Help: A simple question

[Mysteriousguy]

Hi Guys,

Being a total newbie, I am getting a lot of help from you guys on here, thanks.
Just a simple question, what is / are satellite 'Cams'? what does a 'Cam' do?

Also, having a Sly dish, to which I plan to hook up a Technomate patched FTA box for Hotbird channels, can a Monoblock LNB be set-up to this dish?

With a Monoblock LNB, picking up Astra and Hotbird, will the Technomate seach the channels automatically from both satellites, or will I have to have the LNBs pointing seperate directions and then doing a manual tune?
Help will be much much appreciated.
Thanks

[Robbo]

Hi,
A cAM is a Conditional Access Module that slides into the front of a receiver and contains firmware to enable it to descramble encrypted transmissioons.

You can get dedicated ones like viaccess,Irdeto,Conax,Seca or nagravision for specific encryption types and also multiCAS ones that will handle a number with the correct software installed. With the encryption specific ones it is usual to slide an official subscription card into them. The multiCAS ones like the Diablo,Jolly or TRex are programmable. See http://www.techwatch.co.uk/forums/ca...ogrammers.html
for further details.

A Sky zone 1 minidish is too small for a monoblock, it might work a bit, but I doubt it. I'm pretty sure that they are OK on zone 2 dishes though.

All in all, a better option is a motorised 1m dish, but a fixed dish with say 4 LNBs on it does have some advantages.

Yes the Technomate can scan multi satellites automatically, but I think it is better to do one satellite at a time, so you can keep a track of what is going on for good housekeeping purposes.

Yes the LNBs have to be pointed so that they pick up signal from different satelllites.

Robbo

[Mysteriousguy]

Thanks Robbo, advise appreciated