Satellite dish cannot find anything!

Just to reinforce what the others have said and perhaps offer a crumb of comfort. I began this hobby (obsession) with very little knowledge other than the excellent "sticky" guides on this forum. It was very frustrating to try and line up my first dish and motor. I think my best piece of advice would be to buy yourself one of those needle and tone sat finders. It will help immensely. I'm not trying to boast but this is the only method I've used to set up my dishes, of which I've had three, all increasing in size and I'm now actually thinking of No 4.

Make sure that your pole is plumb - that the dish is mounted in line with the faint line marking the centre of the motor stub - confirm that you have set your latitude correctly on the motor - and send the motor to 1°W - then with the meter connected in line between receiver and lnb move the dish slowly left and right until the needle deflects and you get a tone. Don't rely on the elevation markings on the Triax being accurate, they aren't, mine were out by two or three degrees. If you get a signal and on checking, it's from 1°W, hey presto, go back and try to get the signal peaked by small movements left and right and raising and lowering the dish elevation, everytime the meter peaks, back off the gain until there is no improvement, left and right, up and down.

If you get a signal but it isn't from Thor, scan the transponder, note which channels you are getting and post your findings on here. We can then see which satellite you are locked on and give you advice about which way you should be turning the dish.

Two final points, as has been pointed out, a single LNB would be much better and mount a suitably sized jubilee clip on your pole under the motor, you can then slacken the motor off to make moving it and the dish around the mount together much easier, without fear of it sliding down the mount.

Phew, hope you have more success and let us know how you get on.

Pete
 
Good advice. :)

I would still suggest using the dish to find a satellite before trying with the motor attached, just to make sure it is all working properly.

Check the pole is vertical.

Set the dish elevation to 31 degrees and then have the bolts finger tight on the pole so it does not slip down. Point the dish at due south according to the compass.

Put 11591 V 20000 into the receiver. Then move the dish very slowly to the right until it is pointing out the the right. If nothing is picked up then move slowly back again and past the south point, so it is pointing to the left.

This should bring in the French TV channels on 5W. They are a ridiculously strong signal, much stronger than 1W. Its one of the strongest signals in the _sky.

If you find nothing, reduce the elevation on the dish to 29 and repeat. Try raising the elevation to 33 if that doesn't work. The signal is strong enough to get easily on a 38cm camping dish so keep trying!

Once found it is easy to fine tune the elevation setting for the strongest signal. Use a pen to mark the position on the elevation scale.

Change the receiver settings to 11325 H 24500 7/8 BBC World or 12418 V 28000 The Poker Channel.

Then gently move the dish to the left and 1W will appear!

It will appear because the elevation is the same as 5W. The top of the arc is effectively flat.

This will prove the equipment is working fine and allow you to mark the position with a pen.

Now adding the motor will be easy.

If you want to skip these steps, and go straight to setting up with a motor, I still recommend finding 5W first because the signal is so strong, it really is unmissable. Then just move it to the left, no need to change any elevation settings. :)
 
Thanks again to everyone.
I really appreciate all your advice and support and it now feels like I know what to do. I am certainly alot more enthusiastic about going to try again!

I will keep you posted on the results upon receipt of a satellite finder meter.

Thanks.
:)
 
sonnetpete said:
I'm not trying to boast but this is the only method I've used to set up my dishes, of which I've had three, all increasing in size and I'm now actually thinking of No 4.


Pete
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Tivu we have a pretender for the crown of most satellite dishes :D

Im still looking for your imaginary lion

Thats a classic typo Almost as good as my infamous mamsters :-rofl2
 
I think Tivu is half - quoting the classic play-on-words 'menagerie lion' :-rofl2
 
Oh I don't know, I have at least 10 dishes excluding the squarial, but most are in storage!!!

Or SWMBO will go mental! :-mamster







(edit: in my defence I have 'accumulated' them over a few decades)
 
seesaw said:
I will keep you posted on the results upon receipt of a satellite finder meter.
Click to expand...

It is better to use the signal and quality meter on the satellite receiver, and to be able to see a TV, so you know for sure what satellite you are receiving, and you can see the results of your fiddling with the dish.

Often you may have to fine tune for the weakest transponder on a satellite, and the squawker signal meter is no use then. :)
 
Analoguesat said:
Tivu we have a pretender for the crown of most satellite dishes :D
Click to expand...

I should point out that there are only two dishes actually active, the 60cm Astra 2 dish and the motorised 1m Gibi. I could, I guess, get all the others mounted and up and running, given the time and money. I doubt whether anyone here would either notice or care! Like Hexah, the inactive ones will go into storage in our first barn, along with all the other bits of rubbish accumulated during the past 10 years!
 
Hello again!

I received a satellite meter finder yesterday and was working on moving the dish around again today.
Even despite the meter going crazy (shooting up to 10) on certain positions when moving the satellite dish both up and down on the elevation and side to side, unfortunately there didn't seem to be any change at all on the signal strength for any satellites.

In fact, there was no change at all so far as the satellite receiver was concerned.

Also what I found weird was that according to the instructions, the dish elevation angle should be 22.5, but the satellite meter reader seems to react to the dish elevation angle being 30.

It is the Chess satellite finder meter, ordered from a large online retailer up north.

I'm in desperate need of your expert advice!
 

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Just a quick thought. If your not getting any signals at all it could be your motor settings. There are 2 scales on them, latitude and elevation (make sure you use the latitude scale, not the elevation scale)
 
tomthebomb1968 said:
Just a quick thought.
Click to expand...

And just another quick thought. As you are in London, are you certain there isn't something in the way of the signal, like another building ?
 
Ascertain the elevation angle from where you are to the sat you want to find.With a thin wooden rod placed on the top of the LNB down to the bottom lip of the dish measure the angle which must equal the elevation angle.Try using another LNB.Above to be done with dish facing South.(TRUE)
 
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