sat meter for aligning dish

[lost_one]

I'm installing a non-motorised dish with single LNB for 28.2E, but I may want to add sats in the future via motorised/DiSeqc.

I've tried out some of the satellite aligning/dishpointer apps on Android, they look pretty good, but I haven't installed the dish yet.

Is it worth buying a sat meter in 2021, or should I just use the phone apps to align the dish?

If I do get a meter, I'd like to keep it around 100 Queen's notes.

Has anyone heard of, or used one of these: https://www.satellitesuperstore.com/satellitemeters.htm#sf700

or these: Link.removed/according-to-forum-rules

Thanks

[ronand]

Yes a proper meter will help you get the best reception especially with a motorised system. Our forum sponsor sells a few different models https://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/satellite-and-terrestrial/satellite-and-terrestrial-signal-meters

[abu baniaz]

If you are only doing the one dish, I don't think it is worth getting a meter. You should be able to do it with signal finder on image or the phone apps. If you struggle, maybe then.

Forum sponsor sells meters too.

[Joe_90]

I'd echo what abu says - not worth getting a meter if you are initially setting up a fixed dish. Use the built-in signal finder or one of the phone apps. Even with a motorised setup I have my doubts about the return you would get splashing cash on a decent meter. They are really for pros where time is money.

[lost_one]

Thanks for the input guys

I'll stick with the built-in signal finder and the phone apps.

[nekrub2]

My dish is not professionally fixed. So after a heavy thunderstorm I usually have to realign it. The dish is not on the roof but in an angel of my backyard patio. With the signal finder it can be a bit annoying getting in and out until it is perfect. These are the situation I wished I had a signal meter.

[lost_one]

Thanks for all of the great info.

I finally received a Gibertini 85cm dish that wasn't damaged today, the previous two arrived dented/cracked. I installed new dish and Unicable II LNB. Thanks to all OpenVIX forum members that uploaded the excellent support/screenshots on the Unicable II tuner configuration.

The installation and alignment went easier than I thought, I probably got lucky. The phone apps weren't actually all that helpful, as when I placed phone on LNB arm, the azimuth reading fluctuated like crazy. I suspect magnetic interference from the feed arm? I stood beside the dish and eyeballed the azimuth and very slowly adjusted the elevation to where I got a picture on the TV. Then I experimented with azimuth/elevation/LNB skew to obtain the highest percentage SNR value.

I have a couple of questions...of course...lol

On Sky News SD I'm getting 93% SNR

BBC news HD 86% SNR

ITV 1 HD 85% SNR

ITV 2/3 96% SNR

Is it possible to get all of these SNR values above 90%, or is this probably the best it's gonna get?

We're supposed to get heavy rain/winds tomorrow, so that will be the real test for the new setup.

Once again, thanks for everyone's help and input on this forum, it made things a lot easier.

[adm]

Is it possible to get all of these SNR values above 90%, or is this probably the best it's gonna get?

We're supposed to get heavy rain/winds tomorrow, so that will be the real test for the new setup.

Don't worry about the figure you have for the SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio)

28.2E isn't just one satellite - you are recieving from Astra 2E, Astra 2F and Astra 2G - a cluster off satellites

The more important figure is the BER (Bit Error Rate) which ideally should be zero

With a sky type minidish (zone 2 in a zone 1 area) I've only had rain fade a couple of times over the years and this has been when the rain has turned the road outside my house into a 2 inch deep river and it has not lasted for more than 5 to 10 minutes.

[lost_one]

Thanks for the info adm

The BER is zero an all channels I have checked.

I'm asking about the SNR values because this is the reason I installed a new dish.

I live in southwestern Germany( near Luxembourg/France) and we had a Sky minidish ( not sure about zones anymore), but it looks like about 50-60cm dish, and the SAT would go out during a light to moderate rain. The SNR values on the old dish were around 45 - 60% range on most channels, that's why I thought a re-align/new dish would help.

I'm hoping the bigger dish solves this problem.

Thanks for your help.

[Joe_90]

Bigger dish is always better:trustme:
The Sky dishes max out at about 60cm, so you are much better off with a quality Gilbertini 85cm dish. I don't get any BER values (other than zero) on my AX61 receiver, even when I am tweaking reception on weak transponders on various satellites. I just work off the SNR values. @twol will advise as to best achievable signal in SW Germany from the Sky constellation of sats.

[twol]

Thanks for the info adm

The BER is zero an all channels I have checked.

I'm asking about the SNR values because this is the reason I installed a new dish.

I live in southwestern Germany( near Luxembourg/France) and we had a Sky minidish ( not sure about zones anymore), but it looks like about 50-60cm dish, and the SAT would go out during a light to moderate rain. The SNR values on the old dish were around 45 - 60% range on most channels, that's why I thought a re-align/new dish would help.

I'm hoping the bigger dish solves this problem.

Thanks for your help.
You are very lucky. I initially had a 1 metre dish, but even now with a 1.5m the 2e/2f services are very poor. At Ulm further West a 1 metre dish I set up was absoutely brilliant, so you should have no issues. Going west from here its amazing how fast the reception improves.

My poor reception (e.g. no ITV HD on 28.2E) was why I installed a dish for 27.5W