Evading the Lanlord No Dish Policy with my arcons and multimo wonders

[peaceandlove]

Just thought i would share this with members, I hope my attatchments upload.
For many years I virtualy begged My lanlord to be able to put a multifeed dish up to keep everybody happy, for those who want Sky and myself who wanted anything but Sky, I offered to do it my self at my own expense, after many years they decided to put up comunial Sky dishes on the 4 blocks of flats, Fair enough, but that went my dream of being able to receive the likes of astra 1 and hot bird.
I then read about the arcon sweety, i purchased one from Ebay and placed it on the inside of my east facing kitchen window opended the window and voila i had astra 1. albeit with a open kitchen window but i dont spend much time in there any how.
With the death of Digi+ on emu i then need something more than astra 1 so i attached an s bar to the inside of my kitchen window and purchesed another mini prime focus dish this time a multimo 40cm dish with a quick release bracket and then i started to swing that dish in and out of the window, mainly after 5pm when the care taker would be off home. then a neighbour pointed out to me that I should rellok at the rules about dishes on our residence,he pointed out that it stated that no dishes should be attatched to the outside building, nothing about dishes being attached to the inside of your abode and hung out the window, so he suggested that i should leave it out the window and see what happends, true to form , i just receive cold blank angry stares from the management commitee . I even bumped into the caretaker who over the years had personaly seen to it that anyone who put up a mini dish took it down. Even he had to smile and say whos a smart alec then, He even went further to ask do i get grand prix then, I told him yes on german primiere. would you believe he came and knoked on my door the following week and told me that he had just brought a dish and receiver from maplins and that hes retiring in a weeks time, could i help him set it up cause he wants to watch what im watching.
He also told me that there would no longer be a care taker for the little estate, only the management commitee but no enforcer so i should have a free run. The week he left i purchased the smallest diseq motor i could find as i already had a 57cm arcon multi dish i purchased about a year ago on Ebay for £60 this was my chance to give it a try.
I also purchased a bracket for joining to poles together as my idea now had elevated from having no dishes to having two fixed dishes, A multimo 40cm for hotbird and arcon sweety 40cm for astra 1.
Then use my 57cm arcon multi for motorised purposes.
my two fixed dishes are attached to my skystar2 usb on my computer in my bedroom. and the 57cm is attached to my Tecnomate 3500usb recently upgraded to a Technomate 5400usb super.
I am East facing and can receive 8W, 5W, 1Wthor, 4.5E, 7E, 9E, 13E, 16E, 19E, and 28E but having problems with some of 28E. i think its due to my set up being as it is, impossible to get that perfect plum line. But i am impressed with the perfermance of the 57cm arcon multi, i read on forums that a 100cm is needed for thor, but i am getting most of thor, some verticals disapear during the day and i cant get the vertical transponder which containes galaxie sport, but thats minor, all of canal comes through and i have a M2+ so im happy.
16E can also be a bit tricky and i catch a few transponders on 23E. overall im happy with my set up. i have put a dual lnb on the 57cm and use the second feed on a diseq with my two fixed dishes on my skystar two so i have the choice of hot bird, astra and whatever my 57cm is looking at.

Any how thought i would share this with any one who cares to listnen. in the mean time the oldies in the management commite have stopped talking to me. Who cares. 6 months down the line and not a whisper from anyone


My attached picture tell the rest of the story. what i can say is that these camping dishes are just brill.

[HB13DISH]

Hello peaceandlove,
Nice story. Thanks for sharing.
Who are on the Management Committee? Are they mostly women or men?
Women seem to dislike dishes and coaxial cables for some odd reason, but I think that if you use something that they are used to like a large wok, then they have no objection.

[pedro2000uk]

really nice story...


so technically someone could take it a stage further and hang a 1.8 outside... so long as it's bolted inside...... well OK... a 1m & 60cm to conform to planning

we do properties and all tenants have always had access to a satellite ....and they get cabled up to a motorised if they want one... to us it is a plus.... we keep them out of the way and within planning.... we like properties to look nice... but also for people to live in them.

... however, we have just removed a number of older scuffy dishes from the front of properties... but we are considering replacing them with good looking new ones... possibly all Pentas..

[compufunk]

You were determined to get what you wanted, so, good for you . Thats a complicated looking setup.

i just receive cold blank angry stares from the management commitee . I

Some people who get a little power in some silly committee take it too seriously. Usually the old biddies

but I think that if you use something that they are used to like a large wok, then they have no objection.

My good lady doesn't seem to mind much, she puts up with the drilling, CAT-5 and Coax cable, computers, dishes, PCBs and all the rest. I know plenty of others who are just as you say though.

[peaceandlove]

really nice story...


so technically someone could take it a stage further and hang a 1.8 outside... so long as it's bolted inside...... well OK... a 1m & 60cm to conform to planning

we do properties and all tenants have always had access to a satellite ....and they get cabled up to a motorised if they want one... to us it is a plus.... we keep them out of the way and within planning.... we like properties to look nice... but also for people to live in them.

... however, we have just removed a number of older scuffy dishes from the front of properties... but we are considering replacing them with good looking new ones... possibly all Pentas..

Firstly the one about technicaly i could hang a 1.8m out the window, thats funny, you got me there.
admitidly the set up is not that pretty, and i would welcome the likes of your self to do it profesionaly had the commitee agreed to this, but they seemed to know best, every body must pay mr Murdoch seems to be the attitude. Not every body wanted Sky, my solution was to stick up a wavefrontier as there are 6-8 flats to a block, an apropriate switch would have done the job and kept every one happy and i would not have gone moterised and proberly would have had a clearer reception of thor as well as possibly nile sat and some others. It so happended that the guy who installed the Sky dishes on the blocks was related to one of the commitee members a Sky installer, when i spoke to him about hotbird and thor ect, he seemed not to have a clue as to what i was on about. so there died my futile attempts to have a professional job done.

Funny enough you talking about 1.8m dishes, i was seriously considering getting a clear see through triax 85cm dish, but think even though it is clear it would prob push the commitee over the limit. the commitee are all women by the way, middle age .

It might sound stupid but i think that the fact the dish im using has a feed horn as opposed to a long arm with a lnb pointing towards it, slightly softens the blow in these womens head , the long arm of an ofset dish may present as something else in their minds, specialy seeing as these middle aged single foggies prob have not had action in years, infact one of them looks a spitting image of Dot cotton, fag hanging out her mouth as well.
Any way think i will leave that 85cmclear dish a miss, doubt if it will make much difference in signal strenth over my 57cm arcon multi at the moment
as reveiws on this dish say it acts like a 85cm dish anyway.

[pedro2000uk]

I like your style ... and that story is one that will get told a bit..

[Topper]

That is certainly a case of :-

Thinking out of the box, or in this case out of the window

[gadgeX]

Hi .. I've been reading the threads about the Arcon 57cm with interest .. I'm currently using the little 40cm dish ( upgraded LNB to a Invacom 102 ) that came from the maplins comag camping kit inside the house. I get a semi respectable reception considering my location ( 28E 70% + on a good day ) .. sadly when the weather is bad everything goes bad as expected ..
I don't have a landlord problem just the upstairs neighbour , who has made it clear that If I erect a dish outside he won't stand for it .. luckily my living room window faces south easterly ..
Would the Arcon 57cm improve the signal somewhat ? locating indoors replacing my little 40cm dish ?

thanks gadgeX

[Topper]

To be honest such a small increase in size may or may not give you the desired results. It is very difficult for anyone to say. There are a number of factors at play here and we do not even know the size of the window it is looking through and primarily you are looking to increase the amount of signal hitting the dish which may be restricted by the window dimensions.

You mention you cannot have a dish outside and it is not a landlord problem but why should the person in the flat above you dictate to you what services your residence has? especially if they are not the landlord or anything connected you renting the property, assuming it is rented. Your local council will be able to advise you of your rights and that would be my first port of call

[gadgeX]

Thanks for your reply , the window in question is a large double glazed almost 3mw 1.3m H .My flat is privately owned by myself , when I purchased about 8yrs ago the upstairs neighbour came to the door and laid down the rules so to speak , explicitly mentioning erecting a dish . I'm just trying to keep the peace as the neighbour is nothing short of a meddling busybody ..
I am hoping to increase the signal hitting the dish ..

thanks ...

