New Member needs advice

[dangermouse1977]

Hi all,

I have a basic sky minidish with a Panasonic dodgybox, I mounted my dish last night, according to my basic satellite finder it has a strong signal.

However

Although the signal strength bar remains static at about 2/3rds of the maximum, the quality bar jumps around from no quality at all up to 2/3rds.
Lock is stated as being OK, but transponder codes are 0000

I can't see any technical reason why this should be the case, but as it's stopping my receiver getting a lock on any of the channels, it's fairly serious.

All advice gratefully received.

Derek

 

[Cupart]

Hi Derek,

Are you 100% sure your dish is correctly alligned pointing towards 28.2E?
You might be very close to the cluster of sat's but not close enough.

Also make sure that the cable is correclt split at each end so that no threads touches the main lead.

You can have a high signal strength but low (or non) quality, if the dish is not 100% correctly alligned.

//Fred

 

[PoloMint]

Also check the skew (twist from vertical) of the LNB is correct, and double check your connections

 

[dangermouse1977]

OK,

thanks for the advice so far, how do I go about setting the skew for the lnb?
the dish and box worked fine together at my old house, but I appreciate that my new place my be slightly different.
On my (very basic) satellite finder, I get a lovely strong tone, and a light indicating a 22hz lock? but that's about all the information it can give me.

For reference, the co-ax is new high quality shielded stuff, and the f connectors were carefully wired to ensure that none of the outer core touched the inner core (hope that makes sense)

 

[rolfw]

Well unless there is something in the way partially, you could be pointing at Astra 19.2, there is a transponder there of the same frequency as the default digibox transponder.

 

[benidormgary]

Hello derek,
You could just be the man who can help me,as well!

Is your location the Yate in Bristol?If so,would you look at my recent post on this forum,I am trying to get a couple of readings from down south.so far,without any luck.

As for your problem,I dont think(as the members have suggested),that you are looking at the right satellite.The default transponder for most(probably ALL) digiboxes is 11778V, the network ID is 0002, and the transport stream is 07d4. When you have this showing on your screen,you will be sure to be on Astra2. If the LNB is of the "elliptical" type(as it probably will be on a minidish),you neednt worry too much about the skew angle as these types will pick up most transponders in any of the 4(or is it 5?)positions possible in the UK. Please will you report back if you have any success.
Gary.

 

[spiney]

This is bizarre! The symptoms seem self-contradictory.

On a digibox, signal strength will register whenever you "find" any satellite signal with the dish. However, quality and lock will not show at all unless you've got Astra2 with the default transponder.

It's impossible for lock to be ok without quality first being fine!

You also shouldn't get lock on any other satelites, since they don't have a default transponder on the same frequency. (Of course, you still would by entering transpomder details in "manual tune", but that's different!)

Cable should be fine, because if there's a cable short then you'll get nothing at all!

Quality "all over the place" is puzzling. I suggest you check the f plug at both ends of cable. Although, if the signal is intermittent, you shouldn't get lock at all.

 

[dangermouse1977]

This is bizarre! The symptoms seem self-contradictory.

On a digibox, signal strength will register whenever you "find" any satellite signal with the dish. However, quality and lock will not show at all unless you've got Astra2 with the default transponder.

It's impossible for lock to be ok without quality first being fine!

You also shouldn't get lock on any other satelites, since they don't have a default transponder on the same frequency. (Of course, you still would by entering transpomder details in "manual tune", but that's different!)

Cable should be fine, because if there's a cable short then you'll get nothing at all!

Quality "all over the place" is puzzling. I suggest you check the f plug at both ends of cable. Although, if the signal is intermittent, you shouldn't get lock at all.

I'm glad it's not just me that thinks this is bizarre, I also didn't think that I'd get a lock without the quality being OK, but I do.
strangely the strength remains constant, it hasn't changed in the 4 days since we put the dish up, the quality though is still changing every 5 seconds or so.
I've checked the f plugs at both ends, and they seem fine (no outer core touching the inner core etc)
I wonder whether it may be possible that I'm pointing at the wrong satellite?
I only had a really basic strength meter to find the satellite, so anything's possible I guess!

