Setting up a satelitte dish.

[Gripper]

Anyone done this in the UK,any tips.

[lynx]

Fixed or moveable?

If it is moveable, make sure that the pole attached to the wall is absolutely vertical before you do anything else.

Next, mount everything as it should be, with all the cables connected. Obviously at this point you are only guessing the right direction, elevation etc.

If it is fixed, look at other sky dishes nearby to get an approximate bearing and elevation. Even if you don't want to point at Astra 2, it is a good place to start because it has a strong UK footprint. You can then adjust the dish to find the satellite you want.

Once you've found the satellite you need to fine tune the position.

Adjust the dish upwards slightly until you lose the signal. Make a note of the position. Now adjust the dish downwards until you regain the signal and then move further until you lose it again. Make a note of the position. Now move the dish to the midpoint of the two positions you noted.

Now repeat this fine tuning in the East-West direction, then repeat it again in the Up-Down direction. You should now be centred on the satellite, and you didn't even need a meter.

If it is a moveable dish, there are lots of other things you need to take into consideration, but I'm not going to start on that if it is just a fixed dish.

[Gripper]

Cheers Lynx

[biggie944]

also have a look down your street and see where everyone elses dish is pointing to get the general direction.

[suprafreak6]

you trying to do FTA?

[darrenjdoc]

I am thinkin about settin up a satellite dish as i am fed up payin sky loads each month. All i ever watch on it is sky sports. Wat do i need to buy to be able get the foreign channels that show all the footie ??

[suprafreak6]

well i cant tell you how on here but i see no harm in telling you what you need...

you will need a FTA receiver...a dish satellite with single lnb...lots of wire...and assistance in pointing the dish

[lynx]

Assuming you are talking about receiving UK Premier League, an FTA receiver won't get you what you want, even the stations outside the UK are encrypted.

You also won't pick up the signals with a Sky dish, far too small for anything apart from the Sky channels on Astra 2.

So at the minimum you need another dish and a digital receiver with a card slot and cam which is compatible with a suitable subscription card.

If you want to look at more than one satellite you need two or more LNBs plus a switch, or a monobloc LNB. They latter don't cost that much more than a single port LNB anyway. Monobloc LNBs with 6 degree separation for picking up Astra (19.2E) and Hotbird (13E) are quite common, and between them those satellites (along with FTA feeds from your Sky box) have most of the channels you would want.

If that's not enough then a moveable system is needed, but that starts to get expensive.

Then all you need to do is get your subscription card, I've seen them advertised for around £100 for 12 months, far cheaper than Sky. If you ask them, Sky will try to tell you that they are illegal, but that's bullshit.

The alternative to a subscription card would be to get a linux based system with software cams, initial outlay more expensive than a standard system but cheaper in the long run. Unfortunately, if I told you how to set one of those up I'd have to kill you. Anyway, I'd have to wait for my brother to come back from holiday to get all the details. :whistling

[Mud]

You point it to the equator.

I have a class on this satellite right now

http://www.afcea.org/signal/articles/articlefiles/1023-Pic1-RKAsatellite.jpg

Its for JNN, a telephone system.

[Gripper]

I got it set up,its just for free channels for my boy,Mud's sat's a bit ott compared to mine.