Lidl Satellite dish?

LoonyLovegood

Hey guys,

I bought a satellite dish in Lidl a while back, it's been left inside for ages, and I'm finally putting it up.

I've the satellite found, but the channels don't seem to be coming through. Did everything by the book. Does anyone have any ideas? I'm a total newbie to this!

antocann

dish needs alined more , make sure theres no trees ect in the way

LoonyLovegood

Done. The signal intensity and quality is high, and there's no trees in any of the gardens

Peter Rhea

I presume you're looking for Astra 2?

You're probably aligned on Astra 1 (mostly German channels).

This site should be useful.
It's Google based & shows a line for the dish bearing on the map as well as dish setup data underneath.
You can then use the receiver's strength/quality meter for fine tuning, paying most attention to quality.

tmcw

If you're getting good signal intensity and quality, but don't see any channels, try any other satellite positions that may be pre-saved on the receiver. If there are none, do an autoscan and see what channels do appear, and post what they are, it will give an idea what direction the dish needs to go.

If there are pre-saved channels on it, particularly for the 28E satellite position, chances are that a large number of them have incorrect frequencies if the receiver is more than a few years old, so you would have to do an autoscan anyway. Even channels like the BBCs which rarely move, most of them had changes recently.

foggers

If it's a 40cm dish, I belive it won't be good enough in most of ireland although I'm open to crrection on this. I think 60cm ones are recommended.

rob the satman

Is your receiver the one from Lidl too? Comag or Silvercrest make of receiver? If so these receivers 'blind scan' which means if you've got signal strength and signal quality do an Auto Scan it will pick up any frequencies which are there, it does not use an internal database of frequencies, it just finds what frequencies /channels are there, whichever satellite your dish is pointing at, these found channels will appear mostly at the end of the channel list as the receiver does have some pre-programmed channels some of which are out of date anyway.
When you've done this, come back to us with short list of channels you are getting and we can help you further if that's not the right satellite/channels that you want

Johnboy1951

Just make sure you select the correct options before the scan ...... I failed to notice and had to scan three times before I got the correct listing ..... for some reason the default was H only and I had to change it to H & V.

Coincidently I set mine up last night ..... dish clamped to a window cill!

when setting the dish direction the graphic goes to colour when the signal is strong enough ... I had not realised that either

I suppose I should have read the manual first :eek:

rob the satman

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Just make sure you select the correct options before the scan ...... I failed to notice and had to scan three times before I got the correct listing ..... for some reason the default was H only and I had to change it to H & V.

Coincidently I set mine up last night ..... dish clamped to a window cill!

when setting the dish direction the graphic goes to colour when the signal is strong enough ... I had not realised that either

On the Comag/Silvercrest receivers a signal quality level of 35% - 40% is borderline, anything above will get you picture but a signal quality level of between 55% and 70% is ideally what you want

I suppose I should have read the manual first :eek:

You could have asked us on here too:cool::D

Johnboy1951

rob the satman wrote: »

On the Comag/Silvercrest receivers a signal quality level of 35% - 40% is borderline, anything above will get you picture but a signal quality level of between 55% and 70% is ideally what you want


You could have asked us on here too:cool::D

Where's the fun in that?

I have had the device for about a year I think and had used the receiver at one time very briefly.
This was my first time using the dish, and I was surprised that the signal was so good, given the dish size.
It does seem to fulfil its aim ..... of being a highly portable setup which is easy to get working.

I am quite impressed with the results from a 40cm dish when compared to my 80cm Sky dish (real old solid type) ..... even allowing for the reasonable/good weather.

Well worth taking on holiday breaks based on my results.

Sorry if I have gone off topic ... just tickled that it worked so well ...

regards.

rob the satman

I totally understand, it's the challenge, whether it ends up as :eek: or :cool: it's the challenge :)

belllee

Does anyone know how to increase the signal internsity I am receiving? I have tried this in two different towns with no trees or obstacles in the way and cannot even get the basic channels. The signal qualtiy is up around 75-80% but in both places I have put it up I can only get a signal internsity of 11-14%. Anyone have any ideas?

Peter Rhea

Are we still dealing with a Silvercrest sl45 here? Are you sure it's not signal intensity 75-80% and low quality?

