sl65/12 Signal Intensity and quality doesn't vary.

[grahamh]

This is my first venture into satellite TV. Have just bought a portable camping system from Maplins and it seems to include a comag sl65/12 reciever.

Seem to have been able to connect all components correctly. I have set the receiver for Astra 2E. Tuning to channel 1, BBC 1, and selecting info gives me a signal intensity of around 80% and quality of 14%. The problem is that this doesn't vary at all. Wherever i point the dish and even if I disconnect the coax cable from the LNB I get much the same values. The only way i can get the value to change is to disconnect the coax from the reciever when the intensity drops to zero.

Do you think the reciever is faulty or am I doing something wrong.

Thanks in advance for your help. I am off camping in the next few days and i am desparate to see the Olympics.

Graham

[Robbo]

Hi,

Pointing the dish in the right direction takes a bit of practise and some patience if it is the first time.

Go to dishpointer.com to get a rough idea of the azumuth direction needed.

Set the elevation to what dishpointer says.

Then do like a scanning motion, moving the dish from one side to the other, keep repeating, with a very small adjustment in elevation each time, until you get a good signal. As you do this monitor the sig quality on the receiver of say 10773H (bbc1).

I would exppect the dish face to end up roughly vertical depending on your location.

[grahamh]

Thank you for your speedy response. I have tried using a compass and pointing the dish accurately.

However, i can point the dish at the ground and get no reduction in signal intensity or quality, which makes me think this is not working properly or is this sort of behaviour to be expected.

Many thanks


Graham

[Robbo]

You can't point a dish accurately with a compass.

Possibly there is an lnb fault, I don't know, does the siganl level go up and down at all, if you waggle the dish around?

[grahamh]

ok both intensity and quality stay pretty much the same whether i am point at the sky, at the ground or slowly scanning around the direction of Astra 2d. I have looked at dishpointer.com and see they mention LNB skew, something I haven't set - could this be having an effect?

[grahamh]

Sorry my quick reply didnt show up so repeating it here - apologies if it shows up twice.

Both intensity and quality seem pretty much fixed. They do change a little but not much wether i am pointing at the floor, the sky or even if the dish is indoors.

I have looked at dishpointer.com and see that they mention LNB skew. This is something i havent played with.Could it be having an effect? Dishpointer says -13.6 degree then shows a anti-clockwise arrow. Does this mean 13.7 degrees clockwise when looking at the dish?

Off now to try playing around more accurately.

Will let you know what happens

Grahamh

[brian]

Apologies for that, Grahamh - for some reason your posts were setting off the anti-spam filter - now corrected.

[Robbo]

Originally Posted by grahamh

Does this mean 13.7 degrees clockwise when looking at the dish?

Yes, for Hotbird you rotate the LNB clockwise. At this moment,it seems that your LNB is cream crackered , as one would expect the signal level to change by a reasonable amount. If you manage to get a signal at all you will know it is OK. If you have no success after a bit more playing, I think I would be tempted to try another LNB, they are very cheap.
Also a good idea to ensure that your cable is 100% too.

[grahamh]

Thank you. I will try a new LNB when i get back from holiday.

[Yorks]

Also check that your 'f' connectors are properly fitted at both dish and receiver end. If any stray braided wires come into contact with the core wire, you will get a short circuit.

This will show you how to make a good connection.

http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/fconn.htm

Yorks