Lining up a sat dish...

[Tuna]

..with a cheapy analogue meter..

Why is it such a pain?

[Einion Yrth]

'Cause you have to line it up with something really quite small and a long way away over the equator.

[Hugo a Gogo]

I lined mine up roughly with the online tools, using google maps pic, then set up two big mirrors on stepladders so I could see the telly and adjust it using the strength meter thingmy on the satellite box

[karona]

Hugo a Gogo said:

I lined mine up roughly with the online tools, using google maps pic, then set up two big mirrors on stepladders so I could see the telly and adjust it using the strength meter thingmy on the satellite box

Take the satellite box and a portable telly outside with you and park it where you can see it.

[cjs]

It's very easy to lock onto the wrong satellite, If you can see another dish nearby that will give you a guide. You could always pay a professional who will have a meter costing £100s.

[TonyRPH]

Hugo a Gogo said:

...then set up two big mirrors on stepladders so I could see the telly..

Awesome dedication there.

[Hugo a Gogo]

telly was bolted to the wall, took me longer to set up the mirrors for clear line of sight than it did to adjust the dish

two big hall mirrors gaffa taped to step ladders

just call me McGuiver

[Plotloss]

Because the meter you are using cost about a tenner.

Proper satellite installers use a device that's about four grand.

[Tuna]

Plotloss said:

Because the meter you are using cost about a tenner.

Proper satellite installers use a device that's about four grand.

For a previous client I helped write the software that the big broadcasting companies use to monitor Satellite television broadcast signals down to the frame encoding level - you wouldn't get change from 14K, never mind 4K. As it is, the satellite signal meters that cost far more don't actually tell you any more than the cheap pocket ones in terms of signal strength, which is about all you can change by moving a dish around. They can diagnose faulty dishes, attenuating cables, delayed signals and identify satellites for you - but in a basically working setup, those things really don't matter.

My issue is the simple nuts and bolts fiddle of balancing on a roof whilst trying to point a large wok at the equivalent of a small light bulb, floating about 23,000 miles away. Get it all right, tighten things up, go and check that you're still getting the signal.. grrr.

[BigBen]

Tuna said:

Plotloss said:

Because the meter you are using cost about a tenner.

Proper satellite installers use a device that's about four grand.

For a previous client I helped write the software that the big broadcasting companies use to monitor Satellite television broadcast signals down to the frame encoding level - you wouldn't get change from 14K, never mind 4K. As it is, the satellite signal meters that cost far more don't actually tell you any more than the cheap pocket ones in terms of signal strength, which is about all you can change by moving a dish around. They can diagnose faulty dishes, attenuating cables, delayed signals and identify satellites for you - but in a basically working setup, those things really don't matter.

My issue is the simple nuts and bolts fiddle of balancing on a roof whilst trying to point a large wok at the equivalent of a small light bulb, floating about 23,000 miles away. Get it all right, tighten things up, go and check that you're still getting the signal.. grrr.

I have always used the portable telly with the digibox next to me to align the dish, have never needed a meter.

Another point is the dishes are just as happy being mounted at ground level so you don't necessarily have to climb a ladder or have an ugly dish so prominently on your house

Ben

[Taita]

Hugo a Gogo said:

I lined mine up roughly with the online tools, using google maps pic, then set up two big mirrors on stepladders so I could see the telly and adjust it using the strength meter thingmy on the satellite box

How very Wallace and Grommit

[headcase]

Ive never had a problem with the cheepo meters, I guess you need some knowledge of what you are actually doing first, I suppose its not to too disimilar to using a stud detector, again you need to know how they work before you can use one properly.
All the meter has is a gain control and a level meter;

Start with the gain knob in the middle(ish)
Set the angle of the Dish as described in the doumentation that came with it
Point it in about the same direction as next doors If you cant see another dish then you can work it out with a compass and the online thingy as previously mentioned
Swing the dish left and right watching the meter, if you get nothing then turn the knob up, if you get a full scale deflection turn it down a bit. Keep swinging left and right until you find a peak reading. Lock it off
Then fine adjust the angle, so instead of swinging left and right go up and down now. Once that is done there may be facility to turn the LNB to adjust the skew.
Refitting is reversal of the removal procedure :P

For your 1st one id put aside an hour or 2 for the alignment

[Tuna]

It stopped raining today, so I spent my lunch break sorting it out before the roofer tiled over the bit of roof you have to stand on to adjust the dish.

80% signal strength with meter plugged in.. tighten it up and unplug meter.. down to 60% but I can't be bothered to fiddle around with it any more. TV comes through loud and clear and we now have a quad feed so we can plug in a dual freesat box later on.