Free to Air Satelite systems question....(Slight rant)

paddy_d2k2

Has anyone bought one of the above say from Powercity? You know the ones, 200 plus channels, all the English free to air ITVs and BBCs etc?

I bought one anyway from Powercity, and printed in LARGE writing all over the box is Eurobird 1 and Astra 2A, B, & D satelites at 28.2 deg. East. Spent the entire day yesterday assembling the dish, chasing satelite wires round the attic into TV points in rooms, drilling the wall to mount the dish, fine tuned the signal as best I could....went into System Setup, and scrolled through a list of must be a hundred or so satelites all at different angles of allignment and NO Eurobird 1 or Astra 2D listed.....the closest I got was Astra 1E & G which was 28.2 deg. East. Ended up with around 580 channels, most of which are German or French and not 1 BBC or ITV channel, no Channel 4 etc. which is clearly marked on the box.

So I am wondering, is it a faulty reciever as in the satelites I need where simply not listed, or have I set the dish to the wrong angle and the satelites I need are not listed because the dish doesn't detect them? Would I be as well to bring the reciever back into Powercity explain the situation and get them to try out the receiver??

Anyone with experience of installing satelite systems maybe wanna give me a dig out????

Cheers
Paddy.

Nehaxak

Paddy, There's an awful lot to explain but maybe one of the other guys might explain it better than I could or give you a couple of links to read up on.

Essentially though, what you get on your receiver is only from that which you have your satellite dish pointed at in the sky. If you have the dish pointed at 28.2 East, where Sky and the BBC etc., are located - you will get those channels. If however you have it pointed at another satellite, you won't, but will get whatever is on those satellites, hence the German French stuff you have in now

There's ways of getting in multiple satellites at the same time from one dish with the addition of extra LNB's and a particular bracket to fit them on to the front of your dish, along with other small bits and pieces you need. Take it one step at a time though, get in the satellite you want firstly and understand that end of things and take it from there.

deanswift

paddy_d2k2 wrote: »

Has anyone bought one of the above say from Powercity? You know the ones, 200 plus channels, all the English free to air ITVs and BBCs etc?

I bought one anyway from Powercity, and printed in LARGE writing all over the box is Eurobird 1 and Astra 2A, B, & D satelites at 28.2 deg. East. Spent the entire day yesterday assembling the dish, chasing satelite wires round the attic into TV points in rooms, drilling the wall to mount the dish, fine tuned the signal as best I could....went into System Setup, and scrolled through a list of must be a hundred or so satelites all at different angles of allignment and NO Eurobird 1 or Astra 2D listed.....the closest I got was Astra 1E & G which was 28.2 deg. East. Ended up with around 580 channels, most of which are German or French and not 1 BBC or ITV channel, no Channel 4 etc. which is clearly marked on the box.

So I am wondering, is it a faulty reciever as in the satelites I need where simply not listed, or have I set the dish to the wrong angle and the satelites I need are not listed because the dish doesn't detect them? Would I be as well to bring the reciever back into Powercity explain the situation and get them to try out the receiver??

Anyone with experience of installing satelite systems maybe wanna give me a dig out????

Cheers
Paddy.

Bought my kit from Maplins and working now for 3 years have all the variations of bbc itv ch 4 etc etc

deanswift

paddy_d2k2 wrote: »

Has anyone bought one of the above say from Powercity? You know the ones, 200 plus channels, all the English free to air ITVs and BBCs etc?

I bought one anyway from Powercity, and printed in LARGE writing all over the box is Eurobird 1 and Astra 2A, B, & D satelites at 28.2 deg. East. Spent the entire day yesterday assembling the dish, chasing satelite wires round the attic into TV points in rooms, drilling the wall to mount the dish, fine tuned the signal as best I could....went into System Setup, and scrolled through a list of must be a hundred or so satelites all at different angles of allignment and NO Eurobird 1 or Astra 2D listed.....the closest I got was Astra 1E & G which was 28.2 deg. East. Ended up with around 580 channels, most of which are German or French and not 1 BBC or ITV channel, no Channel 4 etc. which is clearly marked on the box.

So I am wondering, is it a faulty reciever as in the satelites I need where simply not listed, or have I set the dish to the wrong angle and the satelites I need are not listed because the dish doesn't detect them? Would I be as well to bring the reciever back into Powercity explain the situation and get them to try out the receiver??

Anyone with experience of installing satelite systems maybe wanna give me a dig out????

Cheers
Paddy.

where abouts are u?

John mac

have a read of this http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Support_Advice.html all the info you need.

crazygeryy

John mac wrote: »

have a read of this http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Support_Advice.html all the info you need.

that link didnt really explain what i need to know.maybe you could?
basicly i have a lidl fta sattellite dish.
it has one lnb.is there much work involved putting in a multi lnb and how do i know if the dish is compatible?and is it worth it?

thanks,.

John mac

you dont have to have a quad lnb. it will work with a single.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it9UqqBJi_Q

what dont you understand?

crazygeryy

John mac wrote: »

you dont have to have a quad lnb. it will work with a single.




what dont you understand?

sorry my fault i didnt explain it well enough.i mean to pick up more than one satellite at a time id have to install a multi lnb and i wanted to know how it works and how you do it?
i already have it working with the one but it only picks up one satellite and i read that you can pick up more than one with the multi lnb ie more channels.

paddy_d2k2

deanswift wrote: »

where abouts are u?

Located on the Meath / Kildare border. I lined up the dish by eye as per my neighbours Sky dish, as sky and BBC come from the same satelite as far as I know, then attached the LNB, again lined that up similar to the neighhbours LNB and used the signal finder to allign and fine tune it.

