Satellite Dish Elevation angle

There are a couple on e-bay at or near £35 one with free postage at £37

Looks like they are from china, but having bought mine this way, probably not a problem.

Sorry, not tech savvy enough to provide links. Google "topone321" £37.75 with free postage from Schenzen China.

When I had a tripod mounted dish I preferred to use an >analogue sat finder meter<. Much easier to identifiy maximum signal strength.

peedee

I used one of these previously, but for Sky Q, I was advised by a fellow member that I need a meter that has its own power supply in conjunction with a hybrid LNB standard LNB is fine for non, sky Q applications, so had to change to this type of meter.

However with the analog, it needs to be connected to the decoder/TV

The Satlink only needs to be connected to the dish and once programmed (very simple) is by far easier to use and so much less frustrating to use. Having used both types, I have no hesitation in opting for the Satlink for any application.

If it works here is an EB link  for a Chinees supplyer with a decent positive feedback.

-Satlink-WS-6933-2-1-LCD-HD-DVB-S2-

No idea if you get hammered with "Duty" as never purchased at this value from China.

 I bit more research indicates that £37.93 item from China jumps up to £53.52 by the time you get it as it incures both UK VAT at 20% plus an admin cost from the courier for collecting that VAT.

In this case as it is international mail, the Royal Mail will be responsible for the VAT collection and presently they charge a fixed £8.

So it is not yours for £38, unless it is misdescribed on the customs declaration and valued at £15 or less.

So pick a UK or EU seller, and buy before the end of the year if the latter, if you want it at the advertised price.

I often find that customs dec from China misdescribe the item, must be a language barrier, possibly.

How can you tell if an LNB is good quality?

Compare the noise factors or figure, the lower the better. Its not the end of the story by any means but one with less than 1db from a good manufacturer should be fine in all but the weakest signal areas.

BM I have never had SKY TV and when I had a dish on a tripod there was no such thing as SKY Q. About the only thing I know about it is the LNB is not Universal. How this effects detecting a signal I have no idea. The OP made no mention of SKY so I assumed keeping it simple and cheap would work.

peedee

Although we have Sky Q at home quite frankly I don't want it when we are away. It would be nice to view a few different channels for once.

I will look out for an LNB with a low noise factor. I am trying to keep the satellite set up a cheap as reasonable, as we would likely use the digital ariel when in England.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Most posts have information that others also find useful, so I covered all the versions that I have used following advice from others that proved useful. All correct at the time but options changed as my home satellite system updated.

The analogue meter gives a signal strength indication only, whereas the Satlink meter also allows the preferred satellite to be selected on the meter showing strength and quality signal ensuring you are not wasting time setting up on the wrong signal.

To give an example of a cheap set up, last year a chap pitched next to us came back from a day out, with a tripod dish cable and LNB he had purchased at a car boot sale for £10 as it looked like the one we had set up ( a bit tattier). He asked about how he could test it and what he would need to set up. 

I could only advise on the use of either Sky Q or Sky HD, which fortunately he would be using and the LNB was also for Sky.

We assembled the dish and tripod and connected the Satlink meter. after about 10 minutes from starting we were able to get a good signal from Astra 2. I also explained how he would need to connect the analogue meter to the receiver in order to set up.

So he had the choice of total of £25 with an analogue or £50 with a meter set up.  

Hope you get sorted.

I have always wondered why I have difficulty tuning in my satellite dish. It is always a sense of frustration  more likely to cause a divorce than putting up the awning. The problem I now find is down to the poor quality of the dish assembly. Firstly, the stamped elevation angle is 4 degrees out. The LNB arm is 3 degrees out. This results in not picking up the satellite at all even when using a simple meter. It picks up the next satellite which is not recognised by the receiver. So now after fiddling about to finally get a signal I have had to set the azimuth to 152 degrees the elevation to 29 degrees.Oh how I wish I'd invested in a better set up. The trouble was we did not know whether we needed it at the time. However, when we go away for four weeks to France we find it very useful to keep up to date with the news and when the weather is bad.Lastly, I am considering linking my television to a bluetooth speaker so I can hear the sound when it is set up correctly at the side of the dish. Hopefully, I then do not need the services of a very bored HTNTBO.