FTA Satellite how do you get BBC

MTG Ros

I bought the Lidl Satellite Camping system the SL65 (Silvercrest) the last time it was in. I bought it purely to get the BBC Channels. Well i'm getting all German channels perfectly. The only english speaking channels i have are CNN International, and Euronews. On BBC1, BBC2 etc i'm getting very good Signal at 70% and very good strength at 80% but i'm getting no picture. Is there anything i can do to improve this or do i scrape the system altogether.
Before any of you ask, I know for a fact the system is pointing directly onto Astra 28, we have lined it up using a composs to the exact line as next door neighbours sky dish, who at the time was watching BBC. Please help
Teresa,
Roscommon

Tony

Teresa you are pointing at Astra 1, dont care what your compass says, you need to re align to astra 2. German channels do not broadcast from Astra 2

St Senan

Your dish is pointed at Astra 19 east those German channels are not on Astra 28 you will need to move your dish

Rippy

MTG Ros wrote:

Before any of you ask, I know for a fact the system is pointing directly onto Astra 28, we have lined it up using a composs to the exact line as next door neighbours sky dish, who at the time was watching BBC. Please help

OK, If you are recieving mainly German channels you have the dish on Astra 1 (19 deg E)
If you were lineing up using a compass it was probally inaccurate due to being attracted to the dish or other nearby metal object.
Put the reciever on An Astra 2 Channel and VERY SLOWLY turn the dish 9 degrees to the left while watching (or getting someone to watch ) the bar graphs on the on screen display. Aim for Max quality reading. You should have to lower the elevation slighty moving from 19 to 28 deg.

MTG Ros

Thanks lads, I will try as soon as it stops raining

elderlemon

I have the Lidl system and used it in the holiday home in Dunmore. It gets the Asta 2 sat ok BUT this dish is very small and therefore very sensitive. You need to be very delicate with your movements to get the dish in its best position. It really needs a bigger dish but can and does work with the one in the box.

watty

A compass can be out by 5 degrees in open countryside
Near dishes, houses etc worse.

Also the position of Sky from here is not actually 28.2 E of South.

Bigger dishes are even harder to align. Twice the diameter is nearly 4 times more sensitive to line up! The 2.4m etc can't be aligned at all without a calibrated mount, about 2mm movement at edge would completely lose the signal. Bigger ones might even need 2 motors running full time to track the supposedly stationary satellite.

The satellite is over 22,500 miles away, and 3 degrees error and you are on a different satellite!

MTG Ros

Have now moved the satellite Dish using a sat finder, getting great signal and strenght on Astra 2, also still seemed to be getting great signal and strenght on Astra 1 practically same. Still getting no picture though Could it be situated half way between both ???????? The Satellite Dish is pointing directly at tall trees now could we be getting a re-routed signal from Astra 1 as we are again only getting German channels!!!! The only place we can get a clear view without trees is at the end of the garden 70 metres down which we would have to connect 2 or 3 wires which could possibly loose signal and strenght for us. HELP is there anything else we could do

byte

If you're still getting German channels, then you are still on Astra 1.

So, to get Astra 2, standing behind the dish, you'll need to turn it to your left, and lower elevation slightly.

The receiver can say you've got signal for both birds, as the frequency it's looking at is available from both satellites. It's common for same frequencies to be used on different satellites.

wil

There have been a few similar postings regarding confusion when tuning these particular receivers (Aldi/Lidl/Maplins various rebadged camping satellite kits).
The problem is inherent in the receiver display and not necessarily due to inexperience. (screenshots on some of the other posts)
The signal strength meter does not always correspond with the satellite you are actually pointing at, as Byte pointed out, the different satellites may share common frequencies. But the display gives the impression it does correspond, eg you choose channel BBC1 on Astra 2, then press Information to show channel details and strength. The signal strength is shown along with these details giving the false impression that you are getting good signal for BBC1 on Astra2 even if you are pointing at the mostly German Astra1.
The channel details and the strength should really be displayed separately to avoid this confusion as they are on my other receiver.

On a satellite with strong signal the dish by nature of its small size is in one sense easier than a large dish to allign. You dont have to get it spot on, in fact it is not possible to get it spot on as it focuses on a larger area of sky than a larger dish. You could move this micro dish 10mm and still be on the same satellite, but as Watty says totally different scenario with larger dishes. On a weak satellite signal you may never get enough signal to allign to at all.

The other problems alligning it are more to do with the cheapness of the mounting assembly. It uses a light metal and plastic mounting with wingnuts to tighten in to position. These dont lend themselves to smooth controlled movement that you might achieve on a larger dish with a sturdy mount and all metal fittings and nuts to tighten giving some resistance torque as you move it.

Patience and reference points and a portable TV beside you are your best aids in getting it on Astra2.
You may not even get a clear dip in signal strength from the satfinder as you move from sat to sat with a small dish, but you know where Hotbird is now. Mark this off and return to it as a reference. Then lower the dish slightly and rotate to left a few degrees, slowly and eventually you should get BBC1 popping up. Of course if you are pointing directly in to large trees in full foilage, your chances are slim. Good luck

MTG Ros

wil wrote:

On a satellite with strong signal the dish by nature of its small size is in one sense easier than a large dish to allign. You dont have to get it spot on, in fact it is not possible to get it spot on as it focuses on a larger area of sky than a larger dish. You could move this micro dish 10mm and still be on the same satellite, but as Watty says totally different scenario with larger dishes. On a weak satellite signal you may never get enough signal to allign to at all.
The other problems alligning it are more to do with the cheapness of the mounting assembly. It uses a light metal and plastic mounting with wingnuts to tighten in to position. These dont lend themselves to smooth controlled movement that you might achieve on a larger dish with a sturdy mount and all metal fittings and nuts to tighten giving some resistance torque as you move it.

Thanks Wil but should have pointed out that we never used the mountings that came with the dish as we deemed them useless. We are using sturdy steel mountings that came with the larger dish last year in lidl. Our larger dish came down in the wind during the winter but the mountings stayed in place. We are also going back and forth between the two receivers both giving same result on signal and strength, both very strong. Yet again, As soon as rain stops!! we will try moving it again. But as you were saying about the trees we prob would be better off moving it to a separate location and starting from scratch, just thinking about it makes me tired:rolleyes:

Thanks all for all the info, I will let ye all know how we get on.