self install - short or just poor position?

KAGY

Hi all,
tried a self install system today. Satellite.ie's system (ferguson box), however I'm not getting anything despite using a sat finder - I first aligned east-west using the sun and vertically using the triax dishes scale then fine tuned with the sat finder. on the receivers meter i'm getting 100% strength 0% quality I presume this means there's nothing wrong with my cabling leaving 3 posibilities.
1) i'm pointing at a different satellite , is there another one within a degree or two? and if so would I need to select this satellite for it to register with the receiver
2) there's too much of a shadow from the eaves (the dish is nearly 90° to the wall).
3) (and I hope this isn't the case) I forgot to unplug the receiver before connecting the sat finder, how could I check that nothings blown!

TIA
karl

Tony

Try changing the satellite selected on the ferguson receiver to astra 1 or hotbird and see if the quality reading changes.

biologikal

Might improve your chances of locking onto a satellite by skewing the LNB. As you're looking at the dish, rotate the LNB clockwise, maybe 10 degrees. I'd imagine you'd be able to find any of 13E, 19E or 28E without doing this though (maybe not all TPs but some of the strongest).

What satellite are you trying to point to? Also, it's unlikely that you would blow the receiver (possible, but unlikely). Also, is it possible that power to the LNB is OFF by default? Someone who might know the Ferguson might be able to help you if this is the case.

Sam Radford

KAGY wrote: »

on the receivers meter i'm getting 100% strength 0% quality I presume

This is often a symptom of a disconnection at the LNB, faulty LNB or dish aimed at nothing in particular (the ground) or wrong satellite.

machiavellianme

Having the exact same problem at the moment with the same Ferguson FTA kit from satellite.ie, hardly a faulty batch of LNB's or something?

Tony

machiavellianme wrote: »

Having the exact same problem at the moment with the same Ferguson FTA kit from satellite.ie, hardly a faulty batch of LNB's or something?

Dont think so as the titanium lnb is supplied with the kits and its very reliable.

machiavellianme

Tony wrote: »

Dont think so as the titanium lnb is supplied with the kits and its very reliable.

So I take it a faulty LNB would be quite rare then?
That implies its either not pointing correctly or theres a problem with the cable since the box seems to be functioning, right?

Tony

machiavellianme wrote: »

So I take it a faulty LNB would be quite rare then?
That implies its either not pointing correctly or theres a problem with the cable since the box seems to be functioning, right?

Yes very rare with this particular lnb, I would agree it most likely an alignment or connection problem.

KAGY

Thanks for your replies,
I ignored the installation menu's quality setting on the box and flipped between viewing the pre-installed satellites and found that I was picking up astra1 (with very bad quality)

I redid the calculations (www.satellite-calculations.com) and realised I had my longitude with a minus and marked as west! So I had to move the dish back east. Now I've manage to get 50% signal quality on astra2 but the dish's arm is nearly parallel to the house and pointing at the eaves :-/ I'm probably shadowing 1/3 of the dish.

The quality on the few channels I'm interested in and checked is resonable, the occasional green box (can't remember what they're called) so I'll see what it's like in other weather conditions before I decide to move it to the front of the house. (Not a popular option in this house )

Tony

how about using a stand off bracket and pole to get you above the eaves?

machiavellianme

Also managed to get it working. Positioned it too close to a corrugated galvanise roof. I'm guessing some sort of interference was involved.