Ready to buy, but need some advice

[pantyvest]

Hello everyone,

Well, after several months and no end of questions, I think I'm ready to give it a shot.
Here's what I think I want:-

A receiver with a card slot ( could I put a sky card in, if I needed to ?)
A dish (not too big) which will cater for two lnb's
A switcher, which I intend to mount inside the house (2 way for the lnb's)
All mounting components etc.

Cost wise ? Well as low as possible, since I can always upgrade later. Now I know I should be sifting through the trade sites, but I'm not going anywhere until I've got something to go on from the professionals. Hope you can help get me started. Thanks. Pantyvest.

[BGonaSTICK]

Ah, long time no hear!

Cool. Go for it.

If you really want to keep the cost down, Maplins are selling a basic receiver at the moment for £20 - refurb'd.

It doesn't have a card slot, but it would be no good for a Sky card anyway. If you don't have a specific card in mind, or a requirement for a specific package or viewing type (i.e. football/movies) then I wouldn't bother - especially if you're happy to upgrade later.

A basic little FTA box will give you hours of fun and allow you to try all this out without breaking the bank.

What about a nice little Raven Gemini dish with the proper Raven multi-LNB holder? They come in 70cm as well as 90cm sizes. Or what about a clear plastic Metronic dish? Very neighbour-friendly.

Any old DiSEqC switch will do you, though you can mount them outside quite happily and save dragging a second cable through the wall.

Just use your common sense on a mount. The more bolts the better, galvanised is better than painted, and if it's thrown in free, it's almost certainly crap.

HTH

STICK