B&Q Satellite - Ross freesat box and dish - Page 21

**Chris** · 21-03-2011, 12:40

Post merged into our ongoing Ross satellite thread

raging bull · 21-03-2011, 16:25

Regarding any faults in manufacture.
For an exchange B&Q normally require all items are returned within the 12month sale period (guarantee).
For a refund of purchase you have 45days.
(In both cases original receipt required)
Brian

david s · 01-04-2011, 09:13

Hi Guys.

I've just spent the time to read through this fascinating thread. and I think I can add something to it.

I'm new to this furum and new to sat finding other than in the old days of Sky analogue when I used to swing my dish around to 'see what was there'. So I hope I'm not in a grandma and eggs situation.

I bought the Ross system about 12 months ago (on offer at Homebase).

At first I simply used the reciever box on a spare output from my Sky lnb. This gave me the ability to watch an alternative programme whilst recording 2channels on my Sky HD box.

Anyway, I've recently aquired a mobile home so I decided to try out the system with its own dish with a view to taking it around with me.

I mounted the dish on a speaker stand (I do disco's) and stood it on the patio. I used a portable TV as a monitor and wired it all up. But try as i might I could not get a signal.

I resorted to phoning Ross.

I was told by their tech dept that the arm on their dishes is set at a different angle than conventional dishes and so the scale on the side of the dish is wrong

I had got the angle set at 24deg, as intructed by the information included with the system. I lowered the elivation by 10 degrees to an indicated 14 and hey presto... 59% signal.

Before somebody sugests that I had the bolts in the wrong holes or that I was using the 'B' scale..... no I wasn't.

This is apparently a trait of the Ross system.

Dave.

greyowl · 01-04-2011, 15:16

Just came accross this thread - thking of buying the Ross 8130 HD receiver from B&Q but I noticed that the external USB HDD has to be FAT32/16 hence maximum file size of 4 GB - too small for HD ?. I have prob. missed the answer to this on the thread but does this mean that recording via USB is at SD not at HD? So if you record BBC HD, for example, the recording is only standard definition ? I guess this would explain why it seems to be possible to play the recordings back on a PC since DRM would normally stop you doing this on HD content by encrypting the file.

greyowl · 02-04-2011, 00:48

Feel like a wally. Also emailed Ross Tech support when I posted and got a reply within 3 hours !!! Really impressed. The recordings are chopped into 2 GB segments and are HD. Unpacked the box and got it working in about 5 minutes after tweaking the sat dish. I am very impressed with this so far. By the way I just got my box from B&Q for 55.23 - normal price less 15% with voucher from Money Saving Expert valid 1st to 4th April.

MTJR · 08-04-2011, 22:12

Back again after all this time with my trusty (?) Ross box. This one has left me completely clueless.

Originally I had the dish mounted on a basketball pole in the garden. However, I recently tired of standing the thing up again after it was blown over by the wind so made the decision to hang it on the wall being more secure, etc.

I made the decision to invest in a Sat Finder to help me with alignment and set about the job in hand. The position the dish is in now is approximately 2 metres back and 1 metre higher than it was on the basketball pole.

Elevation set to 25 degrees and ensuring as much as humanly possible that the thing was level I then slowly rotated the dish to find my satellite. No matter what I do I can't seem to get anything other than the Astra 1 sat with all the German/French/Austrian stuff on it. And stranger still I find that same signal (Astra 1) in two places (admittedly not far apart). The Astra 1 signal is very strong giving me a maximum reading on the Sat Finder on the lowest dB setting (turned all the way to the left).

To check the equipment I put the dish back where I originally had it and hey presto, there's Astra 2 again. Back up on the wall and we have the same situation again with Astra 1.

After consulting with DishPointer I notice that Astra 1 is 10 degress more south and 2.8 degress less elevation. So I drop the elevation and turn ever so slightly to the left and.......NOTHING. Where is the damn thing? Why does someone keep moving Astra 2 when I'm not looking? Why have I been up a ladder for the last three days?

It's driving me nuts! Any guidance/help/advice gratefully received before I lose the plot completely and stick a mallet through the thing.