[Topper]

You do as you please but he has absolutely no rights under law even Scottish law to dictate to you about your dish. Have a word with these people he is so bang out of order it makes me angry. That is your property and he has no right to dictate anything to you.

As regards the dish put in as big as you can without it being an eyesore inside the house, but I would be fixing mine on the wall outside meddling busybody or not.

[gadgeX]

Thanks again ... I think I'll drop nac a quick email and see what they say , the street has numerous mini dishes so i think the odds maybe in favour .. One possible solution i did think of was erecting some uni strut and mounting the dish not on the building but just on the corner which has a small recess of about 2ft - so technically it not mounted on the building .
Hopefully i will return with good news from the authorities

thanks again for the advice and suggestions

gadgeX

[Topper]

There is not much chance of a maybe about it unless you are a grade 2 listed building or one with similar restrictions.

I suggest you do a search on the forum for patio mount if you are considering one.

have a look at

http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellit...eqc-motor.html

http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellit...tio-mount.html

Lots of possibilities are available

[gadgeX]

I'm liking the patio stand idea and that dish also looks like a standard size zone 2 , I suggested to the wife about a 1.1 m dish out the back door ... thats a big no no . The local authorities acknowledged my email last week and said they will respond within 20 days ..

thanks for the pointers ... gadgeX

[peaceandlove]

I'm liking the patio stand idea and that dish also looks like a standard size zone 2 , I suggested to the wife about a 1.1 m dish out the back door ... thats a big no no . The local authorities acknowledged my email last week and said they will respond within 20 days ..

thanks for the pointers ... gadgeX

Keeping the peace with your neighbour is good, but hes gone too far there should be a compromise, Any how Im not sure how big a zone 2 dish is, im thinking prob about 60 cm and if thats the case i would definatly go for the arcon multi 57cm, im not sure how this would improve your reception behind a window, as my window is laden with aluminium and lead so no chance of recption with a closed window, mine has to be open to view 19E.
But if you are going for the patio set up you will not be dissapointed with a arcon multi, it will pick up much more than a zone 2, reading some of the reception reports on the zone 2 motorised dish posted above it seems that 16E is mor or less a no go, wher as my motorised 57cm is picking up virtualy all of 16 E i have a problem on the digi alb transponder which broadcasts the sports channels, this comes and gpes as it pleases but apart from that, im picking up 8w the furthest i can go west, 5W all of 1W Thor apart from the nordic transponders, 4.5E sirus again apart from the nordic, 7E ,9E ,10E, with problems , think i need to slightly realign dish,13E, 16E, 19E, 23E apart from the Kabel Deutchland transponders, 28E, 39E, and half of 42E turksat .
I doubt very much if a zone two could acheive this, and the arcon multi is proberbly smaller than a zone 2.
Two majour draw back with this dish i must say
1. is price, thankfully i picked mine up on fleebay for £60 and after searching high and low i found an adapted iverto c120 .3db LNb with dual feed but im sure it cost me about £60, unlike the normal c120 iverto single and dual white lnbs,which cost beteween £20 and £35 the one i got has a tube like thread comming out in order to screw on the feed horn, this brings me to second draw back.
LNB, these tend to pack up quiker than a normal lnb, mines went last week after the snows, hailstones and torrential rain, now only receiveing H frequencies and hard pushed to pay another £60 after only a year and 4 months but have no choice. seing as ive got away this long with having the dish up, now playing with idea of possibly getting a longer stronger s pole stronger clamps and replacing the arcon57cm with a 85cm clear dish, but not so sure it would greatly improve reception, i do get terrible rain fade on thor and 16e during a very rainy day, infact 16E unwatchable during rain, and thor reduced to the strongest trasponders only but still the arcon is very impressive for its size , its reported as acting like a 80cm dish, allowing for sales talk, i would say maybe a 70cm dish, but seeing as i dont own either a 70 or 80cm dish hard to compare,
I would say though above the draw backs much better than a zone 2 for reception

[T_G]

Man, I hate those type of neighbours, it boils by blood when I think of them. You should put up a whatever size dish is permitted by law, and then paint it bright red just to piss him off. It is a good thing to want to try to keep things friendly with all the people in your building, but clearly he is one of those bullying types who try to force their stupid rules and regulations on all the others.

[kamaleon]

Hi there.