Are the intensity/quality bars coloured grey?

polyfusion

Intensity will usually start to go up before the quality, so you might have mixed up the 2 levels.

You will want a quality level of at least 30-40% to begin locking on channels, but once you have them locked, you can then fine-tune the dish to maximise the signal quality.

If you get good levels, but no channels, if there are presets on other satellites, try flicking through those channel lists to see if any of them show up. If they do, it will tell you where the dish is pointed, and how you need to move the dish to get the ones you want.

phonechap007

I have Silvercrest Dish and SL65 box from Lidl. It is three years old and still in its box. I want to move to free to air satellite. Is is worthwhile putting up this system at all. The box does not have an aerial feed so for RTE I would have to get a Saorview box also as I use an older TV set.

Is it a good idea to install the dish and buy a new box. Also would it make to buy a multi LNB too. I am just starting to attempt to get to grips with all this.
Thanks in advance for advice

JaneAusten

Since you already have it, and you have an old (presumably non-HD) TV, then why not put it up. At least then you get free UK TV in digital quality. If you like what you see, a cheap upgrade would be the Ferguson Ariva discussed elsewhere on this board - it would cost you twice what a Saorview STB would cost, but then you don't have an extra box and remote to fiddle with.

My 2cents

Peter Rhea

phonechap007 wrote: »

Is it a good idea to install the dish and buy a new box. Also would it make to buy a multi LNB too.

Provided it's not one of the camping dishes (I don't recall those being sold with an SL65).

By 'multi LNB', do you mean a single lnb with multiple outputs (like a quad)? The larger Lidl dishes seem to come with a twin output lnb as standard.

zg3409

phonechap007 wrote: »

I have Silvercrest Dish and SL65 box from Lidl. It is three years old and still in its box. I want to move to free to air satellite. Is is worthwhile putting up this system at all. The box does not have an aerial feed so for RTE I would have to get a Saorview box also as I use an older TV set.

Is it a good idea to install the dish and buy a new box. Also would it make to buy a multi LNB too. I am just starting to attempt to get to grips with all this.
Thanks in advance for advice

It's probably worth putting up as a learning experience. If you already have a Sky dish you can use that instead.

You would need a seperate box and an aerial instead of a dish for Saorview.

If you are totally frustrated getting it to work, then an installer should align your dish for about 50 Euro once the dish is in place and the cable run to the receiver.

The inbuilt signal strength/quality on boxes are not good for aligning. Nor are the cheap inline signal meters. Ideally get a box you know that 100% works and is pre-tuned. Put this on say BBC one and move dish until you see BBC1, then adjust for best signal quality.

Dr Nic

Just putting a lidl dish up as a learning experience. I have it pointed in the same direction as my already working sky dish.

I havent connected it to my receiver box yet but i have some questions

From these 2 threads :
http://www.irishsilicon.com/2005/09/lidl-satellite-dish-installati.html
http://www.irishsilicon.com/2005/04/aligning-your-sat-dish-for-fre.html

He says that you should have the lnb horizontal but also at 23 degrees. How can you do both?

Also my bracket doesnt seem to have the same small little mark that he uses to calculate 23degrees. It has the 2 big marks that can be seen at 11.30 and 5.30 on his second photo, but not the little small one

Any idea's?

Last question : i tried using the satellite beeper. It says on the back of it that it needs 13v power. I presume this comes from the sat receiver?

Thanks for your help, and there should be plenty more q's!!!
J

Apogee

Dr Nic wrote: »

He says that you should have the lnb horizontal but also at 23 degrees. How can you do both?

You skew/twist the LNBF clockwise as you face the dish



Watch the quality meter - it should rise/fall as you skew the LNBF - and find the optimum skew on that basis.

More here:
https://sites.google.com/site/freetoairinfo/home/how-to-align-a-satellite

zg3409

Dr Nic wrote: »

He says that you should have the lnb horizontal but also at 23 degrees. How can you do both?

Also my bracket doesnt seem to have the same small little mark Last question : i tried using the satellite beeper. It says on the back of it that it needs 13v power. I presume this comes from the sat receiver?

Firstly I would recommend you bring your satellite receiver to someone's house that already has a dish installed and scan for channels. This will help you later.

Then I would bring the TV and receiver outside where you can see them from the dish. Then turn satellite receiver to a known working channel like Channel 4.

