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canvasrep,

If my memory serves me well, the elevation is about 28 degrees - which is almost horizontal. The biggest mistake people make when trying to align their sky dishes is that they tilt the dish too much to point to the sky. The bearing is 28.2 degrees, which is a south east direction. The foreign satellite you picked up whilst at home once was probably 'Hotbird', which would indicate that you had the dish tilted too far back and too much to the left or the right. Obviously make sure there is a clear line of sight to the sky, with no trees or buildings in the way or else you won't get any signal. Try Googling for a decent sat aligning meter or see what Ebay have. Make sure all the 'F' connectors are good and that you have a good quality twin screened (double insulated) coax cable. If all else fails then it would appear that the LNB (the big blob on the end of the dish where the coax connects to) has gone faulty. These LNB's are very fragile and usually break when hit. When aligning the dish, move it very slowly at a time to allow the dish time to find the satellite. I've seen so many people trying to align their sky dish by spinning it around as if they are trying to turn over an engine with a starting handle!

Good luck!

I know I will need to do something soon as we only have a cheap analogue telly in the caravan with hit and miss viewing depending on location, but oh dear as soon as I start to read some posts and it gets technical my mind just shuts down. I am such a technophobe. Basically I am not bothered about a load of channels. If we cannot watch  desperate housewives or greys anatomy while we are away then so be it. We will watch a video instead or read or talk  but can anyone tell me what I need to get basic TV without too much hassle please.

thanks

Robin

robin52,

In 2012 the UK goes fully digital. You won't need to throw away your trusted tv in the caravan. However, you'll need to buy a freeview box, which are quite cheap nowadays. This freeview box will receive the digital signal and send it to your tv. You will obviously need a digital wide band aerial to receive the signal and maybe a booster. Make sure you have good quality coax cable as there is alot of signal loss through cheap cable and this cheap cable will help the picture to break up, which is what you don't need. Try and mount the aerial up as high as possible and away from as many obsticles as possible, such as trees and buildings. When the digital switch over happens by 2012, the signal power should be increased, but not at the moment otherwise the increased signal would bleed over and knock out the analouge signal.

Happy viewing!

hI canvasrep,

If you look on www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk there is a lot of advice on checking connections,setting up and checking your dish alignment.

Terry

i work on 20 degs from the horizontal on the dish and for me its pointing down not up.in england find compass bearing 143 to 145 and your not far off.as a rule you find the satellite.then just fine tune.only turn the dish in millimeters each way.as said tall buildings and trees can be a no show.york comes to mind as it has tall trees. this is good michael put on.

http://www.dishpointer.com/ 

Your Location	Satellite Data	Dish Setup Data
Latitude: 54.6004° Longitude: -3.1363°	Name: 28.2E Astra 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D Distance: 39401km	Motor Latitude:  54.6° Declination Angle:  7.7° Dish Elevation:   ° Elevation:  21.6° Azimuth (true):  143.2° Azimuth (magn.):  146.8° LNB Skew