Can't find anything!

[Sober Rat]

Hi there, I am totally new to satellite systems so please excuse me if I am missing something really obvious. I bought a Panasonic TX-L32D28 tv a few months ago, my choice was based on the fact that it had built in Freeview and Freesat receivers. Last week I ordered a Mk4 Sky satellite mini dish kit from Satgear and Konig satfinder(amazon). Folling the instructions I made all the connections and assembled the whole thing. So far I haven't managed to pick up anything! The sat finder light comes on when I first turn on the tv but after that it goes blank and doesn't seem to find any signal at all. I have checked all the cables that I made up with a continuity tester and have no shorts. The only time I get anything from the satfinder is when I set the tv to scan for satellite channels, it then lights up and the tone starts. I then turn it down until the tone stops and start to move the dish small amounts, leaving time for the LNB to find anything, but so far nothing. I've been doing this for 2 days now and I am pretty fed up. If I set the satfinder to its lowest tone and then move the dish it doesn't improve or degrade so I don't know what is going on, all the while the tv is saying Astra 2 not found. Please help! I don't know if there is a fault in any of the components(tv,LNB or satfinder).

 

[Lazarus]

Have you made use of the Dishpointer tool (link at top of page)?

Is the dish face roughly vertical (to allow for the offset of the LNB arm)?

Can you Post up some pics?

 

[TheToad]

Sounds daft but are you sure you're pointing at the right bird? Dishpointer is very useful for this.

Something I did when I thought I was pointing int he right direction was to try and tune into frequencies from nearby satellites and see what gave me a signal and channels. Then from the channels I picked up I found that I was actually pointing at a completely different satellite! But this helped me work out which way I needed to turn. I counted the number of birds I was away from my target then with my meter counted how many times the signal peaked as I turned towards it - sounds a rough way to do it but it worked

 

[Sober Rat]

I have used the dishpointer yes and the face of the dish is roughly vertical. I set up base on a neighbors dish which I understand is working ok. My dish is about 3 meters higher up the wall. I will take some pictures and post them, just need a bit of time to do this as I took the whole thing in last night(except wall bracket). Have positioned this twice as I suspected the first position wasn't high enough.

 

[Analoguesat]

The most important thing to remember is that you need to be pointing within a degree or so of accuracy left/right & up/down before you will get anything.

 

[Lazarus]

Height is only relevant if there are obstacles in line of sight - the Satellites are 24000 miles away so putting the dish a few metres higher is insignificant.

Using a neighbour's dish as a guide is fraught with difficulty - the perspective and parallax errors mean that even if you happen to hit upon a signal, it will be from the wrong Satellite (Usually 19.2E). Believe me, this is the most common newbie error!

 

[Sober Rat]

thanks for the suggestion TheToad. I did try setting the tv to any dish and it still picked up nothing, no signal or channel.

 

[TheToad]

thanks for the suggestion TheToad. I did try setting the tv to any dish and it still picked up nothing, no signal or channel.

I'd try pointing at a different bird

 

[Sober Rat]

I am not finding anything. No signal at all. I would be pleased to get a signal but nothing is happening. At least then I would know that the setup is working but all I get is a tone from the satfinder when I first switch the tv on and then nothing until I set the tv into auto setup on the either the freesat or other sat mode on my tv. I get no singnal imformation or strength.

 

[TheToad]

I am not finding anything. No signal at all. I would be pleased to get a signal but nothing is happening. At least then I would know that the setup is working but all I get is a tone from the satfinder when I first switch the tv on and then nothing until I set the tv into auto setup on the either the freesat or other sat mode on my tv. I get no singnal imformation or strength.

Shame you're not a bit closer, I'd pop round and have a go... It's difficult to suggest from here without seeing exactly what's happening. I take it you've tried nudging the dish in different directions and reducing the meter sensitivity to 'centre' the signal?

 

[Mickha]

If your meter has the option of altering the sensitivity then adjust it until it is about half way, so it is showing a signal, the gently move the dish until this goes up to maximum. Once it does adjust the sensitivity again, to half way, and adjust the dish to get it to maximum again, keep doing this until you have a strong signal.
Finding a satellite can be tough, so do take occasional breaks, sometimes you get lucky and find it almost immediately, of course dishpointer, and satellite maps, have helped make it a lot easier.

 

[Channel Hopper]

The most important thing to remember is that you need to be pointing within a degree or so of accuracy left/right & up/down before you will get anything.

Most important thing is of course, safety at heights. In this current climate I wouldn't get the ladders out.

 

[Sober Rat]

If your meter has the option of altering the sensitivity then adjust it until it is about half way, so it is showing a signal, the gently move the dish until this goes up to maximum. Once it does adjust the sensitivity again, to half way, and adjust the dish to get it to maximum again, keep doing this until you have a strong signal.
Finding a satellite can be tough, so do take occasional breaks, sometimes you get lucky and find it almost immediately, of course dishpointer, and satellite maps, have helped make it a lot easier.

This is what I have been doing. But the signal level doesn't change no matter what I do, even when I get to the wrong direction completely. When I activate auto tune on the tv I get a signal and tone but out of this mode I get nothing at all from the satfinder.

 

[Sober Rat]

Here are some pics.dishfinder gives Elevation: 25.0°,Azimuth (true): 144.8°,Azimuth (magn.): 146.5°and LNB Skew: -13.5°

 

[Mickha]

Can you ask your neighbour, with the dish, if you can connect your cable to his LNB, providing he has a spare slot, then scan a few channels in, on your TV? Can you borrow a satellite receiver, or do you have a satellite receiver, just to use to align the dish?

 

[bigtee]

Pictures 1-3 suggest that the dish is possibly facing too high up and could perhaps be tilted downwards a bit. If scanning using neighbour's dish is not feasible, it may be advisable to remove the satfinder from the equation and try the receiver's signal meters instead; for 28e a frequency like 10773 or 11778 should be alright for searching. Good luck.

PS sometimes it is useful to check some basic things again: is the receiver tuned to 28e (Astra 2), is it also tuned to a working frequency recognised by receiver, is the receiver LNB setting set to "universal" (9750-10600) etc

 

[Lazarus]

As for the constant positive reading, that's just measuring noise etc and is actually useful as it tells you the LNB is connected and powered.

From there, it's upward change that brings the goodies.

 

[Sober Rat]

Should the satfinder work in any tv mode, by which I mean that the satfinder only seems to do anything when I set the tv to search for freesat channels, thats when I get the high reading and tone, but I get it wherever I point the dish, it doesn't change at all.

 

[sonnetpete]

From the photo of both dishes it looks like your dish could be moved more towards the wall (i.e. to the right from behind the dish) to more closely match your neighbours. If you are friendly with your neighbour, why not measure how far from the wall (a) the edge of the dish is and (b) the mounting arm is. At least that would put you in the general direction. Looking at you final photo you have the gain on the sat finder turned up to max, Turn it back to about half, otherwise you'll just get a constant tone which won't inform you of anything.

 

[rolfw]

From the look of your dish in the photo, you are too far east and possibly pointing slightly too low. The TV needs to be in freesat mode, as it probably won't send any voltage to the LNB otherwise.

If you are getting a tone all the time, turn the attenuator on the meter until the tone stops, then have a pan around with the dish.

Oops, Pete beat me to it.