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Which satellite please?


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We used to be able to receive almost all UK Freesat TV stations with a really good reception but after 2+ years without any signal we have now run out of DVDs to watch, can someone please tell us what satellite we should be "aiming" at so we can give it another go (I am of the opinion its a different satellite to that 2 years ago)? We are in Puivert near Quillan and have a new 130cm dish and all the inside equipment. Totally unsure of what we should be doing - have a satellite finder but that's about it. No obstructions (trees, buildings etc.) Thank you
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It needs to point 28 degrees East of South...

You have to get professional out who has one of those expensive electronic gizmos that can pinpoint the dish with the satellite. You can try doing it yourself with one person adjusting the dish and another person looking at the receiver to see if their is a reception but...you will lose the will to live after a while. But it can be done like that but it will never be precise enough to guarantee a strong signal.
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Some of the satellites have changed, but the direction you point the dish at has not. As ALBF says 28 degrees east of south,

It can be done by yourself and you don't need two people. Just put the TV is plain sight of your position while adjusting the dish. First time I did it I sat the TV in a wheelbarrow just under the dish support.

However, the bigger your dish (and 130cm is not a small dish) the more critical the positioning of the dish. So as ALBF says it is almost certainly worth getting a professional in with his meter.
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We changed our ordinary LNB for a better one and that resulted in an improvement of more than 10% in the quality of the signal. Don't forget the '10 past 1 o'clock' skew too.

Have to add that we are in Brittany so we have reasonable coverage anyway but the better quality offered by the Inverto Black LNB meant that could replace our old 60cm dish with a 45 cm eliptical one which fits the location it's in better than the old round dish.

Sue
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There are various web sites to help you point the dish in the correct direction using a compass and to set the angle it needs to point upwards (usually done using the scale on the dish bracket) and guides to help with the alignment e.g.

http://www.dishpointer.com

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/articles/view.asp?id=552 and

http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/satmeter.htm (all live links)

There are similar apps for Android phones and iPhones.

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Not forgetting you can't use a compass too close to a steel dish/brackets etc. The smallest error would mean a big loss of signal/quality. Providing the LNB is functioning in the first place, they don't all last for ever.  Start with the basics can you pick up any satellite signal from anywhere?

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Really appreciate all of your really helpful replies. There's certainly plenty of suggestions we can start with. The LNB is newish, around 15 months old as is the 130cm dish. As I say, it all used to work fine (even with our old smaller 60cm one) until they changed satellites. Thanks as always.
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[quote user="Angie"] until they changed satellites. Thanks as always.[/quote]

To be more precise, there has been no change of satellites. It is the same group of satellites (relatively) pretty close together in one location.

A year or so ago, many frequencies changed and many of the main UK channels went to a more tightly focused beam over the UK leaving many further South unable to get good reception without a much larger dish.

With a 130cm dish you should probably get OK reception in your location but the dish needs to be adjusted very precisely.

This means 4 ways - horizontally, vertically, the rotation of the LNB head and its position in the bracket (closer or further out)

You also need to balance it so that it receives well between the various frequencies - horizontal, vertical, high and low.

It makes it a lot easier to adjust if you mount the dish lower down.

Good luck

Danny

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I would also point out that the longituede of 28° East of South (why do they express it that way?) is only relevant if you have a dish on the North Pole and your compass wont be of any use to you there as all directions are South!

 

Use one of the sites to give you the correct compass bearing from the actual position of your dish.

 

Using a Sat DB meter or my preference a Satbeeper you will be able to do a very good job, fine tuning especially the LNB skew is best done by looking at the signal quality indicator wherever it is in the on screen menu for your Sat reciever.

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Danny,

the satellites have changed. Currently the active satellites a 2E, 2F, and 2G at 28 degrees east, but they have become active in that position since 2014 onwards. Previously other satellites have been at that "position" ( I used inverted commas since it is not a position but a direction).

It was only the introduction of these three units that allowed the beam narrowing you refer to. The older satellites did not have that technical capacity.

If you check the link below and go through the detail you can track which satellites in the Astra suite have been at 28 degrees East and where they are now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astra_(satellite)
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Yes Andy, you are correct. Some of the actual satellites have changed. I did not really express that well. Instead of saying "no change of satellites" I should have said no change in the position of the satellites.

I didn't want to get in to the technical aspects of new satellites here for Angie, the OP.

Not all the satellites at 28.0E have changed recently. Of course they are all replaced once their useful life is up.

She was asking if the reason she could not receive from them is because the satellites have changed and that that means they are now in a different place.

What I meant was that the position of this satellite group in space is exactly the same for the OP in terms of aligning the dish and reception.

Sorry for any confusion

Danny

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You say you used to receive tv stations. What receiver did you use and has it been updated to take in the latest frequency changes. It may be that the receiver box just needs an update, have you tried that?

My suggestion would be if your receiver box can't be updated then get something like a Humax Freesat box, which will automatically update it self via satellite.

Good luck.
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