Astra 1, 2 and Hotbird on a zone 2 mini dish?

daro2096

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Would I need a narrow feed lnb for 9e or would standard Sky lnb's work for 28, 19, 13 and 9?

May go for a bigger dish though. All depends on what the housing people say.
 

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No chance ad say buddy, plus its not just the feed horn part of the LNB that you need to worry about, its the rear body of the LNB that can be just as fat as a "regular" LNB, plus also people tend to forget the width of the LNB holders to, unless there super slim like the bracket you intend to use.
 

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I guess there is only one way to find out.
 

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Dropping my €0.02 in here - yes, 28/19/13 east with 19 east on the focus on a zone 2 is certainly doable, but it is not without it's compromises. First, you'll need some slim-ish LNBs otherwise you won't be able to get the 13 east LNB to peak for the best signal. Analoguesat recommends using only Sky LNBs for this set up because of the LNB shape required, but in my experience the Sky LNBs are too "fat" and wide to have them sit side by side even on a zone 2. In my set ups for this, I've used either Inverto Eco or Inverto Premium LNBs (both of whom whose LNB caps are 48mm in diameter) for 13 & 19 east along with a relevant adaptor for the LNB holder on 19 east. You'll probably find that the two LNBs will need to be touching each other to get the best signals for both satellites. 13 east will need special attention to get it right as the DVB-S2 transponders (the Polish ones in particular) need to have the LNB placement & skew spot on.

If you get a Sky LNB supplied with the dish, it can be used for 28 east. I'd do it's placement after you have 13 & 19 east done first. Again its alignment requires a little care - the UK spot beam channels mostly come crashing in but the channels on 2A and Eutelsat 28A will need to be peaked as they transmit weaker signals.

For my "homing"(strong signal) & "fine tuning" (weaker signal) of the offset LNBs, for 13 east I try to get RAI 1 to home in on, and then either use Stars TV to fine tune, though if I only have a DVB-S SD receiver on hand I go to RTPi to fine tune instead. For 28 east, I home in first for a Channel 4 SD signal, and then to fine tune I go to FilmOn TV. Hopefully when Astra 2G is in place early next year and 2A plus Eutelsat 28A have been retired from its main duties, signal strengths all round should be good though I have found channels on the European beam of 2E & 2F to still be a few percentage points down on signal quality compared to spot beam signals on the same craft.

Going west of 13 east (with 19 east at the focal point) then starts to get tricky. I'd say unless you are planning to use the Inverto Connect slim LNBs** then 9 east is a no-go. I've managed to get 5 east (Euro beam) with the LNB nearly touching the 13 east LNB but that doesn't have the greatest of rain margin and beyond that you're really pushing the limits - at best you might get Al Jazeera on 1 west but not much else. With the dish fixed at 19 east I've managed to get offsets for CNN Turk at 42 east and France 2/3/5 at 5 west, but these are strong signals at these positions, have little rain margin plus you aren't likely to get much else from these positions. In my experience the gain of the Zone 2 dish starts to more heavily roll off around +/- 10 degrees from the focal point.

If you can try and do so, I'd see if I could get an 80cm dish for such use as you then have less constraints to work with - a Sky Zone 2 dish itself is nearly as wide as most 80cm dishes anyway (the Mk3 dishes are 78cm across) and would give better rain margins across all positions, plus you might also be able to add 23.5 east or even maybe 9 east using the Inverto LNBs I mentioned earlier. However once you start adding on too many LNBs things start to get complicated and compromises may have to be sought. I'd stick with three LNBs for now unless there is something at another position that you really want.

** These LNBs don't seem to have a great reputation in either wet conditions or for fringe conditions. The same seems to go for most narrow-neck LNBs though the Alps LNBs are seemingly OK.
 

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The same seems to go for most narrow-neck LNBs though the Alps LNBs are seemingly OK.

+1 for the Alps LNB's....I use four or five in my multisat set up and they are an adequately performing compromise when you are trying for sats with a marginal separation and don't suffer much with rain fade. I'd also agree with you using an 80cm dish, it will make life a lot easier.
 

