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Even I can make an informed guess about what a sat engineer is as it's in the Satellite TV etc section of the forum. But sat and kit have other meanings of course, so the mind is working overtime [:)]  And I wonder where he has installed himself?

Yes, the problems are his, that's why he wants to pay a proper engineer. I am sure such people get a more than fair bit of business from adjusting people's own attempts.

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[quote user="Will "]

Even I can make an informed guess about what a sat engineer is as it's in the Satellite TV etc section of the forum. But sat and kit have other meanings of course, so the mind is working overtime [:)]  And I wonder where he has installed himself?

Yes, the problems are his, that's why he wants to pay a proper engineer. I am sure such people get a more than fair bit of business from adjusting people's own attempts.

[/quote]

OK apologies for my arsey response.  Its just the tone of the post that got me.  Having been in the domestic electronics repair business in a previous life you get to recognise certain types of questions and just know if you get involved its going to give you grief.   The customer knows his kit, buys it cheap, knows how to connect it, then when problems occur he comes asking for help, not in an open way, but a loaded way that means he ain't going to pay much!  Of course (??), this doesn't apply here, so again apologies from me - jumping to conclusions - again!  [6]

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You don't have to apologise, forums like this are full of people looking for something on the cheap. I know exactly what you mean. Maybe the original poster might like to confirm that he is willing to pay a fair hourly rate for sorting out the problem?
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I did not realise this would cause such a stir! I am new to the Forum and had assumed that it would be used as a means of passing on usefull information to others who may be in a similar situation. It obviously goes much further than this for some people.

Yes I did buy the dish here. The box and card were redundant from a previous installation at my home. Yes I did install the equipment myself and as I said, generally it works perfectly well. I am asking for information on someone who I can contact to check it over, and pay a fair price for their services.

Obviously no one else has ever tried to do something themselves in an effort to save some money.

Thank you

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Yes, and the engineers with experience and equipment do well out if  it - after all, they get to do just the clever bit without (usually) the hassle of mounting the dish, running the cables etc.

I do wish I was clever enough to be able to do absolutely everything, without professional involvement, and it worked first time. Some forum users are obviously experts at everything.

There may be a satellite installer near you who will come forward, but a better way to find one would be in the small ads. Living France, French Property News etc carry many such ads.

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Palfers, I have no problem with your plea for help. If we look at the other side of the coin, there are many ex-pat sat engineers here who would prefer to do the whole instalation for you and charge you a high price for doing it. I thought that this forum was for asking for help and that is what you have done.

If you had been near to me I would have offered help and it would have cost you the cost of my diesel to get to you. I hope others would do the same for me.

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Palfers, I hope you won't be put off by the response you got to what seemed to be a perfectly reasonable question.  I wish I could help, but

  1. I know nothing about satellite installations myself
  2. I don't know anyone to recommend
Given the way that dishes, decoders etc. are sold in abundance for people to fit themselves, I can't see any problem with anyone having a go at fitting one and then asking for help when it proves more difficult than expected (whatever the reason). 

Bon courage. [:)]

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Seconded Cassis [:)]

Palfers, perhaps it would help it you described exactly the problem you are having?  Are you talking about UK sat channels? Do you only lose channels when it rains for example?  Have you checked the signal strength?  Some of our forum members are very knowledgeable about this kind of thing, and might be able to make a few helpful suggestions.

 

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Palfers,

It is only a thought but why not buy a signal strength meter (about £20) from a UK Sat Hardware provider - just enter it in your search engine.  With this you can sort it out yourself - if it is a duff LNB then there will be no signal.  It sounds like your system is working and just needs adjustment to get the best signal - beware of using the signal indicator on the skybox (or equivalent) as there is a delay.  Atmospherics can affect your signal if using a smaller dish (even though a smaller dish is acceptable, looking at Sky's footprint, for most of France).  LNBs are prone to damage from water so make sure your cable drops below the LNB before going into the base of it - and seal around the cable going in.  Information on setting up the LNB, it needs to be angled both vertically and horizontally with a twist (!), is normally provided free by the Sat Hardware shops - you never know you may fit a quad LNB and feed Sky, or whatever, through to your other rooms.

Best of luck - I tried to use a French based english installer a few years ago - unreliable and expensive.  He was not impressed, that after waiting in for 2 days for an appointment agreed by both parties, I binned his services and did the job myself.  I did let him know before he wasted his time driving over.

regards

Vern

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If you loose the signal say 5 or 6 times a year but only during very heavy rain / thunder storms. Forget it this is normal and is no worse than we had in the UK. If it happens more frequently than that start by having a look at the signal strength and quality a display. In Cognac with an 80 cm dish you should be able to get both up to or past 80 % (length of bars on screen) if you have not got that then things to try.

1.      Check the angle of the LNB ( thing at the end of the arm ) it should be roughly at 7 pm when viewed form the back. If it is vertical try moving it without moving the arm.

2.       Make up shortest co axial cable that will reach a TV outside on the ground. See if that improves signal quality. If so check your co ax connections and if those are OK consider either a signal booster or a better quality cable.

3.      Paint a line down the brackets with nail polish or metal paint so you can find the exact position again if you loose the signal. Loose nthe brackets and move the dish  by a minute amount, count to twenty and see if signal quality improves.

Borrow an English neighbours box and try it at your house and try your box at their house. This should sort out if it is the box or the instalation

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