Another frustrating set up problem

[Marcas]

I am relatively new to satellite and have got some very useful advice on this forum to date. I have been using an old Sky dish and a cheap Metronic Touch Box 4 receiver from Maplins to get started and managed to get The 19E Astra Satellite and Hotbird in Belfast with that setup. Having looked at the recommendations of the forum I bought a Motek motor and an 85cm penta dish which came with a 0.6LNB of the same make. I haven't tried the motor yet, but can't get much improvement over my original setup with the bigger dish. I had hoped to be able to get the Atlantic Bird Satellite as I've been learning French for many years, but the closest I have come, even after spending many hours with a sat finder, is Sirius 2 on 4E. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Could it be the LNB or the receiver or is it just inexperience?

 

[satelliteman]

Hi,

A good choice of satellite equipment.

The Penta 85cm high quality dish will perform much better than a 60cm standard dish.

Maybe your set up /alignment is not correct.

SM

 

[Marcas]

Thanks for the response. Do you think I need to change the lnb or receiver? It also seems to be possible to move the LNB back and forward by a few centimetres. Is adjustment here critical?

 

[satelliteman]

Hi, this adjustment wouldn't make much difference at all really, it's called F/D.

I suggest starting a fresh with the motor and follow the installation guides.

> Use dishpointer.com to obtain your longitude & latitude.
> Your reference satellite will be 5W of which is your starting point.

Should be all straight forward assuming you have no line of sight issues.

SM

 

[tomthebomb1968]

Whereabouts in Belfast are you m8. If you cant get sorted I could give you a hand. 2 thickos are always better than 1

 

[Marcas]

Thanks Satelliteman for the advice and to Tom for the offer of help. I'm in the Stranmillis area. I will have another go at setting up myself and if I fail again will be back in touch.

 

[satelliteman]

Here to help

 

[compufunk]

I had hoped to be able to get the Atlantic Bird Satellite

Not sure which one you mean, I have pretty much the same kit as you, and you are not all that far away from where I'm at.

I assume you are talking about 5 W for french language programing.

Atlantic Bird 3 5W I get 100+ services from here.

Atlantic Bird 2 @ 8 W about 135 services,

Atlantic Bird 1 @ 12.5 W, I only get about 20+ services from here.

PS: The numbers don't include radio stations. (As far as I remember).

C

 

[Marcas]

I've been making some progress in setting up a motek motor on an 85cm penta dish. However, whatever I do I can't get a great signal quality even if I run the cable directly to the lnb and fiddle with the elevation. The best I can get is 68 for signal and 62 for quality on euronews 19E.

I am able to get at the dish from the garage roof and have a tv in sight so I have been in a position to try a lot of minor adjustments.

I know that the dish and motor is the recommended kit so would changing lnb or receiver make any difference. I'm using a 0.6 universal lnb which is the same make as the dish and a very cheapo Metronic Touch Box receiver.

 

[satelliteman]

Changing to a lower noise LNb would be an improvement for sure but your problem is more likely to be dish alignment/set up.

Make all adjustment on your reference satellite as per the guides

 

[Irishmale]

Hi,
Have just got a dish up & running this morning with both Astra 19,2 & astra 28,2. A tip maybe to adjust the evelation by between 2° or 3°. Have my dish fixed on 19,2 & had to bend the multifeed holder about 1cm so the the LNB for Astra 28,2 was higher than the lnb for 19,2. Have on both nearly a perfect signal.

 

[satelliteman]

Hi,
Have just got a dish up & running this morning with both Astra 19,2 & astra 28,2. A tip maybe to adjust the evelation by between 2° or 3°. Have my dish fixed on 19,2 & had to bend the multifeed holder about 1cm so the the LNB for Astra 28,2 was higher than the lnb for 19,2. Have on both nearly a perfect signal.

Original poster has a motorised system and not fixed!

 

[Robbo]

I've been making some progress in setting up a motek motor on an 85cm penta dish. However, whatever I do I can't get a great signal quality even if I run the cable directly to the lnb and fiddle with the elevation. The best I can get is 68 for signal and 62 for quality on euronews 19E.

The absoloute value of quality readings can be pretty meaningless, unless you know what the minimum you need to get a good picture is. I would say just try and get it the best you possibly can, by very small dish adjustement on your nearest to due south satelllite.

 

[Marcas]

Sorry to post again but I'm totally frustrated after a day spent trying to get a decent signal. The main satellite I've been looking at is 19E and having tried with and without a motor, with everything set up as per guides i.e. pole set with plumb line, motor and dish bracket set as per instrustions etc etc I can't get a better signal than 70 with my 85cm penta dish, 0.6 lnb and motek motor and Metronic touchbox receiver
I don't think I have the alignment incorrect as I have tried 19E with and without the motor. The best signal of 70 was obtained using the fine tuning adjustments to turn the motor and then checking that altering the dish angle brought no improvement.
If anyone can figure out what is going wrong I would be delighted to hear from them.

 

[Robbo]

Moved your post to here, no need to start a new thread.

What makes you think your signal is poor? can you get a good picture?

 

[Marcas]

The picture tends to break up. I've also tried fine tuning adjustments on hotbird with similar results. The upshot is I can get quite a few satellites but the quality is poor. I checked this morning and in the rain the signal is now below 60.

 

[satelliteman]

How have you set it up so far ?

 

[rolfw]

Check the skew markings on the top of the LNB, some re-badged LNBs have the "F" connector at an angle when at zero skew.

 

[Marcas]

Thanks for the suggestion. I checked the skew markings during set-up. The lnb is a Fracarro that came with the dish and the markings are on the opposite side from where the lnb is connected. I tried twisting it around but, as I understand it, this is inappropriate with a motorised system and didn't improve matters

 

[satelliteman]

Have you managed to set the dish up on 5W ?

Follow the guides and send the dish to AB 3 and align and set up on there first.

SM