The raven zone 2 dish is roughly 76cm x 57cm (according to their official specs).

Your arcon multi is probably a very good dish, and I believe should somehow match, or even outperform the raven, with the right lnb. There's not an awful lot that would fit it, either the mti ap8-tw or the inverto single / twin (as I'm sure the invacom wouldn't fit it right) and this are meant to be the top performers.

I don't think it would match an 80cm transparent dish, though, but it's definetly smaller!! My 80 transparent dish is 80cm x 85cm so that's a big difference from 57cm! With a very good lnb the clear dish should still beat the arcon multi, in some marginal situations like what you seem to be experimenting on digitalb, it will probably give that extra cms that are the difference between having no image at all and having a stable one. And yes, it would collect less snow or hail, which isn't a negligeable factor. Apart from that, the arcon sounds like a lovely piece of technology, with probably unbeaten performances sizewise, apart from a fibostop 55cm gregorian

Make sure you're motor / poles / elevation on the dish are correctly adjusted, sometimes some (fractions of) millimeters can make a HUGE difference! Last week I took my motorised setup down (moteck + clear 80cm dish) and tweaked it like mad and now I'm getting 42°E, 16°E is coming up much stronger, so does 7°E, and I'm even getting 39°E which I had never got to lock before! So make sure everything is well aligned, check for skew, and you might be able to squeeze some more signal. Anyway, congratulations for your setup, it's brilliant!

And I won't even tell you what I think of your neighbour...

[peaceandlove]

Hi there.

The raven zone 2 dish is roughly 76cm x 57cm (according to their official specs).

Your arcon multi is probably a very good dish, and I believe should somehow match, or even outperform the raven, with the right lnb. There's not an awful lot that would fit it, either the mti ap8-tw or the inverto single / twin (as I'm sure the invacom wouldn't fit it right) and this are meant to be the top performers.

I don't think it would match an 80cm transparent dish, though, but it's definetly smaller!! My 80 transparent dish is 80cm x 85cm so that's a big difference from 57cm! With a very good lnb the clear dish should still beat the arcon multi, in some marginal situations like what you seem to be experimenting on digitalb, it will probably give that extra cms that are the difference between having no image at all and having a stable one. And yes, it would collect less snow or hail, which isn't a negligeable factor. Apart from that, the arcon sounds like a lovely piece of technology, with probably unbeaten performances sizewise, apart from a fibostop 55cm gregorian

Make sure you're motor / poles / elevation on the dish are correctly adjusted, sometimes some (fractions of) millimeters can make a HUGE difference! Last week I took my motorised setup down (moteck + clear 80cm dish) and tweaked it like mad and now I'm getting 42°E, 16°E is coming up much stronger, so does 7°E, and I'm even getting 39°E which I had never got to lock before! So make sure everything is well aligned, check for skew, and you might be able to squeeze some more signal. Anyway, congratulations for your setup, it's brilliant!

And I won't even tell you what I think of your neighbour...

Im Getting more around to the idea of a 80cm transparent, just a bit aprehensive about the housing co-op, but since ive got away with it so far, maybe i should give it ago, by the way no roblems with my neighbour, that was gadex.
my problem was with the management of my block of flats but like ive said ive got away with it for over a year and a half.
I would need to get some kind of bar specially made with a long ofset and stronger wall brackets, But i also think that extra dish size would improve my marginal receptions,also sometimes i have to use my receiver at times to slightly move the dish to receive some channels on the same satellite, again a larger dish would improve things.
Also your so right about proper alignment, ive realigned 4 times, each time there is an improvement, and like you i originaly could not receive 16E, 39E and 42E but after the 4th realinment i have got these now in good veiw, my problem is acheiving the perfect plumbline on my s bar attached to my wall, i think a larger pole and stronger clamps may help improve this,
also if i get a bar with a longer ofset i may be able to get as far as 12west.
I will hve a good think about this over next two weeks, do i just spend £60 and replace my LNB and look to improve on alingment or do i spend a little bit more and go for the 80cm clear and hope it doesnt trigger the housing committee to try anddo something to get me to take every thing down, so far i think they at last have got used to the idea.
My final dream set up would be a motorised 80cm clear dish driven by my tm5400usb and replace my two 40cm dishes with one 45cm tehnisat 4way dish fed into my skystar 2 hdci of course diseqc with a second feed from the 80cm. I would place the 45cm dish in place of my multimo dish which is joined on to my s bar.
Watch this space

