Best way to start? - advice chaps

[Sreser]

I now know how to find sats scan etc and all the basic kindergarten stuff but how do I get up to speed with patches cams keys etc without using trial and error and perhaps wasting a lot of money along the way.
Given I know nothing and a limited budget what rec should I buy how big should my dish be and how do I learn in the first instance? I am located in West Mids near Telford - Any advice chaps?

[BGonaSTICK]

What do you want to watch?

How much do you want to pay, or rather how much money do you have?

How techie are you?

How much time do you want to dedicate to this? Is it a bit of fun or do you really want to get your hands dirty?

Where is your dish likely to be mounted? Can you ground mount? Do you have a maximum size in mind?

Do you want HD? 4:2:2? Do you want to hunt feeds?

Would you buy second-hand to keep the cost down?

Just answer what you can and it will help us to make some recommendations.

[Sreser]

What do you want to watch?
sport and perhaps films

How much do you want to pay, or rather how much money do you have?
Just for fun really so £100 or so

How techie are you?
Not very but keen to learn and experiment, friends closeby who are techy

How much time do you want to dedicate to this? Is it a bit of fun or do you really want to get your hands dirty?
Fun

Where is your dish likely to be mounted? Can you ground mount? Do you have a maximum size in mind?
Large garden so could ground mount thought 1.2 or 1.5 max?

Do you want HD? 4:2:2? Do you want to hunt feeds?
not hd, hunt for fun whats 4.2.2?

Would you buy second-hand to keep the cost down?
Yes

Just answer what you can and it will help us to make some recommendations.

Thanks for taking the time to reply

[BGonaSTICK]

OK.

That's quite a tight budget, but it can be done.

4:2:2 is a bit odd. If you don't know what it is, you don't need it.

I'd go for a cheap patchable receiver like the Technomate TM-1000D at under £60, and spend the other £40-odd on a second-hand motorised dish setup from eBay or your local paper. Check out our Satellite Stuff on eBay section for links to some good-value kit.

Pick something close to you to avoid any delivery charges and you could save yourself a fortune while getting a nice dish & motor.

You might also consider the Skystar-2 PCI card for your PC. That's pretty amazing, but restricts you to the PC monitor unless you have a good TV-out video card (preferably nvidia-based.)

If your existing receiver has a CI slot you could go the CAM route - the Diablo is hot right now at around £50.

The patch for the Technomate opens plenty of film and sport at the moment - you'll just need a cheap null-modem lead.

If you go for a dish over 1m, you'll probably need a VBOX (an extra £40-odd) to go with a 36V motor/actuator. You might be better off staying under 1m and getting a DiSEqC motor. Ground mounting is ideal - it makes setup and ongoing maintenance so much easier.

If you have a dish you can re-use, then so much the better.

What stuff do you have at the moment?

[BGonaSTICK]

Actually, remembering you live in Croatia, you might find it easier to get hold of the Clarke Tech receiver - same difference. The sort of stuff on eBay in the UK will be available to locally too I expect. Just use it for ideas.