A few questions

[robiscool]

Hi there,

Please forgive me if I have the wrong section of the forum but I really need some help.

I have just bought a satellite kit with a 60cm dish. I am looking to receive many free to air channels. I can understand most foreign languages but I am not too good with any of the Asian channels. English channels will also be great if possible.

I have bought a new satellite dish to pick up new foreign satellites over Europe. I already have the Astra 2 for Sky. I live in the South West of England in a town called Swindon.

I want to be able to receive a satellite with the most free channels over Europe, It does not matter which language the channels are in.

I have been looking at Hotbird 6/8/9 but I am not sure what would be the best choice.

A list of the best satellites to receive and which have the most free channels is what I am after. Language is no barrier.

Please remember I already have the Astra 2A/2B/2D satellite for Sky.

In your opinion what is the best satellite to tune to after the Sky Astra and Eurobird Sats?

Is it possible to receive any Country Music TV Channels or Radio stations on any European Satellites that can be received from the UK?

I am looking to tune my new satellite dish to a satellite, preferably one with country music.

Any ideas on what to tune my dish too if there isn't any country music stations/channels?

I am sorry again if I am in the wrong area, I would appreciate any help you can give me.

[Vipersan]

You don't say if your kit is motorised or fixed ..
Some more info as to what you have bought would help others to point you ...and your dish.... in the right direction
rgds
VS

[robiscool]

Hi,

The dish is fixed, it is a screwfix Satellite Kit Deal which was on there website for £39.99.

I'm not expecting great results, just the ability to have some extra channels.

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/80878/...-Kit&source=aw


Sorry for being vague, I hope the website can give you some more details. I can't find many on there but if it helps I can have a look through the booklet that comes with it if you think that might help.

It has a universal LNB and that's as much as I can tell you I'm afraid.

If there is anything else you need to know, let me know.

Sorry again for being vague.

[Tivù]

With a fixed dish and a single LNB you can only get one Satellite position at a time.

Try Hotbird at 13E first - decent varied selection of European and other Channels.

PS: Hotbird cluster is seen by the dish (and the receiver) as a single position.

[robiscool]

Thanks for that, It does state in the instructions that it does have the option to upgrade to a motor but for my first dish (other than Sky) I thought I should stick to the basic until I can become a little more knowledgeable.

Thank you for the Hotbird suggestion, I had a look on _http://www.lyngsat.com/hotbird.html and they do have a good selection.

Are there any channels you would recommend on that cluster?

Thanks for the help!

[robiscool]

Sorry about the screwfix link,

Hopefully this link should be a little better and more helpful..

_http://www.screwfix.com/prods/80878/Electrical-Supplies/TV-Range/Aerials-Fixings/Labgear-Free-to-Air-Satellite-Kit?cm_mmc=AffiliateWindow-_-DeepLink-_-ToolandGadgets-_-Labgear-Free-to-Air-Satellite-Kit&source=aw

[robiscool]

My hyperlinks seem to be coming out incorrectly. Sorry.

[bigtee]

As Tivu suggested, Hotbird at 13e is probably the best place to start in a situation as described; in future, you can add a motor; if, as likely, you catch "ze bug" you will probably be upgrading the dish at some point.

In the meantime flysat.com, lyngsat.com and kingofsat.net should, between them, tell you where you can find various genres of programme on the satellite arc. You can start by focusing on the free (FTA) channels on Hotbird.

EDIT: for some help on dish pointing, in addition to being talked through by folk here naturally, the following sites can be useful: dishpointer.com; _http://www.satsig.net/maps/satellite-tv-dish-pointing-uk-ireland.htm; _http://www.uksatellitehelp.co.uk/2007/08/12/satellite-alignment-calculator-v2/

[robiscool]

Many thanks for the info, how many free channels would you receive on the Hotbird Cluster?

As soon as the wind dies down I will be able to set the dish up, It will take two of us to find the signal as we will be using the box signal.

Thanks again for all of your help and advice!

[SHILLING]

hundreds and hundreds of free channels on HB.
Doing a Free To Air scan to see how many my box picks up.
572 TV & 400 radio.
bob

[robiscool]

hundreds and hundreds of free channels on HB.
Doing a Free To Air scan to see how many my box picks up.

Thanks for that, I would make a nice change to watch something different other then the same ol' on Sky

[SHILLING]

You will find quite a number of Selling channels & god slots & scantily clad ladies channels amongst the interesting ones at 13 east.
But regretfully they pop up on most satellites
bob

[robiscool]

Sky has lots of those kind of channels too, I am just glad they are quite far away from the entertainment channels.

On this receiver box which I tested today, It looks like i will have to manually rearrange the channels as Channel 4 came up as Channel 1 and the BBC channels were in the 30's.

[robiscool]

I was just wondering, Is there any Spanish Channels in the cluster?

