Freesat satelite systems

[Mikey_74]

Having had a week in not so sunny Wales in ealry August where it was quite cold and at times flipping wet my family and I found ourselves spending time in the van in the evenings, to add to the fun of the weather we couldn't get a tv signal using either or van's roof top aerial or the visionplus type aerial on a long pole for love nor money, a friend from work mentioned that he was selling a Freesat satelite system that he'd bought from Aldi that had never been out the box, so the deal was done, last weekend we had a lovely long 4days in Woolacombe North Devon, the weather was fantastic, sea views to the front and right of our van and the kids were happy out playing, curiosity got the better of me and out came the satelite sytem, an hour and a half past by before putting the system back in it's box having achieved nothing, not a sausage, has anyone else got one of these systems? Do they work? We followed the instructions to the word, although the compass that came with the system I think had a slight fault, I know modern technology and all that but I'm sure I can remember Mrs Jones my Science teacher telling me that there was 1 North, the said compass insisted there was infact 3 Norths, we settled on pointing the dish in the same direction as other peoples on site and still got nothing, everything back in it's box, vans roof aerial plugged in and yep full signal strength and a happy wifey watching the soaps and Big Brother.
Should I have spent the £60 on a couple of bottles of wine for my wife and I and a brand new set of tiddly winks for the kids?
Mike

 

[InnerZone]

Firstly Aldi have never sold (yet anyway) a Freesat system, what they have sold is generic Free to Air receivers.

Anyway try this site for more info:
http://satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/ftamain.htm

 

[John_374564913]

It is not uncommon to have a full strength signal and still not get a picture this happens to me a I find that something is deflecting the signal and the dish needs replacing slightly.

If you are looking for astra 2 which is S/E you should be aware that astra 1 is also in the S/E but at a different angle so it is best to have a chart indicating the angle or better still go to an angle web site put in the post code and it will give you the angle
then its just a question of monitoring your screen to get a good signal.

although in the documents with the sat system its says you will get a picture at 60% I have found this not to be the case and generally are looking for a minimum of 80% without any obstructions or deflections.

a deflection can be cause by a lamp post of the metallic type which is in line of your satellite view

I hope this helps

regards

John

 

[Philspadders]

setting the dish is not just a matter of setting longtitude, but also azimuth, or elevation. some of the "suitcase" systems have a small dish wich may require elevating by 2 or 3 ' then hyou can set the longtitude , once you haqve a good 60% plus signal strength, you will need to set the azimuth for signal quality. You will aslo need a clear line of sight to the satellite , so the dish needs to be positioned such that there are no trees , building etc in the way.

The compass will be affected by the LNB , especially when its powered up. site the compass behind the dish, and you are looking for 28.2degreed east of south for the initial setting, with the dish top an bottom at angled vertically. Get the signal strength sorted and then work on the quality... and the movement is in ver small increments , 1mm at 28,000 miles and you can totallty miss the satellite.

take it home and try again

 

[JTQ]

As has been suggested play at home first to get a hang of things.
First realise that there are a lot of satellites up there and your unit will try to respond to whichever one your pointing at, not alway as you expect or want.
Very fortunately for us UK residents the one we need is the one furthest east of the TV group. So using that bit of info moving the dish from the east to the south we will hit the right one first.[assuming we work carefully of course].
I use my compass to lay a garden cane [note something non magnetic] to point 144 deg [standard bearing convention from North , none of this confusing 28.2 degree nonsense ]. (This is called Azimuth angle.)
With the cane in place bring out the dish all wired up and set it up to the cane but ensuring you are to the east by a few degrees (5).
Here in England at least the dish is likely to look as if its almost vertical (This is called elevation angle, but its not something thats obvious by simply looking at a dish).
Slowly move the dish in as small a step increments as you can smoothly to the south, crossing the guide line made by the cane. If you dont get a signal by the time your 5 or more degrees futher to the south of the cane then you have missed your target satellite. Pass this you will probably get plenty of signals but not what you want nor always what the unit can decode. Once you are on the right Astra 28.2 then altering the tilt (elevation) just a wee bit might help increase the signal quality.
If you get some channels you want nice and clear but some are not there or are pixilated you might sort this out by leaning the dish a bit clockwise when looking onto the dish. ( Here you are altering the Skew Angle; I dare not try and explain this!)
As has been already said you will not get true "Freesat™" with any unit I have known Aldi sell but you will get the same major channels.

 

[DianneT]

Actually Aldi does have a Free Sat kit with Dish this week. Saw it on Sunday.

disAriel eil si r

 

[Chris_Hyde_Cheshire.]

I purchased an Aldi freesat kit a couple of years ago. I must admit I found it tricky to set up at first, especially with the paper compass that was included. To make things easier I bought a satellite finder off ebay, however I didn't have much success with this either. I then dug out my old compass and used that instead. I had some success with this, and the more I have done it the easier it becomes.............

Stick with it, it will some together in the end. I consider the system to be the best thing I bought after my cadac.

Best regards,
Chris - Hyde, Cheshire.

