SKYDSL satellite

lukin

I am thinking of getting SKYDSL but I am unsure if I am near enough to the satellite to receive it. When I went through the installation process it asked me to choose from a list of towns to which I am near.
I am in north-west County Cork so the nearest is Macroom and that's still quite a distance (25-30 miles).
I have read taht the dish that comes with the installation kit may not be powerful enough for some locations. I've also read a few posts on here which have asked about the satellite that SKYDSL uses. I think it is EurobirdA?

thebman

SkyDSL are a couple of satellites AFAIK. I live about 6 miles the far side of Tullamore from Portlaoise but selected it as my nearest town and it worked fine.

Once you select a town with the software, it will give you co-ordinates to point the satellite at, you can then fine tune yourself as the software will give you percentage strength for the signal you are getting. The software even has an option for the computer to read the strength of the signal so you can turn up your speakers and hear it from your roof while adjusting it.

We got rid of SkyDSL though because it isn't all that great for speeding up website loading and its very expensive for what is basically a download accelerator.

Still the service is good and the support is good from the company when we were with them and we had no problems with them when we disconnected. I recommend them if you are going to use a satellite service.

lukin

Thanks for the info, It's either SKYDSL and Mediasat for me at this stage.
Haven't decided yet.

bigpaddy2004

Mediasat are resellers & installers for Skydsl!

lukin

I've been trying to align the dish for about a week now but the closest I got to a signal was when the software told me "55 per cent" but I didn't have the dish secured at the time so I lost it again.
I think I need professional help. i.e. someone who has installed a skyDSL dish for someone before. I've read a few posts here where people have got satellite installers who are used to doing it to install the dish for them.
None of them have been located near me though ;I am in north-west County Cork. Does anyone happen to know anyone in Cork, Limerick, Kerry who provides this type of service?

Myxomatosis

It took me nearly 2 days getting the thing aligned. There's a tiny margin for error, I had the speakers of the computer up loud saying "Zero, Zero, Zero..." for hours, until finally it said "One Hundred", but then I nudged it a millimeter to the side and it went back to zero.

Do you have any choice in which satellite to choose? I could not get a fix on the one that appeared first on the list, EuroBird-3-Beam_A, so I chose the second, Atlantic_Bird_2 which did the trick.

Make sure when selecting a satellite that you click apply or Ok so that the frequency and symbol rate change accordingly.

If you do get back to 55%, or any percentage at all, tighten the bolts and lock it into place, then pull and push the fixed dish in various positions, waiting a few seconds before changing position, to see if you can get a better signal. Locking the bolts only allows you to move the dish in very small amounts which is the best way to get to 90~100%

:edit:
Atlantic_Bird_2 is due south, which for me was the easiest to find

lukin

Myxomatosis wrote:

It took me nearly 2 days getting the thing aligned. There's a tiny margin for error, I had the speakers of the computer up loud saying "Zero, Zero, Zero..." for hours, until finally it said "One Hundred", but then I nudged it a millimeter to the side and it went back to zero.

Do you have any choice in which satellite to choose? I could not get a fix on the one that appeared first on the list, EuroBird-3-Beam_A, so I chose the second, Atlantic_Bird_2 which did the trick.

Make sure when selecting a satellite that you click apply or Ok so that the frequency and symbol rate change accordingly.

If you do get back to 55%, or any percentage at all, tighten the bolts and lock it into place, then pull and push the fixed dish in various positions, waiting a few seconds before changing position, to see if you can get a better signal. Locking the bolts only allows you to move the dish in very small amounts which is the best way to get to 90~100%

:edit:
Atlantic_Bird_2 is due south, which for me was the easiest to find

Yeah, EuroBird-3-Beam_A was the first satellite that appeared on the list for me too. I think I will change it to Atlantic_Bird_2.
I'm aware that getting the dish in the right position is a labourious task, I've read other peoples stories of how it took them hours as well.
The way I do it is by wearing a set of headphones with a long lead attached to my laptop while I am on the ladder while the software "speaks".
It's trial and error, I didn't realise moving it even a few millimetres puts it out.
I don't know if I have the patience for it, there must be an easier way of finding that satellite using some other software or some gizmo of some sort.
I have one of those cheap satellite finders but it's useless.
Where are you located if you don't mind me asking?
Another guy on boards who is using skyDSL is in Co. Kerry and he is getting a 100% signal. He is using Atlantic_Bird_2 also.

