Fixed dish problem

John T

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I have a working Sly box with mini dish. I have purchase a Humax 9100 and 60cm fixed dish with Blue Line Universal LNB with 2 outputs.
I provisionally set up my Humax on the mini dish. I then assembled the 60cm one and placed it in my workmate, set that up with the Humax ok.
Now comes the rub, I've fixed it on the bungalow wall, pointed it roughly the same, tweaked for max signal, 60% strength 100% quality. When I try to receive a free channel, say BBC1, it says
"The channnel is scrambled or not available", however it shows the signal bar as ok, also it seems to be able to set the time using BBC1.
I've tried realigning the dish, East and West still no joy.
Similarly the Sky box fails to lock onto the signal.
Now I expect (and fervently hope) that I have done something stupid. Any ideas please?
 

closetosoton

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John T said:
pointed it roughly the same, tweaked for max signal, 60% strength 100% quality. When I try to receive a free channel, say BBC1, it says

dumb question - do you know which satellite you're pointing at? have you tried a scan of this satellite? i.e. if you're fixed on 19.2E as opposed to 28.2E you'll not see BBC1... roughly isn't good enough, it needs to be spot on!

-cts
 

mhku

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When you scan what list of channels do you get? Are they 28.2E channels or another sat? 60% isn't that great.

I then assembled the 60cm one and placed it in my workmate,

bit extreme? ;)
 

John T

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closetosoton said:
dumb question - do you know which satellite you're pointing at? have you tried a scan of this satellite? i.e. if you're fixed on 19.2E as opposed to 28.2E you'll not see BBC1... roughly isn't good enough, it needs to be spot on!

-cts
I assume you mean my question is dumb, to me yours is not!:)
Ok, I have tried many times moving the dish, and can only seem to get a signal from one position. From what you say if I go through setup again on my Humax it should tell me by the channels I see which satellite I am on? By the way I get awfully confused by the way they give the directions of satellites. Does 28E mean 28 degrees East of South? In other words 152degrees?
 

closetosoton

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John T said:
I assume you mean my question is dumb, to me yours is not!:)
Ok, I have tried many times moving the dish, and can only seem to get a signal from one position.

ah, mmm, so we don't actually know where you're pointed at. yet.

From what you say if I go through setup again on my Humax it should tell me by the channels I see which satellite I am on?

different receivers work in different ways, some you have to say: i'm on Astra 1, and then scan it will know what channels are where and store something. some will just blind scan anything. try this: pick a known transponder frequency, symbol rate etc, and enter it manually: here's a list of astra 1 (19.2deg E) http://www.kingofsat.net/en/freqs.php?&pos=19.2E&standard=Digital&ordre=freq&filtre=Clear and type it in, see if you get anything, i guess you'll be pointed here, or hotbird, how does you dish direction compare with that of a neigbours house? or, with your current poiting just do a scan, if you tell your receiver its looking at 28.2E it will only search frequencies that it beleives it will find channels on, but they'll be a cross over somewhere, you should get some channels, then work backwards, based on the frequency and the channel work out which satellite you're looking at.... i hope that makes sense!

By the way I get awfully confused by the way they give the directions of satellites. Does 28E mean 28 degrees East of South? In other words 152degrees?

yes, although in practive i don't beleive its actually 28degrees, more forum members will be able to enlighten you in this field. - by the way to you have a clean line of sight? that might explain why you only get "one" strong signal...

cts
 
J

Jeff_19341

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Hi John T

Ref "Does 28E mean 28 degrees East of South?". Yes that is where the satellite is located over the equator. Because of ones position on the earth, ie latitude and longitude, the look angle to a satellite is slightly different to that. Down load the SMW3 link from the Swedish Mocrowave site to find out your look angle.
 

John T

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Many thanks to you all for your help. It started raining heavily while I was up the ladder so I have abandoned doing any more today, and the dish is mis-aligned. Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'll try again. I will post here, either with more questions, or telling what I did to acheive success.
cheers
John
 

rolfw

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Get yourself a little satellite meter John, will make life easier. :)

If you are seeing the message "Scrambled Channel", then you are obviously seeing a satellite, what channels come up when you scan say 19E?
 

John T

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Spent quite a while again today, with the same result. Set the dish with a compass to 151* magnetic, which a web site calculated with my location. I imediately got a reasonable signal, but obviously the wrong satellite as BBC2 said "Channel is scrambled or not available" Had no time to search for the channels as her indoors wanted her TV back! Where can I find a list of channels on Astra1 please, I've tried Googling, but no luck?
Away tomorrow, so will have another stab Saturday. The thing is how will a satellite meter help me get the correct channel?
Thanks for all the help
John
 

rolfw

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www.lyngsat.com there are other sites listed in the big links list at the top of the forum index page.
 

John T

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rolfw said:
www.lyngsat.com there are other sites listed in the big links list at the top of the forum index page.
Thanks Rolph, I did go there but could not see Astra, but as you recommended it I perservered and found it, thanks
 

John T

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Well folks I think that I have cracked it. I have taken the dish down off the wall, mounted it on a workmate where I could see the TV, after a lot of perseverance I have the correct satellite reception. I must say that it seems nowhere near where the book says. I wonder if it is possible that the electric pylons just to the South, running East to West are affecting it. Anyway all I have to do is put it back on the wall. At least I know the declination and direction now.
My next task is to resolve my Dragon cam problems, so I will away there to seek guidance.
Thanks again
John
 

John T

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I have now satisfactorily set up my dish, thanks to all the help here. I thought that someone, very new like me might findhow I did so in the end useful. I put the assemble dish complete with bracket into a work mate, near a south facing window through which I could see the TV. I then moved the dish horizontally and vertically until I got a reasonable signal. As I have a Sky box I was able to tell that it was the correct satellite as the Network Indicater was 0002, which signifies Astra 2. If that was not available then you would need to scan and look to see which programmes you have to find the satellite being received. When I had "fine tuned" for the best signal I used a homemade inclinometer, simply a rectangular piece of card with string threaded through a hole on the top and a weight tied to the other end of the string. I held the top edge of the card to the bottom of the LNB arm and carefully marked where the string was on the card, once it was stationary. The second measurement I took with a straight length of wood (about 2 feet) laid allong the face of the dish and measured the magnetic direction of the straightedge. I did this so that the compass was well clear of any magnetic influence of the dish and supports. I then mounted the dish back on the wall, transferred these measurement back to the dish, and heigh presto, almost perfect, very little adjustment needed.
 
J

Jeff_19341

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Well done m8, really like to hear the tricks that members get up to. Very good idea useing a workmate and your home made inclinometers. Nice post.
 
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