Satellite Allignment

ShamFeen

Hey all. I'm looking for a satellite allignment meter, something good and relatively cheap (around €100). Any recommendations? I bought one of those cheap ones that make the audible noise but I don't find it very good. Even an online suggestion would be of help. Thanks

davlacey

horizon mini sat are 109 on one of the irish satellite suppliers there fairly good

rob the satman

if you buy a cheap comag receiver, sl 35 for instance, it has a signal meter with audible tone built in, does the job

kbell

Not very practical for outdoor day to day use.
Meter would be the better option.

paulcdub85

davlacey wrote: »

horizon mini sat are 109 on one of the irish satellite suppliers there fairly good

Does this meter have to be connected to the dish and reciever to work?

davlacey

heres the link http://www.horizonhge.com/hge/MiniSat_User_Guide.pdf

paulcdub85

davlacey wrote: »

heres the link http://www.horizonhge.com/hge/MiniSat_User_Guide.pdf

Thanks. What do you think of these meters http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/satellitemeters.htm#satcatcher (The ones for 100 sterling and below) Im no expert but they seem good. strongly thinkin bout gettin one

davlacey

i have the yellow digital one for 29.99 i wouldnt bother with one of them they do the same as a cheap one with the needle for a tenner only difference is they have a backlight,i dunno about the digisat if i was buying one id buy one that doesnt need to be connected to a reciever and identifies which satellite your picking up might get one for a 100 on e bay

Apogee

Any of the meters for under €100 on SatelliteSuperstore are much the same - even if they have a 'digital' readout, they are not digital meters (they can't measure signal quality or Bit Error Rates/BER), and are therefore useless at identifying satellites or judging skew etc.

A quick browse on ebay.ie shows a number of meters with integrated LCD and receiver - much better for identifying satellites and determining signal quality. However, I have no idea what the build quality is like - for under €100 they are likely to be cheap and cheerful.



http://shop.ebay.ie/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A2471&rt=nc&_nkw=satellite+meter+digital&_dmpt=UK_ConEle_SatCableFreeview_RL&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=2&_sc=1

paulcdub85

Apogee wrote: »

Any of the meters for under €100 on SatelliteSuperstore are much the same - even if they have a 'digital' readout, they are not digital meters (they can't measure signal quality or Bit Error Rates/BER), and are therefore useless at identifying satellites or judging skew etc.

A quick browse on ebay.ie shows a number of meters with integrated LCD and receiver - much better for identifying satellites and determining signal quality. However, I have no idea what the build quality is like - for under €100 they are likely to be cheap and cheerful.



http://shop.ebay.ie/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A2471&rt=nc&_nkw=satellite+meter+digital&_dmpt=UK_ConEle_SatCableFreeview_RL&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=2&_sc=1

At the moment I have this:http://www.tvtrade.ie/uhf-meter-and-satellite-finder.html
It works fine. But the only problem is that it needs to be connected to a reciever aswell. I'm looking for one that doesn't. The cheapest on the Irish sites I could find was on Freesat.ie for 299euro. All I'm ever gonna need it for is freesat so was hoping to find somthing low cost that wouldn't need to be connected to reciever.

Apogee

paulcdub85 wrote: »

At the moment I have this:http://www.tvtrade.ie/uhf-meter-and-satellite-finder.html
It works fine. But the only problem is that it needs to be connected to a reciever aswell. I'm looking for one that doesn't. The cheapest on the Irish sites I could find was on Freesat.ie for 299euro. All I'm ever gonna need it for is freesat so was hoping to find somthing low cost that wouldn't need to be connected to reciever.

Those ones on ebay with LCDs all have integrated batteries. Though if you are just using for once-off for Freesat, they may be overkill. If you are doing multiple installations, then they should be a big improvement on the loop-through type meter. Caveat emptor however - there are no reviews of them available.

KeRbDoG

Wonder if its possible to rent something like this? Would aid me setting up a multi LNB dish

Liameter

paulcdub85 wrote: »

It works fine. But the only problem is that it needs to be connected to a receiver as well.

Not necessarily. Connect the "To Rec" input to a 12v car battery (13.6v) and it will be fine. Or a 12v "gel cell" battery as used for alarms.

polyfusion

KeRbDoG wrote: »

Wonder if its possible to rent something like this? Would aid me setting up a multi LNB dish

Don't know if it's possible to rent, but I reckon unless you have a mate you could borrow one from, it won't be worth your time and energy trying to find out. You'll learn more about setting up and maintenance using a simple in-line beeper, dishpointer.com and the built-in quality indicator on a receiver.