Improving the signal.

[Boxbhoy]

Hi,

| have motorised dish and a dreambox 800HD SE. I have set it all up but cannot improve the signal strength.

The best I can get is:

0.8W - 50%
3E - Nothing
4.8E - 65%
7E - Nothing
9E - 50%
10E - 55%

and that's it :(

My pole is level in both planes and I have tweaked the dish elevation but cannot improve. Above are the best I can do when the Dish elevation is set to around 18 degrees.

Any idea what the problem could be?

cheers

[digicon]

We need more information where you live/area size of dish lnb used, what i can tell you is that your dish elevation on a motorised for nearly all of the UK should be between 25-30

[ramjet]

with figures like that its clear you are not tracking the arc correctly if you are in the uk

[Boxbhoy]

I'm at 56N, 3.16W in the UK. I have a 1m dish, ALSAT superior motor and an Inverto ultra LNB. I have levelled the mounting pole so it's plum.



214571


When I set the dish elevation to between 25-30 I get not a thing.

Something is obviously a miss, but I'm at a loss what else to check or tweak.

[ramjet]

I'm at 56N, 3.16W in the UK. I have a 1m dish, ALSAT superior motor and an Inverto ultra LNB. I have levelled the mounting pole so it's plum.



214571


When I set the dish elevation to between 25-30 I get not a thing.

Something is obviously a miss, but I'm at a loss what else to check or tweak.


ok, so the pole is "plumb"

so silly questions time now

please indicate the following answers

1) what have you set the motor body plates to where its marker shows the latitude in degrees (should be locked onto 56 degrees for your location) ?

2) check and reply with the exact details in your dreambox for the latitude setting you put into the settings menu ?

3) while in those settings menu , exactly what did you put into the dreambox longitude settings for your location ?

put the exact details into the answers please

also, send it to 5 west and indicate the signal and quality settings for the french fta channels

[Boxbhoy]

'Plumb' indeed. As opposed to Plum (me)


1) The motor is set to 56.
2) Latitude: 56.120 NORTH
3) Longitude: 3.160 WEST

I get nothing at 5W

[digicon]

I can tell you now that your dish elevation should be starting at around the 30 mark as your latitude 56 dictates a dish elevation of around 27.2 as i said previously start at around 30 and work down to maximise signal on 0.8? west or start at 25 and work up

[ramjet]

I agree with the above, especially the dish elevation figures, but for 5 west you should get good signals on the following transponder and channels

11591V 20000 qpsk france 2 , 3 , 5 , arte , tmc , and gcpe1 on 12543H 27500 (all fta channels)

when you are on that satellite your motor should be close to the zero marker as 5 west is quite close to your 3 west position ,

and with 0.8w showing good signals on 11900H 28000 music channel and 11862H 28000 bbc world news and 11247V 24500 btv-1 (all fta channels)

[digicon]

if your dish and motor and pole are aligned correctly then on a 1m dish on 11862 H 28000 Free To Air BBC world news you should have a signal not far of 100%.

[Boxbhoy]

Guys, I've read all the tuts. I know what I should get at what settings. But I have done it all and it's not working. I was hoping that from the numbers I'm giving you you could point me in the direction of what may be wrong.

Must it be the alignment? If so what is possibly wrong? The mounting pole is showing level with a spirit level an both brackets look to be tightened up in the center

To reiterate: I get nothing when the dish elevation is set (as it should) to between 25 - 30.

It is clear my strongest signal is when the dish elevation is bang on 18 degrees. Does this mean my motor setting is wrong? I cant see if it's still at 56 tbh, it's too high to see.

When the dish elevation is set at 18 degrees on Thor 0.8w I get 60% signal. I can improve this up to 92% when I move the motor manually with the buttons.

Does this give you any clue what is wrong?

