Help finding Hotbird

RichardK

Hi every body, just a quick rundown on what I'm trying to acheive, astra 2 (sky digital) in the bedrooms X 3 and the lounge, astra 2 & hotbird in lounge and bedroom x1.

I would like to use a two way diseqc to take the astra & hotbird down into the lounge and rf loop back into the bedroom that need both astra and hotbird, or would it be better to get a simple receiver and go staright in to that bedroom with both feeds from another diseqc switch.

The hardware i've got, 1 X uni quad lnb & 1 X uni twin lnb hanging off a Gibertini 3 way multifeed bracket and 85cm Gibertini dish.

I have got two Sky digibox's so far in the bedrooms and can get sky digital no problem, nice signal strenth and quality.

I then took one of the receivers off the astra 2 lnb and connected it to the hotbird lnb and it now says no signal, my signal meter does say there is a signal though, is there something/setting I need to change in the digibox to detect a signal. I do realise that the sky box's aren't really supposed to be used with hotbird, I was just wanting to get it setup while I chose my proper receiver and had the ladders out!

Any help would really be appreciated.

I have attached a picture Here

Thanks in adavance

Rich

Greenman

RichardK wrote:

Hi every body, just a quick rundown on what I'm trying to acheive, astra 2 (sky digital) in the bedrooms X 3 and the lounge, astra 2 & hotbird in lounge and bedroom x1.

The hardware i've got, 1 X uni quad lnb & 1 X uni double lnb hanging off a Gibertini 3 way multifeed bracket and 85cm Gibertini dish.

I have got two Sky digibox's so far in the bedrooms and can get sky digital no problem, nice signal strenth and quality.

I then took one of the receivers off the astra 2 lnb and connected it to the hotbird lnb and it now says no signal, my signal meter does say there is a signal though, is there something/setting I need to change in the digibox to detect a signal. I do realise that the sky box's aren't really supposed to be used with hotbird, I was just wanting to get it setup while I chose my proper receiver and had the ladders out!

Any help wopuld really be appreciated.

I have attached a picture Here

Thanks in adavance

Rich

Looks like a nice system.
Did you do a transponder search using the Other Channels feature.
As you said the $ky box is not ideal for Hotbird, consider a simple FTA box!!!
Tell us how you get on!!!

RichardK

No I didn't, how do I do that ? Is it into the secret installer and do the new installation on that digibox box, I didn't want to mess with stuff like that without asking the pro's.

Thanks

Rich

Greenman

Tuning in a channel

If you have a good reception, you can add channels using the 'Add Channels' option (Services, 4, 4 on your remote).
If your reception is less good, you might prefer the 'Manual Tuning' option (Services, 4, 0, 1, Select, 5). The only difference is that the 'Manual Tuning' option pops up the signal quality display while it is looking for channels. You can use this to judge if things are okay or not, as might be the case with a roughly-installed dish, fringe areas, or bad weather.





Enter the details for the channel you wish to receive...

Try something like 11054 H 27500 5/6 and let us know!!!

Info found here on http://www.heyrick.co.uk/ricksworld/digibox/setup.html

RichardK

It is only a presumption that I'm pointing at hotbird! I am on Astra 2 OK and The bracket has got some marks/holes on, (I think this is to indicate roughly where the lnb should go) and I have a satfinder meter which is indicating a signal). I have moved the hotbird lnb along the bracket just to see if it picks up something but doesn't, Thats as far as my presumption goes.

I do hope I have put the astra lnb on the right side, is it possible to get it wrong?

Regards

Rich

Tony

RichardK wrote:

I do hope I have put the astra lnb on the right side, is it possible to get it wrong?

Regards

Rich

yes its easily done, if you are behind the dish looking to the sky the astra 2 lnb should be on the right and hotbird on the left. Think of a dish like a mirror if you shine a torch in from the right side it comes out to the left side. Using your satfinder move the lnb as close as you can to the astra 2 lnb and then move slowly away, you should get one major peak at astra 1 19 another at 16 and next should be hotbird.

Good luck

RichardK

Tony, thank you very much for that, makes total sense now it's explained, I'll go and get the ladders back out then

Thank you all very much

Cheers

Rich

byte

AFAIK, a Sky digibox will say "No Satellite Signal..." message on any bird apart from Astra 2. So, even if you do have a signal from Hotbird, the digibox won't recognise it, meaning you'll have to go thru the process described by Greenman.

Tony

RichardK wrote:

Tony, thank you very much for that, makes total sense now it's explained, I'll go and get the ladders back out then

Thank you all very much

Cheers

Rich

my pleasure

RichardK

Hi Guys it's your personall little nightmare again Is there any way to force an "add a channel" as it says "NO Signal" when I press find, my sat finder seems to be as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike or maybe it's pilot error Dunno,anyway I thought if I could add a channel, then move my hotbird lnb to suit. If not then I suppose I'll have to wait until I get my new receiver which I will hopefully be able to get pre tuned.

