The dodgiest "motorised" setup ever?

[alcina]

Thought I'd post the pictures here of possbily the dodgiest "motorised" setup ever just to prove what can be done with very little money, some old bits of junk, a lot of good advice and a willingness to stand in the rain with a torch when you want to change satellites...hmmm... :?

First...inside...the tv area: Technomate 1000D+ Satellite receiver, Panasonic TV (you're watching TV5Monde to prove the satellite works!), input switching box (can you believe that tvs today are sold with only one scart!), PlayStation 1 (ye olde sort), Nokia OnDigital set-top box receiver, JVC VCR, Panasonic DVD, Pioneer Laser Disc player (ah...the heady days of high tech!), HarmonKardon Surround Sound amp. Also visible...copious amounts of dust that show up with a camera flash, lordy, lordy! Not visible is the Big Screen and the Sony projector to which the switching box can reroute everything for when you want that cinematic experience! From the age of some of these items, you can probably work out the year I ran out of money!
[img width=370 height=400]http://www.alcina.org/pics/SatTVBoxes.jpg[/img]

Outside...the front view. The old analogue Sky dish is wedged into a piece of decking. Pieces of duct tape mark on the patio where the corners of the decking should be to align the dish to Astra1, Astra2 and Hotbird respectively (currently aligned to Astra1). Originally the corners were marked with chalk, but those marks washed away in the first downpour so they were redone with duct tape...which is waterproof!
[img width=300 height=400]http://www.alcina.org/pics/SatDishFrontRain.jpg[/img]

The more experienced will now be making comments about dish elevation...so...here is the back view! A piece of wood cut to a suitable length to support the dish at the correct elevation for each satellite. The pieces of wood for the other satellites are lying on top of the decking. The hard part is that an offset dish is practically vertical when aligned which makes it difficult to balance upright on its rim, even when wedged into the decking as the weight of the LNB pulls it forwards big time...but that is sorted with the high-tech string-and-brick tensioning system seen in the picture :
[img width=300 height=400]http://www.alcina.org/pics/SatDishBackRain.jpg[/img]

Flipping between the satellites takes about 30 seconds. Realignment after a windy night is similarly easy. This is not intended to be a permanent, final solution (how many times do we say that... :roflmao: ) but hey, it works for now... 8)

Alcina

[Jimdefruit]

Hey alcina, nice piccies. Obviously a real ....... enthusiast.

How do you stop the snails from rolling it away to use in their setup. I cant see any sideways retention.

[BGonaSTICK]

Thanks Alcina. Looking good

[nanochickin]

Pioneer Laser Disc player (ah...the heady days of high tech!)

Fantastic, very nice setup,I must say i love the dish allignment tool. :roflmao:

The laser disk player is nearly as old as my Sanyo Betamax, I like to see other people still using old technology. Nice one. :clap:

If theres one thing to be said, you can't knock the old OnDigital receivers. I still use my old Pace OD receiver as its the only one i found that i can get all the channels on, unlike some of the others that i have purchased that would only work if you were sitting on top of the transmitter.

Don't forget the old OnDigital card also makes a brilliant ice scraper in the winter.

[alcina]

Originally Posted by Jimdefruit

How do you stop the snails from rolling it away to use in their setup. I cant see any sideways retention.

It doesn't roll sidewards much...the edge of the rim is wedged between two of the decking slats and that seems to be enough to stop it rolling. If it's windy it does start to loll to one side or other, but that's quickly remedied by retightening the string and bricks

Originally Posted by nanochickin

I like to see other people still using old technology

What you also can't see in the picture is the Atari 2600 "woodie" :spite: Oh...and the Rel Q50 subwoofer which is behind the tv cabinet to add some slam when those starship cargo doors shut!

Alcina