Finally went and bought a 27€ no-name 60cm dish and LNB from BricoCash. I also got a Chinese dish finder on eBay for 5€.
Set the approximate elevation before fitting the dish. Using a compass, I lined up a wooden lath on the ground to the azimuth for my region. Mounted the dish on the front of my lean-to shed, lined up the LNB feed arm by eye with the lath and found, using the dish finder, that I was only a couple of degrees away from the satellite.
I am getting 67% signal strength according to the meter in my Fransat box. No idea what that actually means in dB but I am getting perfect pictures. I may try some tweaking later, to see if I can get any improvement.
I have to say that Eutelsat 5W seems to be harder to find than Astra 28.2°. Maybe it is a weaker signal, but there is very little tolerance on adjustment. When tightening the clamps, I noticed that the signal would begin to drop off if I wasn’t careful to tighten the nuts on each side alternately.
In conclusion, I have to say that the satellite finder was a very good investment. It has sound as well as a visual scale and can be hung from the feed arm, leaving both hands free. It even has an illuminated scale in case you should want to use it at night! It is sensitive to all frequencies, so you don’t have to pre-select the satellite you are looking for from the menu on the receiver. And finally, by making the job easier, you are less likely to fall off the ladder (an all too common accident) and that has to be a good thing!
1 Like