Dreamcatcher won't power 'satellite finder'

#1

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?

#2

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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#3

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)?

#4

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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#5

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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#6

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

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)

#7

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

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ERY3d12W4Act_KN1280×1024 136 KB

#8

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

#9

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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#10

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

image

what to do now.

what is the othernet satellite name, to confirm ?

#11

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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#12

https://www.eutelsat.com/files/Satellites/Downlinks/E8WB_Ku-band_Europe_downlink.jpg

There is indeed a lot of MENA and EAST activity plus a couple of Europe transponders. Nothing much for non arabic speakers.