Motorised Dish Questions

[adam1]

I have this 1M Dish/motor kit off Ebay


I wanted to know, would it be safe to put this dish on the chimney?

What position do I put the motor dish? (I am from the North West)

Will I get good signal levels with this dish on all the European satellites (Sky De, Italia etc), including Sky UK?


Thanks

[Mickha]

I would not advise you to even think of installing a 1M dish on a chimney, you'll probably lose the chimney.
Some of the sat installers should be on soon to give you some advice but check dishpointer.com for the time being.

You need to install the dish facing South so it will give you a clear line of sight of satellites from 42E to 30W.

[ABA]

firstly how big is your chimney stack
Ive got a 1 mt motorized dish on mine but it is a big UN
6ft high front to back about 4 ft side to side about 8 ft
and the 8 ft side is south facing so acts as a wind barrier

[adam1]

Originally Posted by ABA

firstly how big is your chimney stack
Ive got a 1 mt motorized dish on mine but it is a big UN
6ft high front to back about 4 ft side to side about 8 ft
and the 8 ft side is south facing so acts as a wind barrier

It's a 4x3ft chimney...

[Robbo]

Try to avoid putting on the chimney. I don't put large dishes on chimneys unless the customer will pay for a structural engineer to survey it. (No one has yet)

[pedro2000uk]

As well as the size & shape of the chimney (very good points) .. what condition is it in & how exposed is the site to strong winds.. ... mainly it's the condition of the mortar & if it is in need of pointing and also if there are any crumbling bricks and the condition of the lead flashing etc..

Many old chimneys get in quite a state & are often left like that for decades and amazingly most stay there - even when you can see daylight through them, and newer ones can have cracks in the mortar joints.... it's very different when it's got to hold a decent size dish.

If we are asked to fit a large dish on a chimney or there is no other place for it to go, the chimney's condition is carefully inspected and if it needs it, it has to be deep strong pointed & joints consolidated with waterproof PVA etc... & lead work made good etc.. plus custom brackets can be made & strapping kits used and the top of the dish is kept below a max of 60cm above the roof line.

The planning guidelines are a bit ambiguous here contradicting themselves in places here - one rule states a max of 1m with no more than 60cm showing above the roof line & elsewhere, a recent alteration states a max of 60cm - in any event, it has to be deemed that it has to be done properly with all the above considerations taken seriously.

To get a big arc it is not necessary to go as high as possible, doing so unnecessarily exposes the dish to not only higher winds but also usually more RF noise. I've just got in from fitting one in the middle of a very built up area, only at about 3.5- 4 meters high & got them over 50 e/w... a few days before less than 1m off the ground & got 50+ e/w..

[Robbo]

Yes, you can often get a far crack at the arc putting the dish much lower. My own dish is on an 8ft scaff planted in the garden, with 30W to 42E. So much easier to maintain too, if needed.