Fortec Star from Maplin

O

oliverwestby

Member
My Satellite Setup
Fortec Star dish, LNB and reciever from maplin
My Location
High Wycombe
I bought a fortec star freesat kit from maplin and have installed this on the side of a block of flats i live in next to a sky dish. I have pointed it in the same direction as the sky dish, yet I don't get a signal.
I have bought a satellite finder and this beeps in the direction I have it facing, however on the receiver, I get signal strength of 45% and signal quality of 5% where ever the dish is pointing. This is the second LNB and receiver as I returned the originals with the same issue thinking they were faulty.
I get a signal strength of 2% if I unplug from the LNB, and when plugged in, even if pointing at the floor I get 45%

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong as I'm on the fringe area for freeview so currently only get bbc 1, 2, 3 and news through my aerial, and more channels would be nice.

Cheers,
Ollie
 
Hi,

Check that you have the skew of the LNB roughly on the correct setting.

http://www.satellites.co.uk/satelli...tar-lnb-fskuvn-icecrypt-0-1db-single-lnb.html

Secondly, learn how to use your beeper properly. It not only has to beep, you have to optimise it. You could aslo be on the wrong satellite.

Another option is to align the dish using the receivers own signal quality meter, using say 10773H for example.
 
I tried to align using the receivers signal level, yet no matter where I point it, I get 45% strength, 5% quality. Hence I bought a satellite finder. With this I have positioned the dish such that I get the strongest signal and then checked the receiver on each stored satellite and it still reads 45%.

Will have a go with the LNB. After reading through that, I too assumed the connector vertically down would be zero skew so will try this tomorrow.

Cheers,
Ollie
 
And I suggest you post a picture of the dish viewed from the side as often people do not set the declination correctly. The dish should be like the picture almost vertical
 

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I'm having the exact same problem as outlined by Oliver, above. That said, I have no previous experience of installation of sattelite and didn't realise how precise one has to be when setting up the dish - particularly, it seems, with a 46cm dish.

Out of interest, and I know that without posting pictures etc my problem cannot at this time be analysed, but Oliver - have you made any progress with this or locate the problem?
 
Actually, the smaller the dish, the less precise it needs to be, as its beamwidth is wider than a larger dish.
 
I stand corrected then. It doesn't seem to matter, however, what adjustments I make to the dish or LNB the signal intensity remains at 45% and signal quality at 5%
 
RingoC said:
I stand corrected then. It doesn't seem to matter, however, what adjustments I make to the dish or LNB the signal intensity remains at 45% and signal quality at 5%
Click to expand...

Those are the readings you'll get even with the dish pointed at the ground.

Clearly you've not got anywhere near a Satellite position yet!

If you do indeed have the FSUKVN LNB, then turn it so the F connector is at four o'clock (Looking from LNB towards dish) then leave it there while you align the dish.

At the risk of repetition, the dish face needs to be nigh on vertical and, as Satelliteman says, the relatively small dish has relatively wide acceptance angle, so you really should be able to get to the point where Strength and Quality begin to deviate upwards from the quiescent readings.
 
Thanks, and thanks for being patient with me. I'm adamant with the other half that I will manage to get the thing working - having been without TV in our annex for over 6 months already and money is tight so professional installation wasn't an option.

I'm starting to doubt every part of my installation now, despite having redone the F connectors on the coax just to keep myself happy.

I'm assuming that it's going to be a somewhat tricky task to attempt to align the dish correct? I have used satpointer.com etc to get an idea to which way my dish should be facing. I have pointed it in that direction and tweaked it several times to no avail. If the direction is correct then it will come down to the LNB and elevation? I have tweaked the LNB direction as suggested in the other threads.

The mount is on an slightly declined roof (similar to a pointed shed roof). As such, I have been trying to get the dish nigh-on vertical as suggested in relation to the floor as opposed to the roof.
 
Furthermore, I have been using the 28.2e 10.773H 22000 transponder for reference but it does not appear to budge despite any tweaks.
 
Well have you gone into the LNB settings to make sure that Universal (or Universal 1, or Universal 9750/10600) is selected and LNB power is on?

Yours is one of those problems which, were any of us with you, could be resolved in slightly under five minutes, but sadly is harder to diagnose and correct in distant written words!

The thing with Dish alignment is that once you've done it once you wonder why it seems so hard. It becomes second nature. The only problem is that that is no consolation to a first-timer!
 
I cannot find an option to turn it on, per say. It is however set to LNB Freq Universal (9750/10600)

Other settings are:
- DiSEqC1.0 - Disable (other options are to do with Ports1 - 4)
- DiSEqC1.1 - Disable
- 22k - Auto
- Toneburst - Off
- Polarity - Auto
 
Try to find other signals, see if the kit is set up ok! also look at anything blocking line of sight i doubt it but you never know! and how do you know that sky dish is pointing at 28.2 e might be 13e i have seen alot at 13e !
Mark Jose
 
RingoC said:
I cannot find an option to turn it on, per say. It is however set to LNB Freq Universal (9750/10600)

Other settings are:
- DiSEqC1.0 - Disable (other options are to do with Ports1 - 4)
- DiSEqC1.1 - Disable
- 22k - Auto
- Toneburst - Off
- Polarity - Auto
Click to expand...

Sounds ok :-thumbup
 
Thanks again for the continued support :) I've had some limited success at present and managed to find 3 channels (BBC Persian, SMAA TV on Hotbird 6,7A,8)

_http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/9653/p1000682j.jpg

_http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/629/p1000681d.jpg

_http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/7537/p1000683o.jpg


[fieldset=Moderation]No IMG Links[/fieldset]
 
RingoC said:
Thanks again for the continued support :) I've had some limited success at present and managed to find 3 channels (BBC Persian, SMAA TV on Hotbird 6,7A,8)

_http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/9653/p1000682j.jpg

_http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/629/p1000681d.jpg

_http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/7537/p1000683o.jpg


[fieldset=Moderation]No IMG Links[/fieldset]
Click to expand...

You are a little off 13e no problem try using dishpointer.com to get the correct elevation for your area and where you should be pointing your dish. in your case it could be inches away !
 
I believe I'm now picking up Astra 2A-B-D allbeit that the majority of channels are seemingly foreign - a full scan has just returned 537 tv channels. Now to try and get English channels. Any advice on how to get those?
 
Can you name some of the channels? If the majority of the 500 odd are foreign, then you are almost certainly not looking at Astra 28.2.
 
Well if you have moved from Hotbird, the next highly populous Satellites is Astra 1 at 19.2E - and many of those are German. That's foreign to some of us!

So you certainly need to go a little further eastwards yet - and down a degree or two.

At least you are now making rapid progress!

If you got results from scanning "28E", don't forget that Satellite frequencies are re-used on different Satellites, so the fact you are getting mainly foreign Channels means you are not pointing to 28E (Yet!).

What you are scanning is just a simple data table with editable labels - It doesn't really mean anything much unless the table and the Satellite the dish is pointing at are one and the same.
 
Thanks to all for their assistance. I am now pointing at the correct place and receiving the majority of channels that I was seeking! Thanks again :) Now remind me, why was that so difficult? I could do it again - just takes patience :)

Keep up the good work all
 
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