Installing Lidl dish - Can't find Astra 2

omathuna

Can anyone give me some advice?
I am installing a Lidl dish and digital receiver using a meter.

I can get receiption from Eutelsat Sesat 36 .0 Deg, but I can not find the satellite for Astra 2, 28.2 Deg.

I expect than I should turn the dish 7.8 Deg to the west and tilt it about 5 deg upwards but I can not find the Astra 2 satellite. I spent about 1 hour turning the dish last night but no luck.

Am I forgetting something. Eutelsat is easy to find with the meter because it lights up and makes a louder sound but I can not find any other satellites only Eutelsat.

Should I turn the LNB 90 Deg for polarisation or something like that?

Thanks

Zaphod

Are you sure you are on 36E - what channels are you receiving and what are the TP details (freq, pol, sr) for them?

Astra 2 has a much stronger signal over Ireland than 36E.

omathuna

There are about 15 channels, for example
Fashion TV, 3ABC, Ariang(Korean), Kurdsat, XTV. I am at work so i can not check the numbers.

With the Lidl receiver you can scan a satellite and Eutelsat Sesat is the only one that produces any channels, hence my assumption that it is 36E.

Sponge Bob

the program smwlink on smw.se will tell you compass angle, dish tilt (about 22 degrees up from horizontal) and lnb twist , about 15 degrees to right if installed straight with you facing the dish and the lnb between you and the dish. You tell it your co ordinates as in lat and long .

the compass angle is c 135 degrees once lined up on magnetic north 'behind ' dish

your meter should go off like a christmas tree , astra 2 is very strong

Zaphod

Assuming you mean 3ABN rather than 3ABC, your dish is pointing at Hotbird 13E.
http://www.satcodx1.com/0130/uke/

So the elevation is too high, and it's pointing too far west for Astra 2D.

omathuna

Zaphod,
well done, you are correct. I was pointing to Hotbird and then checking for satellites to the west.
I moved the dish to the east and found firstly Astra 1 and then eventually Astra2.

Thanks for your help. Can I trouble you somemore?

Now I am receiving Astra2 stations like BBC1 and ITV3 but lots of the stations are just black screen. BBC2 has an EGP but no audio or video. Does this mean I have to fine tune the signal I am receiving. The quality is at 89% on the receiver for BBC1 but 60% for BBC2 and 0% for Classic TV.

Should I force an upgrade of the receiver, can this be done on any satellite?

Zaphod

omathuna wrote:

Now I am receiving Astra2 stations like BBC1 and ITV3 but lots of the stations are just black screen. BBC2 has an EGP but no audio or video. Does this mean I have to fine tune the signal I am receiving. The quality is at 89% on the receiver for BBC1 but 60% for BBC2 and 0% for Classic TV.
Should I force an upgrade of the receiver, can this be done on any satellite?

There is no 'fine-tuning' with digital signals, they are either on or off. However, for each digital stream there are packet IDs (PIDs) which tell the receiver which part of the data stream is for which channel, like addresses on an envelope.

It sounds above as though the video PID (VPID) is wrong for BBC2 but the audio (APID) is OK, and the frequency for Classic FM is wrong - it has recently changed AFAIK.
Your best route is to delete all exisiting channels from Astra 2/Eurobird and then do a new search. This will correct the BBC2 problems. If you find channels such are Classic haven't been found, you will have to enter the TP details manually and then do an individual TP search.

http://www.satcodx2.com/0282/uke/
http://www.satcodx2.com/0285/uke/

Tony

A network search can also be useful as it uses the data sent by the broadcaster.

omathuna

Thanks guys, I will give it a try and see how I get on.