[ramjet]

we know that you know all the tuts and what we have said , the problem is that you are asking us to diagnose a problem we cannot physically see, only you can see, you have not done this before but we have , and there is only one correct way to do it, which is the way we have both outlined for you

clearly if you cannot do as others have told you on here when you have asked for help, your only other recourse is to pay (yes pay) somebody who can diagnose the problem to rectify it

I dont wish to sound argumentative, BUT the way we are telling you is the correct way to do it, should you not do it our way (the correct way) then you wont get the correct results, its pointless you asking us to diagnose a problem when you have not followed the correct instructions in lining up a motor that everybody else uses in the entire country

there was a recent video posted in post #36 here http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forums/f11/does-anyone-live-near-leamington-spa-want-help-install-motorized-dish-360986/index3.html that explains all this with pictures to boot !


When the dish elevation is set at 18 degrees on Thor 0.8w I get 60% signal. I can improve this up to 92% when I move the motor manually with the buttons.

the above proves beyond any doubt that you have not followed the correct instructions from myself or digicon or the sticky threads either

if you are having to move the motor by the motor buttons or by the remote control to increase the signal on thor, then you need to physically move the motor mount in that direction when on 62% until it reaches 92% after having physically moved it to the left or the right as required

ie:- the motor is not aimed directly at thor if you are having to move the motor left or right using the buttons in order to peak the signal- that is your problem

so in simple terms , put it on thor in your satellite receiver (having made sure your longitude and latitude are correct), once on thor select bbc world news and do not move it by any electrical means but by purely mechanical movement of the motor body and dish elevation and peak the signal on thor to 92% again (but without using any buttons) - post #8 gives you the exact channels to look for on 0.8w and 5w

whilst you are up there, double and triple check that the motor mount is set to 56 degrees too

ps:- some more info in here http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forums/f11/how-do-i-put-my-lataitude-longitude-like-360894/index2.html

and the thread containing the video has the same info posted by myself and digicon to try to help another "newbie" who didnt get his head around it and is still trying to do so just like you. whilst I am just a hobbyist who has done this task less than a dozen times, digicon is a seasoned professional dish installer with many, many installs under his belt, its his actual trade and job of work so I would not be trying to prove a proper tradesman doesnt know his job without some serious proof ;)

[Boxbhoy]

Ramjet,

You just keep telling me the same thing. i.e nothing new from what I already haven't read. To suggest I have said anywhere you don't know what you're talking about is nonsense.

As Digicon is a pro my questions are directed at him if he is kind enough to answer.

I've obviously done something wrong but cannot see it. I've been up the ladder a hundred times tweaking and moving and it's still the same. As you've pointed out, the fact that I don't get anything using the correct dish elevation means I've done something wrong.

Can you look at the pictures and see if you can spot anything. One thing I have noticed - when the dish turns to the extreme east or west the whole dish points downwards. It doesn't look right to me. It's like I have the motor bracket upside down or something stupid. Even at 28E as in the photo the dish is tending to point downwards

cheers

214701214702214703

[digicon]

Just to reiterate what ramjet has posted above he has given quite clear and sound advice and from that you should have no problem aligning the dish correctly, But i just wanted to throw this into the mix and with what you are saying about having to se the Orbital dish elevation angle at 18 to get a signal could you check the actual motor body position setting again as i think and as ramjet clearly stated we cant tell form here but it sounds like you may have got the Elevation & Latitude setting the wrong way round on the motor body itself.

If you could check either side then your Latitude side should read 56 and on the other side of the motor which is the Elevation should read 34

Worth a try

[mdt]

seeing as your saying the whole assembly doesnt look right are you sure its the motor lat set to 56 and not the motor elevation on the other side? as this is a common mistake,regards mdt

[Boxbhoy]

Thanks.

I think this is the root of the problem.

This is the bit I'm not getting. I thought the motor had 1 setting. I've just had a look and it's marked latitude on both sides of the bracket and set to 56 on both. Where is this 34 elevation setting on the motor?

Another thing I noticed when looking at the far side of the brackets - the Dish bracket is set at 18 on the near side (That I've been adjusting but the far side is 25! I didn't think this was possible.

cheers

[Boxbhoy]

WTF is going on. The Alsat instruction booklet shows the word 'elevation' on the side of the bracket yet my bracket says latitude on both sides.

