How to point a dish using the Enigma 2 signal strength screen

[Fairly]

Hi all,

Noob question: Can I use the (OpenViX on GigaBlue) signal strength screen to align my dish?

I read elsewhere that I don't need to buy a signal meter device, that I can do it all with a website and a smartphone app to point the dish. I'm trying to get Freesat channels (Astra 2 @ 28.2E). I tried using an Android app (Satellite Director) in combination with a website (Dishpointer) to point the dish. With that done I selected Automatic tuning on my GigaBlue box and managed to tune many 'black screen' channels from Astra 3. Based on that I concluded that my dish elevation and azimuth are slightly off the mark. I went into tuner settings, selected the Astra 2 satellites in place of Atra 3, and then into signal strength screen, adjusting the dish to try to pick up a signal from the Astra 2 satellites. No matter how I adjust the dish though I can't see any hint of a signal. I'm fortunate to be able to postion the TV such that I can see the signal strength screen through the window, albeit with lots of climbing up and down the ladder.

I read around on the forum and saw a post suggesting that the box needs to have already tuned in the channels I want before the signal strength screen will work. Is this correct? If so, what approach should I take to try to align the dish? Given that it appears the compass in my smarthone is slightly off or is perhaps being interfered with by the steel in the ladder or dish, is there any better way than trial and error and repeated automatic tuning to get to get the signal strength screen to work for me?

Many thanks

 

[Huevos]

Yes, noob question. An app on a mobile will help by giving a starting point, then you either need a proper meter, or trial and error. Once you find the satellite you can tweak the dish using the signal meter on the receiver.

 

[Fairly]

Yes, noob question. An app on a mobile will help by giving a starting point, then you either need a proper meter, or trial and error. Once you find the satellite you can tweak the dish using the signal meter on the receiver.

Many thanks. Came back online to say that I figured it out. The 'Signal Finder' screen does indeed work in real time and so long as the correct satellite is selected in tuner settings. By setting a small TV on the windowsill and making tiny adjustments to dish alignment I was able to find and then improve the signal. I underestimated how miniscule the necessary adjustments need to be - I had messed up initially by making overly-large adjustments to dish elevation. Once I had that right it was easy to get a signal. Thanks again.

 

[Joe_90]

Thanks for coming back - good post for others trying to set up a dish. It's tricky, but not impossible to do without an actual meter for the likes of 28.2 or 19.2, providing you have some guide on where to point in the first instance. The mistake most noobs make is underestimating how tiny the adjustments are between hitting the correct satellite and ending up pointing at the wrong one. It's all too easy to line up a dish on 19.2E using a cheapo signal meter, then finding out that you can't tune in the Freesat/Sky channels. So, back up the ladder and then finding out how tricky it is to gauge the movement to hit Astra on 28.2E accurately. Well done on your attempts. Don't forget to twist the LNB in its holder to get the correct skew. You will see the signal drop off if the skew isn't correct.

 

[Fairly]

Thanks for coming back - good post for others trying to set up a dish. It's tricky, but not impossible to do without an actual meter for the likes of 28.2 or 19.2, providing you have some guide on where to point in the first instance. The mistake most noobs make is underestimating how tiny the adjustments are between hitting the correct satellite and ending up pointing at the wrong one. It's all too easy to line up a dish on 19.2E using a cheapo signal meter, then finding out that you can't tune in the Freesat/Sky channels. So, back up the ladder and then finding out how tricky it is to gauge the movement to hit Astra on 28.2E accurately. Well done on your attempts. Don't forget to twist the LNB in its holder to get the correct skew. You will see the signal drop off if the skew isn't correct.

Many thanks. I was aware of skew but believe it or not different sites and apps give me different numbers for skew. For example dishpointer dot com tells me my skew for 28.2E should be -16.8 degrees while dishpointer dot eu says my skew should be -24.3 degrees. There are loads of resources like this forum which are full of advanced information but I have yet to find a step-by-step guide for setting up a complete Enigma2 combi box as a novice, which might tell me which of these sites to trust for example. In this instance I've gone with -24.3 as the number given by the majority of sites and apps I've checked.

I managed to get what I believe is all of the free-to-air channels tuned yesterday but I found that the signal for a couple of channels, for example Al Jazeera, isn't quite good enough for a stable picture. The skies were clear yesterday. I had assumed that the signal strength for all channels would be roughly the same but it seems not - the signal strength for the transponder associated with this channel is much lower than most others. Before I go back up the ladder for more tiny adjustments to dish alignment, should I be thinking more about other factors such as trusting the wrong website for skew or perhaps a badly-attached F connector or similar? Can an imperfect dish alignment affect some channels much more than others?

 

[twol]

Many thanks. I was aware of skew but believe it or not different sites and apps give me different numbers for skew. For example dishpointer dot com tells me my skew for 28.2E should be -16.8 degrees while dishpointer dot eu says my skew should be -24.3 degrees. There are loads of resources like this forum which are full of advanced information but I have yet to find a step-by-step guide for setting up a complete Enigma2 combi box as a novice, which might tell me which of these sites to trust for example. In this instance I've gone with -24.3 as the number given by the majority of sites and apps I've checked.

I managed to get what I believe is all of the free-to-air channels tuned yesterday but I found that the signal for a couple of channels, for example Al Jazeera, isn't quite good enough for a stable picture. The skies were clear yesterday. I had assumed that the signal strength for all channels would be roughly the same but it seems not - the signal strength for the transponder associated with this channel is much lower than most others. Before I go back up the ladder for more tiny adjustments to dish alignment, should I be thinking more about other factors such as trusting the wrong website for skew or perhaps a badly-attached F connector or similar? Can an imperfect dish alignment affect some channels much more than others?

All these figures from apps are guidelines, so find the best settings for your setup by obtaining the best signal possible…then regardless of what an app might say thats the best for your location.
Also if like me (I live in an marginal reception area for 28.2E) weather conditions, time of year can have a bearing on the signal I receive e.g currently its raining, so bbc2 is gone, bbc1 fluctuates and ch4/5 are fine!

 

[Joe_90]

@Fairly - for 28.2, the usual skew is to have the cable pointing out of the bottom of the LNB at approximately 7 o'clock when looking at the dish from in front. The signal quality will vary if you rotate the LNB in its holder. Adjust for best quality.

 

[Fairly]

@Fairly - for 28.2, the usual skew is to have the cable pointing out of the bottom of the LNB at approximately 7 o'clock when looking at the dish from in front. The signal quality will vary if you rotate the LNB in its holder. Adjust for best quality.

Job done, many thanks For anyone else starting out who finds this thread - dishpointer dot eu has the correct figures for LNB skew (not dot com). Having the LNB skew set at somewhere around -24.5 degrees or so when I mounted the dish I could only improve the signal with a very tiny adjustment.

Next job - trying to figure out how the EPG thing works, and how to add channels like CNN and Euronews to the Freesat EPG set. No doubt the info is somewhere on the forum... looking forward to the day when it all 'just works'

 

[Joe_90]

Just use the Sky bouquet in ABM and set it for free-to-air channels only. You will get all the news channels you want

 

[sataday]

For setting dish up I use openwebif.
Just type in stb ip address on your phone, go to menu choose Satfinder and take it up the ladder with you.
As long as you are still in range of your home network you have a live readout oF the SNR/AGC

 

[Joe_90]

I think he has the dish set up ok at this stage.