please help, new to all this, is my lnb broken

vee-six

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
16
Reaction score
2
Points
3
Location
scottish borders
My Satellite Setup
sky+ thomson
compro dvb-s on acer 5733z
My Location
scottish borders
hi everyone, i recently move house to a temporary flat before i move to my permanent address, ive had sky+ for years.
the sky box and dish were working fine but sat at my old house for 4months unused, i decided to move the sky dish and temp mount it on a wall in the garden of the flat for xmas viewing.
i used one of these cheap finders and tried to align to astra 2 but my box always showed 0000 and not locked.
even in different satellite positions.
ok i thought maybe i need a professional meter but after looking online for days i really got interested in the whole satellite world and the set ups you can have.
so i decided to buy a usb dvb-s with excited thought that when i move next year i can use the dish thats already on the new house for sky and my old dish to play with different satellites ( im really excited about that) any way in the mean time i planned to use the dvb-s to locate astra 2 using a signal finder program but all i get is no satellite signal aaarrrggg
its driving me crazy and ive been out side in this weather every night messing around with dish looking at the laptop through the kitchen window.
could the lnb have developed a fault because i moved the dish and would the cheap reader still give a reading if it was faulty.

the dish has a clear view of the sky just much as the other dishes belonging to the neighbors although there are tallish buildings near by but i dont think thats the problem

any help appreciated before i give up on my new hobby
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
Hello vee-six welcome to the forum.

First of all dont give up - finding the first satellite for the first time is always the hardest bit. Once have found one satellite (any one - it doesnt really matter which one it is) the others start to fall into place.

Do you have an old portable telly? If so take it outside & put is next to where your dish is - its much easier to align dishes when you can see exactly what the signals are doing!

Is your location the Scottish Borders? If so where - Im in Galashiels
 

vee-six

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
16
Reaction score
2
Points
3
Location
scottish borders
My Satellite Setup
sky+ thomson
compro dvb-s on acer 5733z
My Location
scottish borders
Hello vee-six welcome to the forum.

First of all dont give up - finding the first satellite for the first time is always the hardest bit. Once have found one satellite (any one - it doesnt really matter which one it is) the others start to fall into place.

Do you have an old portable telly? If so take it outside & put is next to where your dish is - its much easier to align dishes when you can see exactly what the signals are doing!

Is your location the Scottish Borders? If so where - Im in Galashiels
the problem is even when i think i have a satellite i still get no signal plus i thought i would have got something using the signal finder.
i will be very happy if iget this working though
im in hawick and work in selkirk
 

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,078
Reaction score
8,664
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
Have you gone into the Menus to find the LNB Settings?

They should be "Universal 9750/10600"
 

vee-six

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
16
Reaction score
2
Points
3
Location
scottish borders
My Satellite Setup
sky+ thomson
compro dvb-s on acer 5733z
My Location
scottish borders
Have you gone into the Menus to find the LNB Settings?

They should be "Universal 9750/10600"
it says standard and i cant change it and also lo 9.75 hi 10.60
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
Dish alignment has to be spot on - within a couple of degrees horizontally and vertically before you will get a signal.

Have a look at the dishpointer website and drag the cursor over to your house - that will give you a good idea of where the dish needs to be pointing for any particular satellite.

http://www.dishpointer.com/

Start with one of the easy to get ones - Astra 2 Astra 3 Astra 1 & Hotbird (28E, 23.5E, 19E & 13E respectively). The dish face needs to be almost vertical. Move the dish slowly a couple of mm at a time and sweep the dish over the area where you think there should be a signal.

Take your time, and try to have a couple of hours when you wont be called away. Sooner or later you will find a signal of some sort. Once you have identified the satellite then you can think about finding others.

Most of all though - dont get disheartened if you cant find anything to begin with - theres plenty of help here on the forum from friendly folk who are willing to help.
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
it says standard and i cant change it and also lo 9.75 hi 10.60

Thats correct - lnb's have two oscillators inside them, one operates at 9750 MHz, the other at 10600 MHz.
 

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,078
Reaction score
8,664
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
Ok, that's fine.

Next issue: Cheap SatFinder comes with flimsy short cable stub.

It's VERY easy for it to fail to connect properly to the LNB as the centre core is really thin - It can either bend over and short to the screen or even if inserted properly can fail to make good contact.

I always advise ditching that and instead using a home-made version with a metre of Sat cable and two F connectors.
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
Oh by the way vee-six welcome to rather exclusive club - there are very few sat hobbyists in the Borders! :D
 

vee-six

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
16
Reaction score
2
Points
3
Location
scottish borders
My Satellite Setup
sky+ thomson
compro dvb-s on acer 5733z
My Location
scottish borders
Ok, that's fine.

