Sat meter

[yoghurt]

Hello

In the past I have used one of those £5 sat finder meters to sucessfully point my fixed dish to 19.2 degrees, over a year ago.

I have now finally dug out my new 1M Triax dish and SG100 motor I treated myself to in Xmas 06(!), fitted it together and started using the guides in the sticky.

I am in Bristol and multimap gives my Lat as 51.48 and Long -2.62 so I used a compass to find magnetic south, altered the motor using the angle guide on its side and moved the dish angle to 40 degrees (as per the supplied motor instructions), hoping to find Thor at 1 degrees

Since I am using an SS2 card via my PC which I do not want to lug outside I wired up the sat meter-however, although it lights up I have not managed to get any movement in the needle or buzzing sound.

With my old setup I found walking in front of the dish got the buzzer sounding and that gave me confidence to persevere with it and (eventually) find 19.2

Coudl the meter be broken or am I doing somethng wrong? I think I also had ProgDVB running which (I think) gave power to the LN

Sorry for the ramblings but any help much apprecated!

My ultimate aim is to get Freesat for the HD channels

Cheers

Yoghurt

 

[Robbo]

Hi,

The metercould be broken, or it could be that you are not pointing the dish the right way. I suggest you try getting 19.2E again since you know roughly where it is and once you get a picture, turn the receiver off to connect the meter, turn it back on and test the meter.

Does the meter have a gain contol on it, it should be turned so that the needle reaches half scale.

Also worth rechecking the short lead between the meter and LNB, or use a premade one.


Remember also that magnetic south is not the same as true south, when you come to the adjustments you are going to need to swivel the motor around the pole a bit to get a signal.

Robbo

 

[rolfw]

I am in Bristol and multimap gives my Lat as 51.48 and Long -2.62 so I used a compass to find magnetic south, altered the motor using the angle guide on its side and moved the dish angle to 40 degrees (as per the supplied motor instructions), hoping to find Thor at 1 degrees

It should be 40 degrees, minus the declination angle of 7.4 or thereabouts as per the manual, if you have set yours at 40 it is too high.

Since I am using an SS2 card via my PC which I do not want to lug outside I wired up the sat meter-however, although it lights up I have not managed to get any movement in the needle or buzzing sound.

It may be that the Skystar isn't providing enough power if you are looping through the motor, try direct to the LNB.

 

[yoghurt]

Thanks for the replies

Good suggestion about connecting direct to the LNB-will also adjust to 32.6

The meter does have a gain control on it but turning it does nothing to the needle (well last night it didn't)-It has moved in the past when I got a signal though

Will also try 19.2 again (trouble is I used the meter to get in in the first place)-No idea how I would do it with my PC

many thanks

 

[yoghurt]

Had some spare time last night and tried again to find any satellite without any luck. I purchased another meter which does seem to work (get a sound tone and needle moves when I walk in front of the dish after adjusting the gain control). The LNB is powered directly via the card (and not the motor)

I have set the dish angle to 40 degrees less 7 degrees ie 37 degrees and also set the motor on 51 degrees lat, scanned where I know 19 degrees is (roughly) but still no luck. I spent about hour going back and forth and also adjusting the dish angle.

Am I doing something obviously wrong or perhaps moving the dish too quickly?

Thanks

Yoghurt

 

[compufunk]

You should only make small adjustments to the dish while trying to find your desired satellite, If you move to quickly you will miss it.

I recently set up a motor for the first time. I used a meter like yours and had it connected between the receiver and the motor without any problems.

Sorry if I'm telling you something you already know, but here is how i did it.

I had no compass to find south so would have had no idea if I was pointing at the correct satellite or not. This is not how the guides tell you to do it, but it worked for me.

My receiver was already tuned to 28E.

1: set elevation on the motor then mounted the dish and set the inclination as best you can (the markings on the mounting were not legible on my dish).

2: connected up all the cables between dish, motor and receiver.

3: Tell your receiver to turn the motor to your desired satellite, In my case 28E.

4: Now move the motor/dish mounting around until you find your satellite and get the best signal possible.

(I turned the reciever to a channel that had already been tuned, turned up the volume on the TV and opened the living room window, that way I could hear the sound from my tv once I was on the right satellite)

5: Once you've gotten the best signal you can, tighten up the bolts on the motor mounting.

6: At this stage you should be able to scan in at least some services, just to make sure you are pointed at the right bird.

7: Tell your receiver to move the motor to your nearest south, probably 5W in your case. I'm not sure for your area.

8: Once the motor has moved to nearest south, you can begin to fine tune the angle of the dish using your meter. You may find that you need to move the motor slightly as well as the dish inclination.

9: When you've gotten the best signal you can at your nearest south you can tighten up all bolts/mountings.

10: Being spot on on the southerly sat, you should be fine for the rest of them.

Hope this helps

PS

I have set the dish angle to 40 degrees less 7 degrees ie 37 degrees

Dont you mean 33c?

 

[satelliteman]

It's best to cut to the chase and set up straight on your reference satellite from start as per the set up guide here

Your sending your motor using usals to your reference satellite anyway.

I would only use an alternative satellite other than your due south sat if you have line of sight problems.

This will save you a lot of time setting up

 

[compufunk]

It's best to cut to the chase and set up straight on your reference satellite from start as per the set up guide here.........

Yes it is, If you can find it

 

[satelliteman]

Well the reference satellite is the satellite closest to your own Longitude. All you need is a cheapo compass to achieve your rough South position. Oh and don't stand near anything metal, it affects the compass reading LOl

 

[yoghurt]

Many thanks for all your replies

Yes, I did mean 33 degrees

I will persevere with trying to find a Sat at 1 degree as I have no line of sight problems.

Will let you know how I get on

Cheers

Yoghurt