Loving the TM 1500 Super

[bigtee]

Got a TM 1500 Super on Bank Holiday Monday. A

A friend of mine seeing what I could get even with the Fortec 5400 ditched his Sky sports subscription. When I told him about the A l s a t offer of DigitAlb card & TM 1500 for £169, he took the plunge. I went with him to Al's shop in Willesden and I myself picked up a TM CI+ Super for £85. (I considered the DigiAlb card but decided against it deciding for now to go with whatever is 'viewable').

So far I'm loving the TM becos of the ease of manually entering keys and its general user-friendliness.

Advice needed: my friend wants a motorised system - perfectly south facing house, likely to mount dish on wall. I know that a 90cm dish will be required because of DigiAlb; question is, will a 90 cm mesh dish be any good or how safe is a 90cm steel/aluminium dish on a wall mount i.e. those L or ¬ shaped ones?


PS note for Nano: don't knock that Fortec 5400, you know; at the moment (as with the TM) it is possible to watch TPS and D+ on it.

[fergiz]

As far as the L or ¬ shaped mount goes, I doubt if anyone here would recommend you use these for a motorised system, T&K brackets and a 2" or 3" steel pole is recommended.

[bigtee]

Thanks fergiz; I always had doubts about that though I've seen a few motorised set-ups using them.

[Analoguesat]

The L shaped ones tend to flex too much - and after this winters gales I saw a pic on one of the forums where one had snapped off in the middle!

T&K's and a sturdy pole every time..

[BGonaSTICK]

And there's no adjustment on the 'L' shaped ones...

[wod]

i originally had one of them L shaped brackets with 90cm dish on and abit of wind bent the bracket so it wasn't any good

[barr6868]

Originally Posted by fergiz

As far as the L or ¬ shaped mount goes, I doubt if anyone here would recommend you use these for a motorised system, T&K brackets and a 2" or 3" steel pole is recommended.

I actually made my own 'L' shaped bracket out of 2" stainless pipe which I acquired at work.The pipe has a wall thickness of 1/8". I cut 2 lengths 8" and cut the 45 degree angle on them and got contractor welders to weld them together, and then weld them on to a bit of 1/2" stainless plate.
I made sure they were aware of the need for accuracy when welding it together.
I mounted it onto the wall using 10mm hilti fixings and packed out the top a bit using wedges as the wall wasn't vertical.(the fixings have a centre piece which you hammer and it splays the end to secure it into the brick).
Mounted the motor and dish on no probs. Wee bit tricky trying to line up because I was up a ladder and couldn't see the tv. Got the kids to help and got there eventually.
Hasn't moved at all so- far.
Seems a lot sturdier than the ones I have seen that you can buy.
A wee bit of initiative and you can save yourself some cash.

[BGonaSTICK]

Mmmmm... stainless dish mount..... in a Homer accent of course

[bigtee]

Thanks all for the replies; T & K route will be recommended to my friend.

So is a steel dish much better than mesh or aluminium and how much does this matter for getting DigiAlb?

[BGonaSTICK]

Steel or aluminium - I think it makes sod-all difference to reception, but weight is a major factor. Mesh dishes have been shown to be virtually identical in performance to solid, but again weight is reduced, and possibly wind-loading too.

As with car engines, size is far and away the most important factor, followed by quality of manufacture.