Sponge Bob

lukin wrote:

I have one of those cheap satellite finders but it's useless.

use this and a compass , I hope ye have 80cm dishes not smaller ones.

http://www.satsig.net/maps/satellite-tv-dish-pointing-uk-ireland.htm

get precise location of sats either

http://www.lyngsat.com/tracker/europe.html

or

http://www.lyngsat.com/tracker/atlantic.html

1. sort the polarisation first (twist the lnb in holder about 5 or 20 degrees clockwise or 2 anticlockwise ( whatever you are told) from vertical ( cable straight down). Tighten a lot as this is important.

2. then sort elevation , thats marked for ya but is the wall straight ???? Tighten fully.

3. finally sort azimuth by swinging dish left to right a tad .

then tighten all fully.

Practise on astra 28e first because its strong and you can easily get a signal then try hotbird 13e . If you cannot find them two with an 80cm dish there is something wrong.

then go for your bird

lukin

Thanks for those links Sponge Bob, even though the dish settings they gave me for the Eurobird 3 satellite were much the same as what I was told by the skyDSL software.
It gave me the location of the Atalantic Bird, I'll try getting a signal off that tomorrow.
This should really be on the Satellite forum!

Sponge Bob

Tis

and its in their wiki as well and my bleedin sig too.

lukin

Since I changed to the Atalantic Bird satellite I am getting a 100% signal level and a signal level of between 75% and 85% (roughly).
(I've attached a Word document with a screen capture-increase the zoom level to get a closer look at it).
That should be enough to work but do I now have to dial in to the skyDSL connection in my "Network Connections" instead of "Dial-up"? (see the screen capture to see what I mean).
When I look at the properties of the skyDSL connection it says it uses an ISDN channel instead of my modem?

Edit:I un-installed and re-installed the software but no improvement.
I'm getting "No data could be received on this channel" when I use the connection wizard.
Does the signal level have to be at 100% for it to work? I could try to reach 100% but when I even tighten a bolt on the dish it goes down by 20%.

Zaphod

lukin wrote:

S
Does the signal level have to be at 100% for it to work? I could try to reach 100% but when I even tighten a bolt on the dish it goes down by 20%.

You don't need 100%. >40% is OK.

Just dial up eircom/oceanfree as normal, then start the SkyDSL connection wizard and see how far you get.

thebman

The SkyDSL software has an autodial feature too.

Post install goto SkyDSL settings and you can set it up to dial and disconnect for you, then all you need to do is right click the icon in the taskbar and click SkyDSL on/off.

lukin

brim4brim wrote:

The SkyDSL software has an autodial feature too.

Post install goto SkyDSL settings and you can set it up to dial and disconnect for you, then all you need to do is right click the icon in the taskbar and click SkyDSL on/off.

When I do that I get the following message:

"You are not receiving any data via your satellite/cable card.
Please check the satellite dish and the cables before making a connection to the skyDSL server station"

Zaphod wrote:

Just dial up eircom/oceanfree as normal, then start the SkyDSL connection wizard and see how far you get.

I get as far as the part where it asks to adjust the satellite settings and then gives you the Azimuth, Tilt and Elevation settings.
Then I hit "Next" and it checks that "the satellite dish has been adjusted to the right skyDSL satellite".
It carries out a test and then I get the error message "No data could vbe recieved on this satellite channel".
I'll give their tech support a call.

lukin

The tech support guy said I was using the wrong satellite. I went back up the ladder and tried to get Eurobird and did eventually and now I have 60% signale level and it's working OK, better than dial-up anyway.
I will try to increase it, he said to move the LNB slightly anti-clockwise.
I was getting 85% when I selected the Atalantic Bird satellite from the connection wizard but he said I wasn't actually using that satellite and that's why it didn't work.
I think if I got a bigger dish I could get the Atalantic Bird.
Like I say, 60% isn't great but thanks to the posters who replied to me.
One more thing; is there anyway to disable that auto-disconnect ****e?

Edit: I did a test;downloaded a youtube video from youtubex.com; 5 MB in seven seconds. Streaming is perfect too.

thebman

You can disable auto disconnect in SkyDSL settings too. Same place you enable auto-connect AFAIK.

When we were pointing at the wrong satellite the guy in support offered to switch which satellite we recieved the service off so if your getting better service from the previous satellite, you could ask them will they switch you over to it and just say you get better signal quality from it as the reason why.

lukin

brim4brim wrote:

You can disable auto disconnect in SkyDSL settings too. Same place you enable auto-connect AFAIK.

When we were pointing at the wrong satellite the guy in support offered to switch which satellite we recieved the service off so if your getting better service from the previous satellite, you could ask them will they switch you over to it and just say you get better signal quality from it as the reason why.