 

[Philspadders]

fta or free sat. matters not one jot. you will get all the beebs, all the itvs, chn4 , dave, and most of the free sat stuff on fta. it may not be the expected channel order and you may get all the beeb regions ( there are lots) but it all cmes off the same satellite. you will not get sky on fta but may get sky news and sky 1 on freesat although i understanfd sky are change this.

in general though you will not get most sky as its encrypted.i

i picked up a bush freesat HD rx from argos for £67. i connect to my 19" hd ready telly and my cheap nast plastic dish and lnb from maplins ( grade b unit) and it works great.

 

[lightfj]

I use a Maplins satellite in suitcase. I have a sat finder bought on line. For Astra 28 I find south (with a compass) and extend my right arm in that direction. I then extend my left arm at 90 degrees to my right arm. With my left arm I now halve the right angle and now halve it again. This is my basic line toset my dish at. Ensure you have a good clear view of the sky. My sat finder screws into the lnb one way and the cable on the other side. Witheverything powered up the sat finder emits a noise - gently adjusting the direction of the dish will increase ( or diminish) the sound level. When at its loudest the meter can be adjusted back to about half scale reading . Repeat till best signal achieved - by which time the picture is there. Takes some getting used to but gets easier with practice. If going abroad get abigger dish.
Dont give up -keep at it -- No flak from she who must be obeyed if she can watch neighbours and casualty !!!!!!

 

[Gabsgrandad]

If you are getting a full strength signal & no picture, your box is selected to the "wrong" satellite.

 

[TopCat1]

Hi, I have one of these systems and it works fine but is a bit tricky to set up. It's the signal quality that counts which is why you could not see anything even with full signal strength. I started at home following the direction of my Sky aerial. then getting the correct tilt angle. Having set this set your box to search channels as it's not until a channel is found that you can gauge the quality. This enabled me to find a perfect signal from the Astra satellite very quickly. At this point I did three things.
1. I use a converted camera tripod to hold the dish. I set the lockscrew for the up/down post to north.
2. I marked the sattelite compass position on the the up/down post in line with the lock screw so I could easily find the direction.
3. I marked the dish tilt angle position on both the fixed and moving part of the camera platform.
Now it is fairly easy for me to set the direction and find the new tilt angle which changes according to your latitude.
Remember it is not a big dish so positioning is quite critical and as already mentioned, you do need a clear line of sight to the sat position, trees etc will block the signal. The system comes with a good handbook to give you setup info, make sure you follw the LNB setting cable entry at around 7 o'clock. My kit came with a signal strength meter. This is ok to help with the tilt angle but will respond to all sattelites so does not help in finding the correct sat. A bit obvious but make sure you take it out of the line when you try to tune the channels.
I have also purchased a better satfinder compass from Amazon.
I hope this helps

 

[InnerZone]

fta or free sat. matters not one jot. you will get all the beebs, all the itvs, chn4 , dave, and most of the free sat stuff on fta.

Yes it does if you want the receiver to do all the tuning and sorting. And Dave is not FTA on satellite!

 

[InnerZone]

Actually Aldi does have a Free Sat kit with Dish this week. Saw it on Sunday.

That was not a Freesat receiver but a FTA receiver and dish."Free to Air Satellite System

Tune into all your favourite free to air TV and radio channels with this digital free to air satellite receiver kit. Kit contains everything you need to get started; 45cm satellite dish with wall mount fixings, receiver unit, 10m satellite cable, remote control and SCART cable."

 

[Mikey_74]

Thanks for the help, I've decided that we need a tripod and a proper compass, I may have a play over the weekend and set it up at home, 1st time doing it is always entertaining, and I even read instructions which I'm told is unusual for a man!
I'll let you know how I get on...
Oh by the way, what's the difference between free sat and free to air?????

Mike

 

[JTQ]

Oh by the way, what's the difference between free sat and free to air?????
Mike

"FreeSat ™" is a propritry company, I think jointly owned by the BBC and ITV.
"Free to air" simply means its free to view , its not encrypeted.
In practice the end results to those wanting to watch our traditional channels is much the same apart from one big issue. That issue is the Electronic Programme Guide, EPG to us away from the internet and the likes of the Radio Times a very big issue as we like to know what is on today , and thought the comming week. "FreeSat" carries either a 7 or 8 day EPG depending on what box you buy. "Free to air" I have not found better than a "now and next" programme guide. I understand if you use a Sky box in its non subscriber mode you get a good EPG but please check that as its only heresay I have not got one. I have a free to air decoder but rearely use it and have gone to FreeSat both at home and now for the van simply because of its excellent EPG.

 

[JTQ]

Oh by the way, what's the difference between free sat and free to air?????
Mike

"FreeSat ™" is a propritry company, I think jointly owned by the BBC and ITV.
"Free to air" simply means its free to view , its not encrypeted.
In practice the end results to those wanting to watch our traditional channels is much the same apart from one big issue. That issue is the Electronic Programme Guide, EPG, to us often away from the internet and the likes of the Radio Times a very big issue as we like to know what is on today , and thought the comming week. "FreeSat" carries either a 7 or 8 day EPG depending on what box you buy. "Free to air" I have not found better than a "now and next" programme guide. I understand if you use a Sky box in its non subscriber mode you get a good EPG but please check that as its only heresay I have not got one. I have a free to air decoder but rarely use it and have gone to FreeSat both at home and now for the van simply because of its excellent EPG.