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The zone 2 dish is 78cm wide.
 

daro2096

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There is a couple of channels I want to receive from 9e, yes.
 

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All done on the MK4 modding:


uploadfromtaptalk1412806842466.jpguploadfromtaptalk1412806856175.jpguploadfromtaptalk1412806868908.jpg
 

daro2096

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What dish is that lnb clamp from? Looks familiar.
 

Ghostleader

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Sorry bud, bloody tapatalk update killed my notifications, an ISS LNB holder mate.
 

daro2096

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Housing ass. said yes to satellite dish. No conditions on size was given. Yay.
 

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You are allowed a 100cm + a 60cm without planning permission in England that is why they said Yes most Councils & Housing Ass do not get involved unless you put up a 240cm dish & then only is someone complains.
 

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Ghostleader

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Housing ass. said yes to satellite dish. No conditions on size was given. Yay.
Good stuff mate, you want to of read the shite they said to my dad in relation to his request.
 

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Glad to find this thread!

We're potentially moving into a new build house, and written into the contract is that while the developers are still on-site (to sell the rest of the houses), satellite dishes are not permitted to be installed on the houses apart from an exception made for "Sky" minidishes.

My current set-up is 28.2°E, 19.2°E, 13°E and 5°W. A 5°W dish could easily go in the back garden and see round the side of the house so that's where my 80cm will go (I need 80cm to get the multistream versions of TF1 HD, France 2 HD and M6 HD), pretty much hidden from view of the road.

For the eastern sats, any dish will have to be on the front of the house so it looks like I'll get away with a Zone 2 on 19.2°E with offsets for 13°E and 28.2°E (Astra 1 and Astra 2 are most important to me and I'm not too fussed if some of the weakest DVB-S2 on Eutelsat 13 isn't totally rainproof as I don't use Bis for French TV any more which used to be the one that caused me the most grief on 11681!)

Only got to cope with that for a year until the developers are gone and then I can do what I like so can always swap the minidish for something better if the signal needs to be better. :D

Might get a Zone 2 and some fitting stuff over the next few weeks to have a go at getting it all working and ready for a speedy install if/when we move!
 

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Plenty of pics of Zone 2s as multi lnb dishes on here including some of mine.

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Here's my old Zone 2 MK 3 modded:


uploadfromtaptalk1454882524621.jpg

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Ghostleader

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Or you could motorise it?:


uploadfromtaptalk1454882968701.jpguploadfromtaptalk1454882975827.jpg

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Adam792

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Motorising had crossed my mind (I actually have a TM2600 motor sat in the cupboard still in its box that I never got round to doing anything with!) but I just like the flexibility of a multi LNB set-up as I record a fair bit of stuff.

Considering I'll have Freeview HD for the UK stuff at first I may just focus on Astra 1 and Eutelsat 13 on the zone 2 at first.

What's the performance like with a regular 6° monoblock on the zone 2? Would a 4.3° one work better with the dish being smaller than the recommended 80cm?


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My first domestic Satellite project was setting up a 6deg Monoblock on a "Sky" Analogue dish and that worked without issue.

That dish was a more conventional shape 70*60cm, IIRC, than the current Zone 2 jobbie, though: But I have seen Forum Posts (Can't recall if they were here, or elsewhere!) where a modern Zone 2 has been successfully set up this way.

Mind you, adjustable Monoblocks can now be obtained, so maybe that'd be a way ahead?

AFAIK, the adjustment range is 4 to 12 (or possibly more) degrees.

A DiSEqC switch would be needed, as these Monoblocks, unlike the fixed ones, don't have an integral switch.
 

Ghostleader

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What's the performance like with a regular 6° monoblock on the zone 2?


Not good, you end up having to extend the arm out a wee bit to compensate for overall size & shape of the Zone 2 I found. Two cheap LNBS, a rail & switch are just as cheap & more flexible going forward I always say.


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