Satellite dishes

How difficult are these to align, and how critical is a signal meter? I have a problem installation, and it might be easier to do it myself. It will be a flat roof job (i.e. concrete slabs weighing it down) if I do.

Regards, Nick Maclaren.

Reply to
Nick Maclaren
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Easy to align, so long as your receiver has some kind of integral signal strength meter.

  1. Go to
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    and input your lat/long
  2. Using a compass and common sense work out approximately the heading you need.
  3. On a Sky box dish adjust elevation/azimuth to maximise "signal strength".
  4. Rotate LNB to maximise "signal quality". Job jobbed.

(Of course the above assumes you can set up and see a TV connected to your receiver). It's even easier with a signal strength meter. Occasionally you see these in Lidl/Aldo for a fiver.

David

Reply to
vortex2

I do/did mine by guesswork (and the signka meter on the digibox) from looking at neighbours' dishes. The Sky astra signal is very strong to it's quite easy to get somewhere near it then fine tune it.

Reply to
adder1969

No that hard. The cluster of satellites delivering Sky/BBC is roughly at the same place in the sky as the sun about 1020 GMT. As we are just before the equinox they are a little higher ATM.

Depends on how easy it is to arrange to see a TV showing the Sat Rx built in signal strength meter when at the dish.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

You can purchase relatively cheap meters that give you an indication of strength (needle dial) and tone.

The tone is quite useful, as you may find it difficult to watch a meter as you move the dish.

You could manage just using the strength and quality indicators on a satellite STB + TV.

Alignment needs to be within about 1 degree, and is a perfectly feasible DIY job.

Reply to
Michael Chare

Thanks for everyone who responded. I forgot to say that it would be only free-to-air - my opinion of Sky is such that I won't touch them.

Regards, Nick Maclaren.

Reply to
Nick Maclaren

In that case you would require a 60 cm dish for BBC channels on Astra 2 at

28 degrees east of south and/or an 80 cm dish for Hotbird at 13 degrees east of south for a selection of European channels.

A more advanced set up is to add a motor to the dish mount to enable armchair switching between satellites.

As othes have mentioned 60 cm FTA kits (dish, receiver, and LNB etc) can be found in Lidl for about 60 pounds (the larger dish costing 14.99) about twice a year, or in Maplin at anytime for a less well specified reciever at slightly higher cost around 80 pounds. Product codes A71GG, and A844GU.

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R

Reply to
Roger R

Anyone know if one can pick up BBC TV by satellite in Italy?

Reply to
Timothy Murphy

only with a very large dish

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(used to live on the edge of the green zone which says we should get it with a 75 cm, we couldn't)

Reply to
tim.....

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I found the problem was getting the correct satellite. In the end what I did was place the TV so that it was visible through a roughly South facing window. I then mounted the dish on a workmate, moved the dish until I received the satellite required, using the box's in built signal meter to get the best possible strength with quality. I then used a compass attached to a long piece of string and got a pretty accurate direction, then I made a simple elevation instrument with a card, piece of string and weight. These measurements were made from the arm of the dish. I then mounted the dish in its final position using these measurements, this gave me a reasonable signal on the required satellite. Then it was a case of fine adjustment by help from the good lady. Remember that the signal strength has a fair delay between moving the dish and alteration of the signal. I had difficulty first of all as I picked up the wrong satellite, also I later bought a simple meter, however (maybe because I have electric pylons running across my garden) the highest signal strength gives me no quality, which is useless!

Reply to
Broadback

In article , "Roger R" writes: |> |> > Thanks for everyone who responded. I forgot to say that it would be |> > only free-to-air - my opinion of Sky is such that I won't touch them. |> |> In that case you would require a 60 cm dish for BBC channels on Astra 2 at |> 28 degrees east of south and/or an 80 cm dish for Hotbird at 13 degrees east |> of south for a selection of European channels. |> |> A more advanced set up is to add a motor to the dish mount to enable |> armchair switching between satellites.

