DSTV Drifta - Getting it to work where the signal is weak.

M

madmax2010

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 1, 2010
Messages
278
Reaction score
0
Hi,

I thought I must share this (I didn't check if there are similar solutions posted already since I'm too excited).

My drifta wasn't working when I first tried it at home which is Widenham, KZN South Coast. Well I've got it working better that I could ever dream right inside my house on my Nortebook PC.

Steps:

1. Get a Drifta and get it activated
2. Install Software & Update via internet on you notebook. Use USB connection.
3. Buy a cheap outdoor TV antenna. I bought an antenna at a Chinese Shop - it looks like a death-ray device. It even has a remote control and built in booster, It cost R160. Install it on your roof to point in the direction of your regular Sentech TV transmission tower.
4. Get a FM wire antenna (Co-ax) and plug it into this antennae socket. Strip the wire and connect it to the telescopic antenna of the Drifta.
5. Switch on the power switch of Drifta and the the (cheap Chinese) outdoor antenna.
6. Start the drifta software on your notebook - make sure that devices and everything is recognised properly. The drifta software should display TV after it found the signal. Use your antenna remote control to rotate until a signal is found if it's not working.

This worked for me and I sincerely hope this info would help others as well.

Best of Luck.

For Drifta Info go to: http://www.dstvmobile.com/dstvmobile/content/en/south-africa-plus/south-africa-plus-about-mobile-tv
 
Last edited:
Wow thanx man! Will def try this as my signal at home is almost non-existant.
 
In my home office it drifts from zero to 3 bars. I put the edge of the Drifta Antenna on my desk fan's metal casing, and I get a constant full signal.
Hey ... works for me!
 
Sounds like a good idea, will definitely give this a try, I get full signal at the office but almost nothing at home
 
madmax2010 said:
Hi,


This worked for me and I sincerely hope this info would help others as well.
Click to expand...

KromozIII said:
In my home office it drifts from zero to 3 bars. I put the edge of the Drifta Antenna on my desk fan's metal casing, and I get a constant full signal.
Hey ... works for me!
Click to expand...

Thanks guys - both tricks worked.I just used a bunny aerial instead of an outdoors one.
I used to get 0% signal at home now I'm getting signal strength of 80% - brilliant!
 
Did you guys connect both wires to the drifta aerial or just 1 from the co-axial cable?
 
Cool thanks. Tried with both but didn't seem to work for me, maybe doing something wrong, will give it a try again later.
 
WesleyR said:
Cool thanks. Tried with both but didn't seem to work for me, maybe doing something wrong, will give it a try again later.
Click to expand...

It also took me a while to get a signal - you have to try different areas in your home and be patient(sometimes it takes a while to get a good signal).
 
madmax2010 said:
Hi,

I thought I must share this (I didn't check if there are similar solutions posted already since I'm too excited).

My drifta wasn't working when I first tried it at home which is Widenham, KZN South Coast. Well I've got it working better that I could ever dream right inside my house on my Nortebook PC.

Steps:

1. Get a Drifta and get it activated
2. Install Software & Update via internet on you notebook. Use USB connection.
3. Buy a cheap outdoor TV antenna. I bought an antenna at a Chinese Shop - it looks like a death-ray device. It even has a remote control and built in booster, It cost R160. Install it on your roof to point in the direction of your regular Sentech TV transmission tower.
4. Get a FM wire antenna (Co-ax) and plug it into this antennae socket. Strip the wire and connect it to the telescopic antenna of the Drifta.
5. Switch on the power switch of Drifta and the the (cheap Chinese) outdoor antenna.
6. Start the drifta software on your notebook - make sure that devices and everything is recognised properly. The drifta software should display TV after it found the signal. Use your antenna remote control to rotate until a signal is found if it's not working.

This worked for me and I sincerely hope this info would help others as well.

Best of Luck.

For Drifta Info go to: http://www.dstvmobile.com/dstvmobile/content/en/south-africa-plus/south-africa-plus-about-mobile-tv
Click to expand...
Hi Thanks for the info. Bought a cheap (R45) Ellies set top aerial, connected the mesh and all is now fine. Cheers :)
 
NO SIGNAL

:twisted::twisted::twisted:

I walked around with my laptop VERY PATIENTLY, but nothing doing.



lexor said:
It also took me a while to get a signal - you have to try different areas in your home and be patient(sometimes it takes a while to get a good signal).
Click to expand...
 
Drive with your car closer to the tower and when you get the signal then do the walking around in your house. The drifta seems to have to get a strong signal to activate first.
 
Hi there

Just to let you know, we tried this and it worked.

Only instead of spending money on an aerial, we made a connection that plugged directly into our existing tv areial cable, just used a splitter box, and this worked 100% signal all the time.
 
My success was taping the drifta to a 2.5m stick and holding it above to roof level. It got a lock, but when I brought it back to the green light remained steady, but the drifta application said that it was a weak signal and unable to decode.

Using a 1.8M USB cable I was able to determine that if had it against the glass window and a certain height I was able to get a good signal - 80%. It does give trouble often - indicating weak signal at switch on, but often if I leave it alone it locks and give the 80% signal level, up from 0% - and is okay until I switch off.

So the signal indicator is rather stupid - 0-100% in 5 steps is no indication at all when it only shows locked signals. They should tweak it to give a dbm indication so that we can position for best signal. And decode poor signals ( it is blocky and stuttering when I drop it a ruler length) instead of giving no signal at application switch on that exact position (but steady green light on drifta).
 
I learned that one should never really make a channel scan. Once you got it up and running the first time, dont ever do a channel scan again. Did that work for everyone as well?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X