"Steve" wrote in message
...
Hi. I'm new to satellites and am doing a DIY installation.



I'm having problems aligning my new dish and wondered if anyone can
advise. I get very strong signals from Astra 1F at 19.2E and Astra 1E at
23.5E with the same dish position - loads of channels. Signal strength
and quality are about 80% for both 1F and 1E.



But I want 'Astra 2' at 28.2E and can't find it. My satellite-finder
meter give a very strong signal for the Astra 1s but reducing the
elevation and going east a few degrees gives only a weak signal the
receiver doesn't recognise.



A couple of questions occur to me:



1. When I point the dish at the Astra 1s, the dish is vertical, as the
offset angle equals the elevation (about 24deg). Astra 2 has a smaller
elevation so I have to point the dish downwards and I get a lot background
radiation from the garage roof when the dish is pointing downwards. Could
this mask Astra 2? If so I'd have to raise the dish's height or change it
for one with a smaller offset angle. Aargh.



2 Is Astra 2's signal strength a lot weaker than Astra 1s? So should I be
looking for a much weaker signal than my meter gives for the Astra 1s?
With the Astra1s, the signal is so strong that the meter is off the scale
even with the sensitivity fully down.



For information I'm in the UK (Devon) which is Zone 1. I have a new 60cm
dish and a new Labgear DV3 receiver.



Suggestions gratefully received.



Steve


I'm no expert and I had a lot of trouble aligning my motorised dish that was
resolved after a lot of googling established that the Fortec Star LNB was
non standard and the setting angle was wrong. The two links below may help
with basic alignment

http://www.uksatellitehelp.co.uk/200...calculator-v2/

http://www.puntodepartida.com/en/gui...g_the_dish.php

Pete