Help Satellite setup in Spain needed!! Forums

AlexJ

Hi all, in a campsite in Tarifa (just north of Gibralter) at the moment that has wifi so can surf to my hearts content, anyway problem is we have a 82cm Maxview Oval roof mounted satellite dish and we are picking up diddly squat, i have tried all the diffrent transponder settings (12.129, 12.051 about 4 in all) dish elevation of around 35 degrees and are not having much luck!!

Question is, am i wasting my time, or is there another transponder setting that will give the NETWORK ID, i only want sky news, CNN etc, i know we are not going to get the rest, we have been near Mojacar for the last 3 months and we only got the news etc there (well about 40 channels in all).

Fergot to say the box we are using is a Pace SkyDigibox with one of those 20 quid sky cards!!

Will post a full report of our 5 months of fulltiming also soon in the other forums.

PS Portugal Next Hubba Hubba

Tasha

A couple of years ago, you could have had a good picture, but today almost everything has been taken off any transponder you can use. You would need a miracle or a 3 metre dish to get anything. You have more chance if you get a cheap European freeview set top, however picking up the correct satellites could be difficult if done manually

Good Luck enjoy the weather!

Tasha

jonh

We were in Tarifa a few weeks ago, the first site north of Tarifa adjacent to the longlong beach.
We received all channels except Channel 4 on an 80 cm dish, 12129 using an Oyster automatic.
I had to adjust the dish manually to improve the signal but the alteration was a fraction of a millimetre - anything else and I would have lost the signal.
Satellite reception was much better along the Algarve.

AlexJ

Oh to have an automatic dish, i have tried the 12.129 i'll try again tomorrow, just curious what digi box was it you had???

We are toying with buying a spanish digibox one, chap on our last campsite in Marbella had a locally bought one and he was getting everything, mind you he had a 110cm dish, oh well

Thanks for the heads up i'll give it a try tomorrow

Alex

jonh

Pace !

SorC

Nov 2004 I managed to tune into sky news plus a few others at Conil de la Fronterra with a 60cm dish on a flimsy tripod of the type sold at shows. I used a whistling sat finder with a needle indicator for signal strength to get the strongest signal then used the tv set with the digibox displaying signal strength for closer adjustment then tv picture for the final tweaking. It wasn't my dish but I’m sure the digi-box was a Pace. I thought that I hadn't been successful but the dish owners came by later to say that they had just turned the box back on and the picture was there. You may try switching off the power to the digi-box for a short while then resetting the transponder again and be sure to have the correct polarity and forward correction settings for the transponder you are using. Contrary to what we are told by the professionals it is still possible to get some channels without the box being ‘locked on’ and without displaying the sat I.D. Nos. Buying a Spanish box will be improve the signal strength and would be a waste of money unless you intend watching Spanish tv. If all this fails try tuning to the astra 19 or hotbird where you should still pick up english channels.If you look at http://www.lyngsat.com you will find the transponder info for all sats. Good luck, wish we were there.
Steve:roll:

AlexJ

scuse' my ignorance but can i tune the hotbird and astra 19 into my sky digibox?

If i can then can i get all the relevant info from the link you posted up?

Alex

DABurleigh

Alex,

With your equipment and the frequency set to 12.129 GHz, having done dish alignment correctly (turning digibox off, wait, then on if you get the "wrong" digital satellite before pointing at Astra2) you should see 07e6 on the Transport Stream and get a signal on the Signal Test screen. You may not see channels at this point but that's another stage.

I'm afraid without more detail on the process you follow and what you see or don't see, remote diagnosis is impossible.

Are you experienced in dish alignment when on the North beam?

Yes you can add other channels to a Sky digibox, but it's not designed to be user friendly in so doing. Press services, 4 twice for the Add Channel facility.

Dave

AlexJ

Hi Dave, all the way down through spain we have been able to tune in, but here we are having no luck, signal strength is 3/4, dish is around 35 degrees but it is showing no network id and no transport stream and the inline satfinder is squealing its head off, lnb is skewed clockwise but still we have nothing!!!

To be honest on the setting up on the north beam the answers never, i only bought the dish for while we are away.

Alex

SorC

Good luck Alex
Tuning in a satellite is only a matter of entering the set up menus and re-setting the transponder frequencies, forward correction setting and polarity for any given transponder. That will then enable you to seek for the satellite using a satfinder and the signal strength indicator from the digibox. If you are looking for astra 2D (sky uk) it is very close to another satellite and easy to get the peak signal on the wrong one. The difference in bearing and elevation is minute. If you look at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/de.sullivan/ the process of tuning a dish is very well explained. Lyngsat will give all the relevant figures you need and also a guide as to what is available from each transponder. When you have tuned in then use the ‘add channels’ menu on the digibox and select the ones you want then use the ‘other channels’ button to select them for viewing.
Thta's a lovely area you are in - unfortunately my wife decided she wanted to work this winter - Ist time in 5 years we've suffered a Northern winter. Don't know if we can face another.

All the best, Steve