Help with becoming a satellite tv installer

E

eskimo

Member
My Satellite Setup
Technomate TM-1000D Super
80cm Dish
Sky HD
Labgear Multiswitch
Quad L&N

Apple Mac Pro with Dual Cinema Display
My Location
Lakes, UK
Hi Guys, I am currently an electrician with 10 years experience. I live in a small village and freesat seems to be the best way for us to get free digital. After having it installed myself recently (4 weeks wait and had to pay £100 just for the installers travel cost) I can really see the benifits of using satellites for tv. I am wanting to become an installer myself and wondered if anyone here could advise how I go about this as I feel it would be beneficial to my business.

The main problem I have is not knowing how to gain the experience. I have installed tv aerials before (one of the services we offer) and have a good understanding of HD distribution through cat5e and also home automation.

I have done my working at height course and also own the following equipment:
Petzl Navaho Harness
Mammut Helmet
Fall Arrester
Cordless Hilti SDS Drill for Fixings
Cordless Hilti Driver
Approves Ladder inc Roof Ladders
Basic Fringe Satellite Signal Meter

My first problem is knowing what meter will be sufficient to install both Satellite & Digital aerials. The fringe I have is very basic and just has 12 LED lights with illuminate when I point the aerial to the transmitter. I have looked at many brands including promax (very expensive) and Horizon (good price but does it have enough features)

Does anyone know what meters SKY installers use? Also does anyone know where I get the appropriate training to use such meter or is it really as simple as pointing the dish in the approximate direction and then moving it around using the meter as a strength indicator?

I only really intend to install SKY, freeview & Freesat (although it would be benificial to be able to find other satellites in the future to install custom set ups) so would need a meter that would do all 3 and I do a lot of multi distribution on TV so would I need a certain meter for quad L&B's?

Thanks in advance and I apologise if this is in the wrong place.

Regards
Jon (Eskimo)
 
If you are just looking at Sky/Freesat installations, then a fairly basic meter will do, unfortunately, I have no idea what the Sky installers use at present, but it is probably pretty much set up exclusively for Astra 28.2. Have a look at some of the recent threads in this section, the Emitor Micro+ is a nice meter.

PS. Nice harness, much better than the standard issue?
 
The harness and helmet are because I do a lot of work servicing wind turbines and solar panels, did some work on the Whitelee windfarm recently and the harness is so comfortable.

I looked at the Emitor Micro+ after reading a few reviews on here, however I have no idea what these devices show!! My basic meter has the LED's and I know that the more lights the better signal strength. How do you guys know how it all works? I have no idea what the spectrum analyzer is used for etc.

I have called a few colleges offering courses but they seem to focus more on the hard installation (ladder access etc) side as opposed to the actual fine tuning of the signal and what to do/look for if the picture is bad.

Many thanks for the advice.
 
eskimo said:
Does anyone know what meters SKY installers use?
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I think Rover SDM meters or ST2's/Master STC.

The Satlook MicroG2 or Lite would do well.
 
eskimo said:
I looked at the Emitor Micro+ after reading a few reviews on here, however I have no idea what these devices show!! My basic meter has the LED's and I know that the more lights the better signal strength. How do you guys know how it all works? I have no idea what the spectrum analyzer is used for etc.
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The meter in the thread would do fine for satellite.

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/.../158402-emitor-satlook-micro-g2-nit-demo.html

The easy find feature, does what it says on the tin, very quick and easy for alingning for 28E.


We know how it all works for various reasons, but for me it was I spent 2 years messing about with varoius dishes in my back yard in my spare time, learning as I went, from this very forum and by trial and error.
 
As Robbo says, there is no substitute for experience, get a meter, read a lot and then practice on a dish in your garden. Take it off beam, move it to other satellites and then back, after a while alignment becomes second nature.

Learning to remember the shape of the spectrum traces for different satellites will also be of great advantage, it isn't as easy as a lot of people suggest, but if you have a technical bent, it will come to you.
 
Cool, cheers guys. I think the best bet is to bite the bullet and just buy the meter and a cheapish satellite & receiver combo to rig up in my garden to practice on. Am I correct in assuming the Micro G2 will not do freeview, only satellite.
 
LOL, yes Rolf, it does become 2nd nature, a few times now I have struck lucky and not had to align the dish at all, just put it up spot on without adjustment needed.


Yes, it will only do satellite not terrestrial.

Though in my very limited aerial alignment experience, (I hired a basic professional meter to do my own aerial), they don't need much alignment, LOL, Though with terrestrial TV it doesn't just end there unfortunately.
 
Robbo said:
Though in my very limited aerial alignment experience, (I hired a basic professional meter to do my own aerial), they don't need much alignment, LOL, Though with terrestrial TV it doesn't just end there unfortunately.
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Purchased one of Emitor pocket terrestrial meters for quick and easy alignments. Limited info but does have a small spectrum display and will show dBuV measurements.
 
eskimo said:
Cool, cheers guys. I think the best bet is to bite the bullet and just buy the meter and a cheapish satellite & receiver combo to rig up in my garden to practice on. Am I correct in assuming the Micro G2 will not do freeview, only satellite.
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I would certainly get the meter with money, but have a look round the local council tip for dishes, thousands are discarded every month by the installers, many of which have a good few years life left in them.
 