[peaceandlove]

Just to add my arcon multi cannot take the regular c120 iverto, its an adapted kind hence the high price, unlike my 40cm arcon which takes a regular iverto white c120, the feed horn of my arcon sweety 40cm screws into the lnb hence the iverto has an internal thread in the lnb chamber and the feed horn has extertnal thread. on the arcon multi for some reason its in reverse, instead of the feed horn screwing into the lnb, it screws onto the lnb. my specialy adapted iverto lnb hence has external thread on the outside of the lnb chamber and it screws into the internal thread of the feedhorn, why they have done this i dont know and so far I have only found one supplier of the iverto type lnb at a price.

[kamaleon]

Oops sorry, yes, gadgeX's neighbour... I had read your thread quite a long time ago

What do you mean by spending 60£ for a new lnb? You can get C120 single invertos for 9~10€ from germany and twins for 20€, plus shipping.

Anyway, if anytime you get to make a comparison between a zone 2 dish and your arcon multi, I'm all ears

Do you know this piece of kit? This might interest you:

[kamaleon]

Just to add my arcon multi cannot take the regular c120 iverto, its an adapted kind hence the high price, unlike my 40cm arcon which takes a regular iverto white c120, the feed horn of my arcon sweety 40cm screws into the lnb hence the iverto has an internal thread in the lnb chamber and the feed horn has extertnal thread. on the arcon multi for some reason its in reverse, instead of the feed horn screwing into the lnb, it screws onto the lnb. my specialy adapted iverto lnb hence has external thread on the outside of the lnb chamber and it screws into the internal thread of the feedhorn, why they have done this i dont know and so far I have only found one supplier of the iverto type lnb at a price.

Oops sorry, crossed posts. Can you explain a bit better what you mean by this? Got any pics? Or a link to that specially customised inverto?

Anway, if you go the clear dish way, I can tell that mine's pretty inconspicuous. Actually, the shadow that it casts on the wall is more blatant than the dish itself

[peaceandlove]

Oops sorry, crossed posts. Can you explain a bit better what you mean by this? Got any pics? Or a link to that specially customised inverto?

Anway, if you go the clear dish way, I can tell that mine's pretty inconspicuous. Actually, the shadow that it casts on the wall is more blatant than the dish itself

Thats funny, you got the set up i intend to acheive, how does your technisat dish perform, and would it be possible to change the preset 13E,19E,23E,28E to include 16E rather than 23E, i must say yours looks different it does not have that big fat lnb at the end.
I doubt though if the dish can pick up 16E, how does 23E come through, suppose you cant get Kabel Duetchland.
On the subject of clear dish, yes it does truly look transparent.

when i decide what im doing and take down the arcon multi either to replace or change the lnb ill take a picture of the lnb to show you what i mean. having said that it has just occured to me that the dish came witha working lnb, an acorn .3db one if i remember rightly, in the shape of a mti c120 and it also would the the thread on the outside unlike the traditional mti c120s, ill see if i can find that lnb, i suppose i could simply put this lnb back on to get my vertical frquencies back, but then i lose my feed into my skystar, no ill wait and endure H frequencies only for the next week or two.
ill find that lnb and upload a picture to show you what i mean

[kamaleon]

peaceandlove, you might wanna get in touch with Leee as he's replaced an arcon multi for a clear dish, although it's a 60cm one (that I also have). Honestly I wouldn't have thought it would outperform the arcon but he seems to reckon so... well maybe not

http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellit...d-haddock.html

Yeah, my setup was pretty cool! I've now taken it down, but it worked for over 2 years like that. The digidish 45 is a quite spot on kit, it was pointed @ 19.2° receiving also 13° and 28.2°, connected to a spaun 4:1 switch. I didn't get 23°E. To get sats which are that close together (3°) you need to have either a special 3° monoblock or narrow feed lnbs like the famous alps ones.
I've never tried the 45cm on my motor to see what else I could get, but I would say it performs remarkably well, considering I was getting 28.2°E off-centered, but with strong rain that bird would pixelate a lot. Of course, I have the clear motorised dish which also works as back up in that situation so that's not a problem, and I always had 4 satellites in instant zapping

Mine's the "plain" digidish 45, not the "multytenne" that has a specially designed lnb for multifeed.