Yeah, I was going to ask him to do that for me, I should have in hindsight.
I adjusted the dish again to try to get an increase on 60% but I couldn't.
In fact the slightest nudge sends it down to 40% or even zero.
The skyDSL icon in Network Connections is showing that it is connected at 64 kbps.

Zaphod

lukin wrote:

The tech support guy said I was using the wrong satellite. I went back up the ladder and tried to get Eurobird and did eventually and now I have 60% signale level and it's working OK, better than dial-up anyway.

Tech support isn't very good then. Much easier to pick-up Atlantic Bird 8W in Ireland than Eurobird 33E. When I got SkyDSL at the start I set it up on 8W, then shifted it to 33E a few months later. As long as you change the Transponder settings and the PID setting, there's no need to contact SkyDSL for switch over.

lukin wrote:

I will try to increase it, he said to move the LNB slightly anti-clockwise.

The LNB should look something like this for Eurobird:

lukin wrote:

I think if I got a bigger dish I could get the Atalantic Bird.

No point getting a bigger dish for Atlantic Bird - it has a stronger signal over Ireland than Eurobird.

lukin wrote:

I adjusted the dish again to try to get an increase on 60% but I couldn't.

You'll probably find it'll work just as well at 60% as at 80%. Leave well enough alone. The only thing to keep an eye out for is if the signal degrades too much during rain and the connection drops out.

lukin

Zaphod wrote:

Tech support isn't very good then. Much easier to pick-up Atlantic Bird 8W in Ireland than Eurobird 33E. When I got SkyDSL at the start I set it up on 8W, then shifted it to 33E a few months later. As long as you change the Transponder settings and the PID setting, there's no need to contact SkyDSL for switch over.

Change those settings to what, pray tell?

Zaphod wrote:

The LNB should look something like this for Eurobird:

My LNB is different to that:


but you're talking about the angle it's turned at. There's a roof in the way so I can't take a photo from directly behind it but yes, mine is turned at the same angle as the one in your pic.

Zaphod wrote:

You'll probably find it'll work just as well at 60% as at 80%. Leave well enough alone. The only thing to keep an eye out for is if the signal degrades too much during rain and the connection drops out.

Aye, it'll be OK during the summer months but probably not next October/November. I may have moved to somewhere with b'band by then so maybe I won't mind.

Edit:Just in case anyone who's thinking of getting the service but is worried about the effect weather might have on it:
It's overcast and mist is falling outside, the signal level is between 45% and 50% (it was 60% yesterday which was a fine day).
There doesn't seem to be a reduction in speed as pages are still loading fast enough and youtube videos are playing fine. Haven't d'loaded anything but I presume that is fine too.
I would say only very bad weather would affect it (i.e. a heavy downpour or a storm). People who've had it longer than me would know more.

Zaphod

As you have it working on Eurobird, you can check where the settings are entered in the software already:
Freq: 11513 Mhz, Symbol Rate: 30000, Polarisation: H, Unicast PID: 100, Boadcast PID: 100 (both PIDs are in decimal)

There is a choice of 3 transponders on Atlantic Bird : 11222 Mhz or 11261 Mhz or 12524 Mhz
The rest of the details are common for each:
Symbol Rate: 27500, Polarisation: V, Unicast PID: 100, Boadcast PID: 100

http://www.megasys.dz/Internet_DVB.htm

lukin

Zaphod wrote:

As you have it working on Eurobird, you can check where the settings are entered in the software already:
Freq: 11513 Mhz, Symbol Rate: 30000, Polarisation: H, Unicast PID: 100, Boadcast PID: 100 (both PIDs are in decimal)

There is a choice of 3 transponders on Atlantic Bird : 11222 Mhz or 11261 Mhz or 12524 Mhz
The rest of the details are common for each:
Symbol Rate: 27500, Polarisation: V, Unicast PID: 100, Boadcast PID: 100

http://www.megasys.dz/Internet_DVB.htm

The Frequency, Symbol rate and Polarisation settings you mentioned are what I have.
This is what I have on my PID List:

Zaphod

That's OK and will be the same for Atlantic Bird. So if you ever want to switch to Atl Bird, then you just need to alter the settings under the Status/Tuner tab.

lukin

Zaphod wrote:

That's OK and will be the same for Atlantic Bird. So if you ever want to switch to Atl Bird, then you just need to alter the settings under the Status/Tuner tab.

I'd say I'll leave it. I got a signal level of 85% from Atlantic Bird, the most I can get off Eurobird is 65% but I don't think I would get a much better service if I switched.
If it ain't broke don't fix it!