Dreamcatcher won't power 'satellite finder'

I had some trouble pointing at the satellite (through trees, though it is winter and there are no leaves on them). I tried to connect one of those inexpensive ‘sat finder’ boxes with an analog meter to the Dreamcatcher to see if I could use it to make fine adjustments to the LNB and peak the signal. However it seems that the Dreamcatcher can’t power the finder, it shuts down.

I assume I can power the finder from a battery, but do I want to run it at 13V or 18V (RHCP/LHCP)? Is this kind of meter even appropriate to use with this type of LNB and satellite signal?

i think that such a meter will not help you, the Signal of Othernet is way smaller in terms of bandwidth then the one of TV Channels. You should use 14V to power the lnb etc.

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Thank you- I was wondering… Also, does a meter like that even work with a linear LNB (vs the circularly polarized DTV type LNBs)? Are the LNBs even in the same frequency range?

I guess I don’t really know how these meters work. There are multiple transponders per satellite, so what is the signal strength that is shown on the meter? An aggregate of all of the signals that the meter sees (at once)?

It’s a good question if the Satfinder even looks at the right Frequency, i would just not use the finder you have, rather use a satfinder App to align to the Satellite when the new Signal is live :slight_smile:

those old analog satfinders can only scan the whole frequency range, so they are a very ruff estimate.

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Can you show a picture of the meter? Are you planning on using it with a dish? The 14V requirement isn’t a problem, but the matter can’t see the specific Othernet carrier unless you are using a dish. With a bare LNB, the meter will see signals from about 10 different satellites.

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It’s this kind of very simple signal meter with variable attenuator:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Satellite-Finder-Signal-Strengh-Meter-Directv-Dish-FTA/284113176803

I wasn’t planning on using a dish, but I could. I pointed at what I thought was the right location but barely got any signal (maybe 3 packets). I’m pretty sure I’m pointing at the correct
-Elevation (using an iphone level app as an inclinometer)
-Azimuth (using an iphone compass)
-Skew (per dishpointer.com)

this is an analog satellite finder :
Satellite_Finder

it is a very simple circuit ,only say the strenght of the signal for a satellite,and now we have a lot of satellites around us upthere

Jup QO100 is around there :slight_smile: But jeah, today such a satfinder is useless i think, especially for Signals outside of tV

Cheap meters are not very useful. If there is insufficient power from the dc the way to use them is to connect to a satellite receiver or a power source for the LNB. They are broadband anyway so he fact that the outernet signal is small is immaterial as you are looking for the satellite which has a lot of other loud transponders on it. Dish alignment is an art and gets progressively harder the larger the dish. With no dish at all it should be very easy. I bought a cheap satellite meter from LIDL to lend to people who want to borrow one, as they are not getting their grubby hands on my expensive meters :slight_smile: You can get a quite decent satlink meter from Banggood for around $80 which will show signal strength and qualiy for individual transponders. I find mine good for aligning dishes for BBC tv off 27w as the signal is BISS encrypted.

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So it seems this is the reason for why the newly purchased unit not powering on.

Digital Satellite Finder Meter
$30.00 amazon :: https://amzn.to/2ZAIaZL

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what to do now.

what is the othernet satellite name, to confirm ?

for Europe the new satellite should be Eutelsat 8WB (8° West) and for the US i think it stays on SES-2 - At the moment there is no broadcast. The Eutelsat does not carry regular TV-Programs* on the KU-Europe beam so pointing may be a bit of a hassle.

  • There are a few testcards, narrow-band digital redio stations, occasional feeds and a couple of data transponders in the range 12500-12750. But main use of this satellite is KU-MENA and KU-East (
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There is indeed a lot of MENA and EAST activity plus a couple of Europe transponders. Nothing much for non arabic speakers.

The easiest way to get it working at the start is using a dish, you can pick them up for peanuts but make sure you get the 40mm clamp. If you have a spectrum analyser or digital meter then you can see the transponders. The analog meter will only tell you relative amplitude and without a dish the signal is in the noise. With a dish you will at least see when you are peaking up but you cant know for sure you are on the correct sat.
The Othernet transponders are very narrowband, in the order of a few kHz so are pretty difficult to find but once you find one they look vastly different.

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Above image is the EU Othernet downlink on a 60cm dish direct out of the LNB Lband with about +9dB SNR on the DC3.03.
This next image is -10dB SNR and locked, as you can see although you are still locked you cant observe any change as the signal in in the noise floor so unfortunately no meter will pick this up with the exception of the dreamcatcher! Using a dish you have a decent chance of locking on and a good place to start.

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Once you have the whole setup working with a dish, you can then attempt to link without it.

When you finally find the correct satellite, get behind the dish or LNB and look down the line of sight and spot a tree or object. Then draw or take a picture of it to help alignment in the future. Remember if you move the antenna even a few feet, the line of sight object will not be correct.