Problems installing our own freesat

sareybox_2

We have bought a satellite dish that comes with a freesat box. We've put the dish on the wall, we've connected the cable, we've connected the box, we've pointed the dish the right way with a compass, we've set the ringht elvation, we've bought a satellite finder and wiggled the dish about. We've got nothing! cannot find the bleeding satellite. Our box says we have the singnal stregth at about 60 - 70% but no quailty. The satellite finder stays on 1. Can anyone help?! :mad:

sareybox_2

forgot to say...please

Harrowing_2

Sorry to hear that....no idea, although the "techie stuff" forum under home and play may be a better place?

macman

Sorry to ask the obvious, but have you got a clear line of site to the satellite-no trees or other vegetation in the way?
Are there dishes next door to you, if so are you aligned in the same direction that they are?
Remade the cable connections at both LNB and box?

sareybox_2

oh..sorry if I'm i the wrong place, will I get moved if I am?
There are trees fairly close to the house but I'm pretty sure that the angle / height it's at means it's pointing above them.
sorry, does 'remade' mean taking them off and putting them back on? If so I don't think that's a problem as we had to take it off the LNB to do the thing with the satellite finder and put it back on again....I'll try redoing the box one though.
Thanks very much for replying

Sarey

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Pokerlad

sareybox wrote: »

oh..sorry if I'm i the wrong place, will I get moved if I am?
There are trees fairly close to the house but I'm pretty sure that the angle / height it's at means it's pointing above them.
sorry, does 'remade' mean taking them off and putting them back on? If so I don't think that's a problem as we had to take it off the LNB to do the thing with the satellite finder and put it back on again....I'll try redoing the box one though.
Thanks very much for replying

Sarey

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From the fact that you have no quality but signal suggests you have it aligned to the wrong saterlite.

Kurtis_Blue

The majority of DIY installs fall flat at the F connectors, make sure they are done absolutely correctly.

Compass is used for a rough aim, remember it will be affected by the metal dish when/if close feel free to move the dish around (and up and down) you WILL pick up other close satellites so this could show as high strength low quality, astra 2 will be the strongest signal in this area.

The focus of the beam is such that once you have locked on even tightening the nuts will take you off beam, so you must keep adjusting as you tighten everything up.

You really need a satellite meter that shows at least satellite names, strength and quality, but it can be done with a lot of trial and error without.

Inactive

Indeed, it is not as easy as it seems, you need patience and a bit of time to get it accurately on to the correct satellite, just a slight movement will throw it out.

Keep trying, and just move the dish a tiny amount at a time.

davemurgatroyd

The dish face needs to be almost vertical or pointing very slightly down.

Use this site (input your address or postcode, zoom in, move dish pointer icon to where your dish is and change satellite if necessary to 28.2 east and find local points to find rough alignment of dish)
http://www.dishpointer.com/

Then move dish slightly (end of arm max 1" at a time) allow short time for meter to react then move again. You will probably have to turn the sensitivity way down on the finder for it to be effective - I usually use the metering built in to most satellite receivers it is usually far more useful than the cheap finders. Remember the accuracy of your alignment to even get a signal is around 1.5 degrees. So once you have found the correct satellite you fine tune the dish to maximise signal strength by very small side to side and up and down adjustments. Then you maximise quality by adjusting skew of the lnb (its twist in its holder this should be roughly 5 o'clock to 11 o'clock looking into dish) for maximum quality (or lowest BER depending on receiver). Finally cover approx a quarter to one third of the dish with a wet tea-towel or similar and repeat the fine adjustments - this will simulate heavy rain and help stop rain fade (signal loss in heavy rain).

sareybox_2

Thank you for your replies guys, I'll try all the suggestions and let you know how I get on.

Sarey

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