Which is the best, affordable meter for 2D in the fringe?

[DishDick]

Huevos, if I don´t get any luck with an in line amp and my Satlook, I have found a supplier with a new old stock Lacuna for 250GBP, so you would advise me to get this?. When I bought mine there was a sligthly more expensive model for spain the north/south model. Is that the same with this variant and how do I know which is which and what is the difference? . (Looks different to mine I must have had a earlier model). Thanks

 

[satelliteman]

I never thought of sticking an in line amp on before (to get signal level above threshold of meter).

Probably won't get accurate SNR, CNR measurements though, but... should get going for peaking 2D.

 

[rolfw]

Rolf, just out of interest how much does an unsubscribed Sky+ HD receiver cost there? Here they are currently round about 300€.

You can't buy one from normal suppliers, but if you could, then I would guess it would be similar to what you pay there, although there are a number of Amstrad brand new boxes on ebay for around £150, which is less than wholesale.

 

[Huevos]

When I bought mine there was a sligthly more expensive model for spain the north/south model.

Mines a north/south but it is just a software difference, and I don't use that anyway. Most of the time I use transponder 46 for adjusting alignment, and transponder 40 for skew and depth.

 

[DishDick]

Well thanks everyone. I shall give Satlook a try after Christmas. If no joy then will have another look at a new meter.

 

[DishDick]

Well fitted new battery yesterday to Satlook, had waited 24 hours for charge, but have checked with manual and it says 30 hours for full charge, so will have to wait until tomorrow.

Have run a seperate cable into the house just for the meter, so I can test different in line amps (have a selection of 5 different makes/models), and so I can also keep an eye of the quality of the signal (and performance of the multi switch system) after the dish is re aligned.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Well fitted new battery yesterday to Satlook, had waited 24 hours for charge, but have checked with manual and it says 30 hours for full charge, so will have to wait until tomorrow.

If it is yet another Ni-Cad, then the general consensus is the battery performs fine from 30-80% charge, and should be disharged fully on a regular basis. Do not leave the meter idle on a full charge, or keep 'topping up', when near full.

 

[Huevos]

Well fitted new battery yesterday to Satlook, had waited 24 hours for charge, but have checked with manual and it says 30 hours for full charge

Just go by what it says on the display (charged or charging). Mine charges quicker and lasts for much longer than it says in the manual, which is the opposite of what is true with most other meters.

 

[DishDick]

Well tested with a variety of in line amps and no lock on 2D. I don´t understand it. If I don´t use an amp the lowest horizontal transponder i get a lock on is 11221 (Movies for men etc). On the spectrum screen it shows 55dbuv, BBC Scotland shows 60dbuv but no lock.

Am I likely to be doing something stupid? Please help before I take my hammer to it.

 

[satelliteman]

Movies4men is vertical polarisation. BBC Scotland and the rest on 2D have a 5/6 FEC, needing a better CNR/SNR for a lock.

 

[DishDick]

Sorry meant to say Clubland Tv.

So even with in line amp this meter is useless to me. Guess back to advice on best meter up to 600 GBP (1000 at a push)

 

[Channel Hopper]

It could be the insertion loss on the vertical frequencies (lower voltage = higher current)

Try peaking on a frequency with the LNb turned 90 degrees and then twist the LNB back when done

Which Line amp are you using ?

 

[DishDick]

Hi CH, tried "evology 28" with gain of 18db. I find this an excellent amp on long cable runs and a "Fracarro AMP6600" (formaly Philips) Gain 13 -17db another good perfoming amp.

Also its Horizontal I am after as we can´t get 2D verticles here.

Did a search on the Rover Master STC meters, seems quite a few have come up for sale second hand recently - could that not be a bad sign?

 

[Channel Hopper]

The NIT fails to lock, even after 18dB of incoming signal.

Can't you use the spectrum (on expand) and just peak on the display look (and audio tone) ?

 

[satelliteman]

Hi CH, tried "evology 28" with gain of 18db. I find this an excellent amp on long cable runs and a "Fracarro AMP6600" (formaly Philips) Gain 13 -17db another good perfoming amp.



Also its Horizontal I am after as we can

 

[DishDick]

Satelliteman, tried on 11642 V and that is FEC of 2/3 and that wont lock (with or without in line amp). yet I am getting a great TV picture on my Humax on that Transponder.

CH, I thought the spectrum was to find the Satellite then the fine tuning was the BER and MER.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Not at all. If you have the satellite already then why not use the spectrum display and audio to peak the dish ?

 

[DishDick]

I thought a Spectrum analyser displays frequency and amplitude of all carriers in the spectrum, I understood this is the signal strenght and fine tuning was BER and MER - Signal quality.

Am I wrong?

 

[wium]

I assume that you are using the best cable and LNB that are available.Not sure about your set up but with a polar mount and the LNB at 0 i think it is worth a try.

 

[satelliteman]

MER is best for fine tweaking as it's gives the average power of noise present in the constellation.