one last try

georgia_grrl

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I'm givin this dish setup lark one last try before i admit defeat and pay someone to sort it for me. cheapest price i was given was just shy of a hundred quid for a dish alignment though :( o it'll probably be after easter before i've gotten cash together to get it working if i cant get it today.

i'm hoping it'll be reasonably sunny, so i cna at least try to use the sun as a guide to find exactly south, also got my huge triangle to take an angle off either my minidish or a neighbour's minidish.

i've decided i'm gonan give it a shot without bothering about angles other than the one on the motor, which is set for my location, i'm gonna find south, or as near as i can get, then move the dish up and down till i find something, and not aactually give a d*mn what it's set at, so long as it works.
 

rolfw

Believe it when I see it Admin.
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My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402 HD M2 Ci, DM7000s, Transparent 80cm Dish, Moteck SG2100 DiseqC motor, lots of legacy gear. Meters: Satlook Digital NIT, Promax HD Ranger+ spectrum analyser.
My Location
Berkshire
Try finding 5W (I think that is about your due South) http://www.lyngsat.com/ab3.html, if you have or can borrow an analogue receiver, it will make life easier. :)
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
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A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
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UK
There will be two angles to set with the dish facing South (or 5W).

Your elevation should be the same as the angle of the motor on a vertical pole, lock this first, then try to find any satellite in the South direction by minute adjustment of the declination, (the angle between the motor pole and the dish surface)

Its going to get much colder in 24 hours, so I would start now, ready to batten down the hatches this afternoon.
 

gameboy

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My Satellite Setup
DreamBox 7000s - Nokia Freeview - Several GameBoys - DS Lite - ZX81 - SNES - N64 - Saturn - Dreamcast - PlayStation - PS2 - Gamecube - PSP - iPod - iPhone - XBox - PS3 - Wii - iPad - No Life!
My Location
Scotland
Lovely morning but it started to snow early afternoon - didn't last long.

When you get it working - you'll see why it was worth all the bother.
 

georgia_grrl

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ok, spent about 2 hours up the roof today, getting pretty decent sinal strengths on my little needle meter, came down off the roof with the signal strength at 6 (out of 8). look at receiver, signal strength 20% (it always shows that) signal quality 0%. *grumble* somethng must have moved whle i was coming down, or my cable run is fecked.i'm gonna defrost a bit, the go bac up, if i still have a signal strength that's o whle up ther,e i'll rerun all teh cable, just to be sure.

apparently what i was doing wrong int he first place was following the instructions with my motor. the angle i was supposed to set the dish at, is about as similar to the angle the dish currenly is at, as i am to britney spears (i'll gve you a hint, i look nothing like her)
instructiosn state: 38.5 degrees. dish set at: just over 15 degrees. i could probably have been up and runnign weeks ago if it wasnt for my tendency to belive instruction manuals.
 

georgia_grrl

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i have a decent signal on some sats, but not on others, i'm happy with it for now, cos i'm FREEZING. i'll go up the roof again when the weather improves a litte, i have decent signal on everything from 12.5W to 28.5E, so i'm ok with that for now. got what i was looking for which was mostly hotbird and astra (i knwo i coulda went monoblock, but i wanted the option of other sats)

thanks for the help and encourgement guys. i'm off to burn the instruction manual for the motor for giving me so much grief ;)
 

Topper

Amo Amas Amant Admin
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georgia_grrl said:
i have a decent signal on some sats, but not on others, i'm happy with it for now, cos i'm FREEZING. i'll go up the roof again when the weather improves a litte, i have decent signal on everything from 12.5W to 28.5E, so i'm ok with that for now. got what i was looking for which was mostly hotbird and astra (i knwo i coulda went monoblock, but i wanted the option of other sats)

Well done georgia_grrl with what you have currently you should have sufficiently square eyes by the time the weather is a bit better.

:-respekt
 

eghamhigh

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echostar 808 2CI
Matrix Reloaded Cam
Fixed dish 13E
My Location
Surrey/Berks Border
Well done and happy viewing. I'm planning to go motorised in the spring so's been interesting following your experience - perhaps you will be able to help or at least tell me what not to do!
 

vinceben

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Never give up. Installing is the fun part. It may take time and can be very frustrating, but it will help you understand your equipement better.
 

T_G

The Consumate Dreamer
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Somewhere where the Sauer is Kraut and the Wurst is Brat
Well done Georgia! I am happy you did not give up. Could be that you are going to have to fine tune the thing to get the best results, but at least you now know the thing has future!
 
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