novice having problems aligning dish.

blackninja

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Tried moving my 43cm minidish to 19 East last night (live in Cheshire but heard of people further north getting it on their minidish) using a satbeeper and a compass but to no avial. To make matters worse I then couldn't find 28 East so there's no sky digital today. The dish has gone loose and isn't in its usual rigid position (no rude jokes now). Probably have to get the sky fella in now and (hopefully) he'll install a zone 2 (60cm) dish.

I think I need a real idiots guide to dish alignment. Whenever I put the compass near the dish the south bearing goes askew - anyway to counter this? What nuts and bolts should I be loosening? Go easy on me - total novice to all this.
 

prof

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Whereabouts in Cheshire are you Blackninja?
Or do you know any-one with an old analogue receiver?
 

blackninja

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Round Tarporley, between Chester and Nantwich. Don't know whether we kept our old sky analogue receiver. Maybe if I can get one cheap on Ebay. Is it easier than using a beeper and compass?
 

RESCO

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have an old nokia but no remote but is pretuned for 19E,if you pay the postage you can have it
regards
Resco
 

blackninja

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Cheers Resco. Would I need a remote to operate it? Would an all in one work? How much for postage do u reckon?

How do I align the dish with an analogue receiver? Is it pretty easy?
(Sorry for all the questions!)


RESCO said:
have an old nokia but no remote but is pretuned for 19E,if you pay the postage you can have it
regards
Resco
 

AForester

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Never put a compass close to a steel/iron object, the magnetised needle will point towards it rather than the magnetic north pole which is somewhere in north Canada at present and not the geographical north pole
Regards AF
 

PoloMint

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Heres some very quick tips on dish alignment, if you do a google search you will probably find some much better comments/guides.

When aligning the dish it’s important (well often easier) to get the dish elevation right before you even start to point it in the right direction, and you probably don’t even need a compass.

If you haven’t already got it download SMW link from here http://www.smw.se/smwlink/smwlink.htm and enter your lat and longitude, find them at http://www.heavens-above.com/ if you don’t know them and set up the SMW link program for 28E.

That will tell you the elevation the dish should be at, set this on the dish itself, (should have markings, and assuming the wall/pole the dish is on is vertical they should be ok) and point the dish in roughly the right direction (taken just by looking at a neighbours dish etc), with the sat beeper connected just pan the dish from what you think is too far left (or right) of the correct position towards what you think is the correct position. With any luck you should find the signal, then do some fine adjustments. If you don’t find a signal pan the dish a bit further to the left or right until you get a result. Of course you could find the wrong satellite, but its no big deal and as long as you find out quickly then you haven’t wasted much time either.

This is assuming you haven’t changed the LNB skew also, but if you have just turn it back to what it was (or what the SMW link program says it should be)

An analogue receiver won’t help you find 28.2 easily, you need analogue channels to tune into!
 

RESCO

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Postage would be about £10 I think,dont think a one for all would work as I remember a problem with Nokia,but you can use the buttons on the front panel.To align with an analogue you would need someone watching the tv as you move the dish.
 

prof

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Sorry Blackninja, I missed your reply earlier, I did mean use analogue rec. to try and get 19.2 I'm up near Macc. If you were closer I could have popped round, anyway Good luck!
 

blackninja

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Thanks for all the replies.
Should it really be a problem getting 19 East on a 43cm minidish in Cheshire? I've heard of people getting it on these dishes in places like Newcastle and even Scotland.
 

blackninja

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The SMW program's giving me an angle of 23 degrees. I'm aware of the markings on the back of the dish but 23 degrees from what? (sorry I probably sound dead stupid) It also gave me an azimuth angle of 143. Is this the compass bearing I should use (if I need a compass)?

I'm a bit confused about the various nuts and bolts I should be unscrewing to move the dish. There is one screw that has come slightly loose lower down behind the dish but is almost impossible to get to. There are two (long) screws further up behind the dish which are easier to get to. Any help? Again sorry for sounding thick - totally new to all this.

(BTW that heavens-above site's amazing. It's a worldwide site and not only did it find Tarporley but also the tiny neighbouring village I live in.)
 
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