Minimum dish size needed for hotbird & astra 1

[BGonaSTICK]

If you live in rented accommodation you need to get permission from the landlord, but most are OK with relatively minor works like adding a small(ish!) dish.

There are also regulations regarding number and size of dishes in England, and these have additional clauses for large buildings with multiple dwellings.

[argonaught]

Cheers for the help everyone. I've got the 65cm Fortec dish up and running - I've managed to find Hotbird for the first time and seem to be getting pretty much all the channels, holding on around a 50% signal strength - less than I normally get on 19.2E.
I've also managed to get hold of a Grundig 6degree monoblock on eBay for a bargain £8.50 inc. postage. Will keep you posted on how I get on setting it up 8)

[madrat]

well done. you should be able to get hotbird stronger than 50&. What LNB are you using?

[argonaught]

I'm using an LNB taken from my old Sky Digital minidish - it has Sky on it but I don't know who manufactured it. The poor signal could be due to my rubbish alignment skills, or the fact the dish is only a metre off the ground in a very dense terraced road....really hope I can get the Monoblock working when it arrives...

[madrat]

The LNB fitted to sky mini dishes only work with mini dishes you need to use a universal LNB to see the full benefits. At the moment your LNB is only seeing part of your new dish the size and shape of your mini dish. When your mono block comes you should notice the difference. Not used a monoblock but I believe you align it to hotbird and when you switch over to the second feed you have Astra 1. I think the block has to be fitted diagonally at about 10 degrees but their will be someone on here to help you with that. Being only 1M off the ground wont make any difference to be honest when you consider the satellites are about 24,000 miles away : as long as you have clear sight of the satellites you will get a good signal. I have used a dish on the ground before now when in the caravan without much trouble. By the way why not attach the stand to a large paving slab (3'x2') with some expanding bolts or a 2'x2' slab with a few bricks on top.

[argonaught]

Thanks Madrat - will give you an update when the monoblock arrives (hopefully tomorrow).
Also, I'm just getting into the sssp/cardsharing stuff made available in the new Technomate patch - wondered if anyone managed to get it up and running ok - but I assumed discussing such things is a no-no here?

[BGonaSTICK]

You can discuss it at a theoretical level as long as you don't go overboard on the physical details - i.e. no code, uploads etc. In other words, keep it in English.

[madrat]

Originally Posted by argonaught

Thanks Madrat - will give you an update when the monoblock arrives (hopefully tomorrow).
Also, I'm just getting into the sssp/cardsharing stuff made available in the new Technomate patch - wondered if anyone managed to get it up and running ok - but I assumed discussing such things is a no-no here?

:? lost me already :roflmao:

[argonaught]

Ok - Grundig monoblock arrive this morn. After a bit of wrangling trying to work out how to set it up/which side to clamp onto dish arm, it'w up and running. Brilliant! No more going outside to re-align dish to Hotbird or Astra - and the signal strength is up to high 60% on Hotbird and high 70% on Astra1.

Stick - I've also managed to get Windows Sharing Pack working nicely, using it with a paid server from Hac*sat - got Arts Sports until October for a mere $5 US. 8)

[BGonaSTICK]

Excellent news!

Enjoy your viewing - will be interested to hear how you find the reliability of the server you've selected