Alignment of Silvercrest Camp Satellite dish

kozak

I have a problem with Alignment of Silvercrest Camp Satellite dish. I bought Mini System (dish, receiver, compass satellite finder etc) for 99 euro from Lidl on Sat 19/05/07 (returned for unknown reason).

Dish mounted in a southern facing direction on window sill inside the apartment (1st floor). I cannot have a satellite dish attached to the externals of the building.

I’ve followed instructions in the manual - used the satellite finder (very basic!) supplied by Silvercrest to find the position of the Astra satellite 19E and aligned the dish to this position.
However, the message on the screen is “No signal found” as signal strength is only 11%. Signal strength may improve to 14% max when I try to re-align the dish.
The same story for Astra 28E, Hotbird 13E, HispanSat 30W.

I’ve read posts on this issue (for example http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054982781) so I realise that dish alignment is not easy but still can be done.

Line of sight from my apt to the south is obstructed by number of 4-5 story buildings approx 40-45 meters south of my apt.
Apt is in Tullyvale, Dublin 18.

Any advise on dish alignment ?
I know that proper satellite finder may help but I’m not sure if its worth spending more money on this project taking into account that there is no clear line of sight to south.

Thanks

mustang68

It seems you have two problems there, the first is that the dish is inside the window, which will cut your signal.

The other is that the dish will need a line of sight to the satellite, have a look at this to see if you can see it: http://www.satellite-calculations.com/Satellite/lookangles.htm

kozak

Thanks for your replay.

Yesterday during sunny spell I’ve managed to find ASTRA 19E channels (signal strength was around 45%). Only 10 channels were viewable. However, when weather changed to cloudy signal disappeared (strength 11 %).

How badly window glass and clouds impacts signal of your dish?
What sat finder would you recommend?
Is there a way to mount dish outside without drilling (or damaging) walls of the building?
My apt is on the 1st floor. External Sat dishes are frowned upon by Management company.

Thanks

Zaphod

kozak wrote:

How badly window glass and clouds impacts signal of your dish?

That's depends on the type of glass - single vs. double, lead lined vs lead free. Open the window and see if it makes a difference. Also take care of dish height and that the 'look angle' of the dish is aligned with the window:

What sat finder would you recommend?

A cheap one like this:

My apt is on the 1st floor. External Sat dishes are frowned upon by Management company.

Lots of ways of hiding a dish.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=224642

byte

Also, that tiny dish is going to have weak signal anyway, due to its size. Signals will be futher weakened being behind glass.