Hope for beginners

[sunnyz1]

I just thought I'd let everyone know about my experience over the weekend. First of all I am also a beginner so
am writing this from a beginners view. Secondly I dont want to offend any professionals who dont agree with my
findings but they are 100% true. Well my intention was to originally set up my new motor. I removed My existing
dish which I was going to move to a new location to be able to align as many satellites as possible. I decided to
just leave the dish in my bedroom for the time being while I tried to work out the motor angles and then finally
gave up because there are too many guides all contradicting each other. I then thought I would open my bedroom
window and see if I can align any satellites from my window and I just happened to have a swivel chair handy. I
managed to get hotbird 13 60% aligned, then 7.0e 70% and then thor 0.8/1W. My dish is 60cmx75cm and the funny
thing was 1/3 of my dish was actually blocked by window frame. I was able to move whole dish 1cm in each direction
and still watch channels on same % quality. I originally heard that even a mm could cause disruption. I also managed to close
the window(not double glazing) and only lost 10% quality and even closed the curtains which made no difference to
quality or viewing. I found it much easier to align satellites when you are indoors in a nice warm house. I feel much more
confident in aligning satellites than before so if you are new to this stuff I would advise to play about like
this if you can before you go out in the real world.

A few tips I'd like to mention although maybe obvious

1) If sat meter just stays high no matter how far east you go, try altering the elevation and then bring down the
sensitivity.
2) I would definitely recommend a cheap satellite meter with a needle, only cost £10

Just thought I'd contribute towards a great forum
Next is motor setup and then understanding encryption with idiot guide when completed

Any questions on how and what I have done are welcome

Sunny

[BGonaSTICK]

Very good

That's fine by us m8

It wouldn't be the first satellite-dish-on-a-swivel-chair I've seen, and not the first dish behind windows and curtains either - even double-glazed!

I also agree that it really does give you some confidence, just swinging a dish about and seeing what you can find. It gives you a feel of what's going on, how much to change the elevation, what 6 degrees azimuth 'looks' like in real terms etc.

Glad you're having some fun and staying warm at the same time. Some pics would be good!

STICK

[wobblywill]

thanks for the hope, didnt understand most of it as i am so knew that the starter kit with all the promising bells on has only just arrived this pm, unpacked the box and half the bits missing and i understand the individual words in the manual but the sentences may as well be writed in ruskie >

liked the sound of the swivel chair, saves all that ladder work, where can i get a motor drive for one??

will be back shortly when i have some serious (2 me) Q's that will probably end up with DOH!! answers!

wibble

[BGonaSTICK]

He He, welcome WW. Take your time, but don't leave it too long before you ask for help

[Jimdefruit]

Welcome wobblywill.

We don't do "DOH!", at least not so far.

[wobblywill]

cheers guys, tis friday evening and i have assembled all the bits as far as i can for a grand foray into the world of fta tomorow morning!

should have it all up and running in half an hour will be in contact 4 help about 10am ish ops:

i already have a diverse list of queries but dont really know whether to start a new query or tag on to an old one! >

wibble

[Jimdefruit]

Definitely start a new topic otherwise it all gets confusing.