Am I thick?

[ramjet]

no , you are not thick !!

mine says the same in the booklet, yet I have been out with my ladders to double check everything and my motor clearly states LATITUDE on both sides and is set to 52 degrees as in the pictures I will upload. my dish is a triax and is set to just under 28 degrees. the motor was aligned on thor at 0.8w when I did mine but that is not my true south position as I am further west like you

so if we start from another angle , if you look at my side on picture (the first one) I have parked the motor on thor on bbc world news and the music channel, and you can clearly see that the dish mounting pole (spigot) from the motor is almost plumb, or very slightly tilted away from my scaffold pole, this means it never gets closer than plumb compared to the mounting pole, this is what you are aiming to do also

so I would suggest you put your box onto bbc world news and let the motor go to where it thinks is 0.8w, after this do not adjust the motor electrically (do not use any buttons or the box remote control), only by physical movement of the mount itself

set the dish to say 28 degrees to 30 degrees, and adjust the motor "elevation" to get the spigot to point almost plumb towards the floor, then move the whole motor mount left or right on the pole brackets (where the brackets clamp the pole) until you can see and hear bbc world news on a tv close by on the ground. then peak this signal with slight tweaks to the dish elevation , the large pole mounting points and possibly a very small change on the motor elevation itself

at least this way you can try to get a strong signal on thor, which is the whole point of this exercise (the starting point)

if you find that you have to move the motor electrically by the buttons, or by the sat box to peak it on thor (like you did previously), then you have not lined it up on thor, the fact is that no left or right adjustment is ever necessary when aligning the motor on thor, its done by manually moving the motor mount left or right as required

you will notice I have tried to give you the best pics I can of my superior motor and dish mount for comparison to yours, although I am 4 degrees south of you by latitude the fact is that the physics mean yours will be the same as mine when your motor mount is correct, or as close as needs be given you are further north than me

when you are on thor, if you stand to the side you will notice the dish is almost "plumb" , ie:- vertical - not tilted back or forward, as you will see in my picture

the reason I keep repeating things and not saying anything new is because there is only the correct info we can give, but I agree the booklet is at odds with the markings on the motor itself, one saying elevation and the other saying latitude

I hope this helps anyway, as we are all agreed that your pictures do indicate it looks "wrong" as you have done it


and ignore any black hammerite spray paint on my pictures, that was done by me afterwards to protect the metalwork and paint job against rusting

[Boxbhoy]

Thanks for that Ramjet.

The sad thing is my setup appears to match yours yet is still no good.

After your last post I adjusted the dish manually on the motor spigot to get the THOR signal to 94% (As opposed to using the buttons)

Again when the motor moves the signal gets gradually worse. 10E is around 40%. By 13E I get nothing.

I think I need to look at the dish bracket. It's reading 18 degrees on one side and 25 on the other. I need to rectify that before I do anything else.

Thanks for that post Ramjet. I appreciate the help.

[ramjet]

Thanks for that Ramjet.

The sad thing is my setup appears to match yours yet is still no good.

After your last post I adjusted the dish manually on the motor spigot to get the THOR signal to 94% (As opposed to using the buttons)

Again when the motor moves the signal gets gradually worse. 10E is around 40%. By 13E I get nothing.

I think I need to look at the dish bracket. It's reading 18 degrees on one side and 25 on the other. I need to rectify that before I do anything else.

