doonhamer Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 Help, is there anyone out there who can save my sanity. I had a Maxview crank-up and receiver fitted and on Astra 28E I am getting high 70 signal quality and strength readings but although I'm getting several hundred mostly German channels BBC1/2 and ITV1/2/3 come up as "no signal". What am I doing wrong?
GJH Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 A similar thing happened to us when we were on the Ferry Meadows site at Peterborough last week. It was the first try (apart from success at home) at using the dish we bought recently from Aldi. I asked for advice on another forum and received several replies - see HERE. Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to try the dish out again and we are back home now - so it would probably work anyhow :-D Graham
Geoff Cole Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 Hi, I also have a maxview crank up dish and find it great, I use it here in France Your problem is that you are tuned in to Astra1 19East which is why you are getting the German and Duch programs it gives a strong signal and is easier to find than Astra 2 . Asta 2 is slightly lower on the horizon than Astra1 so if you are receiving Astra 1, depending on your location the easiest way to realign it is to set the bezel on the ceiling to 19degrees (Astra1) then lower the elevation a few degrees and turn the dish about 10 degrees towards Astra2,28E I have an FTA reciever and use a sat finder and a good compass to locate the correct salelite saves a lot of hassle and time I can usually have it set up within about 10 mins now depending on my location. When setting up it is important the the van is level or to allow for it when setting your elevation as on Asta 2 the elevation is very critical. I am getting about 70%- 80% signal strenth and quality here in SW France. good luck with it , Geoff
Homenaway Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 Hi, We have recently bought a camping satellite set up from Maplins and found it reasonbly easy to set up. We managed to pick up Astra2 28E in most locations as far as Hungary but only BBC radio stations, not English TV except BBC World (?) until we reached the German/Dutch border. When on sites I generally looked at other dishes and set ours about 10 degrees further east. I found that the beeper on the Comag receiver worked fine and I didn't bother with the separate sat finder. I mostly set the dish up on a cheap laser level tripod. A couple of times I gave up after twenty minutes or so and once I was pointing at Astra 2 at the first guess :-D. The built in beeper doesn't differentiate between the satellites so will indicate a good signal when it's locked on to any satellite. Steve
Mr. Grumpy Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 This may sound stupid but I have not set up my system. What does 28E actually mean? Is it 28 degrees east of north (028) or is it 28 degrees south of east (118)?
colin Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 Mr. Grumpy - 2008-07-30 7:26 PM This may sound stupid but I have not set up my system. What does 28E actually mean? Is it 28 degrees east of north (028) or is it 28 degrees south of east (118)? Oh dear I'm not very good at explaining things but here goes. 28.2E is the orbital position of the satelite, so if you where on equator at 28.2East (eastern Zaire not too far from Ugandan border) then satellite would be directly above you. In UK we are around 0deg and due to latitude the angle you aim dish is roughly 28deg to east of south, as rough guide the further you travel east then you point dish more to south.
Geoff Cole Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 Hi Mr Grumpy, 28E is east of south so the compass will read about152degrees regards Geoff
wints Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 I managed to get astra 28E on my maplins kit for the 1st time last week in a field in coniston. But the compass reading I got it on was more like 38 E. Is this due to magnetic variation, or that I wasn't on the greenwich meridian, or inacurracies of my measuring, or the extra bottle of Vin rouge ? Probably the latter, and maybe a combination of all ! The elevation of the dish appeared to be ever so slightly pointed down. I've always managed to get Astra 19 E fairly easily. regards Allen
colin Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 From www.dishpointer.com Full-screenAddress: coniston Latitude: 54.369° Longitude: -3.076° Satellite: 28.2E Astra 2A-B-D Elevation: 21.8° Azimuth (true): 143.2° Azimuth (magn.): 147.1° Skew: -12.9° p.s. the dish may appear to point down but to gauge it's 'true' elevation you need to consider the dish to be mirror, if you look at how the LNB points at dish you will see it actualy is looking into sky, N.B. many dishes appear to have a elevation figure marked on them, often this is not true elevation at all but can be a guide once you compare it with a true elevation
derek500 Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 . We managed to pick up Astra2 28E in most locations as far as Hungary but only BBC radio stations, not English TV except BBC World (?) until we reached the German/Dutch border. BBC World is not on Astra 2 at 28.2. You must have been aligned to either Astra 1 at 19.2E or hotbird at 13E.
Mr. Grumpy Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 Thanks for the clarification, it will make the set up easier, I hope!
wints Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 Hi Colin the skew angle puzzles me. Is this the twist of the lnb ? If so is it from behind the lnb looking toward the dish ? Is a negative angle anti-clockwise ? My maplins gizmo allows for the lnb skew, but there's nothing in the accompanying blurb to describe its effect. Is it just towards the edge of the 'footprint' when you need to adjust the skew ? ie very south or very east. My sky dish at home doesn't appear to allow the lnb to skew. regards Allen
colin Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 The skew is required because the LNB switches from verticle to horizontal signals, as you travel 'around' the satellite then the apparent angle of vert/hori alters, so you adjust skew, fortunatly the effect of changing is not as dramatic as the other adjustments so you can be a bit out, also like elevation markings LNB markings for skew can be long way out, the angle is as you look at satellite. Have a look at www.dishpointer.com and put in different cities around europe to get a feel for it. As for your sky dish, take a closer look,on zone 2 dishes underneath the fixed LNB holder you may find cable conector comes out a slot and if you move conector this twists LNB, also a little closer to dish you will see a small pointer, I'm not sure if zone 1 dishes have this but would think so.
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