[mythtvnz] Aligning a Sky dish for Freeview

[Barry Clearwater]

Ok, I'm slow at replying but this hasn't yet been said so...

Possibly to add to the very good pdf at freetv.co.nz, under the free
satellite DIY guide these specifics for the Optus D1 satellite:

There is a cheap $20-$30 version of the beeper/meter you can buy at Dick
Smiths or online, or maybe even borrow one which helps you pan through
the signals from the satellite. As said in the guide it gets connected
in between the dish and the receiver or sat card, using power from the
card to operate once its all connected up.
Depending on your mount, the dish may have an angle of tilt indicator,
you are looking for 35=C2=B0-37=C2=B0 tilt above the horizon as your star=
ting
point.
Optus D1 is certainly strong, and it peaks the meter a lot stronger than
the nearest satellite to it. The trick is to sweep s-l-o-w-l-y from just
before NNW towards N and watch the meter and listen to the beep for the
strongest tone/signal. There may be 3 or 4 small peaks but the advise
from an installer to me was it was the second signal but by far the
strongest. You can repeat this manoeuvre a couple of times taking note
of where the signal peaks are. Once settled on your direction  160=C2=B0,=
 you
may need to fine adjust the vertical tilt for max signal.
To tune the LNB to the right polarisation (ie rotating it) there should
be a null signal at 90=C2=B0 off of the correct Horizontal Polarisation w=
here
the meter drops off. You should then come back 90=C2=B0 for best signal. =
You
will probably need a signal level meter off the actual receiver or from
the mythtv channel tuning helper, or use one of the scripts that take a
feed directly from the card.  The one I used talked/spoke out the signal
levels from the sound card speakers! 56 55 53 50 40  etc etc.
This was my experience and I got a pretty good result with very little
mucking around.

On Mon, 2007-08-06 at 15:11 +1200, Jonathan Guthrie wrote:
> A while ago we had Sky via satellite, then we got it cheaper and =20
> easier via TelstraClear cable... however the dish stayed on the roof =20
> until we replaced the roof last year.
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> However I'd like to put it back on the roof and set it up so I can =20
> get Freeview on MythTV :)
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> Is there any resource out there that may save me time/hassle working =20
> out how to align it etc?
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> ta.
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> Jono
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> // ---------------------------------------------------------
> /*
>      Jonathan Guthrie
>      xServe Ltd, Wellington NZ
>      jono@xserve.co.nz   |   http://xserve.co.nz
>      DDI +64 4 978 7388   |   Mob +64 21 678890
>=20
> */
> // ---------------------------------------------------------
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--=20
Barry Clearwater <barryc@bcsystems.co.nz>