just bought a satellite system for our camper,it came with a finder unit,but cant work it out from instructions,it has a small length of cable,which i think goes onto the LNB side,then there is the other side,which says TO REC,where does this go?what goes onto it?and where does the small cable fit to?basically i am stumped.
Is there a site where i can watch it being set up anywhere?i am sure once i have seen it i will wonder what was the problem
The finder goes in the cable, between the dish & the set top box. I believe they work better when not too close to the dish.
My dad reckons the best thing to do is line the dish up first with a compass (he has one on his watch). I will ask him the direction & post it here when I find out.
There are 2 satellites very close together, one will give you all foreign channels, the other is English stuff.
You point the dish in the direction with the compass then use the finder to "fine tune" direction.
It can be an infuriating process & you will have to concede sometimes you will not be successful at all. But he claims there is a nack to it & just to persevere until you get it right.
During 3 weeks bringing a boat back from mid France in 2009 I think there was only 2 or 3 nights where we couldn't get any signal at all. This was with a maplins kit, exactly the same as the Aldi one.
The finder has a short cable on it, si I would say this goes onto the dish, the long cable then goes from the finder to the telly.
Once the signal is sorted, you remove the finder & put your long cable straight onto the dish.
My dad thinks the compass direction is 148 degrees, but it's been a while since he used it.
He never had any luck with his finder & just used the beeping signal thingy on the set top box (don't know if an integrated telly would have this), but your finder may be a better one.
Proper satellite finders, as used by professional fitters, cost hundreds of pounds, so these cheapo sat finders simply can't be expected to do the same job.
If your box (in this case built into the TV) has a finder signal (continuous beep that changes pitch (gets higher or lower) as the signal improves or degrades) then use that as a good guide.
It can be a long job & it's one of those things you get better at with practise.
My dad's just said "I got really good at it after a while, I wonder if I've still got the old touch?"
Hopefully your telly has Free Sat, not "free view".
A satellite will not work free view, only an aerial will do this.
Also, I don't think the camping satellite dishes are compatible with home type "Free Sat" systems, I'm pretty sure you should use the box that came with the dish. Unless you're using a domestic dish???
An installer will be able to clarify this though.
All my above posts are based on a portable, plastic dish based, system, with small receiver box, meant for camping & boating.
Quote: Originally posted by nutgone on 08/6/2011
Also, I don't think the camping satellite dishes are compatible with home type "Free Sat" systems, I'm pretty sure you should use the box that came with the dish.
As long as the LNB is universal which has been the domestic standard for over ten years now the camping dish will work fine with a Freesat receiver.
now i,m getting worried,as i bought a cheap tesco tv with freeview believing it would be ok,didn't get a freesat box with the kit,just the dish,cable,and finder.I did ask the supplier before i bought it if it would work,and was told it would.So what you are all saying is i need a freesat box as well??
You said you bought a satellite system in your first post so that suggested it included a satellite receiver. You need a satellite box to use the dish and finder, whether it's a Freesat box or a Sky box or a generic FTA receiver it does not really matter.
Your Freeview TV needs an aerial to view Freeview.
Might help if you bought it from on-line supplier or Ebay seller if you provided a link.
wouldn,t know how to do a link,but bought it off ebay seller,looks a big firm,item no. is 310210733294,corresponded with them,telling them how i was going to use it,was told it should work with the kit i bought,which is why i have no sat box.presumably you can buy boxes seperately,do i need a freesat box,or will a sky box do?as i have an old sky box from when we changed to the hd box.
You bought a dish, tripod and finder that does not constitute a satellite system. See the replies by the various posters whom have responded.
The Ebay seller presumably assumed that you had a satellite receiver?
As I said in my post above you can use any satellite box so your Sky old box should be fine. Suggest you connect it up to your home dish and check it out first.
Going of topic slightly, but would you not think that they would be producing small tv's 10" 13" 15" etc that have a embedded satellite receiver, either Sky or Freesat or just plain old FTA satellite, they make big sets 32" etc with embedded satellite receivers, but not portables, surly there is a market for such an item.
AFAIK they do make tellys of all sizes with either Freeview or Freesat built in.
This TV needs looking at. If it says Freeview it needs an aerial. If it has a satellite connection on the back, then it should have a satellite receiver built in.
I thought the different systems pointed at different satellites & used different dishes, thank you Inner Zone for clearing that up. That was obviously a Sky installer trying to tell me I couldn't use a camping dish with a sky box because he wanted me to pay Sky's installation/set-up fees.
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Topic: how do you use the satelitte finder?
