My Humax Forum » Freesat HD » FOXSAT HDR

HELP - Nothing appears to Work

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    Jonno_Carter

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    Hi, Humax Foxsat HDR was working perfectly happily until the dish was taken down in June Due to building work. I put it back up last week, no satellite detected. I bought a new LNB - SKY J4S. Still didn't work. I have now tried a new cable, still not working. If the dish is not aligned, will I get any signal from any satellite or is my Humax likely to not be working? Any help would be great. Thanks Jonno

    | Sat 3 Nov 2012 16:08:30 #1 |
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    dino

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    Jonno,

    If the dish is not aligned closely enough to the correct satellites, you will get nothing. A good start would be to follow the Freesat alignment instructions at

    http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/

    Worked for me.

    Good luck.

    | Sat 3 Nov 2012 21:10:54 #2 |
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    Bargain Dave

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    Jonno_Carter - 6 hours ago  » 
    Hi, Humax Foxsat HDR was working perfectly happily until the dish was taken down in June Due to building work. I put it back up last week, no satellite detected. I bought a new LNB - SKY J4S. Still didn't work. I have now tried a new cable, still not working. If the dish is not aligned, will I get any signal from any satellite or is my Humax likely to not be working? Any help would be great. Thanks Jonno

    Did you put up the originally before you took it down for you building work?
    If the answer is no, and you have no experience of putting up satellite dishes, it proberbly best to call out installer who will have the correct equipment to align the dish in a matter of minuites. If you do not have this equiment is more or less impossible to alin the dish correctly with the correct satellite. With a digital signal you can not just use a tv to align the dish. You could spend all day trying and still will not be successfull.
    Unlike normal tv antenna a satellite dish needs pin point accuracy alignment as it looking for a little dot in the sky.

    | Sat 3 Nov 2012 22:40:23 #3 |
  4. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    Bargain Dave - 35 minutes ago  » 

    Jonno_Carter - 6 hours ago  » 
    Hi, Humax Foxsat HDR was working perfectly happily until the dish was taken down in June Due to building work. I put it back up last week, no satellite detected. I bought a new LNB - SKY J4S. Still didn't work. I have now tried a new cable, still not working. If the dish is not aligned, will I get any signal from any satellite or is my Humax likely to not be working? Any help would be great. Thanks Jonno

    Did you put up the originally before you took it down for you building work?
    If the answer is no, and you have no experience of putting up satellite dishes, it proberbly best to call out installer who will have the correct equipment to align the dish in a matter of minuites. If you do not have this equiment is more or less impossible to alin the dish correctly with the correct satellite. With a digital signal you can not just use a tv to align the dish. You could spend all day trying and still will not be successfull.
    Unlike normal tv antenna a satellite dish needs pin point accuracy alignment as it looking for a little dot in the sky.

    It's far from impossible, I have aligned quite a few. The link to Satellite For Caravans is an excellent resource, as is http://www.dishpointer.com.

    Caravanners set up a dish in a few minutes all over Europe, all it takes is a little practice and a cheap bleeper meter to get a basic lock on the required orbital point.

    After that you just use the sat box signal strength and quality diplay to maximise quality, azimuth (direction), elevation (up/down) and Skew (lnb twist).

    The most common thing beginners get wrong is to imagine that when you move a dish a tiny amount then the sat tuner will respond immediately, they don't. Make tiny adjustments and give the tuner time to respond.

    | Sat 3 Nov 2012 23:24:03 #4 |
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    dino

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    I guess it's a balance of how much you consider your own time to be worth against the cost of calling someone in. I've heard that some installers may want to use new dish/LNB/cabling so that all the kit is fresh and can be given a warranty.

    Getting an initial alignment on the correct satellite is probably the hardest bit. Optimising the alignment once you've found the satellite then requires patience and persistence.

    I had noted the position of the sun during one of the solar blackout periods earlier in the year so I had a rough idea of the direction and angle needed. I was able to find it using a cheap meter without too much problem then moved on to the tweaking.

    If Jonno noted the original orientation of the dish before it was removed, then that is the starting point.

    All the information for finding a starting point and tweaking is at the links provided.

    Overall, it took me a morning to do - probably about half an hour was spent adjusting the dish, the rest running cables etc.

    Make sure the mounting is rock-solid and vertical before you start. If the dish has an offset LNB (most do) start with the face of it vertical (not pointing up to the sky).

    | Sun 4 Nov 2012 8:04:34 #5 |
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    Jonno_Carter

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    Thanks to all. The original dish was up already when we bought the Humax, I bought a new LNB back then & reset the dish & it all seemed to go smoothly! I will have another go now & let you know how it goes! Wish me luck!

    | Sun 4 Nov 2012 11:15:59 #6 |
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    Jonno_Carter

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    Which is the best screen on the Humax to be on to monitor the changes as I alter the dish position? Unfortunately I clicked factory reset, so lost the original channel turnings from when the dish was originally positioned.

    | Sun 4 Nov 2012 11:22:08 #7 |
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    Jonno_Carter

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    85% strength 100% quality tuner 1 and 95% & 100% for Tuner 2.
    Happy with that
    Thanks for the advice.
    Jonno

    | Sun 4 Nov 2012 12:18:06 #8 |
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    Jonno_Carter

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    A tidy up, a tightening of bolts, a twist of the LNB and a spray of the dish to jet black and I am on 100% for both strength & quality for both tuners

    | Sun 4 Nov 2012 13:08:02 #9 |
  10. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    Jonno_Carter - 10 minutes ago  » 
    A tidy up, a tightening of bolts, a twist of the LNB and a spray of the dish to jet black and I am on 100% for both strength & quality for both tuners

    Well done, it's not impossible is it ?

    | Sun 4 Nov 2012 13:19:12 #10 |

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