At least we are making progress and my dish is at least pointing the right way now thankfully you guys are keeping me on the straight and narrow which is really appreciated.

Regards

Rich

Greenman

RichardK wrote:

Hi Guys it's your personall little nightmare again Is there any way to force an "add a channel" as it says "NO Signal" when I press find, my sat finder seems to be as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike or maybe it's pilot error Dunno,anyway I thought if I could add a channel, then move my hotbird lnb to suit. If not then I suppose I'll have to wait until I get my new receiver which I will hopefully be able to get pre tuned.

At least we are making progress and my dish is at least pointing the right way now thankfully you guys are keeping me on the straight and narrow which is really appreciated.

Regards

Rich

When are you getting your new receiver??
Which one are you getting?

RichardK

Not quite sure when, I want to be sure I get the right one as their sems to be so many to choose from, but I have been looking closly at the Topfield TF4000 PVR, it does seem to tick many of the boxes that I want such as twin tuner, hard drive. I would like some info about what is better an embedded cam (patched) or the cli card I think they are called. I really don't know about this side.

Oh.... one thing, would a receiver like the Topfield TF4000 be able to get my sky digital channels as well as all of the rest?

I thought I would get all of the questions that would make me look stupid done all in one day! On the basis that it can't be as embarrassing as putting my lnb's the wrong way round!!

Thanks again

Take care

Rich

Zaphod

No, the Topfield TF4000 is not suitable for Sky. Only digiboxes will decode Sky channels.

RichardK

Are there any Sat receivers that include a digibox decoding features?

Zaphod

Unfortunately not. Sky/NDS maintain strict control of who gets access to the Videoguard encryption system and only licence it to manufacturers who follow their specs. No CAMs are available for the Sky channels either - if you want to watch those you have to purchase a digibox.

RichardK

Thanks for that info Zaphod, looks like I'll have to keep another box! You mention cams what would be good one to get or are they all the same except for the channels they decode, or can u get one cam that can be downloaded to giving more flexibility , or would you dare recommending one.

Still can't find hotbird, although can get nice strenth and quality from astra2 and astra.

I will be using astra 2 for the sky digital, astra and hotbird, although I still can't find hotbird! Astra 2 is near one end of my bracket and Astra is bang in the middle of my 3 way bracket and the signal is great on both sats, if I slide the lnb from astra towards the other end nothing shows, no signal on my meter except a very few faint signals, has somebody stolen the entire hotbird fleet? I'm confused but that doesn't take much.

Any ideas, is hotbird on a slightly different angle?

Cheers

Rich

Greenman

RichardK wrote:

Thanks for that info Zaphod, looks like I'll have to keep another box! You mention cams what would be good one to get or are they all the same except for the channels they decode, or can u get one cam that can be downloaded to giving more flexibility , or would you dare recommending one.

Still can't find hotbird, although can get nice strenth and quality from astra2 and astra.

I will be using astra 2 for the sky digital, astra and hotbird, although I still can't find hotbird! Astra 2 is near one end of my bracket and Astra is bang in the middle of my 3 way bracket and the signal is great on both sats, if I slide the lnb from astra towards the other end nothing shows, no signal on my meter except a very few faint signals, has somebody stolen the entire hotbird fleet? I'm confused but that doesn't take much.

Any ideas, is hotbird on a slightly different angle?

Cheers

Rich

If all else fails Richard wait till you get your Topfield, I've never used a sat meter, always tuned with receiver and portable TV outside beside dish.

byte

Hmm, Hotbird LNB would be very close to the Astra 1 LNB.

seano

RichardK wrote:

Thanks for that info Zaphod, looks like I'll have to keep another box! You mention cams what would be good one to get or are they all the same except for the channels they decode, or can u get one cam that can be downloaded to giving more flexibility , or would you dare recommending one.

Still can't find hotbird, although can get nice strenth and quality from astra2 and astra.

I will be using astra 2 for the sky digital, astra and hotbird, although I still can't find hotbird! Astra 2 is near one end of my bracket and Astra is bang in the middle of my 3 way bracket and the signal is great on both sats, if I slide the lnb from astra towards the other end nothing shows, no signal on my meter except a very few faint signals, has somebody stolen the entire hotbird fleet? I'm confused but that doesn't take much.

Any ideas, is hotbird on a slightly different angle?

Cheers

Rich

The earth and the belt are round so you will have to take account of this when you line your LNBs.
If you look at the photo you will see a LNB holder for the Visiosat dishes.
Pay attention to the fact that all of the LNBs are in a different line.

i.e Astra 2 @ 28 degrees is higher then the rest whereas Hotbird @ 13 degrees is low.

RichardK

Thanks for that info Seano, it was most interesting and come to think of it there are a couple of holes near to where I've fixed it in the middle which if I remember right if I used those holes instead that would kind of tilt the rail slightly, which would go with your picture.

Well you know what I will be doing next weekend and I don't like heights

Thanks again

Regards

Rich