Advice Needed Dish angle

[Huevos]

I did not see yet any offset dish where the offset angle is equal to the feedarm angle .

Just place a digital level along the LNB arm and you'll find that angle is more or less the same as the satellite elevation.

 

[archive10]

I've never heard of that before, but I checked and it's a quattro.

Why are you using a quattro in your setup?

Quattro is four individual fixed outputs: Horizontal/Low, Horizontal/High, Vertical/Low, Vertical/High.
Quad is a quattro PLUS a switch in front, that can be used to select which of the four combination you want on a specific output. Modern LNBs (single, dual, quad) include the switch, and therefore works with modern Sat receivers.

In most domestic installations, your receiver signals the switch in the LNB as to which combinations is required on the sat input. If you use a quattro, it will - however - still work for the transponders that happen to be on the combination of the output connected to your receiver input. So, if you connect Low/Horinzontal output to input on a single tuner box, it will work for about a quarter of the possible transponders (the quattro ignores the tone signalling). In other words, you can receive 10773H that has BBC One London on it, but not BBC Yorkshire, which is on 10788V.

The quattros are typically used for larger installations, where you have a separate multi-switch to distribute the four inputs on, say, 16 outputs for an appartment building.
Do you have a separate multiswitch?
If not, go buy a new LNB - you get more channels this way...
(And maybe you don't need a quad - if you only use one input on your receiver, then a single is fine!)

 

[skomedal]

This is the OPs setup taken from the pane to the left of postings:-

My Satellite Setup:
1.8m dish, Smart switch (2x4 inputs, 16 outputs), Humax FaxSat HDR
So presume has a multiswitch.

Think the OP would be well served by getting a different installation ( not original ) firm in to give some advice about setup and maybe a quote to get the setup right.

Regards

 

[ndcoxhead]

I have a multiswitch that is supplying 6 or 7 seperate rooms.
I am connecting the LNB directly to a receiver just for testing purposes, to eliminate all unnecessary components.
The problem is I need to know transponder freq & symbol rate to try to get a signal for, and which LNB port it should be connected to (is one enough ?)
I can get 100 signal strength but zero quality. What problems could cause that ?

Why are you using a quattro in your setup?

Quattro is four individual fixed outputs: Horizontal/Low, Horizontal/High, Vertical/Low, Vertical/High.
Quad is a quattro PLUS a switch in front, that can be used to select which of the four combination you want on a specific output. Modern LNBs (single, dual, quad) include the switch, and therefore works with modern Sat receivers.

In most domestic installations, your receiver signals the switch in the LNB as to which combinations is required on the sat input. If you use a quattro, it will - however - still work for the transponders that happen to be on the combination of the output connected to your receiver input. So, if you connect Low/Horinzontal output to input on a single tuner box, it will work for about a quarter of the possible transponders (the quattro ignores the tone signalling). In other words, you can receive 10773H that has BBC One London on it, but not BBC Yorkshire, which is on 10788V.

The quattros are typically used for larger installations, where you have a separate multi-switch to distribute the four inputs on, say, 16 outputs for an appartment building.
Do you have a separate multiswitch?
If not, go buy a new LNB - you get more channels this way...
(And maybe you don't need a quad - if you only use one input on your receiver, then a single is fine!)

 

[PaulR]

I can get 100 signal strength but zero quality. What problems could cause that ?

Assuming that the LNB is pointing in the right direction then try connecting to each of the other three LNB outputs in turn.

 

[skomedal]

The problem is I need to know transponder freq & symbol rate to try to get a signal for, and which LNB port it should be connected to (is one enough ?)

Check this site:-
http://en.kingofsat.net/sat-astra2e.php
and
http://en.kingofsat.net/sat-astra2f.php

All the transponder info BBC ITV are on these.

As these are low frequency transponders just use the low H & V connections for now.

Good luck

Regards

 

[archive10]

I have a multiswitch that is supplying 6 or 7 seperate rooms.
I am connecting the LNB directly to a receiver just for testing purposes, to eliminate all unnecessary components.
The problem is I need to know transponder freq & symbol rate to try to get a signal for, and which LNB port it should be connected to (is one enough ?)
I can get 100 signal strength but zero quality. What problems could cause that ?

Ah, missed that bit. ;)
Then do try to rotate the LNB arm 180 degrees, check the frequencies that skomeal describe, and see what happens.

 

[ndcoxhead]

I bought a compass to get the direction 'right' (it's about 20 deg away from where I used to get astra2d programmes) and I got 100 signal strength, but still zero quality. Any idea what could cause that ? Could it be because I'm directly connecting one output of the quattro LNB to the receiver with diseqc turned off ?

I thought that for testing I could get a decent single LNB Any suggestions what I should look for to go with my 1.9m dish ?

 

[skomedal]

I bought a compass to get the direction 'right' (it's about 20 deg away from where I used to get astra2d programmes) and I got 100 signal strength, but still zero quality. Any idea what could cause that ?

Did you take into account your longitude when using the compass?

