New System Advice Wanted Please

[F40]

Hi All

I am about to invest in a new satelite system. I have a budget of about £500.

I would like to get a dish/lnb/patio stand/polar? mount/ acctuator/ receiver/cam/coax cable for this amount (if posible).

I want to watch movies/sport and naughty stuff and be able to update the CAM as easiley as poss. HD would be nice too.

Am I being realistic in my budget?

What is the best way forward (researching hardware etc?).

TIA for any help you may have.



I used to have a set up many years ago so I am way waaaaaaay out of touch. I am IT literate.

Would it be better to get a fixed dish with 2/3 lnb's pointing a a few busy birds? BTW I want to keep my dish size to the minimum and be mesh style if poissible to hide it.

[arden]

If I were you id go for a motor rather than so for the multi lnb at busy sats as you say

I say this as whats busy this month may not be next month, week, day or hour

A few months ago 19 east was my sat of choice with premiere and D+ open d+ has now gone to N3 go cant be open at this time

now I tend to stay on 1 west with digi tv and canal digitaal

thats what I like about the this hobby

you say you can handle a pc if you can ftp telnet and edit files then a linux based receiver could be right for you but you will have a lot of reading to do

I have a tm9100 (linux based) which Im very happy with it you can get for less that £150 but its not HD

HD linux boxes are thin on the ground and imo a bit to expensive atm compaired to the number of HD channels avail

[Robbo]

Hi, Welcome to Techwatch.

I won't go into receiver details too much as there are so many to choose from. An example of a receiver that does HD is the Technomate 6800.

As for the dish, going motorised is the best way. With a motor you can get away with a smaller dish than you can with multi-LNBs.

With a 60cm dish, 13E and 19E as well as many of the other stronger satellites won't be a problem.

You may struggle with 1w with a dish of that size though.

If you really must have a mesh, then the Sky zone2 minidishes can be motorised with a bit of modification.

I think ISS also do the mesh dishes, and the Raven Gemini if available.

What about a nice transparent dish?, I've always fancied one of those. They go up to 85cm, I would have thought that would be good enough for 1W depending on your location.

Robbo

[F40]

Hi Guys

Many thanks so far.

Ok I will go motorised. My last system had a thing called a superjack (19" I think) which weighed a tonn!

I could go for a solid dish up to 80cm without upseting anyone.

Whats a good dish make Orbital? For a stand I guess the verticle pole welded to a flat plat are simplest. E.g. http://www.maplin.co.uk/images/300/a29fb.jpg

Will most dishes attach to this arangment ok with U bolts?

If I get a receiver I like with a CA slot I guess I just need a CAM? I have read the Dragon CAM is good - any tips on this? I would be nice to be able to update it without a programmer but if thats what it takes... Do you still need cards with this CAM?

I would like to be able to archive programmes from the RX to my PC (PVR function).

Wonder if someone would have a stab at explaining the benefit of a linux RX over a 'standard' design to me

Thanks again for all the advice.

ps whats the best LNB to go for in the above arrangment?

Finally would anyone reccomend a good and trustworthy supplier to use for the gear purchase? (anywhere to avoide?)

BTW I am in Suffolk on the coast

[Robbo]

Not sure if that ground mount would be strong enough. I have a scaffold pole concreted into the ground and that works pretty well.

A 2inch diameter pole is normally what is used to attach the Diseqc motors to. A linear actuator is not necessary for such a small dish.

For achiving to PC you probably really need a Dreambox/Linux box. also the 7020 and the 7025 I believe have the faciility to add a hard disk internally to serve as a PVR. The advantages of a Linux box are best explained by Jimdefruit or kerrywez for example, who have one.

I think the DM800 are available now, which are HD capable.

Dish wise, I found the Fortec Star (90cm) one that Maplin do to perform quite well, although the bracket on the back is flimsy. The Fracarro Penta is supposdely a good performer too and reccomended by rolfw on one of the other forums( installer).

One of our trade members southernsatellite is trustworthy, and should be able to sort you out for some of the bits you need. I think he does the Moteck sg2100 for about £35.


There is much debate on what is the best LNB, unfortunately there is no clear answer, but makes like Inverto,Invacom,MTI,Smart seem to be amongst the most popular. I found that the Invert Silvertech 0.2dB performs the best for me.

Robbo

[F40]

Originally Posted by robbo71

Not sure if that ground mount would be strong enough. I have a scaffold pole concreted into the ground and that works pretty well.

A 2inch diameter pole is normally what is used to attach the Diseqc motors to. A linear actuator is not necessary for such a small dish.

