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Hi,
I took what I thought was a sensible step and paid for the dishpointer AR app to see if the satellites were visible above my neighbour’s roofline. Sure enough they were – they were quite low but after numerous checks the satellite always appeared above the roofline.
Today, after having put up the satellite dish I have connected up the 1000s only to find that I cannot get a signal at all whilst slowly waving the dish around in the general direction – no sat finder as I thought the app would help me at least get a reasonable location in the sky to search around.
Anyhow, even with the sense to point my webcam T the tv and watching the screen through my tablet outside I never saw the screen move off “no signal”.
Worst scenario is that today, no matter how many times I tried, the dishpointer app is showingthe satellite below the ridge line. Screwed.
But, what other possibilities can there be for never finding a signal? I spent about 15 minutes trying to find a signal, so would you expect even a numpty to find a satellite in that time if the satellite was line of sight?
Thinking that there could be duff electronics – either the hummy or the lnb on the dish. The cable is wf65 shotgun plugs fitted by satcure. I’ve fitted them outside with silicone grease and tightened with a spanner.
I’m convinced I will need to buy a sat finder to be certain I don’t have line of sight.
Alan..
From personal experience I can tell you that “slowly waving the dish around in the general direction” does not cut it. You have to get the direction precise within a few degrees and the elevation is absolutely critical. Go here and get a precise line of sight, elevation and LNB skew…
It’s worth adding that a satellite in geostationary orbit is, in theory, always in a fixed position so it’s supposedly impossible for the satellite to be in line of sight one day and gone the next because of the position of your neighbours roofline.
Dishpointer.com – done. But the scale is too large – you cannot get a perfect line to the satellite just from this : point it in the general direction and then hunt for the satellite a small step at a time
And your lastpoint – perfectly true the satellite stays at one point but the poxy iPad GPS and accelerometers don’t measure accurately enough to let the dishpointer app place the satellite in the Same place every time.
My stupid fault for trusting it BUT there is the possibility that the last measurement were wrong and that the satellite is in line of sight but something about my install is wrong – hence asking whether it is possible to completely fail to find a signal for 15 mins of trying!
Doh – point taken – use the compass app to point in the correct direction and then I have the right line to rove around.
Alanm1969 – 14 minutes ago »
Doh – point taken – use the compass app to point in the correct direction and then I have the right line to rove around.
Yes, if you have a nearby architectural (neighbours house?) or natural (tree?) highlight then it’s easy.
Alanm1969 – 25 minutes ago »
…hence asking whether it is possible to completely fail to find a signal for 15 mins of trying!
Yes it is, I had that experience until I realised I had the elevation about 5 degrees out.
Many thanks pollensa
Dishpointer came up with an elevation of 26.2 degrees for my location BUT from my reading on the net, the fact that I have one of the non-circular dishes, I need to subtract about 25 degrees from this. So I should be able to get the dish pointing in the right direction from the compass bearing and being horizontal and then start moving by tiny increments around this to get the signal and then even tinier increments to get the best signal.
I’m willing to give this another go, but I’m still going to try to get a definitive answer as to whether the satellite is truly above the ridge line. I presume the best way is to have a weighted string and child’s protractor. (Hold it upside down with string down the 90 degree line and then tilt it to the required angle and then sight up the horizontal side – if that points above the ridge line, I’m OK.)
So, if the above shows I should be able to see the satellite and I still can’t get any signal, I have to suspect
The receiver
The lnb
The cable
Oh, I have the lnb set to a 3 skew which should be ok for my location.
Alan..
Think it might be time to pay a pro 50 quid to align it.
In my locale the houses to the back of the town are overlooked by a small mountain which means they will never get line of sight to the Astra satellites, so your problem might never be overcome.
Have a read at the info here
http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/
A tiny movement of the dish is enough to completely lose the signal. The satellites are located just over 22000mls above the equator, moving a dish say just 1/10 of a degree will move the aiming point several miles at that sort of distance. Best to get a basic lock on the satellites using a beeper then optimise using the receiver quality display. Make tiny movements and give the box time to respond to the movement.
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