Astra 2E: Iberia & Balearics Reports

[Archive4]

Having checked the map of the gods http://goo.gl/maps/Ha4xf the dish should be ok, may need a slight adjustment from a sat expert, or a 10lb hammer by a plumber!

 

[Heinz]

Good grief! I've now been told that the single cable to her Sky+HD box (set on single feed mode) "may have got a little burnt" when the chimney around which it was routed caught fire!

BTW what does 'spot beam' mean?

 

[Archive4]

this is a normal pan europe beam this is a uk spot beam , I think you get the idea about signal strength outside of the UK

 

[joddle]

Good grief! I've now been told that the single cable to her Sky+HD box (set on single feed mode) "may have got a little burnt" when the chimney around which it was routed caught fire!

BTW what does 'spot beam' mean?

Any damage to cable or other parts of the installation will need fixing before you have any chance of a good signal.

When doing the repairs to the system jointing cable is not considered to be a good idea - it can let in water and reduce signal strength if not done perfectly. Better to replace the complete cable run with the best quality sat cable you can afford. Maybe thats all it will need if the dish was set up well! Let's hope so. Good luck! and let us know how you get on.

The spot beam is focused on the UK and so here in Spain we only get a little bit if the overspill i.e. very weak signal whereas the European beam is strong over most of western Europe so we get full strength here in Spain.

 

[joddle]

I brought a little Freesat Manhatten HD box for £49 when in the UK recently - Seemed so cheap that its not worth not trying it! Tried it out here in Valencia - Very good indeed for the price, not quite a sensitive as the Humax but plenty sensitive enough to get everything I want here. Only down size is the smallness of the print on some of the menus (but my eyes are pretty naff). Good point its really easy to add and select non freesat channels. Thumbs up from me.

 

[Archive4]

early Manhatten´s were ok, but of late I have had a few that have had reception problems, due to poor receiver capability. At the mo the cheap Bush and Grundig boxes seem to work better than the Manhatten or Humax variants

 

[Lazarus]

The latter are Vestel brands and, as a matter of interest, have just signed up with Freesat to produce Freesat TVs.

Should be fun.



And cheap!

 

[Archive4]

Send me a test model for free and I´ll give you a good appraisal!!!!

 

[Archive4]

PS which latter, I mentioned Manhatten to start and finish, so are you working with M, H or G & B?

 

[Lazarus]

Bush, Grundig and Goodmans: Some snobby types (Cough: Sony owners) despise these brands, but I always buy my Tellies as Bush, from Argos. Never been let down yet.

 

[Archive4]

Bush, Grundig and Goodmans: Some snobby types (Cough: Sony owners) despise these brands, but I always buy my Tellies as Bush, from Argos. Never been let down yet.

Could not agree more! Some of the best equipment I´ve had over the years has come from them, albeit, sometimes they are heavier than other brands, but are equally as good. (and a damm site cheaper!)

AND SOME CAME OUT OF THE BACKDOOR OF THE LOCAL CURRY´S WAREHOUSE

 

[Huevos]

All I can say is the tuner sucks in that box.

 

[joddle]

Wow - did not mean to stir up a hornets nest - just an observation I had on a receiver which was cheap enough and works well here in Valencia - and on topic as it is using 2E here in Spain !!!! Maybe other boxes are better/ as good/ worse - but that is a differtent story and so maybe off topic.

 

[sinbadmarino]

I'm decided to buy a new dish, a 1.8 m dish, because 1.5 m dish may not work properly with Astra 2E. Well, I’m not sure that a 1.8 m one does, but it is more likely to do it.

I see that most of 1.8m dishes are Prime Focus, but there is a 1.8 m offset one. According what I read in this thread it’s more important the quality than the type (PF or Offset) of the dish, isn’t it?

I think the 1.8 offset one I saw is a good brand, Prodelin. On several occasions It’s been mentioned as a reference mark at the level of the Channel Master. Could you tell me more good brands to buy in Spain (or near)?

In the hypothetical case I decided to buy a Prime Focus, depending on your advice, do you know if the LNB would have to be specific for Prime Focus antennas or does the PF dish work with a normal "offset" LNB?

Another question, how is it possible that fiberglass antennas weigh around 72 kg and aluminum ones weigh only 32 kg? I thought fiberglass was lighter than aluminum. The only way is that I am wrong.

You see, I am full of doubts, but wanting to install a new gizmo.

Thanks.

 

[Nagusia]

Sinbad, I just sent you a PM with my ideas, but in any case offered to ask the questions on your behalf. I can see you don't need me to do that. In any case, there are people on this forum who know far more about prime-focus issues than I do.

 

[altman]

I wouldn't call them issues, the market is oriented for offset, so you can buy offset optimized LNBs virtually anywhere, slap them on any offset dish, and it works.
not perfectly, but it works, lets say at 80% of what the dish could deliver.

on PF, if you don't carefuly select the right feedhorn/lnb combo and just put whatever was in store, you get 40 to 50%
so for a novice PF might appear as inferior compared to offset.
a good PF will perform just the same as a same size offset (measured properly) but cost way less (in spain) for the simple reason that there are two manufacturers of 1.8m PF in the peninsula, and all the 1.8m offsets have to be imported.

in Lisbon, you can get a fixed 1.8m PF cheaper than a gibertini 1.5m for example

Sinbad: You need a lot more fiberglass in order to maintain a perfect shape compared to aluminium, and remember Prodelin isn't a brand that would skimp on quality, weight isn't an issue for them

 

[Huevos]

you can buy offset optimized LNBs virtually anywhere, slap them on any offset dish, and it works.
not perfectly, but it works, lets say at 80% of what the dish could deliver.

Great advice, buy an 800€ Prodelin dish and "slap" any old rubbish LNB on it.

 

[altman]

its not that mate, I'm just saying that if one does that and as long as the dish is peaked any lnb on the market will do more or less.
with PF it takes a bit more care to details for it to work fine, the end result will be almost the same, for a lot less money.

so, for somebody with less experience, PF might seem to have quirks and issues, and "offset is better" and all that
a seasoned installer will just treat them like two different ways to get the same result and be done with it.

Sinbadmarino is choosing his next dish, and had a few doubts, let him know your opinion as well

 

[Archive4]

its not that mate, I'm just saying that if one does that and as long as the dish is peaked any lnb on the market will do more or less.
with PF it takes a bit more care to details for it to work fine, the end result will be almost the same, for a lot less money.

so, for somebody with less experience, PF might seem to have quirks and issues, and "offset is better" and all that
a seasoned installer will just treat them like two different ways to get the same result and be done with it.

Sinbadmarino is choosing his next dish, and had a few doubts, let him know your opinion as well

oh! oh!oh!

guess someone didn´t read the manual!

 

[Archive4]

its not that mate, I'm just saying that if one does that and as long as the dish is peaked any lnb on the market will do more or less.
with PF it takes a bit more care to details for it to work fine, the end result will be almost the same, for a lot less money.

so, for somebody with less experience, PF might seem to have quirks and issues, and "offset is better" and all that
a seasoned installer will just treat them like two different ways to get the same result and be done with it.

Sinbadmarino is choosing his next dish, and had a few doubts, let him know your opinion as well

I would put a correctly alighned 1.45 pf against any 1.8 off-set (other than the ch master) and win the money any day of the week!