Freesat dish - DIY possible ?

[Jethro]

Hi All,

If I wanted to get Freesat, is installing the dish a task for a fairly competent DIYer. Any hints or tips ? Is alignment a problem ?

TIA

[Dave Liquorice]

POP. Plenty of information on the web if you google.

A cheap (=A310 or so, get one with a tone) meter makes alignment very ea= sy. But the boxes have signal meters built in but they tend to be slugged an= d of course you'll need to be able to see the screen as you tweak...

Rough alignment can be done knowing your latitude and the position of th= e sun at about 1120 BST.

[tony sayer]

In article , Jethro scribeth thus

Yes..

Take your time and make a good job of it;!..

Not normally .. if the receiver you have has an alignment meter built in most, all Sky boxes do. If yours doesn't then perhaps you could borrow one or you can get freesat on a ex Sky Skybox...

[Vortex2]

Yes.

Install a quad LNB. You'll need one when you decide you need a second receiver (or a PVR) at a later date.

is a good site with lots of useful info.

No. So long as you use common sense. A sat finder meter (cheapo is fine) helps; but Freesat box will have a built in signal meter so long as you can view a TV while adjusting the dish.

Adjust azimuth/elevation for maximum "signal strength". Rotate LNB for maximum "signal quality".

D

[Harry Bloomfield]

Jethro presented the following explanation :

Perfectly easy, providing you get it onto a suitable wall to enable it to 'see' the sat(s) you want to receive. Height makes no difference providing it has sight of the sat, even ground mounting will work - despite Sky installers seeming to mount them as high as possible. My dish is 6 feet up from the ground and quite well hidden.

[TheScullster]

"Jethro" wrote

A bit finnicky without test gear, but not impossible - I did Sky version. Best to set up the dish at ground level, look at others (if available) for direction. I established the direction and did a quick hook up at ground level first to approximately fix the bracket orientation/angle. If free sat issue a signal strength, use that to adjust the dish parameters. Then clag it on the wall and repeat the adjusting process more accurately. Dishes are far more particular about the direction setup than analogue TV so be prepared to do lots of tweaking.

Failing all that, fix it all up and get a mate round with a signal strength meter to adjust the dish direction.

HTH

Phil

[dmc]

It's nearer the sat so it must be a stronger signal innit?

(years ago I got told this by a sky installer - so it must be true eh?)

Darren (and yes, I guess *technically* what he said wasn't incorrect...)

[Broadback]

If it is impossible to get a TV that you can see from the dish, try this. Set up the dish on the south side of your building near a window, a portable workbench is ideal for this. Now adjust the dish until you get a picture, starting from South, or if a neighbour has a dish align it roughly with that. Now get the best picture you can. Don't forget that the adjustment is "up and down" as well as "North and South". Next measure the direction with a compass. Then make a simple device with card, string and a weight and mark its elevation. Move the dish to its final resting place, set it up according to the measurements taken then using a friend or (at a push) your wife adjust finely for best reception. That is how I did it and it worked.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I bought a complete kit for satellite reception - not Freesat - from Lidl and it included a satellite finder. Gives an audible tone to a ear piece which changes as you move the dish. Made the initial alignment by just looking at other ones in the area. I also fitted a rotator which makes alignment much more critical. Took several goes to get it just right. But I wasn't working up a ladder.

[Adrian C]

Don't use a shotgun to make holes for the cable entry...

[Alan]

In message , Jethro wrote

I've recently fitted one myself. With no previous experience and with a bit of background reading and a cheap alignment meter it was no problem. Alignment took me around 15 minutes.

Freesat comes from the same satellite as Sky so any information about installing Sky is valid.

I live in the South East and purchased a cheap minidish and LNB from Ebay (£20 incl postage) but if you live further North you may want a slightly larger dish. The meter was around £10 incl. postage .

If you want a Freesat PVR in the future install a dual or quad LNB rather than a single LNB.

Use CT100 or equivalent cable

used a (satellite) aerial photo of my house with an overlay of the satellite direction to initially position the dish. Link to map with overlay (plus how to use a cheap meter): F connectors plus weather proofing with self amalgamating tape link: 't cover the cable in grease)

[Derek Geldard]

Or a Shogun ...

8-|

Derek

[David Hansen]

On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 16:09:41 +0100 someone who may be "Jethro" wrote this:-

To add to what the others have said.

The main choice you face is buying a Sky style dish or not. The Sky style dishes do not take some standard bits and bobs without adapters, but if you buy everything in one go this is no great problem. If you want to fiddle later on you may want to get a non-Sky dish.

has a range of dishes. Don't be put off by the price of the first one, there is a range of prices on this and subsequent pages.