[Analoguesat]

Yes. many of them are scrambled but theres some in the clear on 9E, 19E and 30W.

[robiscool]

That will come in handy, I am currently learning the Spanish Language so being able to watch a Spanish channel will help me to learn maybe words that I have not come across yet.

This is a nice website you have Analoguesat, I have found it very helpful. The search function is great.

Is there anything else I would need to know about the Hotbird Cluster?

Kind Regards

[Analoguesat]

If you have young kids keep them away from the remote control in the evening - theres lots of soft core / semi nudity programming on in an evening!

Hotbird is fasinating - theres some really interesting stuff on there in the clear - a few news channel in English too

[robiscool]

Finding the darn satellite signal is harder than I thought.

Dishfinder is useful but still hasn't helped

[Tivù]

Finding the darn satellite signal is harder than I thought.

Dishfinder is useful but still hasn't helped

A basic error that is often made is to point the Dish too high ............

Although your desired Elevation is probably of the order of 24 degrees or so, the LNB arm is offset by a similar amount (the exact figure is design dependent), so the Dish face should be almost vertical by eye.

Once you've achieved your first successful dish alignment, subsequent ones become almost instinctive and can be done in minutes.

[robiscool]

Hi there,

Thanks for that.

I still cannot find the satellite. Its becoming really troublesome. I have tried all week now and still nothing.

What more can I do?

I have followed the advice from here and dishpointer.

I have followed these guides...

Latitude = 51.5942, Longitude = -1.8282
Lat = 51 degrees, 35.7 minutes North
Long = 1 degrees, 49.7 minutes West

If you want to point a satellite TV dish at Satellite= 13 East orbit longitude
Beam elevation= 29.4, Azimuth= 164.4 (magnetic compass), Polarisation= -11.5

Is there anything more you can recommend?

Thanks


-------------------------

Cure Cystic Fibrosis!

[Tivù]

Beam Elevation 29.4 means Dish face is 29.4 minus LNB arm offset (around 25 deg, depending upon design), which means your Dish face should be a tiny bit up from vertical.

Azimuth is no doubt calculated correctly, but you can't realistically use a Compass to help (other than crudely) as the dish near it will wildly affect the reading.

Skew also looks correct and , in practice, means you stand looking from LNB to Dish, slacken the LNB collar and rotate clockwise 11 degrees (ie Not much!)

For best idea of actually where to point Dish, try Dishpointer (qv). {I see you have!}

Do you have a Meter or are you relying upon the Receiver. If so, can you see the Receiver's Strength/Quality bars or are you dashing in and out of the house?

finally (and possibly fairly important)can you read a Brand off the LNB? If it is Icecrypt of FSUKVN, then they are a bit strange in that the F connector is at four o'clock for zero skew as opposed to the norm of being at bottom dead centre.

[robiscool]

Beam Elevation 29.4 means Dish face is 29.4 minus LNB arm offset (around 25 deg, depending upon design), which means your Dish face should be a tiny bit up from vertical.

Azimuth is no doubt calculated correctly, but you can't realistically use a Compass to help (other than crudely) as the dish near it will wildly affect the reading.

Skew also looks correct and , in practice, means you stand looking from LNB to Dish, slacken the LNB collar and rotate clockwise 11 degrees (ie Not much!)

For best idea of actually where to point Dish, try Dishpointer (qv). {I see you have!}

Do you have a Meter or are you relying upon the Receiver. If so, can you see the Receiver's Strength/Quality bars or are you dashing in and out of the house?

finally (and possibly fairly important)can you read a Brand off the LNB? If it is Icecrypt of FSUKVN, then they are a bit strange in that the F connector is at four o'clock for zero skew as opposed to the norm of being at bottom dead centre.

Hi there,

We were relying on the receiver to tell us if we have any signal. We get about 73% Signal which is just noise from the atmosphere but we have yet to get any quality.

We have now purchased a Sat finder to see if we are picking up a satellite, beforehand one of us was indoors and one of us was watching the TV for signal.

I will try to manoeuvre the satellite dish elevation again tomorrow.

Hopefully I will have more luck.

If I don't have any luck I might get a satellite installer to come out and set it up for me.

If anyone reads this and lives around or in Swindon that can help I wouldn't mind paying if you would like to set it up for me.

I am not too sure on the LNB, I will have a look tomorrow when I try again. For now the dish is up on the wall but not pointing in the right place.

Thanks for your help.

[Analoguesat]

The dish face should be no more than a couple of degrees off vertical.

See if you can get it working on the ground to begin with - the dish can be propped up on an old car tyre or some house bricks for a few minutes.

[Tivù]

Don't give up!

Another Member almost cracked yesterday and even posted a thread seeking on-site help.

But this morning he'd got it sorted himself.

There is hope for everyone

[Tivù]

And I think you might need ready access to the low down on weird LNBs


(Saving time for later ...........! )