Next issue: Cheap SatFinder comes with flimsy short cable stub.

It's VERY easy for it to fail to connect properly to the LNB as the centre core is really thin - It can either bend over and short to the screen or even if inserted properly can fail to make good contact.

I always advise ditching that and instead using a home-made version with a metre of Sat cable and two F connectors.
ok i will try again i thought that pointing it the same as neigbours and moving it around slowly that i would pick up a satellite and especially with meter showing a signal, how would i know if i pick up the wrong satellite will it still lock on but have the wrong id number, yes your right the supplied cable is absoltue rubbish so maybe thats a problem too
 

vee-six

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
16
Reaction score
2
Points
3
Location
scottish borders
My Satellite Setup
sky+ thomson
compro dvb-s on acer 5733z
My Location
scottish borders
Oh by the way vee-six welcome to rather exclusive club - there are very few sat hobbyists in the Borders! :D
ah yes thank you and i can imagine its exclusive around here but like to get over envolved in every thing i do, not just happy getting sky to work now i want all the satellites lol
 

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,078
Reaction score
8,664
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
The Elevation is crucial and many folk are misled by the fact that the dish face should be near vertical even though the Satellites are 20 plus degrees up in the sky.

That's die to the fact that the LNB arm is "offset"

Offset Dish.jpg
 

vee-six

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
16
Reaction score
2
Points
3
Location
scottish borders
My Satellite Setup
sky+ thomson
compro dvb-s on acer 5733z
My Location
scottish borders
The Elevation is crucial and many folk are misled by the fact that the dish face should be near vertical even though the Satellites are 20 plus degrees up in the sky.

That's die to the fact that the LNB arm is "offset"

View attachment 60281
i tried to have it vertical and only move between south and east how critical is vertical is it a narrow margin. should i use a spirit level. i was under the impression as long as it was near it could be adjusted after the satellite is found to maximze the signal
 

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,078
Reaction score
8,664
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
More or less: It's 3D chess!

But persevere - we all found alignment to be a black art at first. But it becomes second nature quite quickly.
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
ah yes thank you and i can imagine its exclusive around here but like to get over envolved in every thing i do, not just happy getting sky to work now i want all the satellites lol

We all start like that - some of us take it a bit further than others - Ive currently got 9 dishes in the garden! :-rofl2
 

vee-six

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
16
Reaction score
2
Points
3
Location
scottish borders
My Satellite Setup
sky+ thomson
compro dvb-s on acer 5733z
My Location
scottish borders
More or less: It's 3D chess!

But persevere - we all found alignment to be a black art at first. But it becomes second nature quite quickly.
ok i have been given new hope from here and will not give up, good to know that its probably just an alignment problem, one day i will look back wonder why it was such a problem
 

vee-six

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
16
Reaction score
2
Points
3
Location
scottish borders
My Satellite Setup
sky+ thomson
compro dvb-s on acer 5733z
My Location
scottish borders
We all start like that - some of us take it a bit further than others - Ive currently got 9 dishes in the garden! :-rofl2
wow, should be easy to spot your house lol, i have learned so much about satellites this last week i wonder if people watching it have any idea whats going on up in the sky.
its amazing stuff, i aspire to your 9 dishes lol
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
My landlord thinks Im nuts but he still comes round to ask questions occasionally :D

None of them are anything like permanently mounted - I just bang fenceposts into the ground and bolt the dishes to those. Ok they need realigning every so often but thats part of the fun.

Oh and I guarantee you will align a dish onto the wrong satellite at some point - we have all done it at some point or another - you hit the scan button and a completely unexpected selection of channels pops up! :D

Have a look here:

http://www.flysat.com/satlist.php

We cant get everything on this list, but the selection of satellites in my signature are in the main fairly easy to get although once you get round past 40E the dishes start to look very strange as they lean forward to follow the arc!

Now somewhere on the forum there is a very nice diagram that shows how the orbital arc works. I'll see if I can find it
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
Ah here we go - made by forum member Robbo a few years ago :)


I can see round to 57E here, then a hill gets in the way

As you can see the satellites are set along an inverted arc with the highest point at local south (1W near enough in most of the UK)

So as you track along the arc from one satellite to another you need to move the lnb up and down as well as sideways.

One tip - when you find a signal - mark the dish bolts & mounts up with black indelible marker, tippex or similar Then if you get hopelessly lost you can quickly reset and start again. It also saves a lot of aggro if the dish gets knocked by the dog, blown round the mount, the kids fall over it, etc!

satellites.png
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
And this is what the garden looked like last April - things are a bit different now as I had a swap around and the secondary area has another fencepost and a 1.1m dish on it!

I might be persuaded to do up to date pics over Christmas.
 
Top