TV satellite dish

[JanieB]

I lurk here a lot. I have an eighteenth century terraced house that is in desperate need of rescue. The reason for this post is that I've had no TV for 3/4 weeks. I couldn't understand why. The aerial on the roof I knew about as the storms last winter drove water down the coax. But the satellite dish stopped working. I didn't know this was the problem to begin with and checked everything until that had to be the only thing left. I couldn't understand why until I took a closer look. The next door has recently had a refurb and has had some pretend quoins put on the wall. Having measured up, they are actually on my wall not theirs but heyho, not really a problem as we have internally some flying freehold stuff and it's difficult to say where the boundaries are.

Having looked more closely I realise that the builders moved my satellite dish in order to to put in the pretend quoins and paint them and just shoved it back into an approximate position. Do they not realise that satellite dishes have to be aligned properly to work.

I'm actually quite Pi$$ed off about this as I had to pay someone to sort it out. And I'm pretty sure my neighbour (who've I've known for many years) knows nothing about it.

This isn't a question, just a rant. The terrace has quoins at both ends and I don't understand why we had to have pretend ones in the middle.

 

[Zebra]

Oh well, I'm sure you didn't miss much on the telly. Not that I know, I haven't had one for 4 years.

 

[Penners]

JanieB - I'd be pretty hacked off if someone did that to me! However, your solution depends on how well you get on with your neighbour.

You could of course contact the builders direct and tell them in no uncertain terms to come back and realign your dish. Or you could ask the neighbours to tell them to do so. Alternatively, if you want to avoid a confrontation, a satellite signal finding meter isn't expensive:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/slx-satellite-finder-meter/27154?kpid=27154&cm_mmc=Google-_-Product%20Listing%20Ads-_-Sales%20Tracking-_-sales%20tracking%20url&kpid=27154&cm_mmc=Google-_-Shopping%20-%20Tools-_-Shopping%20-%20Tools&gclid=CNaz0rGD8MACFRHLtAode0wAYA

In fact, before you go to this expense, you might just try aligning the dish "freehand". You can use the Dishpointer website to give you guidance on which way the dish should be pointed. http://www.dishpointer.com/

Enter your full address in the "Your Location" box, and in the "All Satellites" box click the down-arrow and scroll down to select 28.2E Astra 2A, C, D & F. Now click GO by the address box.

You'll now get a Google satellite image of your house with a green line showing the direction of the Astra satellite fleet. Underneath the image you'll see "Dish Setup Data" which will tell you the elevation angle. However, if the workmen just swivelled your dish sideways this may not have been disturbed, so I should leave it for the time being. Tighten up any swivel bolts that you've loosened when aligning the dish until they're stiff enough for you to be able JUST to swivel the dish.

Now ask a friend to watch your TV with the window open while you carefully swivel the dish around, a tiny bit at a time. Ask your friend to yell as soon as they see anything on the TV. Once you've got a rough alignment, very gingerly tap the dish to move it fractionally until you get an acceptable signal.

If this just refuses to work for you, then £10 for a meter is probably a worthwhile expenditure. Instructions for use are on the Screwfix web page.

 

[Lime]

I'd be tempted just to ask your neighbour for the address of their builder and explain that their builder/painter moved your satellite dish to do the painting and you intend to get the builders to compensate you for the expense of re-setting the dish.
Don't make it personal, just matter of fact, perhaps even compliment them and say the quoins look better painted.
Then if the builders don't pay you can take them to a small claims court and you will probably have your neighbour on your side in court.

 

[Penners]

I'm sorry - after my lengthy complication of the issue above, I've just re-read your intial post and noted that you said:

I had to pay someone to sort it out.

So the job is already done!

I do agree with Lime's suggestion as to how to proceed now.

 

[LadyArowana]

FYI the small claims procedure is surprisingly easy. It can be done online. You are required to pay a small fee up front ( which is based on how much your claim is but for a sum of this size won't be much ). However, before you do that I advise sending a pre-action letter, this often is enough to show that you are not going to accept the situation and does give the counterparty an opportunity to respond. See http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/letter-before-small-claims-court-claim and also https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview

 

[agbagb]

It's the kind of thing "party wall agreements" before works start are supposed to sort out. At least you would have known what was happening and could have pin pointed the source of TV problem before the builders went away.

 

[a twig]

I know this is a bit after the Lord Mayor's show, but if you have a Sky box, that has a signal strength readout under the settings menu, which displays the strength of the received signal on a handy bar chart.

With an apprentice watching the meter and shouting through a window you can re-align it yourself very easily. Should anyone be thinking of doing this also remember that rotation of the dish as well as tilt/pan will also affect reception.

In this case, I would agree with Lime's suggested course of action re: remedy.

 

[JanieB]

Thanks everyone for replying. I think I'll just let sleeping dogs lie. I'm about to start refurbishing my house which will severely inconvenience everyone else in the terrace (as they have all inconvenienced me over the last few years).

I won't be ripping any original features out, that was done in 1981. I'll be putting them back. I had a surveyor who said that I would get damp in the walls unless they were allowed to breathe, and suggested I reopened the inglenook fireplace and put a woodburner in and used it. The major work will be pulling down the jerry-built one story kitchen and replacing it with a better, bigger one.

 

[Penners]

I'm about to start refurbishing my house which will severely inconvenience everyone else in the terrace.

Excellent! With a bit of careful manoeuvring you ought to be able to swing a ladder around in your garden in such a way that it bashes your neighbour's dish out of alignment.

Revenge is a dish best served cold. :wink:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Revenge is a satellite dish best served cold. :wink:

Edited for punnery. 8)

 

[Penners]

There's nothing line a good pun, FW!

And that's nothing like a good pun.

:wink: