Setting up a satellite dish

[blackrose]

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.

 

Mmmm... to be honest I think that something I wanted to stay on the roof would only have to blow off once or twice for me to realise that it wasn't adequately mounted and I'd find another method.

[bottle]

Martyn (Travelsat)

 

Admits that they may blow off in high winds and suggests mounting the dish near a mushroom vent and placing a bungee round it.

 

The magnetic mount, in my opinion is more than adequate for normal weather situations but extreme winds are another matter (even trees get blown over )

 

I suspect it will only blow off if the wind hits the dish in the right direction, ie. full on into the face of the dish.

Edited May 25, 2013 by bottle

[sharpness]

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.

Thanks for that, I,ll have a go at that as well.

 

Steve

[Guest]

Thanks for that, does not sound promising.

Utterly perfect tonight...in what we know is a strong signal area. The lead was a little short but we had an extension. Big aerial stowed for the time being.

[Guest]

Utterly crap tonight. Big log periodic aerial back out which restored a perfect picture.

 

Picture was breaking up as was the sound.

 

Going back to Amazon when we get home next weekend.

[bottle]

Martin have you moved the boat ? (rhetorical)

 

I agree they are crap if in the wrong place, just like any other aerial.

[jenevers]

Has anyone ever tried to get any satellite other than Astra 2?

[Guest]

Martin have you moved the boat ? (rhetorical)

 

I agree they are crap if in the wrong place, just like any other aerial.

Yes, but not far, only from our mooring to Whitley Lock, about an hour 15 mins away.

 

Far enough to make a difference it seems.

 

We now have perfect uninterrupted sound and vision on our log periodic which I haven't even bothered to align.

[bottle]

15 minutes, I only moved mine (stick aerial) six inches and it made a difference.

[Guest]

15 minutes, I only moved mine (stick aerial) six inches and it made a difference.

Can't be arsed Keith.

 

I don't need to move anything now.

[keble]

Hi all, now I have a good quality signal on my Ross/Aldi kit I have a couple of questions:

 

1 I can't get ALL the channels in the list (eg BBC radio 2, yet I can get RTE2! No BBC news channel, lots of regional). I am using the preset channel list. Where are the missing channels?

 

2 when I change channel the subtitles come on by default. Can't find a way to change this!

 

An ideas please?

[dor]

 

1 I can't get ALL the channels in the list (eg BBC radio 2, yet I can get RTE2! No BBC news channel, lots of regional). I am using the preset channel list. Where are the missing channels?

 

You need to do a full search - this will find hundreds of channels! Alternatively you can get a file from the Ross website. You can then work your way through them deleting them until you get it down to a manageable number. You can then save this channel list to a file on a USB stick as a backup. You can also save a selection of channels as favourites, although mine has a habit of forgetting some.

 

If you are going to save a cut-down channel list, make sure the channel you are saving is ok - for instance mine finds several different versions of channel 4.

 

Note you might not find BBC4 if you tune during the day but it will find it after 19:00.

[keble]

Thanks dor, I'll try that at the weekend :-)

[blackrose]

Sorry Peeps.

 

SatFinder

 

Linky

 

Satellite dish fell off it's sucker and I'm trying to set it up again. I can't get into this satellite finder. It's asking me to log into a google account and then set something else up... more trouble than it's worth.

 

Is there anything else that's simple to use, free and doesn't require you to log in?

 

Edit: I've managed to tune it in by hand without any apps or programmes as described by Dave Mayall. Part of the trouble is that my dish is adjusted on a single ball joint which allows movement in all 3 axes at the same time which is not ideal. Cheap Ross crap!

Edited June 26, 2013 by blackrose

[matty40s]

[Grace and Favour]

 

Satellite dish fell off it's sucker and I'm trying to set it up again. I can't get into this satellite finder. It's asking me to log into a google account and then set something else up... more trouble than it's worth.

 

Is there anything else that's simple to use, free and doesn't require you to log in?

 

Edit: I've managed to tune it in by hand without any apps or programmes as described by Dave Mayall. Part of the trouble is that my dish is adjusted on a single ball joint which allows movement in all 3 axes at the same time which is not ideal. Cheap Ross crap!

http://www.dishpointer.com/?address=findern+lane%2C+de65+6dw&satellite=28.2#

[Keeping Up]

 

Satellite dish fell off it's sucker and I'm trying to set it up again. I can't get into this satellite finder. It's asking me to log into a google account and then set something else up... more trouble than it's worth.

 

Is there anything else that's simple to use, free and doesn't require you to log in?

 

Edit: I've managed to tune it in by hand without any apps or programmes as described by Dave Mayall. Part of the trouble is that my dish is adjusted on a single ball joint which allows movement in all 3 axes at the same time which is not ideal. Cheap Ross crap!

 

http://www.keeping-up.co.uk/Sundial/sunhome.htm

 

If the sun is shining of course.

[blackrose]

 

 

 

 

http://www.dishpointer.com/?address=findern+lane%2C+de65+6dw&satellite=28.2#

 

 

http://www.keeping-up.co.uk/Sundial/sunhome.htm

 

If the sun is shining of course.

 

Thanks for those.

Edited June 26, 2013 by blackrose

[keble]

Satellite dish fell off it's sucker and I'm trying to set it up again. I can't get into this satellite finder. It's asking me to log into a google account and then set something else up... more trouble than it's worth.

 

Is there anything else that's simple to use, free and doesn't require you to log in?

 

Edit: I've managed to tune it in by hand without any apps or programmes as described by Dave Mayall. Part of the trouble is that my dish is adjusted on a single ball joint which allows movement in all 3 axes at the same time which is not ideal. Cheap Ross crap!

I had the same problem at the weekend; the strong winds were just too much. So I've now changed to the horizontal arm fixing which is stronger but not very rigid.

Agree about the ball joint, needs a better solution.

 

But hey, I'm getting good at pointing the dish the right way and then using the receiver display to do fine adjustment.

 

Good lord there's a lot of channels on there, most of which I will never watch!

[blackrose]

I'm getting a reasonable signal strength on Astra 2A and get lots of channels, but why does my dish point slighly downwards?

 

I know they're usually at a shallow angle but mine just looks wrong.

 

 

Yes, I know I've got to route that cable properly...

[nicknorman]

The offset on the dish arm is set so that, typically, the dish focuses the signal onto it from a satellite in geostationary (equatorial) orbit when the dish is vertical. But the angle varies according to our lattitude, so if you go further north the dish has to point down more, up more if you go further south. Maybe your dish was set up for Southern Europe rather than UK, but anyway it doesn't matter. We find our TravelSat dish is very slightly down pointing for optimum focus in the Midlands.

 

Astra elevation in London is 25.4 degrees, in York 22.9 and in Aberdeen 17.5.

Edited July 6, 2013 by nicknorman