Which Satelite

roman0red

Evening all

New to ths forum so bear with me if I start asking dumb question(s)....

I recently "inherited" an apartment where the previous owner had a sateliete dish and a Pace Decoder - all of the stations are german (it has UK Eurosport also!). How do I find out what sateliete the dish is pointing at? My guess is its Astra 1 not sure which one but I understand Astra 1 has a lot of German stations??
I have a spare digibox which when I connect to the dish I dont receve any of the normal FTA UK channells - I presume because the digibox is programmed to pick up Astra 2A at 28.2E? IS this correct ?
If I adjust the dish to point at Astra 2 I shoudl be able to pick UK FTA stations up...correct?

Last question how would I go about aligning the Dish to Astra 2a - would I need a meter?

Thanks in advnce

Apogee

If the Pace box is able to display Eurosport with English audio, then it's an analogue receiver and pointed at Astra 19E. You will need to realign it to Astra 28E for the UK FTA digital channels. You may also need to upgrade the LNB to a universal, depending on its age. The dish can be aligned with a digital receiver, although it is considerably easier with a meter.

http://bytelive.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=How+to+align+a+satellite+dish

John mac

yes you will have to realign the dish to 28.2 deg east.

http://www.dishpointer.com/ just put in your location and follow the pointing instructions.
http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/skymain.htm



http://bytelive.com/wiki/tiki-print.php?page=How+to+align+a+satellite+dish

roman0red

Thanks Guys

The Pace receiver is about 10 years old so I guess is an anologue one?

Do you reccommend or do I need to upgrade the LnB in order to get Astra 2 FTA stations? How much and where can I guy one - woodies?

Any suggestrions on a good DIY Meter?

Thanks again

Tony

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=155714

kuro_man

Do a search for "Smart Titanium LNB" on ebay - they are around €25 - €30 for a quad - less for doubles/singles.
I have bought 2 Smart Titanium v2 quads on ebay and I have had no problems.

Tony

Titanium is an excellent LNB. If you do buy on ebay though make sure the total cost including shipping does not exceed what you can get them for here. I've seen lots of cheap lnbs on ebay where they make up the margin on shipping.

roman0red

Thanks for the advice folks

Took a closser look at the Dish and the LnB - it appears there are two co-axial cables coming from the LnB feeding a Diplexer (not my word, it was written on the side of the box ). Their are 3 co-axial ablex coming from the diplexer going to three different rooms. I guess its a way of splitting the signal to multiple rooms!

Anyway I dont think Im going to replace the LnB as its sopunds complex - just adjust to point to the Astra 28e?

Tony

roman0red wrote: »

I guess its a way of splitting the signal to multiple rooms!

Thats a strange one as its not possible to split a satellite signal as there are control voltages and tones so connecting two receivers to one output would cause conflicts.

kuro_man

if you have access to the dish, changing the lnb is very simple, just remove the cables, open the holder screw, put in the new one, put on the cables.

Apogee

Maybe the LNB is newer than the receiver and is a 2x universal output?

The OP could either post an upclose photo of the LNB or find out what model number and information is written on the side of the LNB.

roman0red

Apogee wrote: »

Maybe the LNB is newer than the receiver and is a 2x universal output?

The OP could either post an upclose photo of the LNB or find out what model number and information is written on the side of the LNB.

Sorry for the delay in responding ....its a Grundig LnB with two Co-axial cables going to the inputs of a "Global Communications" diplexer. Will post a pic later

Apogee

Are you certain it's a diplexer? And not a switch or frequency extender (if the setup is ancient)?

roman0red

Guys,
didnt manage to get a pic of the LnB...however I have a problem taht I'm hoping somone will be able to assist with .....

I've replaced the Pace Sat Receiver with a Sky SR. Repointed the Sat Disk to what I believe to be Astra 2 with a Sat Meter but I'm not getting any signal on the Sky sat rec.?
I'm reasonably confident I'm hooked onto the correct Astra 2 Sat with a good signal on the Sat Meter however nothing coming up on the Sky box. The Sky SR is workign fine as I borrowed it from my Kids room where it was workign fine.
Anythign to do with the LnB - it was a Grundig LnB and worked fine with the Pace SR but not with the SKY SR?

Any advice/help would be much appreciated.

Tony

How do you know you are aligned to astra 2? Also could be an old non universal lnb with the wrong oscillator and no high band.

roman0red

Tony wrote: »

How do you know you are aligned to astra 2? Also could be an old non universal lnb with the wrong oscillator and no high band.

Reasonbly confident - I have a working Sky Sat Dish nearby and took bearings from that with compass on my Iphone ....(knew it would come in handy for someting!)

Its quite possibly an LnB issue - its a Grundig Lnb about 10 years old I say. Dont know about the Oscillator or High band . Think I need to replace LnB?

Tony

Sorry but compass bearings and iphones cant really confirm you are on the correct satellite as there are only a few degrees between them. I'd say replacing the lnb though would be the next step given its age.

I'm presuming you are using a satfinder or similar to align the dish?

roman0red wrote: »

Reasonbly confident - I have a working Sky Sat Dish nearby and took bearings from that with compass on my Iphone ....(knew it would come in handy for someting!)

Its quite possibly an LnB issue - its a Grundig Lnb about 10 years old I say. Dont know about the Oscillator or High band . Think I need to replace LnB?

roman0red

yes sorry tony - i meant to say I am using a Sat meter .. mind you ts not that complicated - its a DIY job but it does indicate (loud whistling and lots of red leds!) Im latched onto to a Sat - albeit it doent say which one ...Im guessing Astra 2.

The odd thing about this LnB is that it has two feeds coming from it going to a "diplexer" (3 inputs and 4 outputs) which in turn feeds three Sat Receivers - is this just a standard dual LnB albeit old???

Thanks

Tony

Yes as you say the satfinder will not tell you what sat you are on. Honestly I've no idea what type of lnb that is as i've not come across that type of set up before.

roman0red wrote: »

yes sorry tony - i meant to say I am using a Sat meter .. mind you ts not that complicated - its a DIY job but it does indicate (loud whistling and lots of red leds!) Im latched onto to a Sat - albeit it doent say which one ...Im guessing Astra 2.

The odd thing about this LnB is that it has two feeds coming from it going to a "diplexer" (3 inputs and 4 outputs) which in turn feeds three Sat Receivers - is this just a standard dual LnB albeit old???

Thanks