If you are in the south then a small dish, typically a "43cm" size, will be enough (though it may suffer signal degradation in heavy rain and for all weather performance a little larger may be useful). The further north/west you are the larger dish is necessary. A "60cm" for example by NE England and at least an "80cm" in northern (mainland) Scotland. There are maps of recommended dish sizes available on the Interweb thingy.

You need to point the dish at what is generally called the Astra 2 satellite, 28 degrees east. Actually it is a cluster of satellites on slightly different bearings with slightly different footprints. The same satellite as for Sky.

Some swear that the satellite cable should be bought in as a flying cable, terminated in the plug which goes into the box. Personally I prefer satellite sockets, despite the slight losses these introduce.

Lastly consider whether you want a HD or SD box. There is something to be said for getting a SD box now. When the HD PVR arrives one of these can be bought and the SD box relegated to secondary use.

[F]

It's fairly easy if you're ok on a ladder.

Get a quad LNB for a little future proofing (and a 60cm dish to reduce the chance of signal breakup in bad weather).

Make sure you put everything together at ground level with U-bracket bolts only just tight and with various bits at roughly appropriate angles.

Drill into brick and not mortar.

Run decent coaxial. Two to the room in which you are likely to put a PVR.

Get a cheap satellite meter to help with alignment (~£7 on Ebay, £5 for mine - used only once!).

Plug the coaxial into the Freesat box (box turned off!!).

Turn TV and Freesat box on in a position where you can see the Freesat signal strength display.

Move the dish side to side until the meter shows a reading and you can hear a tone. You know when you've got the correct satellite when both signal strength and signal quality rise. If only strength rises, you've got the wrong satellite.

Once you're on the correct satellite move the dish side to side very slightly until you get the maximum meter reading (you might have to turn the gain down on the meter a few times as it maxes out).

Now move the dish up and down until, again, you get maximum strength.

Now rotate the LNB until, again, you get maximum signal strength.

will give you the angles you need and will help with finding the correct direction in which to point the dish as it gives you a 'line on the ground' for which to aim if there are no other dishes visible.

for more information and bits and pieces.

HTH

[Dave Liquorice]

Wasn't it a rifle and for the bracket mounting bolts?

[Dave Liquorice]

They don't any more. "Working at height" restrictions now mean most dishes are mounted around the 8' level.

Bit low I'd bash me 'ed on it... Ours is about the 10' level tucked out of the way but within broom handle reach to knock the ice off. More than 1/4" of ice over your dish face completely naggers the satellite signal.

People have mentioned size, I'm 20 miles south of Hadrians Wall with a "zone 1" (small) minidish. All but one block on signal strength and >75% of the quality scale on Sky digiboxes (used for "freesat from Sky").

[Alan]

In message , David Hansen wrote

If considering a Freesat branded box be aware that:

The Bush, Goodmans and Grundig SD boxes are internally identical but may have different prices. They are just brand names used by Alba.

The Freesat SD boxes appear to be limited (crippled) to only receiving the Freesat channels. Other boxes in the market can receive other free to air channels but they will not show the Freesat EPG. (The Humax Foxsat Freesat HD box (£150) can be tuned to other non-freesat channels.)

[David Hansen]

On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 23:43:32 +0100 someone who may be Alan wrote this:-

Other than the Humax HD one, which has a "non-Freesat" mode to get other channels. Whether there are many of these worth watching is debatable.

The BBC/ITV no-doubt decided that using standard satellite equipment was "too complicated" for the public. Instead they offer a "don't worry your pretty little head about it" approach, which a manufacturer must adhere to in order to have the Freesat branding.

For a DIYer standard equipment may be better, it allows access to other satellites for example, but for someone who just wants to watch UK channels there is merit in the Freesat approach. When they get Internet based services going that will be interesting. I assume current boxes will be upgraded to work with this.

[Adrian C]

.22 pistol handgun & cable entry & wife exit :-(

[Dave Liquorice]

How easy are ordinary off the shelf DSAT boxes to use? Do they have some form of EPG or do you have to know that channel 654 is BBC1, 732 is BBC2,

263 is Ch4 etc?

I'm happy(ish) with Sky Digiboxes ATM but it would be nice not have to keep shifting (and remembering!) the Sky Card about to watch/record Ch4. I have a DVD/HDD recorder with VideoPlus+ that can control external receivers but I doubt it "knows about" Freesat boxes but does a number of ordinary DSAT receivers.