Which Signal meter help aim Galaxy 25?

[coolpan]

Hi everyone

I want to aim my dish to the satellite galaxy 25 at 97W (dish diameter 80 cm, I am in Toronto). I have a lot of difficulty getting the signal even though I make a lot of effort to fix the right angles (azimuth and elevation). Before few months ago, I was receiving this satellite. I know it’s an old satellite with a weak signal strength compared to the new satellites (and probably weaker than it was few years ago, the satellite being at the end of its life; some people suggest that the available energy to feed the transponders is weaker). My question for the experienced people:

- Do you think a satellite finder can be useful to help find the signal (and not to be just an outside replacement of the receiver; my receiver to which I have a visual acces from outside was not helpful for me to find the satellite signal)?

- Which kind of a good meter do you suggest (for a maximum budget of a 100 $)?

Thanks for your help

 

[Zero]

Welcome to the forum.

I guess your dish may be little small since you are in Toronto. Here is California, I get all channels on 97W without any problem in a 76CM dish.

Instead of buying a meter, I guess getting the receiver and a small TV next to the dish, so that you can do the tuning is better. Also check if the LNB you have is in good condition. If it is old, go for a low noise LNBF.

Experts here will definitely answers your questions better.

 

[updatelee]

for under $100 get one of those cheap inline $5 ebay special's

if you want better then jvc and chnanel master (they look identical and bet they are) makes a nice dual analog meter with a battery pack, they control 13/18v and 22khz, the nice thing is they have alot of diagnostic abilities.

if you go digital go expensive or you wont be happy.

any digital meter under $300 is going to drive you bonkers (think acutrac). birddog or lacuna are ok, they at least show you the BER and posative identify the target satellite. but honestly need to be updated often and drove me to stop using mine for truefta. my satlook NIT for $1000usd is really nice, not perfect by far, but for what it does, its really handy.

 

[vfrjim]

I use a Satlook III that I purchased on Ebay to roughly set up my dishes. It does not identify that you are on a certain satellite but that is what a blind scan receiver is for, right? If you look for one long enough on Ebay, you should be able to find one for under $150. It might need a replacement battery, but that is under $20 and is easily found.

Jim

 

[updatelee]

all I do is look on TheList and write down a few tp's that are active on the satellite. then I tune my satlook to the strongest one, and I move the dish till I get signal on that tp, then as a double check I just tune the other freq that I wrote down to confirm its the correct satellite. works really fast, I was blown away how fast you can aim a dish with a spectrum analyzer, you can identify a tp peaking out of the noise floor WAY before any ird will even show you the slightest signal.

 

[turbosat]

Funny how that works, I've found that using my old coship receiver out by the dish, all I need to do is put it on any channel it has stored, and just watch the meter. It'll go up any time you get close to an active satellite. Might not be the one you want, but all you have to do then is peak the signal a bit and blindscan to see where you are.

 

[CryptKeeper]

Trimex

Try the Trimex Meter it is one of the best on the market. I have a Bird Dog and a Sat Hawk and the Trimex blows both of them away. It has a TV receiver built right in the meter.