Anyone in Yate / Bristol got a decent meter I could borrow?!!

 

[stevo]

but i set 1 up just using the inbuilt meter with a mate shouting the results back at me,just looked at neibours dish ,done the nuts up tightish and just moved the dish slightly,when it was a half decent fix i put it on a sky channel to see if it was sky,and went from there really...worked for me..

regards stevo

 

[Analoguesat]

Right - firstly, ignore the strength reading totally - its useless - you will get a high indicator even with the dish pointing at the floor.

As with most things in life, quality is everything.

Id say your dish isnt aligned correctly.

Read the info at

www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk

 

[spiney]

Confusion multiplied .......

In fact, the strength reading - if above about half way - shows you're getting a satellite, though not which one.

Quality - above about two thirds - also shows a low bit error rate, ie, the signal should be "usable".

I would try the following ...........

Goto one of the sat tranponder listing sites - eg, www.satcodx.com, www.lyngast.com, etc - and select a "known good" transponder from 28 deg E. For example, one of the BBC ones. Write down the details. The, goto Sky installer menu (on remote, services, then 4 0 1 select). Use manual tuning, and you should get that transponder. It'll show you're on the rignt satellite, and should then be able to get default tranponder.

When aligning a minidish, there's 3 "big" signals at 13, 19, and 28 deg E. Astra2 is the furthest towards left (looking from behind the dish).

 

[dangermouse1977]

Confusion multiplied .......

In fact, the strength reading - if above about half way - shows you're getting a satellite, though not which one.

Quality - above about two thirds - also shows a low bit error rate, ie, the signal should be "usable".

I would try the following ...........

Goto one of the sat tranponder listing sites - eg, www.satcodx.com, www.lyngast.com, etc - and select a "known good" transponder from 28 deg E. For example, one of the BBC ones. Write down the details. The, goto Sky installer menu (on remote, services, then 4 0 1 select). Use manual tuning, and you should get that transponder. It'll show you're on the rignt satellite, and should then be able to get default tranponder.

When aligning a minidish, there's 3 "big" signals at 13, 19, and 28 deg E. Astra2 is the furthest towards left (looking from behind the dish).

Right then...

over the weekend I have manually input the details for 3 different channels (on my digibox you input the frequency and then search for channels) the box has reported no channels for all 3.

It seems fairly clear to me now that my dish is pointing in the wrong direction. I wonder which satellite it is pointing at!!!

 

[T_G]

Look, finding a sat is not as hard as it looks. If you can see another dish on one of the roofs try to see if the direction is the same. Other than that, mark the position the dish is now on (with felt tip pen or whatever) and then slightly loosen the clamp bolts so the dish can be moved with a bit of pressure but not completely move around, and move the dish a little to the east (when you are standing behind the dish it is to the left.) Move it by a small amount (just a mm or less of movement of the pole clamp at a time), and wait for 10-15 seconds to see if it changes. Do this until you get another reading. I bet you are on 19 east, that one has a very strong signal. If you are on 19 east then you need to move it 9 degrees to the east.
You should do this until you find the one you are looking for. If you don't find it, then try to move it to the west of where you had it originally.

If you can't see your TV from where the dish is ask someone to stand there with a mobile phone and give you the readings of the signal meter of the box.


Don't be afraid as you can't do that much wrong. And I repeat: it is fairly easy to find a sat, especially as you already have some signal, that means your elevation is ok. Once you have found the correct sat try playing with the elevation as well to get the best signal.

 

[rolfw]

The most common "wrong satellite" is Astra 19.2E, try entering one of the transponders from there, try 10832 H 22000-5/6, if you don't find any channels there, then have a look at some of the other adjacent satellites for a transponder to check.

http://www.lyngsat.com/astra19.html

 

[dangermouse1977]

Well that's my problem identified then!!

Babel TV coming at me loud and clear!

Thanks for your perseverance, anyone wants me I'll be up a ladder, or watching EuRoticTV maybe!!