For achiving to PC you probably really need a Dreambox/Linux box. also the 7020 and the 7025 I believe have the faciility to add a hard disk internally to serve as a PVR. The advantages of a Linux box are best explained by Jimdefruit or kerrywez for example, who have one.

I think the DM800 are available now, which are HD capable.

Dish wise, I found the Fortec Star (90cm) one that Maplin do to perform quite well, although the bracket on the back is flimsy. The Fracarro Penta is supposdely a good performer too and reccomended by rolfw on one of the other forums( installer).

One of our trade members southernsatellite is trustworthy, and should be able to sort you out for some of the bits you need. I think he does the Moteck sg2100 for about £35.


There is much debate on what is the best LNB, unfortunately there is no clear answer, but makes like Inverto,Invacom,MTI,Smart seem to be amongst the most popular. I found that the Invert Silvertech 0.2dB performs the best for me.

Robbo

Hey Robbo

Many thanks for the tips

I have seen patio mounts that are tripod stands which look stronger - I'll look for a 50mm pole for the Diseqc motor mating.

Maybe I can find a patio mount + dish and motor/LNB as a package deal?

I have an old digital receiver just to use as a test box whist I decide which RX/PVR and CAM to go for. I'll allow £200 of my budget for the 'outdoor equipment' and see whats available. I need about 15/20m of cable included too. Do you think this is reasonable?

Cheers so far!

[Robbo]

Iv'e not really seen any patio mount packages around to be honest. The usual packages are for the wall mount setup.

Sure though £200 should be plenty, probably about £50 for the dish,£10 for an LNB, £35 for the motor £10 for the cable, £10-£15 for a pole and concrete,or whatever a substantial enough ground mount would cost, try jwhardy, they do ground mounts I believe.(four paving slabs in a frame)

[kerrywez]

Hi mate,
Just one question, why do you not want to put the pole on brackets, on the wall? The recognized way of doing what you want, as far as a motorised dish goes, would be to get two K brackets and bolt them to the wall, then attach the pole to them, with U bolts, make sure the pole is completely plumb and attach the motor and the dish. That is a very simple description, a lot more need to be done to get everything right.

The superjack would have been 18" and you do not need one as it is not needed for driving any small dish, anything under 1.1 Mtr and without the need for one you have no need for a polar mount, something that has got expensive and not many dishes have one for them, as the dish and the polar mount needs to be matched for best results, it is not possible to get a polar mount for the 1.2 Mtr Channel Master dishes anymore, even.

If you buy a dreambox, you need not worry about any cams, they run on EMUs, which could best be described as internal cams, if you have your box connected to the net, you can update the EMUs over the net. A dreambox could be called, and has been, a computer with a DVBs tuner attached. The problem is that to get the new dreambox 800HD you will need a bit more money than you have allowed and another drawback with the 800 is that it has only got one tuner, which means that you can't record one channel and watch another. If HD is not a priority then you might just about be able to afford a dreambox 7025 PVR ready box and the dish stuff, the 7025 has got two tuners and can do all that a silly Sly+ box can and then some.

Have a look around an Google satellite systems and you might find what you are after. Good luck with your project and search, don't give up too easily, there is always something about.

Very best regards Wez

[abbott]

i went to local welders made me a patio bracket to my spec for 25 pounds try some one local to make one cheaper,stronger and to your spec

[F40]

Hi All

Thanks for the usefull info!

The reason I am going for a patio mount is to keep the dish out of sight and also its the best location to see the birds from.

I have a sky mini dish on the house pointing at 28E just for sky and Freesat.

This set up is for everything else so to speak.

I have spec a basic system out for the outdoor equipment. Please take a look and see what you think.

1 TRIAX 88CM POLE MOUNT DIGITAL DISH In Stock (£39.59) http://cpc.farnell.com/SE00192/aeria...questid=184154

• Digital dish series featuring the new TD110
• Designed for quick and easy installation
• Pre-mounted feed arm
• Innovative elevation bracket
• Pole & Wall Mount
• Twin LNB holder available to allow two LNBs receiving different satellites to operate a single dish
• Wall mount kit available, suitable for all TD dishes

20m PRO POWER CBBR0125 RG6U SATELLITE CABLE BLACK 1 METER In (£9.16)

1 SNH-031 LNB, INVACOM 0.3DB SINGLE HORN In Stock (£21.00) http://cpc.farnell.com/SE00533/aeria...questid=184103

4 SE00332 1 ERARD Ground Stand (£20.75) http://cpc.farnell.com/SE00332/aeria...questid=183981

Positioner http://shop.strato.com/epages/614638...1.2%20Motor%22 £39


Cheers

F40