Satellite Dish Thread,, "Again" (1 Viewer)

[old-mo]

I have looked through the old threads,, but cannot find one pertaining to my question.


After our tour,, And spending a lot of time trying to find the sat in some parts of Europe,, to no avail,, Using a tripod and a 95cm dish..

Do any members have any reccomendations for a small free standing dish that will work and not have to spend ages trying to line up ?

Or is there an automatic free standing (Oyster Type) ? That will work in Southern Europe.

I had contemplated a self seeking Oyster system,, but am a bit reluctent to drill or make a hole in the rubber roof of our 5er..

Thanks.

 

[Phil]

Hi, I'm not quite sure what your problem is but providing you are pointing at the correct satellite you should be able to get most of the channels except BBC. I know some people reckon they can align the dish using only a compass, but I always use a meter to get accurate positioning when signals are weak.

I normally use an 800cm dish on a tripod and have no problems as far south as southernmost Sicily.

You should use good quality cable correctly terminated and a low noise LNB then as I said if you are pointing at the correct satellite you should not have any problem.

You do have to have a clear view of the sky, trees or buildings in line could well stop you getting a good signal.

Phil.

 

[old-mo]

Hi, I'm not quite sure what your problem is but providing you are pointing at the correct satellite you should be able to get most of the channels except BBC. I know some people reckon they can align the dish using only a compass, but I always use a meter to get accurate positioning when signals are weak.

I normally use an 800cm dish on a tripod and have no problems as far south as southernmost Sicily.

You should use good quality cable correctly terminated and a low noise LNB then as I said if you are pointing at the correct satellite you should not have any problem.

You do have to have a clear view of the sky, trees or buildings in line could well stop you getting a good signal.

Phil.

Thanks phil,, I got/picked up a signal in some area`s,, but others I pointed in the right direction and every way I moved the dish I was getting a good signal strength and the buzzer was going ape on the meter but darned if I could fine tune or get a picture,

At Camping Marjal,, (Costa Blanca) I could not get a thing,, then a kind gentleman came along and lent me an ordinary small uk mesh dish,, within a few minutes he had a reasonable picture,, although it did freeze in certain weathers. and about ten pm we sometimes lost all pictures..

Do meters go faulty or breakdown ? I have a SF 95 sat finder..

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[scotjimland]

And spending a lot of time trying to find the sat in some parts of Europe,, to no avail,, Using a tripod and a 95cm dish..

Hi Mo

A big dish can pick up weaker signals but paradoxically can make it more difficult to tune .. hence the guy finding the signal easier with his small dish ..

When you tried to align you probably heard several signals making it difficult to find the specific one you were looking for..

65cm is more than adequate for Europe, even using a 90cm dish in S. Spain you wouldn't find the Astra North beam.. that needs at least 1.5 - 2 mt dish.. did you ever notice the huge dishes beside some static Brit vans ?

Back to your problem.. I see three solutions,

a) buy a smaller dish 60 - 65 cm and use the tripod or
b) fit a crank up utilising the same hole as the Winegard
c) fit a dish onto the Winegard .. speak to Zazkar .. that's what he did.

hth

Jim

 

[Ralph-Dot]

I have a small dish and usually have no problems (forests are a no go though), I find the main problem is that people tend to point the dished too high and get the wrong satellite (good signal but no good).

 

[takeaflight]

When I had our first dish it was a manual one, after nearly 5 hours parked on our drive I was about to throw the thing in the bin and buy more books. But then like magic I got good signal and picture strength on the SKY setup page and low and behold a picture.

Then it dawned on me, in the past I have spent many a time waving wire coat hangers and aerials around to get a good picture and in effect I was doing the same with the sat dish, however once you have the dish pointing somewhere near the sat its minuscule movements.

Then I thought B******s and bought a Camos.

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[sinbad1]

You might find this site handy for giving you the dish direction, just enter a location and the satelite you want.

Link Removed

 

[hilldweller]

A big dish can pick up weaker signals but paradoxically can make it more difficult to tune .. hence the guy finding the signal easier with his small dish ..
Jim

And a big damaged/faulty dish+LNB could be a real nightmare.

 

[New Rover]

Well I suppose Phil with his 800 cm dish will be able to pick up ANY satellite he wants.
LOLOL

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[Phil]

Good to see someone reads the posts Rover.

Old mo, you will get loads of signal strength indicated on your meter even when pointed to the 'wrong' satellite. The important thing is to check on your digibox that you are locked on to Network ID 0002 and Transport Stream 07d4. If you have lots of signal strength and no quality there is a very good chance you are not on the correct satellite.

Phil.

 

[bevo]

satellite dish

i have a hirchmann 65cm dish and tripod bought off ebay.
the dish has markings in degrees on it (about 2 degrees out) so i use the site sinbad has listed, and obtain the elevation for the next place we visit and adjust the dish before we leave for the next location.
when we reach the next location i use a spirit level on the tripod to make sure it's level and just turn the dish accordingley,
works every time for me.
i find if you get a strong signal on the continent and no picture, you have to turn the dish slightly to the left (from behind) as you are probably on the wrong satellite
good luck

live long and prosperoh:

 

[scotjimland]

Hi Mo

another solution without drilling holes in the 5er , a guy on our site with a 5er has this set up..

Buy a domestic dish, say 65cm, 2mt Ariel pole, two mounting bars with U clamps, mount on rear ladder ..

picture of his pole and dish..

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[old-mo]

Brilliant idea,,

Thanks a million, that`s the road I will go down.:thumb: