How to fix your own Sky dish
September 23, 2008
With a little care and patience, you should be able to position your own dish. But if all this looks too daunting, just get in touch: we can do it for you.
You will need a compass to be able to position the dish accurately.
Dish Assembly
Assemble the dish following the supplier’s instructions.
Choosing the Installation Site
The site for the dish needs to have a clear view approximately (in Brittany) 40 degrees east of south. It will be pointing upwards at aproximately 30 degrees and at this angle there must be NO obstructions.
To save continuous compass checking while selecting the mounting site, pick a fairly distant landmark in approximately the right direction and then find a site from which this can be seen. The ideal position is around 3 mtrs from the ground on a wall adjacent to the site of the digibox (Sky box).
Installing the Bracket
Having chosen the site, fix the bracket to the wall as described in the instructions included with the dish: use a spririt level to esure that the bracket is mounted horizontally. Take your time. The more accurately you do this, the easier later stages become.
Pointing the Dish
Use the calculator to find the exact angles for your location.
Having mounted the dish on its bracket, take your compass once again and find a landmark that is in EXACTLY the direction from the calculator, and point the dish directly towards this landmark. Tighten the bolts on the dish so that it can still be moved but once positioned will stay in place.
Assuming that you are using a Sky dish, twist the LNB in in an anti-clockwise dirction as far as it will go, so that the connector is pointing to around 7 o’clock looking from the front of the dish.
Assuming that you are using a signal strength meter
Install the coax cable from the box to the dish, connecting one end to the box and the other to your meter. Connect the meter by a short lead to the LNB. Now connect the box to the mains and turn on.
You should now have a reading on your meter; procede to peak the signal. If you have no signal, see below.
Without a signal strength meter
If at all possible set the box and TV up so that you can see the TV from the dish; this will save a great deal of climbing up and down your ladder!
Connect the LNB to the box with co-ax and connect the box and TV to power.
Assuming that you are using a Skybox, select “services”, then “system setup” and then “signal test”.
You should now see a reading on the “signal strength” bar and also on the “signal quality” bar and the “lock indicator” should be “OK”, “network ID” should be “0002” and the “transport strength” should be “07d4”. The signal now needs to be peaked.
Peaking the signal
To do this move the dish a degree to the east: did the signal strenth go up? If it did, try another degree; continue untill the strength stops rising. If the signal strength went down, try turning the dish a degree to the west and proceed as above.
Once the east/west position is at its best, it is time to turn our attention to the elevation (up/down positioning). The principal is the same as before: make a small adjustment up or down, and if the signal strength increases make another small adjustment the same way; if the signal reduces, go the other way.
If you don’t have a signal
Double-check that the dish is pointing in the correct direction and at the correct elevation. Check that the cables are connected at both ends and that the modem is switched on.
Then
1) VERY slowly turn the dish a few degrees to the left; if you still get no signal then move the dish slowly a few degrees to the right
2) Still no signal? Raise the elevation of the dish by 2 degrees and try step one again
3) Still no signal? move the elevation date down 2 degrees (from the starting point) and try step one again
By now you should have picked up a signal; it now needs to be “peaked” as above.
Finally
Once you are confident that you have the signal strength as good as it can be tighten up all the mounting/adjustment nuts.
If your LNB came with a rubber gaiter for the cable, install this now. If you don’t have a gaiter then use self-amalgamating tape to waterproof the cable connection, clip the cable tidily, sit down and enjoy the TV.
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