Thanks very much. I was hoping to get away with a fixed installation; I shall have to recheck.

I was told by an installer that the receiver had to be next to the television. Is that the case with all of them, or can they be installed in the roof (power, but not easily accessible)?

Regards, Nick Maclaren.

Reply to
Nick Maclaren

I would recommend getting a Sky Digibox (not a Sky+ box!) and (if you like watching C4 or C5, it's the only way to get them via satellite at present) a Freesat from Sky card.

This will enable you to use Sky's EPG which makes things very easy.

As others have said, for setting up purposes, you can use the built in meter, if you can see the output from the box and control it via the remote.

With regard to locating the box, you can put it in the loft (though check your loft doesn't get too hot), you will either need to use the RF out (only gives Mono sound and not such a good picture) or you will need to run multiple cables for either composite + stereo, or RGB + stereo.

Again, if you use a genuine Sky Digibox, you can use the RF2 out and a cheap nTV Link (remote control extender) to control the digibox from the TV room.

You could get a second hand Box Dish and card for approx =A360-80 or less. You then have to DIY, and take the risk that the box may or may not last the course (this is the route I took, mail me if you like and i'll give you the details of my supplier).

Alternatively, you could get Sky to install the whole thing for =A3150 and then you are covered for a year or so if it goes wrong (I don't know if they offer such a guarantee, but if you pay by credit card, you could always take one or both of them to the small claims court). It would suck giving money to Murdoch, but then they can't really make anything on this :=3D))

Reply to
zikkimalambo

I'm in the London area and can pick up Astra and Hotbird no problem with my nearly 60cm wide/40cm high sky dish even in the rain. ...not at the same time though with the single LNB.

BBC used to be on an astra sat with wider coverage but they switched to one with more of a focus on the UK so for italy one would need a massive dish.

Some sky boxes will pick up and store non-SKY fta channels but the interface isn't very good so a regular satellite receiver would be better.

Reply to
adder1969

Ask around friends and colleagues , good chance someone will have a redundant SKY digibox and possibly an old viewing card.

You can buy a Free to View card from SKY for £20 and get ITV, but I understand that old subscription cards even if they have expired will still allow you to see FTV channels.

As for dish alignment I found starting from the east the first strong signal you come to is the right one. A cheap tone signal detector works fine. Other tip is start with the dish vertical dont tilt it up ( as I did) . Robert

Reply to
robert

I get all BBC and ITV without any card but I think you need one for C4 and Five.

Reply to
adder1969

No doubt it depends which part, as the country extends quite a long way to the south,

alt.satellite.tv.europe is a better ng for such questions.

Reply to
Michael Chare

Why don't you want the STB near the TV? 30m of cable from the LNB to the STB should not be a problem, and normally TV's give a better picture if a Scart lead is used rather than RF over coax.

If the STB is not next to the TV you would need some sort of remote extender.

Reply to
Michael Chare

When the BBC/ITV launch Freesat later this near there will be a non proprietary EPG. When that happens it will be worth considering a non Sky satellite PVR, - though at the moment they are expensive.

Reply to
Michael Chare

|!> > In that case you would require a 60 cm dish for BBC channels on Astra 2 at |!> > 28 degrees east of south and/or an 80 cm dish for Hotbird at 13 degrees |!> > east of south for a selection of European channels. |!>

|!> Anyone know if one can pick up BBC TV by satellite in Italy? |!>

|! |!No doubt it depends which part, as the country extends quite a long way to the |!south, |! |!alt.satellite.tv.europe is a better ng for such questions.

It is all in

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information is also good for static dishes.

Reply to
Dave Fawthrop

The only important channels which are not Free To Air and require a $ky box are Ch4, Ch5, and Sky3. all Beeb and ITV Channels are Free To Air and can be received with generic boxes. See

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channel information.

See sig

Reply to
Dave Fawthrop

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