If you already have freesat receiver, a cheap dish and a back garden pole with length of cable would allow practice? B&Q, Lidl, something super-cheap £50 tops?

I am not an installer but aligning the dish is possible with very basic understanding if your just aiming at 28.2e for Sky. Even with a basic meter that goes "beep". Its a lot easier with a meter of some sort that does more than "beep", especially if it reads the Network Information Table (NIT) and reports the satellite its receiving, but they don't have to be super-expensive - the Satlook Micro G2 seems to do everything you would need for consumer installations? The Emitor Digiair looks very useful for basic terrestrial setup - there are two versions the blue one with just signal and the red one with dB measurement.
 
Hi,

You have two options:

a) You consider installing satellite dishes as a part time and do mostly single dish installations, in your case mostly pointing them to 28.2E.

For this I don't think you actually need any meter, as you will be able to point and tune a dish after a few installations by just knowing where North and South are located.

The meter will simply speed things up a little and allow for a slightly better dish orientation. Its function will be primeraly to avoid carrying a whole TV and satellite receiver close to the dish.

In my opinion, any cheap meter will do the job, as long as it identifies which satellite you are pointing at and some signal level information is given.

While I do like the Satlook Micro G2, I feel that the spectrum is a little bit too slow and the overall price a little bit too high. Don't buy this device second hand, as they have a huge failure rate and you may be buying a broken one...

You could get yourself a portable device like this one: look for 260720310014 at eBay. This is basically a small device featuring a colour TFT with built-in satellite receiver and battery. Very handy, especially if yu are on a ladder. The price of £68 (with shipping included) speaks for itself (notice: customs charges may apply).

Another option would consist in getting a Satlook Digital NIT. These are not produced anymore, but you can still buy them new for around £600 or second hand for around £300. This device features a REALTIME spectrum. This allows you to VERY QUICKLY find and tune a satellite, as you will see the spikes of the spectrum far before any usable signal is detected. Also, such a device allows you to find transponders (great for feed-hunting) or to tune rotating dishes, as you will "find" all the satellites, instead of just relying on angles. These features are, however, more indicated for sat-DX, i.e. people wanting to get the maximum of their installation (like in my case).

You can spend even more cash, if you go for a Satlook Digital NIT HD, which will allow to capture HD transmissions, as well.

b) You want to really step into the business. This means you want to provide more than just single dish installations, like:

- terr. TV/radio & DVB-T
- CATV & DVB-C
- DVB-S/S2
- combination of them
- multifeed systems
- systems for multiple viewers
- systems with motorised dishes
- ...

You would provide consulting on how to best satisfy the needs of your customers, selecting between different solutions and setting up the whole system.

For example: what would be the best way so that a home with 4 TV's can receive Astra 19.2E, Hotbird 13.0E and Astra 28.2E independantly?

Perhaps you would setup one single dish with 3 Quadro-LNB's (multifeed) and use a 13-4 multi switch. You could add to that a terrestrial antenna tuned for DVB-T signals and provide them with combo receivers, capable of both DVB-S and DVB-T.

You could, however, use 3 Quattro-LNB's and 3 simple DiSEqC-1.0 switches. Would be cheaper but with lots more cables and not capable of distributing terristrial signals, as well.

Or how about a SCR installation with a single cable?

To support all this, you may need a professional meter and in this case, the best price/quality ration will be achieved by Rover Instruments. Look them up on the internet (_http://www.roverinstruments.com)

Their latest Atom and DigiCube models are brilliant. But of course you have to pay the price... They will feature every possible functionality you may need for all kind of signals.

To sum it up: first off, you need to make up your mind on what exactly you want to do and what knowledge you have.

Don't run and buy the first professional meter for £5.000 or you may be broke before you start. On the other hand, don't waste money on amateur stuff, if you intent to provide specialized services.

My tip: start slowly and grow into the buisiness, as your experience increases. And just to install a few Freeview systems, don't buy too much equipment.

Cheers,
vma
 
Kauboj24 said:
Questions where to bay cable and connector f
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Most - but not all - forum members are based in the UK and so will be familiar with UK suppliers. A few more of us are scattered around places such as France, Spain and Germany. Suppliers for Montenegro or anywhere in the Balkans? You might be better off asking on local forums - not all suppliers are willing to deliver outside the EU, or in quite a few cases even outside the country (sometimes I have issues getting UK suppliers to deliver to France, for example). Where are you in Montenegro?- I drove around there a fair bit in July - beautiful place :)
 
Xexe every suppliers are the same :) i ma from podgorica but you must be there when the festival sea dance is Sea Dance Festival great country, beautiful women, good bear and attractive road for drive but we have many police radars on road so watch and drive slow :)

Sent from my 6043D using Tapatalk
 
Kauboj24 said:
Xexe every suppliers are the same :) i ma from podgorica but you must be there when the festival sea dance is Sea Dance Festival great country, beautiful women, good bear and attractive road for drive but we have many police radars on road so watch and drive slow :)
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We drove from Kotor to Podgorica - interesting little road. I was very impressed by the centre of Podgorica in the evening, a world away from any town centre in the UK after dark. Took my own beautiful woman with me :) And I always drive carefully, sticking pretty religiously to the limits. Drives the French nuts :D
 
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