thread -

 

There are a mix of comments relating to terrestrial transmissions (aka FreeView) and satellite broadcasts (aka FreeSat etc)

Both can use signal strength meters, both can / could use BNC connectors to advantage

 

BUT you can only use a disk for sat broadcasts

and only an aerial (of whatever type) for FreeView

 

Folks frequently mix the two and wonder why the equipment doesn't work....

 

 

[Guest]

Just as a warning to folks that are (quite understandably) confused by this thread -

 

There are a mix of comments relating to terrestrial transmissions (aka FreeView) and satellite broadcasts (aka FreeSat etc)

Both can use signal strength meters, both can / could use BNC connectors to advantage

 

BUT you can only use a disk for sat broadcasts

and only an aerial (of whatever type) for FreeView

 

Folks frequently mix the two and wonder why the equipment doesn't work....

 

People try to get satellite TV with an aerial.......???? or Terrestrial TV with a satellite dish ????? - I find it difficult to believe anybody could be that daft???

[OldGoat]

People try to get satellite TV with an aerial.......???? or Terrestrial TV with a satellite dish ????? - I find it difficult to believe anybody could be that daft???

 

I couldn't possibly comment -

However, there were threads on here some time ago and on other for a, such as Digitalspy and Ybw.com, where people clearly didn't understand and later explained their confusion.

 

Look at Bottle's post sandwiched between two of Dor's above - could easily confuse the hell out of some peeps and why not schools don't do Science anymore.

[NB Lola]

Always consider lowest possible denominator of knowledge- this is not akin to intelligence ( in most cases!)

[sharpness]

Is there a terrestial equivalent of the satellite discfinder type programmes please? We sometimes find it difficult to get a digital signal but knowing where to point the aerial is always a good start. We have a signal finder but have never found it any help.

 

Steve

[OldGoat]

Is there a terrestial equivalent of the satellite discfinder type programmes please? We sometimes find it difficult to get a digital signal but knowing where to point the aerial is always a good start. We have a signal finder but have never found it any help.

 

Steve

 

There's an app for androids called freepoint Uk . I'm very new to that sort of phone, so I don't know how well it works.

 

I also have a terrestrial signal finder - agreed it's poor when compared with (some) satfinders, but it "sort of works". When I have used it I noticed that the signal did not peak so sharply as with a dish, but gave a reading over a wider angle - about 45 degrees, not very helpful. However once the set is retuned (if necessary), you can use the signal strength monitor in the tv to fine tune the aerial.

[Rich]

Is there a terrestial equivalent of the satellite discfinder type programmes please? We sometimes find it difficult to get a digital signal but knowing where to point the aerial is always a good start. We have a signal finder but have never found it any help.

 

Steve

If you know where you are and have a compass this is very good http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?DX=L&HT=10&OS=

 

Richard

[sharpness]

Thanks very much for those replies, I'm a bit of a dinosaur with these things, I dont do Androids.

Round about home we know where to point the aerial, its a bit trickier when away so I'll have a go with that link Richard. Thanks very much.

 

Steve

[keble]

Thanks very much for those replies, I'm a bit of a dinosaur with these things, I dont do Androids.

Round about home we know where to point the aerial, its a bit trickier when away so I'll have a go with that link Richard. Thanks very much.

 

Steve

Steve, I put together a list of places on some canals and rivers with where to point your TV aerial.

 

http://www.rwilson.org.uk/candr_tv.html

 

I used Canalplan and Wolfbane data to compile it.

[Scooby]

Its easy when you know how,

 

Step one, Get satfinder on your phone before mooring boat and check line of sight.

Step 2, boat moored, sat dish in centre of roof so its flat, lmb might need to be tilted but once setup leave that alone, wife inside with tv station set to satfinder signal test station, 50% of above is more than enough.

Step 3, dish roughly vertical, move from left to right till the wife shouts STOP.

Step 4, its all practice, i can set it up in under 30 seconds without need of anything but the wife telling me when to stop. All i need is to know which way to point from my phone and thats it.

If you dont do android, check other boats or houses while travelling and then you will know which side of the canal you need to moor.

 

We have had our 3 years, first 6 months was hardwork cos lack of phone apps, so tried compass and satfinder thingy, dont use either now, just point and go now and works everytime. I have an extension for it too so if i cant get line of sight at the front i can use it at the other end instead.

[OldGoat]

Steve, I put together a list of places on some canals and rivers with where to point your TV aerial.

 

http://www.rwilson.org.uk/candr_tv.html

 

I used Canalplan and Wolfbane data to compile it.

 

That's brilliant! If that had been available in days of yore, perhaps I'd never gone for satellite...

 

FWIW if folks don't want to spend a tenner on a signal bleeper, then some tv sets have one built in - you may need to select manual tuning - but you do need to know which is the MUX for BBC1, which is usually the strongest signal.

[Guest]

Apologies for hijacking here, but I would be very interested in how it works out with one of these aerials, from Martin or anyone else who has tried one.

 

I have one of the Maxview "egg whisk" omni directional ones, and since the turning off of analogue it has almost always done the job very well. The problem with the Maxview is the size, and if one of those does the job as well it would be well worth it.

 

Signal at home (poor signal area) - zilch, diddly squat.

 

At the boat next week where the signal is stronger and will post back after that.

 

If I don't get a signal there it will be going back to Amazon....

[nicknorman]

Its easy when you know how,

 

Step one, Get satfinder on your phone before mooring boat and check line of sight.

Step 2, boat moored, sat dish in centre of roof so its flat, lmb might need to be tilted but once setup leave that alone, wife inside with tv station set to satfinder signal test station, 50% of above is more than enough.

Step 3, dish roughly vertical, move from left to right till the wife shouts STOP.

Step 4, its all practice, i can set it up in under 30 seconds without need of anything but the wife telling me when to stop. All i need is to know which way to point from my phone and thats it.

 

 

If you dont do android, check other boats or houses while travelling and then you will know which side of the canal you need to moor.

 

We have had our 3 years, first 6 months was hardwork cos lack of phone apps, so tried compass and satfinder thingy, dont use either now, just point and go now and works everytime. I have an extension for it too so if i cant get line of sight at the front i can use it at the other end instead.

Or for the single-handed version, just swivel the TV round so it can be seen through the front doors and DIY. I look at Nicholsons to get a good idea which way to point (also before mooring to check for trees etc). A tip is to start too far East and rotate clockwise (viewed from above) since that way, the desired satellite is the first you come to. If you rotate the other way you can get confusing signals that don't decode since you come to the wrong satellite first.

[bottle]

I use Nicholson's and/or the position of the sun, it has been known that the satellite dish is placed in exactly the right position by pure skill luck.

 

(Dish is always removed, from roof, for travelling)

[john6767]

Signal at home (poor signal area) - zilch, diddly squat.

 

At the boat next week where the signal is stronger and will post back after that.

 

If I don't get a signal there it will be going back to Amazon....

Thanks for that, does not sound promising.

[Scooby]

my sat dish has magnetic bottom, its blown off the roof yet again, and stuck to the side of the boat in the water, lifted it out stuck it back on the top with lining it up at all wife shouts thats it its back on lol.

 

I dont wish to knock travelsat dishes but they do blow off the roof, its done in at least 10 times in 3 years. Lucky for us the cable attached swings it back towards the boat and it sticks to it.