1.9 dish

[petedaniel]

Help please
I am thinking of replaceing my 1.5 dish with a 1.9 , I live near Ondara on the Costa Blanca can you tell me if I will get an inprovement worth the cost of the replacement dish, and where can I buy one at a resonable price had a quote today for 775 euros and that was only for the dish.
I also have a Amstrad DRX200 which I can't get to lock on to a signal any Idears out there?
I belive I read on this site that it was one of the best box's for this area.

[woborny]

Hi

In Ondara with a 1.8m dish you may still loose BBC and ITVs late at night - maybe from 10/11pm at night, with BBC2 (Freesat Five, and the C4 horizontals) available until about 6pmish.

You will need the dish, LNB and groundstand (and possibly concrete base) - prices on the CB are around 700 - maybe you got the most expensive quote....

Personally, out of the new "flow box design" I prefer the Thomson over the Amstrad, as I find the Thomson performs much better especially in the Northern CB area, especially later at night and for those tricky North beam signal channels. But if you have a Sky subsciption best go for a Pace Sky+ box, better performance and all the benefits of the record and playback features.

I dare say the reason why you cannot get a lock on the Amstrad is down to the fact that
a) your current sized dish cannot receive the North Beam 11778 frequency (that is used for the signal strength lock indicator), (which is poor in the mid afternoon period anyway)
b) your LNB is not correctly aligned / skewed - critical for the North beams signals.
C) or your Amstrad is poor.

I am in Gandia just up the road and have managed to get a lock with the Thomsons on an 80cm dish, at least in the mornings til noon...

Hope this helps

[Huevos]

I am thinking of replaceing my 1.5 dish with a 1.9

There are no 1.9m dishes (except in certain adverts). If it is a Famaval dish it is 1.79m.

[petedaniel]

Thanks for the info I already have the LMB and need a wall fixing bracket .
Still confused about the amstrad box as it shows a very good sinnal strength.
a number of others here seem to get most of the programes Ok by moving to the Channel isles in the evening.

Hi

In Ondara with a 1.8m dish you may still loose BBC and ITVs late at night - maybe from 10/11pm at night, with BBC2 (Freesat Five, and the C4 horizontals) available until about 6pmish.

You will need the dish, LNB and groundstand (and possibly concrete base) - prices on the CB are around 700 - maybe you got the most expensive quote....

Personally, out of the new "flow box design" I prefer the Thomson over the Amstrad, as I find the Thomson performs much better especially in the Northern CB area, especially later at night and for those tricky North beam signal channels. But if you have a Sky subsciption best go for a Pace Sky+ box, better performance and all the benefits of the record and playback features.

I dare say the reason why you cannot get a lock on the Amstrad is down to the fact that
a) your current sized dish cannot receive the North Beam 11778 frequency (that is used for the signal strength lock indicator), (which is poor in the mid afternoon period anyway)
b) your LNB is not correctly aligned / skewed - critical for the North beams signals.
C) or your Amstrad is poor.

I am in Gandia just up the road and have managed to get a lock with the Thomsons on an 80cm dish, at least in the mornings til noon...

Hope this helps

[Huevos]

Thanks for the info I already have the LMB and need a wall fixing bracket .
Still confused about the amstrad box as it shows a very good sinnal strength.
a number of others here seem to get most of the programes Ok by moving to the Channel isles in the evening.

Your posts are a bit vague. What's the story with the 1.5m? Are you sure it is a 1.5m? How are you measuring it? Horizontally? Is it an offset dish? What make is it? What LNB are you using? Does it work for part of the day? Is it aligned properly, i.e. it was done with a professional grade meter? Or just a squawker, or some other chapuza method?

[woborny]

Thanks for the info I already have the LMB

I hope you mean an LNB!
and need a wall fixing bracket .
AFAIK supports / wall brackets for a 1,8m dish are 8cm diameter.

Still confused about the amstrad box as it shows a very good sinnal strength.

At what time of the day and on what frequency?
11778 (the main default transponder frequency) will be lowest at around 4 / 5pm...and will vary during the day.
if you select another frequency like 12129 or 122076 then yes you will see good sinnal strength as these frequencies are on a different satelliteand very strong reception, even on an 80cm dish!

a number of others here seem to get most of the programes Ok by moving to the Channel isles in the evening.

Yes BBC1 Ci and ITV1 CH are regarded as being the best FTA channels for BBC1 and ITV1, but even these may not be available 24/7 on a 1.8m dish in your area. (i get slight break up on these at about 11pm)

[Huevos]

i get slight break up on these at about 11pm

With what LNB/feedhorn/dish?

[woborny]

note: thats 11pm UK time...and only for about 1/2 hour...

With what LNB/feedhorn/dish?

Invacom Quad c120 1.8m famaval
I have had much better results in my area on the nonfamaval portuguese dish - cant remember the name of the company - is it mafara??

[Huevos]

note: thats 11pm UK time...and only for about 1/2 hour...

Summer time? i.e 10pm UTC? If you are talking about the last 6 weeks or so that's the eclipse which is over now. Or is it still happening?

