satellite dish - advice and help

[jaffasdad]

I bought a satellite kit from Aldi on Thursday and am waiting for it to stop raining so that I can play with it.

However, I have managed to clamp the wall plate onto my jockey wheel with two exhaust clamps from my local garage; total cost, £1.27!

I know that it is possible to buy converters to make the cable F connectors into push-on ones. If I did that, would I then be able to use my exterior aerial point? Similarly, could I use the same process on the inside of the van?

If I did this, would the short length of cable inside the van connecting the exterior and interior points (which is probably not of digital quality) need replacing?

Any help/advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Douglas_374404558]

HI! Ron you will be able to use your sat set up only if when you are onsite if it,s pointing the right way ie s/west

direction but what if you need to point it over the top of the van .what i use is a small tripod with as you say a couple of exhaust clamps and a right angle roofing bracket clamped to the tripod then you can use it in any location ie from/rear/side of the van otherwise your van might not be pointing in the right direction .Also why change your conections i just pass the cable through the window and put the latch on the first catch done it for the last few years with no problems

hope this helps

cheers Duggie

 

[grandadbaza]

Douglas its not S/West more S/East !!!

Baza

 

[David_374242465]

Would advise against using "TV type" connectors on your satellite cables. The screw-on F-type connectors are designed for the type of coax used with sat signals, and minimise any loss of signal. When using a small dish, as supplied with Lidl / Maplin kits, the signal level can be rather marginal, especially in North Europe / North Scotland.

I would stick to the F-type connectors if I were you.

 

[Dave_374330759]

You need a decent connection between the dish and the sat box because the signal is very weak and more imortantly there is power being fed up the cable to power the LNB (the lump at the end of the arm) So introducing more connectors just make it more likely for a fault and to lose a bit more signal. TV aerial conectors are notoriously crap

 

[Reg]

You can get quick fit adaptors for the F-Types which convert them to push-ons. They will only connect to F sockets and not coax.

Very useful for caravaners

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-F-Plug-Push-On-Quick-Fit-Adaptors-Sky/Cable/LNB_W0QQitemZ190287327155QQcmdZViewItem

 

[jaffasdad]

Thank you all for your input. I have probably answered my own qustion in that I bought a couple of adaptors from B&Q and tried it but it didn't work - got a 'no signal' message.

Finally managed to play with the system yesterday and logged on to Astra 2 with about 74% strength and nearly 60% quality. When I scanned the channels I could only pick up Chanel 4 and its derivatives (4plus1, Film 4 etc.) Can anybody tell me what I am doing wrong?

Thanks again in anticipation.

 

[Lutz]

If you're getting a good signal strength but only a handful of channels it sounds as though you've only searched for channels at one frequency (10714MHz on transponder 2.041 if it's Channel4 and derivatives).

 

[jaffasdad]

If you're getting a good signal strength but only a handful of channels it sounds as though you've only searched for channels at one frequency (10714MHz on transponder 2.041 if it's Channel4 and derivatives).

Thanks Lutz. What shall I do to pick up more channels and (especially) radio stations?

Imagine that you are giving instructions to an idiot.

 

[Douglas_374404558]

Douglas its not S/West more S/East !!!

Baza

Grandadbaza yep sorry 4 wrong info got my direction mixed up

cheers Duggie

 

[Douglas_374404558]

Ron sounds like your decoder if you have a Sky box in the house why don,t you use it all you are doing is using your mobile dish instead of your house dish when away in you van. try it outside your house it will work or it should.if it doesn,t then you have a problem with the dish/LNB somewhere .hope this helps Duggie

 

[Lutz]

If you're getting a good signal strength but only a handful of channels it sounds as though you've only searched for channels at one frequency (10714MHz on transponder 2.041 if it's Channel4 and derivatives).

I'm sorry, but I don't know what the screen menu looks like on the Aldi kit, but normally when you go into the setup menu of any satellite receiver, you're asked whether you want a automatic complete scan or manually look specifically for one transponder or frequency. Obviously, you should opt for the complete automatic scan.

 

[Lutz]

Ron sounds like your decoder if you have a Sky box in the house why don,t you use it all you are doing is using your mobile dish instead of your house dish when away in you van. try it outside your house it will work or it should.if it doesn,t then you have a problem with the dish/LNB somewhere .hope this helps Duggie

It can't be a problem with the dish or the LNB because Ron seems to be getting a good picture, but only a handful of channels. If the LNB is dud, you won't receive anything, or perhaps just vertically or horizontally polarised transmissions. However, some Channel 4 transmissions are vertical, others horizontal, so that rules out problems with the LNB.

 

[Reg]

If you are only getting a few channels its usually a sign that the EPEG software is out of date on sky boxes.

Leave it connected on standby and it will update itself eventually. It's possible to manually update but it does carry some risks of screwing up the box for good.

 

[Douglas_374404558]

It can't be a problem with the dish or the LNB because Ron seems to be getting a good picture, but only a handful of channels. If the LNB is dud, you won't receive anything, or perhaps just vertically or horizontally polarised transmissions. However, some Channel 4 transmissions are vertical, others horizontal, so that rules out problems with the LNB.

Lutz and all the rest i beg to differ it COULD be the Dish or LNB .LNB could be the wrong kind IE not universal one, some only pickup some channels if not compatable with the Decoder COULD be the dish if the arm that holds the LB could be pointing the LNB at the wrong angle to the Dish (very very unlikely but Possible )these are problems that my mate (SKY ) installer says ALL these could be possible problems

Thanks Duggie

 

[empee]

You can get quick fit adaptors for the F-Types which convert them to push-ons. They will only connect to F sockets and not coax.

Very useful for caravaners

]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-F-Plug-Push-On-Quick-Fit-Adaptors-Sky/Cable/LNB_W0QQitemZ190287327155QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-F-Plug-Push...NB_W0QQitemZ190287327155QQcmdZViewItem[/quote
Ordered mine thanks!