Considering first set-up

[bigG]

Hi All
I’m new to this satellite lark, although I have had Sly for a long time (and want to keep it for the time being), so please be gentle.

I’m considering getting a ‘proper’ satellite set up, mainly for footy, but I want to keep it pretty cheap. By the way, I live just on the southern outskirts of Manchester and my house faces (roughly) South with my Sly dish on the side (to the front) of my house. There is a house next to mine and houses across the road opposite but I think I have a reasonable line of sight.

I’m considering a 88cm-1m dish, possibly motorised, and a cheapish box (preferably with some sort of PVR function – even if this is just sticking a USB stick in the back) with a CAM slot so that I can use different cards if the footy moves around (or if I want anything else in future). I need everything to be reasonably easy to use. I really want to be able to get satellites 16E (for DigitAlb or Tring), 13E (Hotbird), 19.2E (Astra).

My questions are:
1. Do clear (see-through) or mesh dishes work as well as solid ones?
2. Is motorised the best option or can I just use 3 LNB’s?
3. Will a cheapish Technomate box do?
4. What is the best way to accomplish all this?

I realise there are a lot of questions here but any feedback would be appreciated.

[Rick]

Best thing to do 1st of all is to have a look at dishpointer.com to check your line of sight. Sometimes a suitble position for a fixed dish is not suitable for a motorised. Ideally you want a sweep 45 east to 45 west for a motorised.

Mesh dishes are better where a dish is exposed to heavy wind, and there is little differance in performance. Transparent dishes perform less well for their size.

A motorised setup gives more flexibility, though 3 lnb's will give you instant switching between the three sats. Those 3 can be had with a Triax TD110, and 3 standard LNB's with a Triax multi bracket. You could add a fourth LNB, or add a feed from from your sky dish if you have a spare output on the LNB.

For use with subscription cards a Technomate would do nicely, they also make great beginners boxes. Get one with a multicrypt card reader, so it will handle most of the subs cards directly.

You could talk to Ian at Southern Satellite for the parts, and there are plenty of guides and help on here as to how to get it all working.

[bigG]

Wow, thanks Rick, that helps immensely.

I may be limited as to where I can put the dish. The front of the house is not an option so it will have to be just above the currect Sky dish.

Just three more questions if I may:

1) Will I need just single LNB's?
3) I take it that the satellite box/receiver can just switch automatically between the 2 or 3 different LNB's if I go for that approach?
2) Does a Multicrypt card reader mean that I won't need a Conax cam to use a Tring card (for example)? Also will Multicrypt read cards without and fidding about?

Many thanks again.

[Rick]

The Multicrypts work with most subscription cards, I believe a tring card will work. Ian would confirm. The only time you need to mess about to get a card running is if you get a linux based reciever and want them to read a NDS or N3 card. Standard recievers won't read NDS or N3 cards.

You only need single LNB's, unless you wan't to feed more than 1 reciever/tuner. The LNB's would run to a DisEQc Switch, then to the reciever. Once the reciever is told which satellite is on which port It will automatically switch between them.

If you can post a photo of your sky dish showing it's relation to the house, we can probably advise on mounting locations.

[bigG]

Thanks, I think that answers my questions.

I've attached (hopefully) a couple of pictures to give you an idea. The tree in front has been dramatically pruned and looking from the sky dish (bottom dish - other one is to be removed) to the right (south) there are no obsticals apart from houses across the road (wide cul-de-sac).

The photo on the right is from directly under the dish.

[Rick]

From the looks of that, 13e, 16e and 19e would be no problem.

[bigG]

Thanks for all your help. Time to start saving!

[Rick]

No Problem