Thanks for that post Ramjet. I appreciate the help.

unfortunately, you should not have moved the dish on the motor spigot , but on the pole mount (I can hear the "DOHHHH" from here ;) )

the dish has to be in line when its on the motor spigot , you will see thin centre lines where its been made or welded on the motor spigot, and the dish arm has to line up so that the motor and dish and lnb arm are all "in line" pointing away from the motor pole, you are helped with a "line" underneath that spigot too

once that dish mount is lined up and locked up on the motor spigot, you never , never slacken it


so in simple terms , you adjust the following 3 points

1) the motor mount where the u bolts go around the scaffold pole and are tightened with nuts onto the "bridge" that spans the u bolts

2) the motor elevation (the latitude as marked on the motor plates)

3) the dish elevation adjuster

if you bought the orbital dish that digicon linked to, it has an offset of 25 degrees, whereas my triax is 26 degrees, but that makes only 1 degree of difference, so not much different

I would align the dish on the motor spigot so the motor and dish and lnb arm are all "in line" , then turn the motor mount left or right on the mounting pole to peak thor again, then retest a few other sats

you can see this alignment in this video in post #36 in this thread here http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forums/f11/does-anyone-live-near-leamington-spa-want-help-install-motorized-dish-360986/index3.html at about 5.10 into the video itself. I have grabbed a screenshot and added it as the 4th picture attachment

the only difference being that he is using a top mount stab motor, whereas our spigot points downwards and not upwards, the principle of that alignment is still the same

to stop the motor "wiggling" down the mounting pole, place a car exhaust u bracket under it and lock it to the pole, this will enable you to swing the motor left and right easily (you will see a split "collar" under mine on the scaffold pole under the lower "bridge" )

[alec]

Even if everything like pole or motor settings are out, if you elevate the dish and manual left and right, you should tuned it to a better signal on that Sat, like a fixed dish. The other problems show up when you move off that Sat and your tracking is out Check the position of the LNB, and connections. It should be at neutral position at true south. The position of the LNB varies from different makes. In fact check on True south that when you behind the motor it is in line with dish and LNB

[Boxbhoy]

I cant get the dish elevation to read the same on both sides of the bracket and am at a loss on what to adjust now.

Everything else looks straight but to be honest because of where the dish is I cant see the LNB and Motor pole at the same time.

I dont see how I'll ever confirm everything is aligned. (There is also no mark on the dish bracket to line up with the split line on the motor pole)

I think I'll try and get a decent signal on 28E and just use the thing as a fixed dish.

[ramjet]

I cant get the dish elevation to read the same on both sides of the bracket and am at a loss on what to adjust now.

Everything else looks straight but to be honest because of where the dish is I cant see the LNB and Motor pole at the same time.

I dont see how I'll ever confirm everything is aligned. (There is also no mark on the dish bracket to line up with the split line on the motor pole)

I think I'll try and get a decent signal on 28E and just use the thing as a fixed dish.

the elevations wont be the same on the dish elevation , they are and will be different and you use one or the other (I cannot tell you which side as I have never seen or fitted your dish)

you can stand below and see if its all in alignment but the time to have done that was on the ground as you see in that video clip

if you look at the bridges on the spigot clamp and mark the middle , this should align with the weld marks on that spigot and if you adjust both sides equally you will get the correct alignment as per picture 4 above

you were close when you got thor at 92% but you adjusted the wrong adjuster, ie:- you adjusted the dish mount on the spigot instead of the rear motor mount as seen in the video clip

the thing about making these mistakes is you learn a lot, and you arent the only one to struggle with this, we have all been there and there are other threads on here where they are struggling too

if you keep it simple, align the motor to the dish and lnb arm as per picture 4 , have the spigot roughly plumb or slightly flared up and get bbc world news on thor at say 92% then you cannot be far out

[Boxbhoy]

214848

Check out the angle when the motor turns it to 28E It's pointing down, that cant be right?

I can move it all over the shop and dont get a sausage. That's after improving the signal on THOR 0.8W to 92% and sending it to 28E

[digicon]

I think the best thing to do here is take the whole thing down and start again but first send the motor back to '0' before you do anything, if the motor bracket is set on 56? and set the Orbital dish to around 27? and place the motor in-line with the dish as in the last Photo that ramjet posted from the video, Then carry the whole rig up and place back on the pole locate roughly south tighten but not fully tighten motor to pole. Go inside the house and move your dish to 0.8? west and then from there either move the whole rig around the pole very slightly until you peak the signal tighten again and try some other sats.

