best sat finders?..

The cheap ones let you find the sat, then the "quallity" is best guide to EW, elevation and skew.

After that I'm afraid it is the €500 to €2500 ones that don't even need a sat box to tell you which sat you are on and how good alingment is.

A really fancy system will blind scan for transponders (spectrum analysis) and then run a base band spectrum analysis on each transponder to fine the SR!

I use a small TV set and a video snder to fine tune the dish...

The best satellite meter currently available is the Promax Prolink 4C - Spectrum analyzer, TP interrogations (SNR, BER etc), and it will display both FTA and encrypted channels (it has a CI slot). A snip at €5000 or so!
http://www.promaxprolink.com/prolink/prolink4.htm

Of the needle type meters, the Promax MS250 is probably the most sensitive. About €80 from Alban Electronics.
http://www.promaxprolink.com/ms250.htm

The Horizon/BirdDog digital meters are available either preprogrammed to Astra 28E, or the more expensive types have a larger range of sats. So they are ideal are an installer who knows which sat and TP he wants to align the dish to, but not so good for the hobbyist as they won't 'see' any new TPs or sats.
http://www.horizonhge.com/hge/hdsm.shtm


For that sort of thing a spectrum analyzer where you can actually see the TPs on a graph is the better option IMO. The Satlook will give you a graphical representation of TPs active on a satellite, and it will also display analogue channels. With it I've managed to find weak sats (eg Yamal 202 49E) that I would never have found with an ordinary sat meter. It also detects signals from Amazonas at 61W or from Nilesat 7W which a sat receiver is unable to lock onto becuase of the transmission system or poor signal strength respectively.
http://www.emitor.se/websites/emitorse/egnafiler/shop/main.asp?ID=3514

I'll be selling the Satlook shortly as I've upgraded to a Satlook Digital NIT, which does the same in terms of spectrum analysis, but can also interrogate digital transponders like the Prolink (BER, SNR, constellation diagrams etc) and can auto find the SR with a sufficiently strong signal.
http://www.emitor.se/websites/emitorse/egnafiler/shop/main.asp?ID=3515

Emitor have other models of Satlooks available on their site.
www.emitor.se

I'm setting up a Ku band and a very large C Band dishes for a friend shortly. (I'm not visiting till the concrete on pole for C Band has set!).

He has about a 1/2 dozen various spectrum analysers, inc one with a 24GHz plugin (no mistake on deciimal point).

We'll have a play with them on LNB and also on 140MHz IF out of a Drake analog box (should allow guess of SR when you tune it into the transponder found connecting analyser direct to LNB) and if any interesting pics and anyone interested I can post them someplace.