Newbie- Confused Frustrated & Terrified

[JKL]

Hi Folks,
I bought a Echolink 777 box from ebay 2 weeks ago and tried it with my old sky dish and got nowt, so I then replaced the LNB and digital cable and still nowt! So in for a penny in for a Pound I order a triax 88 motorised dish. I set the angles per instructions wrestled the thing onto the side of the house and wahey still got nowt! Then I got a lone of a Satellite meter and managed to get BBC world for 2 mins then lost it. Had the compass out trying to start with thor 1w to start but having no joy finding anything. My satellite signal barely moves off 32%strength and 11%quality. Think im resigning myself to calling an Engineer but am now strapped for the cash. Any tips help appreciated!

ps live in west coast of Scotland- dont know if signal is too great there or not??

JKL

[wasp11]

Hi ive got an echolink777 and had no bother with it. Try hotbird at 13 east or astra 1 at 19.2 east, as they have a strong signal. I only have a fixed dish, so cant help with the motorised version. The west coast of scotland should be fine for picking up satillites, im from belfast so not so far away from you. Do you use a sat finder? They are cheap and handy to use.

[JKL]

Thanks for reply

I borrowed a Sat Finder meter which has a gain adjustment and tone but what sounded quite good on meter gave me nothing on box!
Once i got the signal light on on a few chanels but got no signal message on TV.

Dont know if ive messed about with box settings too much? I also tried turning power off to LNB so it wouldnt try moving dish once in a good signal position and i searched through 200 chanels to ensure i wasnt picking up a wrong satellite but had no joy either!!

Does your echolink box show a great signal on Antenna page?
Mines is at 33-35% and signal strength around 11-12%!

What is a fair price for an engineer to align a Motorised dish??

thanks
JKL

[wasp11]

You should get a stronger signal on antenna page mine 84% 76 % etc. As i said i have a fixed dish so lnb is set to universal, on a motorised dish lmb is set at user. It sounds like your not on the satillite you think your on . Im no expert, so wait and someone in here will help. It will be one simple thing your doing wrong.

[Robbo]

Hi JKL,

You can be confused and Frustrated, but terrfied, surely not.

Ok, there are a couple of guides on this forum to give you a helping hand, one even has pictures, which helps a lot. I will post a link at the bottom of my post.

The most important thing with a motorised setup is to mount the pole PERFECTLY vertical, on a wall if you have one, that faces south, or near to it. Pole crooked- it will never work properly!!

2nd, make sure the latitude scale on your motor is set to your latitude.

I suggest that before you start to try and get the motor etc working, just to gain some confidence and a bit of experience, try lining the dish up for 28E. Just plonk the dish on the motor, and wiggle it around in the general direction to where all your neighbours sky dishes are pointing, until you get a good signal, then scan for channels and watch a bit of telly.

Next, try some of the other satellites like 19.2E and 13E, finally try for 1W, you should get it where you are, maybe 5W is closer, what is your longitude?

Anyway once you have had a practice, set the receiver for USALS, enter your latitude and longitude into it, and send the dish to 1W and the transponder to 11325H and wiggle the dish around for max signal quality, do a scan and you should get BBC World. You must swivel the dish up and down, and swivel the motor around the pole.

Now here are the proper guides:-

Installing A Motor With Photos

How to install a DiSEqC motor the right way


Are you still terrified?

nahh

Robbo


P.S LNB is set to UNIVERSAL on a motorised set up too.