Good Luck

[Boxbhoy]

I think the best thing to do here is take the whole thing down and start again but first send the motor back to '0' before you do anything, if the motor bracket is set on 56? and set the Orbital dish to around 27? and place the motor in-line with the dish as in the last Photo that ramjet posted from the video, Then carry the whole rig up and place back on the pole locate roughly south tighten but not fully tighten motor to pole. Go inside the house and move your dish to 0.8? west and then from there either move the whole rig around the pole very slightly until you peak the signal tighten again and try some other sats.

Good Luck


Taking it down and putting it up again is not an option. I had to pay the local ariel guy ?50 to put the assembly up. The top of the pole is too high for me to lift it over on my own.

I have the number of a local guy who could align it all for a few quid but I'm not sure I want to go ahead with something I cant tweak myself.

I'll perserve trying to align it but if I cant crack it this weekend it's coming down (mibbee the hard way) and I'll mibbe stick up a smaller fixed dish.

thanks for all the help and advice.

[the goat]

hi, I had problems with setting up my motorised system when I changed dish and VU+ Dou Clone, after lots of re-checking, taking down and putting up again and again, I found it was the images I had loaded, I've found only 1 image that works for me and my setup, If you are sure that everyone is setup right it could be worth trying a different image

[Boxbhoy]

hi, I had problems with setting up my motorised system when I changed dish and VU+ Dou Clone, after lots of re-checking, taking down and putting up again and again, I found it was the images I had loaded, I've found only 1 image that works for me and my setup, If you are sure that everyone is setup right it could be worth trying a different image


That's spooky. I think I may have a problem with either my receiver or image (or motor?) that is the underlying problem.

I yet again tried to square everything up and managed to get THOR 0.8W showing 92% signal. Again the motor is not tracking correctly and gets steadily worse up to about 10E then gives no signal.

So, I thought I would have a play with the receiver (DM800HD SE E-Star Sim) and just treat the dish as a fixed dish on THOR 0.8W.

When I did a manual scan I get 8 foreign channels. I know I should be getting more, including BBC World News which Ramjet has mentioned a few times.

I then loaded the most up to date satellite.xml & Bouquet for 0.8W I can find. Now I have a long list of channels on 0.8W including 4 or 5 BBC Worlds. When I try to go to one of these channels I get 'Tune failed'

I then go back to the satellite finder and see that my signal on THOR 0.8W is now 0%.

I check the dish and it has not moved. After a bit of head scratching I changed my Longitude in the tuner config. to 4.16 W (from 3.16W) just to see if it makes any difference. Low and behold my signal jumps from 0% to 65%. I then changed the longitude back to 3.16W and the signal goes back to 92%.

When I try and tune in a channel again - signal back to 0%.

Something wrong there eh?

I'm using the image that came loaded with the box, Openpli 3.0. I think tonight I'll try and flash a different one.

[ramjet]

I know this may not help but I never trust a linux box for this task, I now use a spiderbox when lining up motors, but previously I used a technomate 1500 (both are simple to use, reliable and you can check signal and quality onscreen on the spiderbox by pressing the info button once or twice. I am sure other boxes can easily be used so just giving an opinion based on my experiences

those dm800 estars are clones as dmm havent made the 800 for years, so no idea how good they are, or the images or files on them, my genuine 800 has the edg image on it but is on a fixed feed from 28e, not from my motor

I would have installed the motorised version of the latest catseye lists using dreamboxedit too, which I have on my genuine duo

as you have a good signal on thor, its worth checking the box as you say. bear in mind that the motor and dish elevations affect the arc and you can have a pronounced sharp arc or a flatter arc, meaning you can miss satellites

if I can find the picture of this phenomenon I will post it

edit, here are some pics of it explaining more of those details, hope it helps

[Boxbhoy]

Thanks again Ramjet.