[petedaniel]

Thanks for your replys
My dish is measured verticaly 1.5m my LNB sorry about the mistake is a Universal quad noise figure 0.1 which I understand is a bit of a joke It was set up about 8 years a go by the installer and it is only resently that we have started to loose 4 & 5 I now have a price for a replacement dish for 400 euros I just want to know if it would be worth the cost.

[Huevos]

Thanks for your replys
My dish is measured verticaly 1.5m my LNB sorry about the mistake is a Universal quad noise figure 0.1 which I understand is a bit of a joke It was set up about 8 years a go by the installer and it is only resently that we have started to loose 4 & 5 I now have a price for a replacement dish for 400 euros I just want to know if it would be worth the cost.

To know the aperture of a dish you measure it horizontally, and only the dish face, not the rim. This figure can then be used for direct comparison with prime focus dishes. The vertical measurement is meaningless.

If you have been offered a new dish for 400€ it is not going to be a Famaval or similar quality dish. A Famaval is the minimum quality dish you should consider. A new 1.8 Famaval retails at 440€. When you add to this the cost of groundstand, feedhorn, LNB, concrete base, installation, etc you can see any price you are quoted under 700€ should be inspected very closely. Are you sure the dish you are being offered is not a Fortec Star petalised dish.

If your "1.5" dish worked adequately until recently maybe it has lost alignment or the LNB has gone a bit dodgy.

[pottsy189]

How comes you all get a poor signal up there, my 1.3 dish down in Mojacar works great, all signals all the time ie BBC1234 ITV 123 ; channel 4 & 5, have to adjust it about once a year due to earth movenment,as in that part of Spain it is in earthquake area, so suggest replace LNB and align dish using a Technomate receiver [£80] 5400 model with a small TV receiver, adjusting on screen for max signal strength
Hope this helps !

[Huevos]

How comes you all get a poor signal up there, my 1.3 dish down in Mojacar works great, all signals all the time ie BBC1234 ITV 123 ; channel 4 & 5

Mate, there's a null centred on Alicante. Go 200 kilometres either way and things are fine with a smaller dish. Probably the null between the main lobe and the first side lobe of the transmitting antenna. Horizontals are the worst affected.

[pipino]

Help please
I am thinking of replaceing my 1.5 dish with a 1.9 , I live near Ondara on the Costa Blanca can you tell me if I will get an inprovement worth the cost of the replacement dish, and where can I buy one at a resonable price had a quote today for 775 euros and that was only for the dish.
I also have a Amstrad DRX200 which I can't get to lock on to a signal any Idears out there?
I belive I read on this site that it was one of the best box's for this area.

hi m8,
i know your area quite well i did some stuff in vergel about 6months ago..i advise you to get a PASAT 2.40m dish(AKA Bulgarian dish) if you can ,and regarding the lnb if you are using a single receiver ..look for a modified Inverto Single Black ultra ..our friend Huevos can give advise about it , about receivers ..if you are only Freesat user then get the Humax FOX HD ,or Pace 2600 digibox if Sky user...good luck...cheers

[woborny]

Summer time? i.e 10pm UTC? If you are talking about the last 6 weeks or so that's the eclipse which is over now. Or is it still happening?

Not any more since I managed to find some time and get up on the roof to sort the dish out...goes to show what you can get when the dish does not get looked at after the strong winds....too busy sorting others out and not doing my own!!

Realigned, replaced 4 yr old invacom quad, and now all 2Dv's 24/7.

[petedaniel]

Help please
I am thinking of replaceing my 1.5 dish with a 1.9 , I live near Ondara on the Costa Blanca can you tell me if I will get an inprovement worth the cost of the replacement dish, and where can I buy one at a resonable price had a quote today for 775 euros and that was only for the dish.
I also have a Amstrad DRX200 which I can't get to lock on to a signal any Idears out there?
I belive I read on this site that it was one of the best box's for this area.

Hi I need some help here I was about to buy a larger dish but someone demostrated that I could get channels 4 5 and itv on my set by changing the setting trouble is I did not make a note on how it was done and afer I switched off I lost my new channels. any one know how to reset them

[Huevos]

I could get channels 4 5 and itv on my set by changing the setting trouble is I did not make a note on how it was done and afer I switched off I lost my new channels. any one know how to reset them

The receiver shouldn't have lost them by turning off the power. They should still be there by selecting "services>>other channels". If not you will need to add them again: "services>>4>>4". Frequencies are: ITV 1, 12402; Channel 4, 12480 V; Five, 12422 H. All with a symbol rate of 27500.

[pottsy189]

woborny
I think your building is moving, I have to adjust mine and my friends dish every year due to earth movement, just keep an eye on the cracks in your walls

[mangio61]

Hi Guys,

Recently I moved from UK in the center of Italy about 100 Km noth of Rome. I am keen to install 1.8 Meter dish to View BBC,1,2,3,4 +ITV Ch4 and Five and of course my little one is looking for Cbeebes.

However I was told from the local installer that 1.8 meter dish is not sufficient and I should look for a 2.4 at least and even so Channel 4 may be lost in the evening.....

Is out here anybody who has direct experence in receiving the above channel in the centre of Italy?

Cheers

[woborny]

woborny
I think your building is moving, I have to adjust mine and my friends dish every year due to earth movement, just keep an eye on the cracks in your walls

wonder if it had anything to do with the 3.5+ earthquake a few months ago.....