need help

molinaalexis

A neighbour boy kicked a ball onto my roof and hit my Sattellite
Dish either knocking it out of alignment or damaging it.

Where can I buy a meter to align the dish because here in Longford it takes centuries for someone to come and align it and then they charge you as if they are selling you a whole new system.

Check the signal strength first and post back.
If theres some, it may only need the slightest move to get you back in the picture ( slightest=a milimetre or two)
If theres none =bigger problem
Check if the lnb has been bashe, that possibly=broken=bigger problem

mm

molinaalexis

the signal strength is none.

thanks.

molinaalexis

I found a place in UK this is the address

http://www.satelliteshop.co.uk/cgi-bin/miva?satelliteshop.co.uk/merchant.mv+Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=1&Category_Code=satmeters

and I was looking at this one : Satshop DSM11 the price is not bad at all, but will it work ?

your best advice here might come from Tony as he is an installer and should know.
Mind you the cheapest one on that site is going to be €30 or more and take a week to get to you, how much would a local sky installer charge just for climbing the ladder and doing it for you?

Also twiddlle about within an inch or two, with someone reporting whether the signal strenth comes up a bit.

mm

molinaalexis

Man thanks for your reply.

Probably I would be charged around 70 Euros and it would take a couple of weeks for someone to come to do it. If I had the meter then if something like this happens again (which it probably might) then I can always do it myself.

thanks againg

Lukin Black

Originally posted by Man
Also twiddlle about within an inch or two, with someone reporting whether the signal strenth comes up a bit.

Have done it a couple of times myself. Just wait a bit before moving it again, as it takes twenty or thirty seconds to pick up the signal change sometimes.

The first time I did it, it left the signal quality & strength higher than what the installer left it :rolleyes:

Plus if it doesn't work, you're going to have to get it aligned anyway, so it's no risk!*

Presuming you are good with ladders..

molinaalexis

Thanks Lukin Black, I will try your method

Greenman

Did you do it?? and if so what was the result??

molinaalexis

The tehnician did come and fix it all, 40 euros for all.

They are getting better.

thanks to all for your help.

alexis molina

sceptre

Originally posted by molinaalexis
The tehnician did come and fix it all, 40 euros for all.

I hope you managed to get the money out of the parents of your neighbourhood's budding Beckham (or put it down to good neighbour relations)

40 euros wasn't too bad really

quaalude

Hi -

I need to adjust my dish also, but I'm not sure how to do that.
In Services > Signal test, the signal strength is just over 1/2, and the signal quality is about 1/3.

The quote I got for adjustment is 45 call out and 45 per hour.
Can anyone advise me how to adjust my dish? I don't fancy paying 90 bucks if I could do it myself, and if I muck it up I can pay to have it done right then.

Thanks!

watty

Put TV where you can see it from Dish.

BEFORE YOU LOOSEN OFF or touch anything!
Make a bright scratch across the up/down and east/west joints using a Stanly knife or craft knife as this at least works. Otherwise if dish slips, without a "Satfinder" meter it is hard to find the satellite at all (It is 22,500 miles away and an accuracy of about 1 degree of arc is needed to get a signal at all.)
On occasion have used a splash of tippex and drawn a pencil line across the joint. (My 1m dish has various pencil lines for each satellite position, but it is on a home made "polar mount" so no up/down or Skew adjustment is needed on east/west traversal).

Adjust VERY slowly left /right (East / west). Almost no change. This is VERY sensitive to error/movement.

Loosen and tighten the east/west bolt evenly so dish does not rotate even a little as you losen/tighten.

Some WD40 etc helps

After EASt/WEst is done and retightened (if it drops when you tighten, do it again)

Then
Do up/down. On minidish this is less sensitive.

Last adjustment is "Skew"

It does not affect Level/Strength at all, only quality.


Do NOT obscure view of dish.

Skew is "rotation" of LNB. Often a single locking screw is underneath and the LNB "clicks" tilting slightly on axis.

Once the level is more than 1/2 the quality is more important. It only updates every 40 seconds or so so change slowly.


If the signal display does not last try

Services 4 0 1 Select and Manual Tuning in Hidden Menu.

Select the default and signal bars appear. Don't press Select or it will do a channel Scan (won't break anything, but the signal bar is then gone).

If you accidently move too far the Digibox may "hang" esp if it "catches" some Astra 19E signal, requiring mains unplugged, so move VERY small amount and wait to see if bars are better or worse. If it is worse move back and go the other direction.

If you move too much and lose the signal altogether go back to the scratches and repower the box!


After you done this a few times with a bigger dish (= more accurate pointing to get ANYTHING) in rain you buy a £20 satmeter (basically a knob, needle and beeper that goes on short coax beteen end of receiver coax and LNB)

quaalude

Thanks so much watty!

I'll try that later in the week when I get a ladder, and let you know how I get on.

watty

If doing anything up a ladder ensure the ladder won't slide when you pull or push hard at the top.

The Dish "beam" is about 23 degrees upward despite almost vertical dish (suggesting a horizontal beam), so in 3/4 of cases does not need to be at more height than you could reach on a sturdy chair or decent steps.

Look along angle of LNB at middle of dish and imagine a snooker ball bounce.

(Hint: dish is mirror for radio waves)

I did this a few years ago:
http://homepage.eircom.net/~watty/satellite/satellite.htm
also


I upgraded the brackets on the LNBs since

The dish poles are on end wall of a workshop at back of garden. Cables are in underground pipe to house.

The Shed/workshop/Ham Shack roof is sturdy and shallow so steps to reach it and then I can stand on it.

I have two dishes just at roof height each with 3 LNBs and a 3rd Dish with a home made polar mount (manual) higher up so more extreem west/east is not blocked by my house or neighbours (30W and 42E work with similar signal level/quality to Sky using an old 1dB LNB).