So, I flashed a new image (blackhole) and the behaviour is the same. It's very odd.
I scan on thor 0.8W at 90% signal and get 28 foreign channels. I then load the catseye bouquet for 0.8W and try and go to bbc world. Tune Failed. I then go back to Satfinder and the signal has dropped to 0%. On this image though rather than a flat 0% the signal pulses up and down every 3 seconds or so. If I then move the dish to the next sat and back it goes back to a stable 90%.

Where do I go from here? It looks like I have problems other than alignment. Dodgy LNB?

My LNB is this one: INVERTO BLACK ULTRA HIGH-GAIN SINGLE LNB | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230717546723?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_1526wt_993)

cheers.

[ramjet]

should be fine with the inverto, got one myself (the twin)

when you scan thor and get only a few channels , how and why are you absolutely sure its thor ?
do you get bbc world news and the music channel and btv1 ? (all fta)

when you put in the catseye motorised list, its up to date so you should have no problems with his list, certainly not tune fail

I think it has an up to date satellites xml file too, and BH should work ok as I use it on my vu duo with the catseye lists

one problem I notice in your replies is you rarely elaborate on what you say you see, remember , we cannot see what you see so we have to question everything

thor at 0.8w has hundreds of channels , not 28 , but we always start with the fta channels liike I mentioned before , so I am not even convinced that your 92% reading is thor at all

so when you say you get 28 channels , name some of the fta ones seen, so we can check your findings, because another member here said he was on thor and it turned out he was on 23.5 east and not 0.8 west !

As I said earlier, I wouldnt even attempt what you are doing with a linux box , I would rather do it with an old SD box like the tm1500 or clarke 1500

too many variables on a linux box, and you are using a clone box which I wouldnt trust anyway

also, note that under satfinder you have to be on an active transponder on the satellite, otherwise you may get bad results

your lnb is controlled by 4 possible states , horizontal and vertical , and 13 volts and 18 volts, and 22 khz tone switching too
so maybe your estar hasnt been set correctly to operate your universal lnb ? who knows ?
maybe you have a fault on the coax cable like a strand of wire shorting out between the outer braid and inner core ? - who knows ?
maybe the lnb is faulty, although I doubt it ? - who knows

finally , concentrate on getting these 3 channels from 0.8 west thor before going any further (what I told you earlier)


0.8w showing good signals on 11900H 28000 music channel and 11862H 28000 bbc world news and 11247V 24500 btv-1 (all fta channels)

[Boxbhoy]

thor at 0.8w has hundreds of channels , not 28 , but we always start with the fta channels liike I mentioned before , so I am not even convinced that your 92% reading is thor at all

so when you say you get 28 channels , name some of the fta ones seen, so we can check your findings, because another member here said he was on thor and it turned out he was on 23.5 east and not 0.8 west !




That would explain a few things right enough.

That's the next thing to check.

[Elric]

214848

Check out the angle when the motor turns it to 28E It's pointing down, that cant be right?

I can move it all over the shop and dont get a sausage. That's after improving the signal on THOR 0.8W to 92% and sending it to 28E

to me it looks like the dish needs checking should be more upwards also check if the brackets with the scale on the motor is the right way round

Sent from 2 tin cans and some string

[the goat]