Put the meter inline between the dish and the receiver. At the start ignore the meter. Just keep watching for a picture on the TV. The picture may start, then freeze. That means you had a signal for a second.

Pointing a dish is VERY, VERY hard. Slight tiny motions make every differece. It's like pointing a telescope at a star while blindfolded.

Put your address into this site:
http://www.dishpointer.com
and select 28.2

This will show you which wall to use. The dish needs to be neary totally vertical, not pointed up at the Sky. I sometimes hold the dish carefully in my hands and move very, very slowly until I get a signal, then put it on the wall bracket later.

The signal meter is only any good after you are sure you are pointed at the right satellite, for peaking the dish. It will beep and flash even pointed at the wrong satellite.

To answer your questions:
The LNB adjustment is called Skew. If you look at Sky dishes you get an idea. The LNB is not perfectly straight. It is turned slightly. You can peak this by twisting the LNB and getting maximum signal.

The marks on the dish are probably just an arrow. They are not very accurate anyway. If it has degrees marked then it's around 20 you need, when mounted on a vertical wall.

The satellite beeper needs power, from the receiver. Make sure the receiver is on.

If you get stuck a professional will point your dish for around 50 euro assuming everything else is installed correctly. BE WARNED IT IS VERY HARD TO POINT YOUR FIRST DISH. You may spend 2 hours and get nothing. Try to pre-tune the receiver in someone elses house.

Dr Nic

Thanks guys, worked first time.

Now i would like to move my existing sky dish down a foot to a better location.

Do the same rules apply for lidl and sky dishes, ie have the lnb arm at horizontal?

And also my new sky dish has a quad lnb with a '1 2 3 4' on the side. what does this mean and how do i use it?

I've tried all the same steps as my lidl dish with my sky dish, but no signal!!

Thanks
ps - i had a big reply explaining the situation of the cowboy sky tech who bashed our dish into place and helped it rust, but lost the page :-(

zg3409

Dr Nic wrote: »

Do the same rules apply for lidl and sky dishes, ie have the lnb arm at horizontal?

And also my new sky dish has a quad lnb with a '1 2 3 4' on the side. what does this mean and how do i use it?

More or less. If the LNB is already mounted then do not adjust it.

Dr Nic

The problem is that the tech bent the bejasus out of the orig sky arm.

So do i:

a) move the wall mount, get a new arm and then leave the sky dish as is

b) leave the wall mount, use the bent arm and try adjust the sky dish

b is the easier option
if i go with b - should the lnb arm be horizontal??

Peter Rhea

Dr Nic wrote: »

- should the lnb arm be horizontal??

What do you mean by this? The dish will have to be elevated correctly, wherever that leaves the lnb arm.

Dr Nic

The other site i linked to, said that the lidl dish should have the lnb arm horizontal. Very easy to set.

Now how do i calculate the angle for a standard sky dish?
Is it 28.2?
I know the answer is probably easy but im new

Ronnie Raygun

The dishpointer site will tell you the correct elevation angle for your location, you don't need to "calculate" anything. The satellites you are trying to receive are in a fixed location above the equator & your dish must be directed there to pick up the signal.

In the absence of a perfectly vertical pole on which to mount the dish & an accurate elevation scale, the best you can do is just move around until you pick up the signal you're after.

Dr Nic

All sorted now.

Tip for newbies like myself - maybe it obvious to others? - get a perfectly vertical pole, then place the dish in such a way that when a spirit level is placed on it vertically that it is dead level. Then look where you neighbour has his dish pointed and copy that line.

I can believe how simple it is in hindsight!

And dont get cowboy 'engineers' to do what you can do yourself.

My cowboy placed the bracket too high on the wall for the dish to swing under the gable of the house for perfect alignment. He must have then realised and being too lazy to drill another 2 holes for enough space, he proceded to get his hammer and batter the arm and dish into some kind of semi alignment, telling us that this was the only place on the whole house he could get signal. And we then had 3 years of rain interrupted tv. The Boll1x

Thanks for all your help!

Peter Rhea

Dr Nic wrote: »

. . . then place the dish in such a way that when a spirit level is placed on it vertically that it is dead level.

Where are you getting this from? I mean on a practical level, after aligning a couple of dishes, not because you read it somewhere else.

