"Tweaking" a Satellite Dish

[Alan-LaCala]

Since the high winds of a few weeks ago we have had difficulty getting Channel 4 in the evening. Until then it had generally been fine, except if the weather was very bad. While I do not watch much Ch 4, I do occasionally.

Can someone (Beach?) explain what is meant by "tweaking". Are we talking about the actual dish itself, or the LNB?

Is it something you can do yourself? Someone at one of my classes said you need a professional with some instrument to measure signal strength.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Alan

[hillybilly]

You certainly can tweak it yourself, no special equipment required.
You need 2 people - one on the roof (or wherever the dish is!) with spanner and one watching the TV!
You most probably need to move the dish itself very slightly, then wait a bit and then see how the signal strength and quality responds from the blue services/system setup/signal test screen.
If you know what sort of bar readings you were getting previously, try and restore these or just try to get both readings as high as possible!
Hours of fun..

[spanish_lad]

its something that you can do yourself, but its not recomended, its VERY easy to mess up the alignment.

its alot easier to pay someone 40€ to come in and do it properly.

[Beachcomber]

Yes, it's easy to lose everything and not be able to get it back.

If you do try it yourself make sure you mark the existing settings so that you have a reference point to which to return if everything goes wrong.

The best results are obtained with special equipment using a spectrum analyser costing €3.000 or more but, believe it nor not, I have seen so called professional satellite installers using the system described by Hillybilly.

If you wish I can PM you the telephone number of someone who has the proper equipment, who does the job properly and covers your area and, although I have the equipment, it's not me because I only do it as a hobby.

[hillybilly]

You killjoys you! It's a great afternoon's entertainment keeping your OH up on the roof while you shout "left a bit....no, right a bit...."!

[El Cid]

Since the high winds of a few weeks ago we have had difficulty getting Channel 4 in the evening. Until then it had generally been fine, except if the weather was very bad.

From what I have read on the various Sat forums, there is a problem with the C4 transponder at the moment.

It should get corrected automatically at some point. Until then, we have no signal at all whereas before we had it 24/7.

C5, which was always a problem in the late evening, is still about the same.

Sid

[pmb]

El Cid - have you tried CH5 on the south beam 12.422 H 27500 2/3 comes up as 7505

[Miro]

After paying someone with a fancy bit of equipment to install our dish originally, I got fed up with the variable reception for CH4 so got up there and "tweaked" it myself - 30 seconds fiddling and signal strength & quality better than ever. Still can't get CH5 at night mind you.

[El Cid]

El Cid - have you tried CH5 on the south beam 12.422 H 27500 2/3 comes up as 7505

Thanks for that but no I haven't tried that - mainly because there is nothing on C5 after 9pm that I want to watch!

I'd like C4 back though.

Sid

[vindaloo1973]

Some of my clients have tried and fix their problems themselves, but usually they make the problem worse.
I have been installing Sky Digital in Costa de la Luz/Costa del Sol for five years without the need of a spectrum analyser (the spectrum analyser does not see digital signals and that makes the job a lot harder) I use a meter that shows me the digital signals from 28.2º.