Hi
As I said I had similar problem, they say should take 20 mins to install/get working motoriseddish, my one took days
Just a few thingsmay or may not help
Have you put inyour location correctly -/+ from which way your long/lat is
I put posts in thegarden (28e 13e 0) so as the dish lined up on 28e I could check it was in linewith post in garden,
I put a newbouquet in catseyes Test and put in god channels and BBC world from 0.8, 4.8,13, 19, 28 and renamed them (god 0.8 god4.8 god 13, etc.)
You should be ableto get these FTA channels if dish is in roughly right position
I live in bungalowso easy to get up and down ladder to line up dish, I tried a length of rope onbottom of my scaffold tube (dish attached to top end) take the rope out tosouth 0, put the compass on the post end so the compass is not influenced bymetalwork/house etc.
You now have aline to get dish arm lined up on
Press reset onmotor, line up dish for south 0, then use receive and go to 0.8 god, should hardlymove
Get a good pictureselect BBC world 0.8 make sure ok
Use receiver and go to god 19, what is picture like, should be good or near to good, don't change anything yet
Go to god 28 what picture like,
Tweak dish up/downfor go picture (not side to side) good back to god 19 is picture better/worst
Go back to god 0.8what picture like
If picture is ongood after above tests, then do test again moving dish side to side on the pole
When doing thetests check on the motor housing what degree the motor has moved to
That roughly what I did, I could not get good pictures throughout the arc range, so I keep trying different images, (think I tried about 8 images before I got 1 to workright)
I dont know why an image would make that much difference but it did to me
When I put on theimage that finally worked right, setting up dish run like clockwork
Dont know if thi shelps,

[Boxbhoy]

Thanks for the replies Gents.

First of tonight I'm going to check what sat. I'm actually pointing at when I think I'm on 0.8W. I'm sure Ramjet has hit on it.

It would explain why when I move round to 28E I get absoultely nothing. The dish will probably be pointing at fresh air!

It might also explain why when I stick in the correct Bouquet for 0.8W the signal drops to 0% when I try to tune the channel.

cheers

[ramjet]

Thanks for the replies Gents.

First of tonight I'm going to check what sat. I'm actually pointing at when I think I'm on 0.8W. I'm sure Ramjet has hit on it.

It would explain why when I move round to 28E I get absoultely nothing. The dish will probably be pointing at fresh air!

It might also explain why when I stick in the correct Bouquet for 0.8W the signal drops to 0% when I try to tune the channel.

cheers

thats exactly what I am thinking too

this was why I kept mentioning the same old things over and over again, of starting with 0.8w and making sure you get those 3 channels, its the very basics of doing this task and if you watch the youtube video you will see he does exactly the same things (except he just shows bbc world news)

if you keep telling us you are getting thor we believe you, the trouble is we have no proof of whether or not you are actually on thor, whereas if you said like I did that you got those 3 fta channels with signal and quality levels, and with pictures and sound and channel idents (like I did because I checked them first using my setup here) we would know then that your starting point is correct. but "tune fail" using catseyes list tells me you are not on the correct satellite so the transponder is "dead" because its not transmitting any signals on that satellite

pointing at a different satellite will give you the "droopy effect" because thor is our highest satellite, so point at a lower one by mistake and its all thrown out

its also better to elaborate than not, because we cannot see what you see, so when I posted my proof I gave satellite details, channels details, and then pictures of my WORKING setup whilst pointing at 0.8w thor so you could see what it should look like. I also said I had checked those 3 fta channels above on thor too

when you do get pictures and sound from those so-called "god channels" , the three I posted above, lock it up and note down and report back with the latitude setting on the motor body and dish elevation setting on the dish adjuster

ps:- its worth reminding you and the goat and anyone reading this saga that the magnetic compass points at magnetic south and not true south, so treat magnetic south as only in the general direction of actual south, better still use a stick in the ground at 1315 this afternoon and mark the shadow line behind it as the sun will be at true south about that time

[happy_highlander]

Aha ye old stick in the ground technique. The sun is never wrong :beer:

[ASEK]

aye when its out lol

[Boxbhoy]

I'm pretty sure what I thought was 0.8W is actually 23.5E, I know, I'm a half wit

The Channels I was getting were:
DAJTO, DOMA, JOJ PLUS, Markiza, RDS, STV1, STV2, TA3, TV JOJ.

I think the guy sticking it on the pole for me tried to point it at Sky/Freesat as opposed to South as I asked. Then when I hit a big number on THOR I just assumed it was right. Doughball!

I'll persevere again, this time If I stick the receiver on THOR and tune the channel BBC WORLD (Although there are a few in catseyes list) even though it says TUNE FAILED will it spring into life if I hit the right sat.? Is the receiver constantly looking for the specific channel signal as if it's in sat finder mode?
cheers!