I would have thought that if Astra 2D and Eurobird 1 are transmitting, then they would be listed on the receiver's menu no? That is why I am lead to believe that there maybe a fault with the receiver as in those satelites have not been programmed in.

Head is wrecked at this stage! I knew it wouldn't be plug and play, that there would be tweaking involved, but I can't figure it out at all...... abd the website just quotes that the BBC channels are broadcast on Astra 2D, but the 2D isn't on my menu for searching!

zagmund

Is your neighbour German by any chance ?

Regardless, you're picking up the german channels from a different satellite and if this is the case then more than likely your dish is simply mis-aligned. There's many posts here and elsewhere on the web about how to adjust your dish if you are getting the german channels. The change is marginal, but the effect is significant..

z

John mac

crazygeryy wrote: »

sorry my fault i didnt explain it well enough.i mean to pick up more than one satellite at a time id have to install a multi lnb and i wanted to know how it works and how you do it?
i already have it working with the one but it only picks up one satellite and i read that you can pick up more than one with the multi lnb ie more channels.

that would require a motorised dish or an lnb arm (watty has a pic of one )


http://www.techtir.ie/howto/install-motorised-dish

http://www.techtir.ie/howto/align_sat_dish
more reading ..:)

watty

It will be on the menu.

Astra2A/2b/2D/Eurobird1 are all same thing.
28.2E

Also it's slightest bit out of alignment and you have nothing or a differnent satelliite is only 2 or 3 degrees away. A TV aerial can be usually moved x10 more with no effect at all!

German channels are on 13E and 19E, so you need to slightly tilt dish down (as 28.2E appears lower in sky) and east about 9 to 15 degrees according to which satellite you are actually receiving.

Minstrel27

paddy_d2k2 wrote: »

Head is wrecked at this stage! I knew it wouldn't be plug and play, that there would be tweaking involved, but I can't figure it out at all...... abd the website just quotes that the BBC channels are broadcast on Astra 2D, but the 2D isn't on my menu for searching!

You are very close to landing on the correct satellite. As you face the dish it only needs to be turned a bit to the right and pointed slightly lower.

cnocbui

paddy_d2k2:

What Watty said. Aligning by eye or trial and error is very difficult. You only have to be out a few mm to have the difference between getting a usable signal and none at all.

You really need a Sat finder to align a dish. Even if you find the Astras, a few mm off perfect and rain or gusts of wind wobbling the dish can lose you the signal.

When Lidl are selling their Sat stuff they usually sell a Sat finder/signal strength meter for about €9, and it's worth every penny.

You could try maplins: http://www.maplin.co.uk/tv-and-satellite/satellite/satellite-finders-and-meters

paddy_d2k2

watty wrote: »

It will be on the menu.

Astra2A/2b/2D/Eurobird1 are all same thing.
28.2E

Also it's slightest bit out of alignment and you have nothing or a differnent satelliite is only 2 or 3 degrees away. A TV aerial can be usually moved x10 more with no effect at all!

German channels are on 13E and 19E, so you need to slightly tilt dish down (as 28.2E appears lower in sky) and east about 9 to 15 degrees according to which satellite you are actually receiving.

What do I take as a reference point or datum? For example, if i was to stand behind the dish facing the LNB, do I use say a digital compass and line up the LNB arm in line with 28.2E? I have a signal meter which was included in the kit, so from what I am gathering here, I am too high (Skywards) and too far northwards. The problem with the signal finder is, that how will I know I have the right signal, other then trial and error climbing up and down from the roof and checking the receiver menu each time I find some sort of signal?

Thanks folks! Appreciate any help given.
Paddy

Tony

Hi Paddy, forget about the compass it will only give you a rough guide. If you are receiving German channels you are pointing at Astra 19.2 thats is to say 19.2 degrees east of South, so you need to go another 9 degrees or so further east and slighly down as 28 degrees east astra 2 is slightly lower.

Imagine you are standing behind the dish, east is left but only a very small amount is needed to get astra 2 . You may also find the you tube video above helpful as it covers most of what we have discussed here.

Hope this helps

paddy_d2k2 wrote: »

What do I take as a reference point or datum? For example, if i was to stand behind the dish facing the LNB, do I use say a digital compass and line up the LNB arm in line with 28.2E? I have a signal meter which was included in the kit, so from what I am gathering here, I am too high (Skywards) and too far northwards. The problem with the signal finder is, that how will I know I have the right signal, other then trial and error climbing up and down from the roof and checking the receiver menu each time I find some sort of signal?

Thanks folks! Appreciate any help given.
Paddy

Liameter

Don't confuse azimuth with compass bearing. Azimuth (e.g. 28.'E) is the location of the specific satellite cluster in the Clarke belt with respect to the meridian through Greenwich. You can't simply align your dish on a compass bearing of 28.2'E and get Astra-2 because the actual bearing depends on your location with respect to Greenwich.

A picture might help. See what satcure has to say: http://www.satcure.com/tech/satposition.htm

watty

My compass reads more than 10 degrees out due to metal of pole and local variations.
Elevation is about 22 degrees (but cheap dishes may not have elevation scale and may look like zero elevation when +30).
Azimuth is nearly exactly south east in MidWest of Ireland for 28.2, about 137 degrees.

Tony

www.dishpointer.com is most useful

applewoodgo

Take a look at the site http://www.tvtrade.ie/ They have everything you will want and numerous videos on how to install the equipment, align satalites etc.,.......... an excellent informative site.