Can not get satalite to work on caravan sites

[sonny1120]

I have been bashing my head against a brick wall trying to get my satalite system to work on the last caravan site we stayed at. We got a excellent signal strength but no signal quality at all. Got a sat finder and compass to try to get it set up right but it was a no go. Thinking it could be the LNB but not sure. We replaced LNB last year as we were having problems getting a signal and it worked for a few times but then now were having problems again :mad: Are LNB's sensitive Ie dish travels in van on seat conneted to tripod folded away stowed safely or is it something else i'm missing. Cable is stored in a coil action but cannot see any kinks and was replaced last year as well
please help

 

[rolfw]

Yep, should be no problem as long as you have line of sight to the satellite, are you trying to receive Sky?

 

[sonny1120]

Had line of sight to dish. Yes trying to receive sky. Got digi box, dish, tripod sat finder buzzing like it should???

 

[rolfw]

You have to remember that there are other satellites up there and there is a fair chance that you have it pointed at Astra 19.2 or one of the other nearby ones.

 

[sonny1120]

Thanks for that. Sure i was pointing in the right direction well same as everyone else who did get the signal I'll try a new lnb see if that works

 

[rolfw]

Alignment by comparison is notoriously inaccurate, but there is always the outside chance that the LNB is defective, if you are getting variations in signal strength, but no quality when scanning the sky, it is still more likely to be alignment/wrong satellite.

 

[Licinius]

I was doing a similar thing last year m8. Used to take my spare mini dish & sky box camping which I'd line up using an analogue dish finder I got from maplins. Slightly to the right of the Sky signal is another! I pulled my hair out for hours trying to work out what the problem was :-bash (& the grief from my missus who wanted to watch the BB eviction was even worse).

Check the signal strength in your mini box settings, if its not there but you have a strong signal on your dish.................... you're on the wrong satellite!

Just bought my first motorised system which I'll install tomorrow, I think the experience gained at camp sites up & down the country will be invalueable.

 

[Leee]

www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk
and a tip
with compass, line up a broom pointing at 28e (or 180-28 of course). Use that visual aid to assist in your direction and remember elevation can change too...

Digiboxes are not too bad for using the meter as long as you're *close* and getting some indication of quality.

Also if you're double-checking your LNB, check your cables too ;)

 

[sonny1120]

Thanks for the replies. I have since took the set up to partners mums house as we know we can get it to work there. Actually this is where we test it as big tree/house etc.. blocking it at ours got basic compass to s/e direction sky on that page to check signal strength and it did not work . Never knew the satalites were that close together. So what else do i need to find this dam signal 'O'-red Ive got a sat finder which buzz's, a basic compass and sky digi box to look at. Wouldn't bother if it were not for the dogs that come with us making going out at night an almost immpossibility

 

[sonny1120]

Thought i would update everyone, after trying several sites and pulling my hair out i have invested in a brand new system designed for caravans and it runs on 12v too so thats a bonus.
Some tips to share
One problem was the minidish we were using was way to tight to get the angle just right (hubbie insisted it wasn't) (we took our set up to a shop in birmingham to be tested to see where we were going wrong.)
Also another problem we had not heard of was the if the digibox does get the signal within 10 mins or so its tuner will switch off - although you don't realise this at the time as everything works ok. So no matter how hard you try to get a good signal the box has basically gone to sleep, way round this is to simply unplug for 10 secs and reboot the system. This usually works if your certain you have the correct signal.
But my main problem was my hubbie not wanting to part with money hence why he brought a cheapo compass when we first started struggling. We left with the correct compass & a new sat finder & new dish & 12v digibox - much to his disgust. But on the next site we stayed at put satellite on and picture within 5 mins.
I now have to show him how its done
I hope this is helpfull to others.

 

[Analoguesat]

Thanks for the update - and welcome back to the forum - its not often we get updates 18 months after the preceding post!