Yours, ever so calmly,
John

david s · 08-04-2011, 22:38

You might have not read my post 4 up from yours, I was told by Ross that the elevation scale on the side of the dish is out by 5 -10 deg. because the angle of the arm is not as it should be thus putting the LNB in the wrong place. Also, your basket ball post may not have been perfectly upright, They usually do lean a bit.
Where I am the elevation shoud be about 24 but the scale reads 15. Try lowering the dish. It worked for me.

alternatively....can you move the wall?

MTJR · 09-04-2011, 09:57

I had noticed your post Dave and have every intention of trying that today. The way it's working at the moment it's more likely I WILL move the wall than find Astra 2.

Just a question though. Is the Astra 1 signal more powerful than Astra 2 or would I expect them to be about the same?

John

david s · 09-04-2011, 10:14

I get a better signal on 2 but never more than 60% on anything.

**Chris** · 09-04-2011, 11:27

I wouldn't worry too much about the scale on the dish ... it's only any use if your bracket is perfectly vertical in the first place.

There are two ways of finding the sweet spot in the middle of the cluster of sats you need in order to get all the channels you want. You either buy a sat finder and whack it on the end of the arm (quick, but costs money) or you crank the thing round and round by hand, constantly checking and re-checking to see if your box is picking anything up yet.

I can't recommend the latter - I have just arrived at our holiday flat to find the dish has taken a real hammering from the coastal weather over winter. It took me 20 minutes to adjust the dish manually, and all I was doing was inching the bracket up and down (i.e. only moving the dish through the vertical plane). The dish mounts themselves are fine - rusted solid, in fact - but the bracket is ever so slightly loose. I got my channels back with the 'upright' part of the arm leaning forwards a fraction, which unfortunately means the weight of the dish and a few good storms will knock it out of line again. I'll be coming back in the summer with a selection of spanners and a sat finder, as I am obviously going to have an ongoing use for one.

Kymmy · 09-04-2011, 11:44

If you've not got a sat finder then a pair of PMRs (walkie-talkies) with someone watching the TV can be invaluable

david s · 09-04-2011, 12:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

If you've not got a sat finder then a pair of PMRs (walkie-talkies) with someone watching the TV can be invaluable

But don't forget that there is a delay between moving the dish and the TV/Tuner reponding and showing a picture. Unlike the instant responce of a sat-finder.

They also save having to ballance the 50" plasma on the top of your ladder.

Kymmy · 09-04-2011, 12:24

Also best is never move elevation at the same time as declination.

Set the vertical then go from side to side slowly.. if nothing found then slightly alter (only about a milimeter) the elevation again and go side to side.. Keep doing that until you find the sat you want

MTJR · 09-04-2011, 13:59

Thanks for the replies people.

A lot of patience and delicate hands are the points I'm picking up. When these things don't go the way you hope it becomes very easy to completely abandon one method for another in a short space of time. In effect, I could have been millimetres away from hitting Astra 2 many, many times but impatience has got the better of me.

I'll give it one last go today before admitting defeat. I do have a Sat Finder which has been very helpful in finding me Astra 1, even though I wasn't looking for it.

John

MTJR · 09-04-2011, 19:12

Success. Of sorts. I now seem to be pointing at Astra 2 and have some channels. But there are a few odd things I noticed.

1. When using the Sat Finder I get Astra 1 at the full reading even with the dial turned all the way to the left (maximum -dB setting). When pointing at Astra 2 I have to turn the dial down to about -3dB to register a reading. I thought that was odd.

2. All the channels have numbers before the Horizontal and Vertical designation. I could seem to get all the ones that started 10xxx but then nothing for any that were 11xxx and 12xxxx. A slight tweak in elevation seemed to fix this. Is that what is to be expected?

So, in summary, for now I'm happy (ish). After a good three days of faffing about with it I seem to have a half decent number of channels. It still strikes me as odd that I could get Astra 1 without even really trying but Astra 2 was very particular. When it was on the basketball pole it seemed to be the other way round yet there must be no more than 2 metres in terms of length between where it was and where it is.

John