Mum needs help with Satellite Dish??? :(

[abillybob]

Hey Guys

 

My mum's been through a tough few years as she was getting divorced to my dad. Financially she really isn't doing so well and paying all the bills and mortgage is becoming very difficult to here not to mention all the debts she's in due to the divorce. Basically since we had all that horrendous weather it pushed the satellite dish againsed the house wall, no damage has been done to the satellite dish itself it's just been moved.

 

I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips to easily align it to get decent signal, the whopping 100+ price tag is something she just can't afford and an aerial is out of the picture as where we are there is no TV signal.

 

I'd be most appreciative if any of you guys could help me out, I know this is a computer forum but just thought one of you may know!

 

Thanks in advance!

[NewFormz]

I've only ever done this once and it was a while ago but I did get all of the information I needed from the following site:

 

Satellite Finder / Dish Alignment Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com

 

The best tip though is look at other peoples dishes and point your one in the same direction.

[tekins]

Trial and error, look at the neighbours dishes, move your mums to roughly the same, now adjust it a tiny but at a time - get her to shout when the picture is there, test a few channels, job done - that's what I had to do when our builders knocked ours out of alignment.

 

There should be a signal strength menu somewhere on the receiver, this may help too.

[Meldrew]

Years ago I heard that the way to do this was to put a damp tea towel over the satellite dish! This should block the signal a bit and then allow you to align the dish to the best quality signal. When the satellite box gives any picture at all, its going to be correctly aligned so in poor weather, you have the best chance of it continuing working...

 

Meldrew

[IrritableTech]

The mini dish is so small compared to other dishes because the signal is relatively strong. Which makes aligning it relatively easy.

 

I've aligned about half a dozen mini dishes using nothing more than the dish and the set top box signal meter. It's really easy. The hardest thing is probably loosening the rusty nuts.

 

Move the dish - wait a second and look at the STB meter - move it again etc. As long as signal and quality are above 60-70% you'll be set for all but the worst rain fall.

[Disaster]

For god's sake don't do "Rod Hull"!

[tech_guy]

Good advice from IrritableTech.

 

I had to position a mirror so I could see the TV screen through the window as there wasn't anyone to tell me what the signal strength was. I loosened the nuts off just enough to allow small movements so I could adjust the position.

 

Ended up with a better signal than the Sky engineer achieved.

[abillybob]

Cheers guys will give it ago later tonight

[CHR1S]

Astra 2 is approx 28 deg East of South (this can vary slightly depending on your location)

 

All you need is a compass and not much else. The Astra 2 signal is so strong it can allow for a large amount of guess work. (There is a urban myth that someone once picked it up using a balti bowl).

 

Once its at approx 28e you can find a strong channel to confirm. Once you are happy find a weaker channel that is showing artifacts etc (you may get lucky first time) and fine tune.

[Nibiru]

28E (the Sky satellites) generally speaking have very strong signals now, Most of the elderly ones have been decommissioned.

 

DONT try it unless you have COMPLETELY safe access, and if you can take an old portable tv outside and hook everything up there you will find it much easier. If theres any hazard at all about getting to the dish dont risk it, you are better off paying an engineer than putting yourself in hospital.

 

Also remember you need to get the up/down and left/right set correctly.. Chances are its just the left/right adjustment needs sorting, but to tweak it all up properly you may need to adjust the up/down a tad.

 

Once you get some sort of signal *gently* push the back of the dish at one side then the other to see if things improve.

 

Also check the "skew" of the lnb - the cable connector should be set at about "7oclock" when you face the dish.

 

If you get a signal but no pictures you are probably on the wrong satellite, dont panic - just nudge it round a bit further, maybe marking the dish mounts / bolts with permanent marker or a pencil before you move on so you have a quick reset point if you get hopelessly lost.

 

Take your time and dont try to rush it -these things dont go well when you are in a hurry..

 

Good luck!

 

Oh and the tea towel trick does work - a damp teatowel over the lnb (the bit on the arm) weakens the signal when you are trying to optimise the dish for a weak signal.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Nibiru
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