DSTV Dish Alignment

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gboy

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hi.

I have bought a caravan portable dstv dish.

If i try to align it, i get the high pitched buzzing in the headset so i am aligned to the sat, and my alignment is much the same as all the permanent dishes around me. i have a clear view of the sky, ect, on the tv the signal detection says i get between 50 -56% but the signal quality is 0% i seem to be unable to get the signal quality any higher and so the decoder does not want to lock.

Any ideas
 
lol.

News and current affairs, i suppose it is.
 
gboy said:
hi.

I have bought a caravan portable dstv dish.

If i try to align it, i get the high pitched buzzing in the headset so i am aligned to the sat, and my alignment is much the same as all the permanent dishes around me. i have a clear view of the sky, ect, on the tv the signal detection says i get between 50 -56% but the signal quality is 0% i seem to be unable to get the signal quality any higher and so the decoder does not want to lock.

Any ideas
Click to expand...

Those ellies portables suck. Even if you do get it aligned a strong breeze is enough to stuff it up again. My advice would be to take it back, get a refund and get one of Space Televisions ones instead, but only if you absolutely insist on doing it yourself.

In the mean time what you are looking for is a higher pitched buzzing. Try reseting your decoder to. Make sure it is set to pas 7/10.
 
i live in a flat complex, we have a communal perminant dish, it goes via a splitter, now this splitter works with power, when eskom decides to load shed the splitter goes dead.

now i got this portable dish i can set up on my balcony, so i can watch dstv when i run off my inverter.
 
gboy said:
i live in a flat complex, we have a communal perminant dish, it goes via a splitter, now this splitter works with power, when eskom decides to load shed the splitter goes dead.

now i got this portable dish i can set up on my balcony, so i can watch dstv when i run off my inverter.
Click to expand...

Well then definitely get the Space portable instead. Install a proper bracket for it and keep practicing with the beeper, you'll get better with time. Those ellies portables are just to much hassle to get properly aligned what with their stupid bracketing and knobs and crap.
 
and where would i get this dish ?

whats the delay on those sat finders
 
sorry i mean how long does it take to register the pitch, once the dish is aligned.

so know in how long i must wait between dish movements
 
gboy said:
sorry i mean how long does it take to register the pitch, once the dish is aligned.

so know in how long i must wait between dish movements
Click to expand...

You'll hear it straight away. You might even want to move it fairly quickly so that you'll get a quick squeak as you pass the right spot. More than likely its your elevation thats giving you the problems. If you look at the dish side on with the arm to your left, if you position the dish perpendicular to the floor and call that 6 o'clock, then push it upwards a bit to maybe 7 or 7:30 that should be about right. Then judging the general direction by a nearby dish sweep from left to right (maybe about 4 seconds for the whole sweep). You should hear the pitch spike as you go past the right spot. Then you've got to take it slow and judge when you've got the highest pitch. Then adjust your elevation again.

You used to get little inline meters with an actual gauge on them for fairly cheap, which are much better. You might want to give Space a try for one of those as well.
 
I went throught this. It is a combination of the LNB angle, the dish horizontal angle and the dish vertical angle. LNB should be about 4 o'clock (position of the cable from the bottom of the LNB), once you here the buzzing, you should be sorted.
 
We're trying to set one of the SpaceTV portables up with one of the in-line meters and no matter how much buzzing we get the signal strength and quality both remain 0. I would have expected that you'd at least get a percentage or two once the buzzing started. We called the shop, they recon it's just the alignment that's out. Is the alignment really that fine a line that it's all or nothing?
 
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morkhans said:
We're trying to set one of the SpaceTV portables up with one of the in-line meters and no matter how much buzzing we get the signal strength and quality both remain 0. I would have expected that you'd at least get a percentage or two once the buzzing started. We called the shop, they recon it's just the alignment that's out. Is the alignment really that fine a line that it's all or nothing?
Click to expand...

It is a very fine alignment and the satfinder is just a crude alignment tool and not a proper instrument. Those cost a few grand... If you got the attenuation dial set very low, you will even pick up a buzz when pointing into trees. It will also buzz when you are pointing at the wrong satellite. With some practice, you will get it right quickly. If you can't get it right, pop into Space TV again. I'm sure one of the employees will show you how, in front of the shop...
 
Yip, they're very sensitive to directionality, and especially so with a small dish.
 
Quantum Theory said:
It is a very fine alignment and the satfinder is just a crude alignment tool and not a proper instrument. Those cost a few grand... If you got the attenuation dial set very low, you will even pick up a buzz when pointing into trees. It will also buzz when you are pointing at the wrong satellite. With some practice, you will get it right quickly. If you can't get it right, pop into Space TV again. I'm sure one of the employees will show you how, in front of the shop...
Click to expand...

We eventually got it right. Couple of lessons learned:
1) Use www.dishpointer.com to narrow down your aiming
2) It doesn't work through the office window ;)
3) Sticking it out the back door under the stairs still wasn't good enough, it had to be out under clear sky
4) Yes it really does need to be aimed finely
5) Once you have good signal strength, turn your LNB up/down to get your signal quality up.
6) This will drive a HD PVR decoder with a HDTV DVB-S2 40mm LNB

Some pics:
IMG_1022.JPG

IMG_1023.JPG

IMG_1024.JPG
 
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Glad you guys got it to work. It was to me that you spoke BTW. Sorry I could not be more helpful at the time.
 
Quantum Theory said:
Glad you guys got it to work. It was to me that you spoke BTW. Sorry I could not be more helpful at the time.
Click to expand...

HAHA, small world. No worries, as you said it just takes a bit of practice, you neglected the lots of patients part though :p
 
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