Problems after moving the dish

B

bnf303

Member
My Satellite Setup
Clarke-tech C-Tech 2500 Plus receiver, 80 cm dish with monoblock LNB for 19,2 deg E Astra and 13 deg E Hotbird. Lenovo T400 notebook.
My Location
Brussels, Belgium
Hey guys! This is my 1st post here, and I hoped it wouldn't be the one with a problem, but seems not to be the case ...
Anyway, I have a 80 cm dish with a 6-degree monoblock LNB to receive Astra 19,2 E and Hotbird 13 E. I'm situated in Brussels, Begium and I have the dish mounted on top of our flat roof. Since problems always came with spring - level of Hotbird signal dropped significaly - I figured this is due to a large tree getting leaves (yeah, no problems in late autumn and winter ... :P ) standing in line of sight. And again it happened few months ago, but this time the signal dropped to cca 20%. So, I've had it and decided to move the whole thing. And I did. Only to still get just one of the wished satellites - of course only by moving the dish and yelling to my wife if its any better. So, I can get both, but only one at a time. To get the other one I have to move to it. I haven't changed anything in the receiver settings.
Could it be that one of the "heads" died? Oh, I had to extend the cable for around 6 m to around 18 m altogether. What am I donig wrong? Any other info you need?

Thanks for the help!
 
Which satellite do you have at the dish focus?, How do you move it to get the other satellite? And.. do you have the mounting pole exactly the same angle as you had before?
 
Robbo said:
Which satellite do you have at the dish focus?, How do you move it to get the other satellite? And.. do you have the mounting pole exactly the same angle as you had before?
Click to expand...

The answer to the 1st question is a bit strange: I don't know really because I changed positions so much that I lost track of it. Present conf should be with hotbird in focal and astra to the west of it (left of the focal if looking towards the dish), but I moved the dish so I'm now receiving astra only. But I moved it manually if that's what u ment with the 2nd question. And yes, I tried not to change anything about elevation or position of the mounting pole.

Thx for the help.
 
You need to drape a damp cloth or something (or cover with your hand) over the Astra LNB. Get the dish focussed on Hotbird, then lock the bolts up.(then remove damp cloth) Then swivel the LNB in the holder and Astra should come in when you have switched to diseqc1.0 position 2. Also, you are only making things difficult by yelling to er' indoors, you need to arrange it so that you can see the signal meter yourself.

Also would be a good idea to check that the Astra LNB works, by putting it at focus, selecting diseqc 1.0 position 2 and checking that you can get a satellite with it.
 
Hello folks!

I'm writing (again) because of a problem. This time not only have I move the dish, I moved myself, hence the problem of course.

So, the situation is as follows: the wished satellites are the same as described above: astra 19,2E + 13E Hotbird with a 6-degree lnb. Now, the settings in the sat receiver haven't changed, only physical position of the dish, but I only moved 4 km to the south of our previus position, so I'm still in Brussels, Belgium. suddenly the only satellite I recieve is the Eutelsat 23,5E ... Of course I got confused, played around with receiver's settings, made a factory reset, updated the firmware, but to no avail.

Now, I'm thinking why would I be able to get the Eutelsat 23.5E which needs even lower elevation angle (in case there would be any obstacle in the line of site) than that of astra or hotbird, but not the latter two?

Any ideas? Any questions?

Thanks in advance!

Tomaz
 
Well if you only receive 23.5E that's because of a misalignment, so you need to jog the dish a few degrees (which is not much at all) further westwards.

The reason you don't get another satellite is because 23.5 - 6 = 17.5 and there is nothing at 17.5E.

The elevation differential between 23.5E and 13E/19.2E is very little and that should help you as you may not need to raise the physical elevation at all as you pan westwards to the correct alignment.
 
Thanks for the reply Tivu!

Maybe I wasn't clear enough. The problem is not finiding the other satellite the LNB should receive, but finding one of the wanted (astra 19.2E or Hotbird 13E) at all. ALL I can get is the 23.5E!

Tomaz
 
Yes, I know - it was perfectly clear.

The answer is to nudge the dish a few degrees further West.

The next Satellite to come in will be 19.2E. If it doesn't, then also raise the elevation a tiny, tiny bit.

This all supposes you have no obstructions in the line of sight to the desired Satellites.




PS: What makes you think you've got 23.5E anyway (You cannot rely entirely upon the label of the "Satellite" you've scanned ............) ?

Can you please list a handful of Channels you are getting?
 
Well I've nudged it westerly, easterly - all to no avail ... the only friggin thing I can get is that 28.5E (Yes, sorry it's actualy Eutelsat 28.5E I can get, not the Astra 23.5E!!!). I've changed the elevation angle up to almost 31 degrees (the value here where I am should be for 19.2E) (a bit more than 27 degrees for 28.5E)

I know that what the reciever tells me is not necessarily true, as it was in my case - I've had Astra showing in receiver's database, but the channels weren't the ones I would recognise as astra's, so I googled them and it was the 28.5E (myriad of Sky channels and for example True Moves 1 and 2).

And about obstractions for the line of sight - ther is a tall building close by, but I thought if the lower elevation angle for the 28.5E works, why the hell wouldn't it work for Astra?
 
Another thing I might have done wrong is the DiSEqC switch settings of my Clarke-Tech receiver. In its database of satellites it has a preset Astra 19.2E and Hotbird 13E already linked with DiSEqC switch 1.0 - Astra: Committed 1, and Hotbird: Committed 2, which by my understanding means that the head receiving Astra should be at focal point and the one for Hotbird east from it (to the left if standing behind the dish/facing south), right?
 
So, no more ideas? I'm still suffering!
 
Can you please post some photographs, of your dish, and LNB.
You need to tackle this problem logically.
The first thing to do is establish which satellite you are receiving, do this by scanning in some channels and check the channel identification, frequency and polarity on sites like lyngsat.com, flysat, or kingofsat.net. Or post the information in this thread and we shall try to help you.
Next which LNB is actually receiving the signal, to discover this just block each LNB, in turn, and see which one is pointing at the satellite.
I assume you have one LNB in the central, normal, position, then a second to the right, or left, for the other satellite, without a photograph, or you providing the information, I'm only guessing.
If it is this type of set up then block the second LNB, so it can't receive a signal, and concentrate on aligning the main LNB to 19E, or 13E, depending on which side the second LNB is aligned.
 
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