Dr Nic

Google 'sky dish alignment'
First video result is 6mins long or so.
Perfectly easy explanation

Peter Rhea

Pointless putting a level on the dish like that, unless maybe to give a starting point. The correct angle of the dish face will depend on the elevation of the satellites & the offset angle of the dish.

Any Sky dish I've had my hands on will be well off 'straight up & down' when aligned on 28 east, will actually be tilted downwards.

dodzy

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Pointless putting a level on the dish like that, unless maybe to give a starting point. The correct angle of the dish face will depend on the elevation of the satellites & the offset angle of the dish.

Any Sky dish I've had my hands on will be well off 'straight up & down' when aligned on 28 east, will actually be tilted downwards.

Pete, I'd always bow to your superior knowledge but any regular sky eliptical-type dish ive seen / set could easily appear to look vertical ( in this country anyway ) to the naked eye, and if you put a spirit level on it, the vertical bubble will be pretty central:o

Peter Rhea

Sky dishes afaik have an offset angle of around 24 degrees, so in this country will always be a few degrees below vertical, but would be more or less level, say in the English midlands.

Dr Nic

Well what works for me 5x now is. lidl dish with lnb arm exactly horizontal, and for sky dish have the dish exactly vertical. its child's play after that.

watty

Depends on design of dish, location and satellite.

dodzy

watty wrote: »

Depends on design of dish, location and satellite.

Of course these are all applicable, but for our country, for the most part, with a Raven / EL style "eliptical" sky dish, vertical mounting is good enough, most definitely as a "rough guide & starting point" for those without a decent meter.

Peter Rhea

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Provided it's not one of the camping dishes (I don't recall those being sold with an SL65).

Just thought of this now that I have one of those camping kits sitting in front of me here, & of course the receiver is an SL65/12 . . .

It's been around the place for a few months now & I've made use of it on a no. of occasions but never actually noticed the model no., was thinking of the mains-only version.

Dr Nic

Ok i think what happened for me before was a total fluke cause now im at a new location with no previous installed sky dish to guide me and im stuck...

So what i have is 'Satellite Director', 'Satellite Finder' and a compass all for android.

Im trying to find Astra 28.2 with an aldi dish. i have a dreambox 500s that previously could view channel 4 etc when plugged into my home Sky dish.

So Satellite director if ppl dont have it, is a fancy package that allows you to use 2 dots on the screen & a balancing act to place the phone in the exact alignment for your satellite.

It has 2 balls on the screen for each axis of direction : 1 cyan ball for azimuth, and one white ball for elevation.
It also calculates each parameter

So at my location and height, it tells me i need to be
azimuth 136
elevation 21 degree


Now the problem is that the aldi dish doesnt have the little notch on the elevation angle at the back to tell you what angle you're at. It has the 2 big notches but they dont correspond to anything.
Question 1: So how do i get my elevation? What ive been doing is putting my phone beside the lnb arm when the 2 balls are aligned on 'Satellite director. Any help with a lidl dish with no notch?


Question 2: Satellite Director calclates 136 degrees as my azimuth, however it doesnt seem to point at it? I used an android compass to give me a digital reading of where sat direector is pointing and it seems to be 145 degress. now the compass could also be wrong


Question 3: I also used another android app ' Satellite finder' which doens thave the fancy balls that Sat director had, but it calculated a true(136.9) and a magnetic azimuth(141.6). I assume the 4.x degree diff is this displacement angle that ivebeen reading about that has to be subtracted if west of 0 right? So just ignore 141 correct?

Thats it for now, any help appreciated. Cant think of any other q's but advice appreciated!!

zg3409

Put your exact address into
http://www.dispointer.com
and select 28.2 This will then show you which building/tree to aim for. It is better than an app

Regarding elevation the reflector part of the dish should be nearly vertical. This will get you very close to a starting point.

Bring the TV and the receiver outside right beside the dish. Leave receiver on channel 4 and watch for a glimpse of a picture, then fine tune the dish. Then go into signal strength on the receiver and fine tune again. Check signal quality again after tightening bolts

Johnboy1951

zg3409 wrote: »

Put your exact address into
http://www.dispointer.com
and select 28.2 This will then show you which building/tree to aim for. It is better than an app

I guess this link should be

http://www.dishpointer.com