I can pick 16°E with the 80cm dish, but not all transponders though. I used to be able to pick up some 16°E transponders with my porty 37cm dish 3 years ago but I think they cut the power on that bird ever since. I'm in France, not the UK, though, so my experience is only of relative interest to you.

Please do brief me on the arcon multi lnb issue, I'm very much interested on it. I've considered getting that dish for my travels as I think it's the best dish for that size but then again i think it's very fragile to carry around, I've had a multimo before and the lnb/feedhorn/subreflector could bend quite easily

[peaceandlove]

peaceandlove, you might wanna get in touch with Leee as he's replaced an arcon multi for a clear dish, although it's a 60cm one (that I also have). Honestly I wouldn't have thought it would outperform the arcon but he seems to reckon so... well maybe not

http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellit...d-haddock.html

Yeah, my setup was pretty cool! I've now taken it down, but it worked for over 2 years like that. The digidish 45 is a quite spot on kit, it was pointed @ 19.2° receiving also 13° and 28.2°, connected to a spaun 4:1 switch. I didn't get 23°E. To get sats which are that close together (3°) you need to have either a special 3° monoblock or narrow feed lnbs like the famous alps ones.
I've never tried the 45cm on my motor to see what else I could get, but I would say it performs remarkably well, considering I was getting 28.2°E off-centered, but with strong rain that bird would pixelate a lot. Of course, I have the clear motorised dish which also works as back up in that situation so that's not a problem, and I always had 4 satellites in instant zapping

Mine's the "plain" digidish 45, not the "multytenne" that has a specially designed lnb for multifeed.

I can pick 16°E with the 80cm dish, but not all transponders though. I used to be able to pick up some 16°E transponders with my porty 37cm dish 3 years ago but I think they cut the power on that bird ever since. I'm in France, not the UK, though, so my experience is only of relative interest to you.

Please do brief me on the arcon multi lnb issue, I'm very much interested on it. I've considered getting that dish for my travels as I think it's the best dish for that size but then again i think it's very fragile to carry around, I've had a multimo before and the lnb/feedhorn/subreflector could bend quite easily

I read Lees post with interest but he suggests that his arcon is 53cm while mine is 57cm, he also talks about a 80cm clear, i like his set up though, and that bracket set looks very good, but it would not work for me as I have no recess to place the bar, but very nice invention all the same and could be usefull in a different siotuation to mine.

I have attached a picture of the lnb that came with my arcon multi 57cm, its an arcon LNb but very much like the Mti brand except again as you should be able to see there is a tube with thread comming out of the top of the lnb, this screws into the feedhorn, it is the same as my iverto whit dual currently on my arcon, it also has a tube like neck sticking out the top of the lnb, these are different to the regular iverto and mti c120s,
I think you will understand now what ive been trying to explain, its hard to put it in words and for someone to get the picture in their head.
When i ordered the lnb, the shop first rang me to verify if it was for a arcon sweety or an arco multi, they said the arcon sweety takes a regular iverto c120 and is not very expensive, where as the arcon multi they rightly informed me has had to be adapted in order to fit the arcon multi

[kamaleon]

Hi,

Thanks for that pic, that definetly makes it clear, although according to your explanation I was imagining something along those lines.

Leee in fact mentions a 53cm dish, but there is no such thing - there's either a 43cm or a 57cm arcon - so he must have got it wrong. He also mentions it being an arcon sweety, but as you can see it isn't, it's the multi.
Yes, he also mentions getting an 80cm dish, earlier on the thread before he got one, but on the later picture I can definetly tell it's a 60cm one. I know because I have both dishes. Did you try to get in touch with him? That would cast away the doubts.

Now, that threaded lnb is indeed bizarre. I didn't know you could get threaded invertos as well. Would you share the contact information of that shop?
One thing I can tell you, and I've only just found out about this yesterday whilst doing some research on a new corean squairsh flatish dish is that there are threaded ring adapters to go on C120 lnbs, I wonder if these would suit the arcon multi. I'll post some pictures later on