Aligning a dish to receive Freeview

Forums › Home Theatre (incl HTPC) › Aligning a dish to receive Freeview - how do you do that?

lchiu7

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Topic # 15221 10-Aug-2007 09:52

A friend wants to get a Freeview receiver (possibly off Trademe) and dish for his beach property. He is a home handyman. If he were to get a dish off say Trademe, how hard is it to install and more importantly align such a dish? Do you need a special satellite finder or is there another way?

Thanks

Larry

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Reply # 81871 10-Aug-2007 09:57

You don't *have* to have a sat finder.

We use a 30cm dish in the mobile home pre-set to the right elevation, and simply use the point n adjust method to find its lateral location.

Dish mounts usually have a reading on the side for elevation. Then you can use this http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/dish-angle-calculator-i-16.html and a compas

lchiu7

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Reply # 81901 10-Aug-2007 12:50

Sounds good. Now if you don't live in a main centre how do you determine the latitude and longitude to plug in?

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richms

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Reply # 81903 10-Aug-2007 13:00

GPS, google earth, look at a map, guess by the location between 2 other places.

Its not very exact, you have a few degrees of error available and it will still lock, then you can peak the install using the meter on the settop box.

Richard rich.ms

lchiu7

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Reply # 81907 10-Aug-2007 14:04

Sounds like a plan. Will pass on the information to my friends

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Larry

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deliveryguy

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Reply # 81948 10-Aug-2007 19:20

This site lets you find your exact location and gives you the direction and dish elevation

http://www.satsig.net/maps/satellite-tv-dish-pointing-australia-new-zealand.htm

richms

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Reply # 82007 11-Aug-2007 15:01

At my mates place we just set the elevation, and pointed it parallel to the neighbors one since we had no compass, that was enough to lock ok but have bad blocking and dropouts, a couple of nudges and it was good. the key is to be able to see the TV from the dish

Richard rich.ms

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Reply # 82012 11-Aug-2007 16:15

What Rich said :) and: On a still day if you can "get behind" a neighbours dish and get a sight on a recognisable bit of cloud all you have to do is point your dish at that cloud. Higher the cloud the better.

lchiu7

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Reply # 82066 12-Aug-2007 09:37

This is a remote beachfront location and there are no other Sky dishes around. The satsig site seems like the best bet. I was able to find the location on the site and get the lat/long information needed

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kevthesparky

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Reply # 82157 13-Aug-2007 09:35

If You are in Kaitaia your Azimuth (compass bearing) will be 319.3 degrees and if you are in Stewart island your Azimuth will be 324.1 and If you live anywhere in between these two places then you will be somewhere between the two Azimuth readings I have just given bugger all difference eh.Your elevation will range from 46.8 to 35.4 degrees. Just remember that it is the Quality of Signal not the strength to ensure trouble free reception ie 80% sig 99% Quality or 50% Sig 99% Quality. Although the more Signal strength you have the better chances you have of receiving service on those stormy days. And ensure you attach the dish firmly to a main beam and not somthing that will work loose after a while remember that dish is subjected to a lot of force when the wind is up.

lchiu7

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Reply # 82158 13-Aug-2007 10:09

I went to the satsig site and worked out that for a beach area south of Dargaville the dish would be at 45.4 elevation and pointing 315.5 degrees so that jibes with what you have written.

Larry

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cyril7

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Reply # 82178 13-Aug-2007 13:38

Ensure your mast is dead vertical, set the elevation to the figure quoted from whatever reputed source and slowly swing the azimuth roughly in the 310-330deg magnetic region eventually you will find it. If you have a sat finder you should quite quickly find it. Once found peak up both the elevation and azimuth till and finally the skew, may need to go round the 3 a couple of times as you zoom in on the peak.

As the others have said the Quality goes from 0-90% or so in the last 2-3dB of peaking, most signal meters only change bars or whatever every 6dB so signal level is only a rough aim, the last fine point is the quality peaking and you need to have all three alignment parameters dead on to get a peak.

If you have a chance try and set it all up down on the ground first, try and mount the mast on something that keeps it stable, a lot easier to get a handle on how things work when you not stuck on the top of a roof trying to peer at a screen on the ground. By setting it up on the ground first you will also be able to get the elevation closer to start with, again you need a dead vertical mast to be able to reproduce the same elevation figure and to get max peak.

Cyril

lchiu7

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Reply # 82211 13-Aug-2007 16:42

Thanks Cyril, that's very useful. I think what we will do is work in tanden - one person orienting the dish, the other viewing the signal on the TV and communicate via walkie talkie! Somewhat safer I guess than trying to peer at the set from the side of the house.

Just to clarify. When the satellite is found (hopefully) when you say peak up the azimuth and elevation, do you mean leave the azimuth constant and fiddle with the elevation until the signal is at its peak. Then leaving the elevation constant, move the azimuth until the signal reaches a peak?

You talk about 3 parameters - aside from azimuth and elevation, what else is there?

Larry

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cyril7

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Reply # 82233 13-Aug-2007 19:04

The third parameter is Skew, this is the orientaion of the LNB in its collar, this is as critical as the other two. What LNB do you have, each has its peculiar alignment, if you know what LNB then I can show you a picture that will get you roughly in the right region then you tweek as needed.

And yes only adjust one parameter at a time otherwise things go wrong very quickly. You will need to go around the three parameters systematically optimising each 3 or 4 times till you are happy you have the best (within practical limits of holding the peak) that you can.

Cyril

lchiu7

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Reply # 82250 13-Aug-2007 20:23

Well I was thinking of this package and it doesn't indicate what LNB is included (though there should be one else how can it be a package?)

http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/coship-starter-package-p-347.html

Though based on the picture in the package it looks like it's this LNB

http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/10750-lo-ku-band-lnb-p-34.html

Larry

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cyril7

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Reply # 82258 13-Aug-2007 21:45

That common type of LNB would have a good Skew starting point like this

http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/forum/index.php/topic,139.0.html

Cyril

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