To motorise or not to motorise........

[neilmca]

Ive had a TM 1500 CI+ and a triax 1m dish for about a year now. I get Astra 19.2 E and Hotbird with twin lnb s on a triax flexi block. I now want to get Eutelsat 16E as well.

I was thinking of the Technomate Motor DiSEqC 1.2. Can I use my existing triax wall mount and pole or do I need a special pole?

Then I had another thought - how long does it take for the motor to move the dish from satelite to satelite?

With my present setup I can obviously view channels from either satelite just by changing channels. Given that I surf about (a lot!) would I be better off with 3 lnb s rather than going motorised and having to wait for the dish to move? The flexi block that I have only holds 2 lnb s but from memory I think they make one which holds 4.

Will the fact that the 3 satelites that I want to get are very close together cause a problem with positioning the lnb s?

Sorry if this is a bit disjointed .

Any thoughts would be very welcome.

Thanks in advance

[Mship]

Hiya m8,

A DiSEqC motor like the Technomate takes around 30 seconds to go from Hispasat 30W to Astra 28E. My 36V H2H motor takes about 13 secs. Don't know how long a 36V actuator would take.

Going with the three LNB's would obviously be quicker for channel changing but you would have to use the skinny alps type LNB's to get the 3* between each sat.

Just a straight choice between more satellites and faster channel change

Don't know about the Triax wall mount but the motor will probably need a 2" pole to sit on

Kev

[neilmca]

Thanks for your reply.
I didnt realize that it would take so long to move between satelites. I guess if Id thought about it for more than a second or 2 it would have been obvious ops:

I think Ill go with the three lnb option. From what Ive seen online, 4 skinny lnb s , bracket and DiSEqC switch is going to be about £70. Does that sound about right?

[nanochickin]

My motor takes about 1-2 seconds when moving from 13e to 16e. If your going to go through all the hastle of setting up a dish you might aswell motorize it. I went down the same path as the one your thinking of taking and ending up with 4 multipul lnb dishes before deciding to go motorized (see the pics section)

I can honestly say it was the best thing i've done upto now. I honestly wished i would have done it in the first place. It has increased my viewing pleasure considerably. Stuff comes open all over the satellite arc so its well worth doing IMHO

I know you only want 13e to 19.2e but you can count everything else as a bonus



Nano

[neilmca]

When you say 1 - 2 seconds, is that a Diseqc motor?
I can cope with a few seconds but if its going to take 4 or 5 seconds to get from 13E to 19E then I think I will have to go with the multi lnb set up.

I was very surprised to see that the Technomate motor is a cheaper option than the multi lnb option.

Ill have to get my ladders and a compass out tomorrow because its just occurred to me that due to trees I mightn't have much more of a view of the sky than say 10E to 25E, if so, the motor option isn't going to benefit me that much. Shame - I do love gadgets

[nanochickin]

When you say 1 - 2 seconds, is that a Diseqc motor?

Yes mate. Its a Moteck Digipower SG-2100A DISEqC H-H Motor. At most it takes about 20 seconds to go from 19.2e to 30w. Thats about 2 degrees every second roughly

Mind you though that was when it was connected to my Dreambox, it did seem a bit slower when my Technomate was controlling it



Nano

[nanochickin]

Just timed it. 23 seconds from 28.2e to 30w

Now thats fast for a DISEqC motor



Nano

[bigtee]

Just to add that if the OP decides to go the multi-LNB route, the narrow Alps LNB can be bought from DVB Shop in Germany. I ordered 2 from them and they arrived within 4 days or so; actual price unbelievably cheap (about £6) only postage made it expensive but even at that still cheaper than the best I saw over here.

I now have the following 4 LNB set-up: 7e, 13e, 16e & 19e. The two narrow LNBs are on 16e & 19e; for 7e and 13e, I use regular size LNBs. At the moment I prefer not to go motorised (though I have a Geotrack motor) and quite enjoy the quick switching of channels.

[BGonaSTICK]

Very nice.

How much was the postage from Germany if you don't mind me asking?

They are indeed overpriced in the UK, like just about everything else :

[bigtee]

Hi BG :welc1: back.

The total price for both (including postage) came to £21.72 and .50p of that was a charge for using Paypal - the result is that postage for the two was about £10. Actually, you could go to their website and go through an apparent process of ordering (for a test-ride) but not concluding the order --- it will still give you the p & p breakdown.