This document provides instructions for setting up a satellite antenna to receive digital signals after the switch off of analog signals. It explains that digital signals are harder to find than analog ones so alignment will take longer. It provides a table to determine the correct elevation angle based on latitude for satellites in a southern position. It notes there is no scale to adjust east/west positioning, making alignment more difficult without a motor.

1. Antenna Setup BEGINNER SECTION
Basic setup of
lite your search will be in vain. As decreases by a maximum of one
long as there are still some analog degree.
signals left, an old analog receiver
satellite antennas
for the antenna alignment will Next, the hunt for a signal can
do a perfect job. But what to do begin by moving the antenna
after the switch-off of all analog towards the desired satellite’s
signals? In this case a systematic position. In order to check the
approach is required. success of the search on the TV
screen the digital set-top box has
The digitalisation of satellite channels is progressing rapidly If only a single satellite is to be to be tuned into a channel on that
and soon there will be no more analog satellite channels in Europe. received the antenna alignment satellite. Of course new receivers
Once the conversion is completed old analog receivers are ren- can be fixed at the particular posi- have a pre-programmed channel
dered useless and have to be replaced by digital set-top boxes. tion. In order to align the dish list, so selecting a valid channel
correctly the elevation has to be should not be a problem. How-
In most cases it is sufficient to and alignment will invariably take adjusted properly using the scale ever, since transponder data do
simply unplug the analog receiver longer than before. In the analog on the antenna pole. However, the change in the course of time it is
and connect the antenna cable to days it was quite easy to simply correct elevation depends on the advisable to check the pre-stored
the new digital box. As a general move the antenna until a blurry local degree latitude. Below are data against the current SatcoDX
rule the antenna alignment should image appeared on the TV screen. the values for a satellite that is frequency chart.
remain unchanged, unless the A little fine-tuning was all that was in a precise southern position (in Unfortunately there is no
dish has not been aligned properly needed until the TV screen showed a precise northern position when scale on the pole for turning the
in the first place and needs fine a clear picture. This is not possi- seen from the southern hemi- antenna to the East or the West.
tuning. All this should not pose a ble any longer with digital satellite sphere): This makes finding the correct
big problem. reception. Weak digital signals do
not translate at all into a picture
Latitude 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
If a new antenna has to be set on the screen which remains black
up for the first time, however, the until the signal strength has passed Elevation 72 67 61 55 49 44 38 33 27 22 17
absence of any analog signal will a certain threshold (approximately
create some difficulties. Since dig- 30%) and a crystal clear picture For a satellite that is some alignment as difficult as with a
ital signals are much harder to find appears on your TV set. degrees to the East or the West motorised antenna which allows
than analog signals, the search If you don’t know where exactly the elevation decreases. For a receiving a great deal more chan-
for the correct antenna angle to search for your desired satel- 10-degree deviation the elevation nels without additional costs.