Satellite reception

Java Jive wrote:

On Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:57:42 -0000, "Jeff Layman"
wrote:

That is one thing I will have to sort out. I originally set the skew
according to Dishpointer at -13°, but from your site (and others) it
should be -21.

No, that was before I adjusted the code to allow for the non-standard
skew, my site now should give a value pretty close to Dishpointer's.

Incidentally, I've emailed Astra about the non-standard skews on many,
I suspect all, of their satellites, and the absence of useful
information regarding this on their website, and would they like to
confirm exactly what the correction values are for each, but have had
no reply. As this was over a week ago, I fancy I'm not going to get
one, though, just not to give up too easily, I've just resent it.
Customer Relations just ain't what they used to be.


http://www.ses-astra.com/resources/p...ions_1_0_0.pdf

For some reason Astra decided to skew the polarisation by 7.5 deg
westward on all their satellites. If there are only Astra sats
at an orbital slot then that is no particular problem, but
Eurobird stuck to the standard everyone else uses. So to compromise
between Astra 2 sats & Eurobird1 then the skew needs to be
backed off about 3.5-4 deg from what the sat finder websites
suggest, and 3.5-4 deg more than Sky installation information
suggests.

J

"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...
Jeff Layman wrote:
Java Jive wrote:

The sat meter is very useful for initial alignment, and often will be
sufficient in itself, but given that you've achieved initial alignment
but are still having problems, I would concentrate on what the
receiver tells you.

Thanks. If the weather is decent tomorrow, I'll nip up and move the dish
a tad south. A nice locking rack and pinion would be of help, but that
would be a bit outside the acceptable manufacturing price of sat dishes,
unfortunately.

Just completed the realignment, without the help of a sat meter. What a
difference! Signal strength up, but more to the point Quality is well up
(30%+). Also V polarised signals now received where almost nothing was
watchable before. Heavy rain forecast tomorrow, so it will be interesting
to see what happens.

Thanks to all for all the very useful advice.
Jeff


A simple trick to mimic rain when aligning a dish, is to hang a wet cloth
over the LNB
If you can peak up on that? it'll be fine when it does rain

Steve Terry

"Vortex2" wrote in message
...

"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...
Being new to satellite reception, I believe that my freesat dish might be
slightly out-of-alignment, as the reception is poor when it rains (I am
in Sussex with a 60cm dish), but is generally ok on these channels when
the weather is good.
snip

A satellite alignment meter costs under a tenner (numerous examples on
eBay) and a well worthwhile purchase.


Last week I saw some in Lidls supermarket for around a fiver

Steve Terry

In the absence of further posts I presume that the problem is solved?
If so, glad that we helped ...

On Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:33:16 -0000, "Jeff Layman"
wrote:

Just completed the realignment, without the help of a sat meter. What a
difference! Signal strength up, but more to the point Quality is well up
(30%+). Also V polarised signals now received where almost nothing was
watchable before. Heavy rain forecast tomorrow, so it will be interesting
to see what happens.

Java Jive wrote:
In the absence of further posts I presume that the problem is solved?
If so, glad that we helped ...

On Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:33:16 -0000, "Jeff Layman"
wrote:

Just completed the realignment, without the help of a sat meter. What a
difference! Signal strength up, but more to the point Quality is well up
(30%+). Also V polarised signals now received where almost nothing was
watchable before. Heavy rain forecast tomorrow, so it will be
interesting to see what happens.

Yes, indeed. A slight realignment to the south, and a few degrees up, too
(tightening the bracket nuts appears to lower the dish elevation slightly).
The rain had no practical effect, other than a % or two down on quality.

Now I have to be patient for a few months and wait for the leaves. If they
don't affect the signal, Humax may benefit shortly after...

--
Jeff