dish size, receiver and Eurobird

[bludger]

Hello All,

My wife wants me to set her up with the FTA Christian channels on Eurobird. Okay. In What Satellite magazine it says that a 60cm dish will do for where we are (Shropshire). Are these guides likely to be about right? I hope so as an 80cm dish will look pretty obtrusive on the side wall of my bungalow....

If necessary I could bolt a dish to the lower half of the brickwork of my chimneystack and still keep the whole thing below the roof apex level. I'd welcome advice on this aspect, please.

I'd also like advice on a good quality FTA receiver. As a beginner I think auto-tuning will be a must but that's about all I can figure out. The magazine recommends a Phoenix Apollo CI+MC and a Manhattan Plaza ST100 but I can't find independent reviews on the net of either of these. What may be great to experts may not be so to me. I don't think that there are any other channels on Eurobird that we'll ever wish to pay for so CI and CAM should be unnecessary.

This seems a nice forum, by the way. Look forward to hearing from you.

[BlackHawk]

Hi bludger :welc1:
By Eurobird I presume you mean the one at 28.5 degrees east. If so a 60cm should be OK.
B&Q are selling a set up that includes lnb, dish, receiver and bits and pieces. They started off at £99, dropped to £69 and have even been reported at £59.
As long as you have a clear line of sight to the satellite, no trees or bushes in the way you can put the dish wherever you want too.
A fta (free to air) receiver will allow you to watch all the free channels that are being transmitted from the cluster of satellites located at 28.2/28.5 degrees east.
BH

[bludger]

Hello Blackhawk,

Yes, I should have said Eurobird 1 at 28.5 degrees East. Glad you sussed that out.

I'll pop down to B & Q tomorrow and see if they still have a system in stock.

Thanks for your help.

[BGonaSTICK]

Do let us know how you get on.

Best of luck. If you have any concerns on mounting or alignment etc, just shout

[BlackHawk]

Hi bludger
As you just want a basic system the B&Q set up is the cheapest around, unless Maplin's have something similar. You could of course perhaps get second hand goods cheaper, not personally my ideal solution though.
If you have an over 60's Diamond Club card you will get a further 10% off today(wed).
As BGonaSTICK mentioned, do come back if you have any problems and at least let us know how you are getting on.
BH
Blast, wanted to get some timber today to make a fruit cage, cannot find my B&Q discount card, will have to apply for a new one.
BH

[bludger]

Hi Fellas,

A hitch! My local B & Q doesn't stock the satellite system. Only the larger stores do that and my nearest seems to be over 40 miles away.

I'd rather send off for stuff you guys recommend. A few questions on this if you don't mind:

Is a dish just a dish so any make and cost would do? A 60 cm one seems to start at around £25. LNB's seem to vary more, certainly in size - .2, .3, etc. Which is best? And what do you think would be a good FTA receiver, with simplicity and a good remote being paramount?

If you'd like to recommend a good supplier, I'd be grateful. I checked in the Maplins catalogue and they are doing a complete system from £99, but this features the basic Fortec Star which is not reviewed well in What Satellite. I rather pay for stuff of some quality, even though it's only a FTA system.

I spoke to a recommended aerial fitter and he thinks that I should budget for about £150 quid for the hardware, plus his fitting charge - which I forgot to ask. Getting old you know....

[Analoguesat]

technomate receivers are very well regarded by many people. The basic ones are the TM-1000 but if your budget can stretch to the TM-1500 it would give you good flexibility and future expansion possibilities.

A dish is just a dish, virtually all of mine have been second hand, and straightened out as required if they are bent (!) A circular 60 cm is the minimum you want to be considering - an 80 cm would be better as then you could easily have 13E, 19E and 28E on one dish using 3 lnb's.

As for lnb's - just make sure you buy the right type - Sky lnb's are only any good for oval sky dishes, dont try to mix and match. If you are going for a round dish I reckon you cant beat MTI lnb's although to be honest for the strong European birds almost any universal lnb of dubious vintage will work!

[BGonaSTICK]

Yes, you only need to spend money on a high quality dish if you're trying for satellite footprints which you fall outside of. I like the Triax dishes personally - a good compromise of quality and price.

I get stuff with mine that I have no right to get (though my location is generally quite favourable) but if you just want 28.2E then a dustbin lid would pretty much do it at 60cms. To be honest, a standard zone 2 (60cm) Sky minidish will be fine, and will probably be cheaper than anything else and may even come with an LNB. I wouldn't bother with the smaller Zone 1 43cm dish in Shropshire.

The Techno's or maybe the Phoenix Apollo would get the job done at the backend. I don't rate the Manhattans. Unreliable and clunky.

Expect to pay around £75 for fitting, or why not have a go yourself if you live in a bungalow? You can even mount them at ground level as long as you have uninterrupted line of sight. It's quite easy to 'find' 28.2E because it's so powerful.

Many people buy their stuff on eBay these days, as stuff tends to sell a bit cheaper than high street or mail-order shops. You could also try Brymar.co.uk, ***********************, creativesatellite.co.uk or any of the large reputable stores. Hisat are on my personal blacklist though.

Let us know which way you go and what you think

[bludger]

Hello again,

Well, you guys have given me good advice. I think I will go for more than a freesat receiver as one never knows what channels may appear in the future. The same goes for an 80cm dish, I'm sure, though that's more problematical. The only place I could put that would be at the base of the chimneystack where the top of the dish would be just below the roof line. I'll think that over.

I could certainly do it myself if I wasn't recovering from a hip replacement op. I still might be able to do it if I can get a roof hook attachment for my ladder and can summon up the nerve to trust my leg. I'll think that over, too.

I'll sign off now and start placing orders for equipment. I'll post again when we are getting signals from 28.2 degrees East to let you know how I got on. In the meantime, please accept my thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

[BGonaSTICK]

Chimney stacks are generally not a good place for dishes, as many of them are not really up to the loading that either the wind or the fixings can place on them. Access is also an obvious drawback.

Could you not fix it at the bottom of your garden looking up over the roof, or even low down at the front? Depends of course on the orientation of your property. Your dish needs to point roughly South-East.

If you could mount it on a five foot pole say, then you can work on it comfortably and people will often be surprised how close it can be located to something and still see over it. The signal comes down at maybe 30 degrees elevation, even though it looks like the dish is pointing lower.

You might like to have a play with this tool from SES Astra and wander around your property with a tape measure.

http://www.ses-astra.com/consumer/az...p?locale=en_GB

It's a bit of fun, rewarding, and you get to put the installation money back in your pocket. Even if you don't want to DIY, it will give you some ideas about location.