lancashirelass11 Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Can anyone offer any advice? We are in 33, 30 mins nortyh of Bordeaux on the right bank, and have spent several hours tryingto get a signal from the satellite dish we have just put up. The digiobx works fine, checked it at a friends, and the dish is a new 80cm on from Leroy Merlin. We just can get any signal at all.The old lady next door keeps saying that they have a booster box because of the "hills", but she doesn't appear to have a satellite dish! Anyway, there are no hills around us, just gentle, small slopes. Other neighbours all have dishes, although they are all French.We are using a cable that the previous owner used to link his satellite to the TV, and we have tried other shorter bits of cable in an attempt to discount it being a cable problem.Kind of run out of ideas now, and am about to get the experts in. However, can anyone suggest anything else I could try, and\or confirm whether there is such a thing as a booster box for a satellite?thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 A booster box would be of no use to you. No signal is well, no signal however much you 'boost' it. Assuming all the equipment is fine then it is a question of alignment which is critical. If you are out by half a degree then you miss the sat. by about 600 Km. What you need is a sat finder (10 - 20 euros in a brico shed) without one of these it's next to impossible, or at least very frustrating. Get one of these, place it in the cable feed (instructions come with it) and SLOWLY move the dish. I'm sure you know that you have to have the correct vertical and horizontal alignment. After getting your maximum signal, check it again after clamping it tightly to the mast. Nothing worse than thinking you have it only to find you're .5 degree out after tightening the bolts and putting the ladders away!When I first put up a dish I sepent hours with no success, 5 mins with a sat finder and job done. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicandJo Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 On the other hand I have set mine up several times, never needed a sat finder.Go to http://www.ses-astra.com/consumer/en/how-to-receive-astra/installation-assistant/index.php and follow it through to locate yourself on the map. I take it you are looking for UK sat which is 2B - 28.2 deg E. Tells you exactly where to point the dish and what angle of polarisation you need on the LNB (how far round it has to be rotated from centre). Now monitor the signal strength on your box setup page and slowly move the dish in a small 'grid'. Don't keep moving the dish in one motion - move it, wait a few seconds, check the signal monitor then move again. Once you get an indication of strength tweak it around in very slight movements to get the best signal quality you can. Remember quality is more important than strength. Honestly it's a piece of cake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Have one person moving the dish, and another at the digibox end and communicate via mobile phone - saves you nipping up and down a ladder while you tweak the dish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil & Pat Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 [quote user="cooperlola"]Have one person moving the dish, and another at the digibox end and communicate via mobile phone - saves you nipping up and down a ladder while you tweak the dish.[/quote]... or even better (if you can do it) move the TV/satellite box to where you can see it from the top of the ladder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 The link was the easiest site I have seen for getting the paramaters. Just to check you are aiming at 38 degrees East of South ( not 29 degrees) and you are using the scale on the dish mount to set the elevation at 31 degrees. I normally mount the dish as low as I can get away with as 10 feet on 25,000 miles is makes no diference. I also intially use a short length of co axial cable and a portable TV outside so that I can see the signal strength and quality bars. I normally set the elevation and tighten the dish to the point where it just moves. I then start at what I think is 40 degrees East and move it about the thickness of a piece of paper to the West, I then count to ten and move it again until I find the signal. The box is slow to respond. Also if you try fot more than about ten minutes the box sometimes locks and stops giving readings so you need to switch off at the mains and start again.We are near Guitres and St Andre de Cubsac have no problems with an 80cm dish As above the booster box is only neccesary for terrestrial TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwave mike Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 [quote user="Anton Redman"] Just to check you are aiming at 38 degrees East of South ( not 29 degrees) [/quote] 38° ? Can you explain why, please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 [quote user="microwave mike"][quote user="Anton Redman"] Just to check you are aiming at 38 degrees East of South ( not 29 degrees) [/quote] 38° ? Can you explain why, please?[/quote]I thought it was a typo at first Mike. I was sure he means 30 e of s. But now I've used the calculator I agree with the figure it produces, however I'm not sure you can trust the data. Isn't the notional position of the satellite supposed to be with reference to 0 degrees longitude? It seems to me that the only place you would truely point it at 28.2 E (if the calculator is to be believed) would be at 7E longitude which is a line through Cologne, Munster and Enschede.Oh wait a minute..... that's probably the latitude of SES HQ in Luxemburg..... Ah, I think I understand it now !You can see by the time I should really be in bed !So to answer you question Mike, the further west or east you are from this 7E line of longitude the more you need to add to or subtract from the notional '28.2E' to find where the satellite actually appears in your particular sky. In the o/p's case being so much further west (much further and she'd have wet feet) it adds 10 degrees.p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Might be 37 degrees as this is what I calculated using Excel for Guitres which is just North of Libourne. The easiest explanation I know is to imagine a school globe of the earth with a small pencil sticking out, perpendicular to the surface, on the equator midway between Kinshasa and Nairobi. If you set up the dish a say Greenwich, zero degrees East or West you have to point the it a bit more than 29 degrees to aim at the tip of the pencil. If you move West to say Plymouth then you need to point it further East to compensate. If you move further South from Greenwich but stay on the Meridian you need to point the dish further East as you move closer to the equator.Probably clear as mud but it is the best I can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 ...and assuming the mast you clamp the dish to is vertical and you have a compass good enough to aim a dish within half a degree whilst hanging on to the chimney pot in a gale whilst shouting or phoning someone near the telly to see if it's Ok ....I still favour bolting the dish to a suitable wall just above head height and using a sat finder but perhaps I'm just lazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Doesn't sound lazy to me, Pierre. I use the method for truly lazy people - it's called GALMI (the opposite of DIY) - Get A Little Man In. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Brilliant! I'll remember that one [:D][:D][:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Any progress / luck ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Pierre that scenario on the roof is one we've experienced a few times. And our roof is high and steep. Now Eddie has moved the dish to a crochet on the house wall, much safer and easier. And he knows what he's doing, as he has done the Sky training course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 [quote user="Pierre ZFP"]A booster box would be of no use to you. No signal is well, no signal however much you 'boost' it. Assuming all the equipment is fine then it is a question of alignment which is critical. If you are out by half a degree then you miss the sat. by about 600 Km. What you need is a sat finder (10 - 20 euros in a brico shed) without one of these it's next to impossible, or at least very frustrating. Get one of these, place it in the cable feed (instructions come with it) and SLOWLY move the dish. I'm sure you know that you have to have the correct vertical and horizontal alignment. After getting your maximum signal, check it again after clamping it tightly to the mast. Nothing worse than thinking you have it only to find you're .5 degree out after tightening the bolts and putting the ladders away!When I first put up a dish I sepent hours with no success, 5 mins with a sat finder and job done. Good luck[/quote]Pierre ZFP,Is this what you mean? http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=48325&&source=14&doy=29m3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancashirelass11 Posted March 31, 2008 Author Share Posted March 31, 2008 Not had chance to have a go yet - am only back in France on 15th April. For now, my friends are having another go before GALMI!Will report back as soon as I have any news.Thanks for asking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancashirelass11 Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 It's working! Thanks for all your posts. Our friends in France have got a picture! It seems that one rather significant factor was that the lead from the dish wasn't working! Anyway, hope to be in France in the next week or so to try it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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