[happy_highlander]

load catseyes list and put box on bbc world on thor as soon as you are pointing in the right direction snr will rise but only when you are pointing in right direction.

[ramjet]

I'm pretty sure what I thought was 0.8W is actually 23.5E, I know, I'm a half wit

The Channels I was getting were:
DAJTO, DOMA, JOJ PLUS, Markiza, RDS, STV1, STV2, TA3, TV JOJ.

I think the guy sticking it on the pole for me tried to point it at Sky/Freesat as opposed to South as I asked. Then when I hit a big number on THOR I just assumed it was right. Doughball!

I'll persevere again, this time If I stick the receiver on THOR and tune the channel BBC WORLD (Although there are a few in catseyes list) even though it says TUNE FAILED will it spring into life if I hit the right sat.? Is the receiver constantly looking for the specific channel signal as if it's in sat finder mode?
cheers!

thats the way you should have done it, loading in catseye lists, select bbc world news, swing around until it pops up onscreen
as you surmised, it will be waiting for it to "pop up" and will tune it in when on the correct satellite, so "tune fail" will disappear

in satfinder mode it should be looking for the transponder, but if in channel mode its looking for the channel you placed it on, in this case bbc world news

it does appear you had 23.5e like youngie had, so it also explains why your dish looked so depressed , lol ;)

the point is that you are learning and are getting there, so when you finally hit thor and get that channel and the other two I mentioned, you will start to finally realise your goal and the work will have been worthwhile. but you will also see why we are so pedantic about starting the way we tell you and as shown in the video digicon posted in another thread

its like getting the foundations right when building a house, the first course of brick has to be spot on if you want a stable house with roof to finally appear

good luck, cos you are getting close now

[Boxbhoy]

Some success at last! I didn't manage to land on BBC World news yesterday when adjusting the dish around where I was pretty sure 0.8 was.

After a bit of thought last night I realised I had a better idea were 23.5e was seeing as I had been messing about near there for a week!

I sent the receiver to 23.5e then moved the dish to the familiar area. Got the signal up to 92% again. Went back to the receiver and before I knew it up popped BBC WORLD NEWS. I guess the channel list was still set to it.

Never had much time before it got dark to tweak so I just tightened her up and 'banked' what I have for the time being.

After playing for a bit I've noticed a few anomalies.

On 0.8w BBC NEWS World shows 91% signal. The Music channel shows 57%. The Satfinder (That I was putting so much faith in and found 23.5e so well) shows nothing!

I assumed that every channel on a given sat would show the same signal strength? More reading to be done I guess.

I'm getting 100% signal on 28.2e but I guess that's as I have 1m dish and that Sat. can be had with a wee piddly mini dish.

Thanks again to everybody who took the time to reply especially Ramjet.

[digicon]

A brief rundown.

all satellites carry transponders that are transmitted via different footprints into europe which means just because you get 91% quality on one transponder does notmean you will get the same on another transponder just because its on the same satellite.

Most satellites have 3-4 different footprints even 28.2? has 4 one of which beams directly into africa so you wont get 100% on that Beam/Transponder.

You said it yourself you have a lot of reading to do and i mean until your eyes bleed and you eat-sleep-drink satellite LOL

[ramjet]

checking my spiderbox on those two 0.8w channels there isnt much difference

music channel is 79% signal and 88% quality

bbc world news is 80% signal and 98% quality

when you have the dish on 0.8w check the lnb is "straight" and not skewed left or right as I suspect its not sitting correctly and is skewed causing your reception issues

if the coaxial cable comes from the bottom, on 0.8w it should come straight down with no left or right hand skew, but I think its skewed in its holder so needs sorting out

other than that I would maybe fine tune the motor and dish, and check the latitude and dish elevation settings, bearing in mind the lat should be on 56 and the dish between 25 and 30 probably

[Boxbhoy]

Cheers for that Gents. More reading and more tweaking ahead!