From another forum:-

http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/bearings.htm

"" The reference to 28.2ºE in connection with the position of Astra 2, although strictly accurate, can be confusing. It actually refers to the line of longitude at which the satellite system is located above the equator. So the exact compass bearing of the system depends very much on where are you at the time. It's unlikely that a compass will be accurate enough to aim the dish by compass bearing alone, but it will get you in the right general area to start aiming the dish more precisely.
The following information is a list of compass bearings and dish settings for various cities and major towns across Europe - just pick the one nearest to you.

London 146 degrees

Berlin 161 degrees ""

Regards

Edit
You will get better aiming results with the dishpointer program.
http://www.dishpointer.com/

 

[ndcoxhead]

I used http://www.dishpointer.com/ and I aimed at 157 deg, and then adjusted it to maximise the signal strength.
But at no point have I got more than zero signal quality.
Thanks for the advice.

Did you take into account your longitude when using the compass?

From another forum:-

http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/bearings.htm

"" The reference to 28.2ºE in connection with the position of Astra 2, although strictly accurate, can be confusing. It actually refers to the line of longitude at which the satellite system is located above the equator. So the exact compass bearing of the system depends very much on where are you at the time. It's unlikely that a compass will be accurate enough to aim the dish by compass bearing alone, but it will get you in the right general area to start aiming the dish more precisely.
The following information is a list of compass bearings and dish settings for various cities and major towns across Europe - just pick the one nearest to you.

London 146 degrees

Berlin 161 degrees ""

Regards

Edit
You will get better aiming results with the dishpointer program.
http://www.dishpointer.com/

 

[skomedal]

Have you tried to get this bird with any other sat. receivers on your setup?

Regards

BTW do you get any reception from the other ( non freesat ) transponders @28.2E?

 

[ndcoxhead]

I tried another receiver, and a different (single) LNB, but neither improved the signal quality.
Before I started fiddling with it I was still receiving some UK channels from 28.2 (sci-fi, food etc), but then the dish was pointing about 10-15 degrees off the 'correct' direction. I couldn't get a better signal from the original position so I decided to try pointing it in the 'correct' direction.
I judged the direction by a) digital compass (157 deg) b) dishpointer.com c) following the signal strength on the receiver when set to one of the transponders which should have BBC1 etc.
Result= 100 signal strength, 0 signal quality.

It's now pointing at the standard German TV sat, which works fine (although not perfect, I would have expected better).

Have you tried to get this bird with any other sat. receivers on your setup?

Regards

BTW do you get any reception from the other ( non freesat ) transponders @28.2E?

 

[Archive4]

I tried another receiver, and a different (single) LNB, but neither improved the signal quality.
Before I started fiddling with it I was still receiving some UK channels from 28.2 (sci-fi, food etc), but then the dish was pointing about 10-15 degrees off the 'correct' direction. I couldn't get a better signal from the original position so I decided to try pointing it in the 'correct' direction.
I judged the direction by a) digital compass (157 deg) b) dishpointer.com c) following the signal strength on the receiver when set to one of the transponders which should have BBC1 etc.
Result= 100 signal strength, 0 signal quality.

It's now pointing at the standard German TV sat, which works fine (although not perfect, I would have expected better).

Before you started "fiddling" did you get SY-FY food etc without using an encryption card? Also, what channels are you getting from "the standard German TV sat", list some of the programs and frequencies and we should be able to tell you which sat you are looking at, probably Astra 1 at 19.2 but need more info. Many of the birds up there share the same transponder frequencies, so, for example, sky news on Astra 2 could be MBC on Badr 5 ( I know it isn´t but as an example it makes the point"

 

[Trust]

Just place a digital level along the LNB arm and you'll find that angle is more or less the same as the satellite elevation.

What kind of dish did you use to checked that ??
Here a pic of my Triax TDS78 pointed to 23.5E (elev for my location 28.5º)
The level meter shows approx. 8º

 

[Huevos]

Post an image of what you are measuring.

 

[Trust]

Post an image of what you are measuring.

It was almost dark when i made the picture
From my Fibo i know de lnb arm elevation is 15º when the dish is pointed to 5ºE (elev. 30.5º)

 

[Huevos]

It was almost dark when i made the picture
From my Fibo i know de lnb arm elevation is 15º when the dish is pointed to 5ºE (elev. 30.5º)

Not like that. Bottom of dish face to top of LNB. Tried on a few of my dishes and always within a couple of degrees.

 

[Trust]

Not like that. Bottom of dish face to top of LNB. Tried on a few of my dishes and always within a couple of degrees.

Its exactly what you asked me to do :
Just place a digital level along the LNB arm and you'll find that angle is more or less the same as the satellite elevation.

 

[Huevos]

The whole point of an offset dish is that the LNB is not in the path of the signal. So bottom of dish face to top of LNB.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Agree with Huevos: If you draw a line from bottom of the dish and top point of the LNB, than you, approximately can check direction to sat. Measurement of LNB feedarm will give different degrees.