Transparent Dishes - Good or Crap?

**garym71** · 24-09-2007

Does anyone have any experience of using the transparent dishes?

I'm drawn to purchasing an 85cm one for a 3 LNB fixed dish setup (Astra 2 [28E], Astra 1 [19E] and Hotbird [13E]) mainly because I have no real option other than to put the dish on the front wall of my house so I want to try and make it as inconspicuous as possible. However, if these are known to be crap then I will need to reconsider my options.

**rolfw** · 24-09-2007

I've seen one of the 65cm ones from there and the bracket was very flimsy, don't know about the 85cm they have. I have an 85cm Vector industries dish and it performs about the same as most other cheap to medium range dishes, as do a couple of others I've fitted.

**garym71** · 24-09-2007

They do say part the way down the page on their site that the 85cm one is a newer design with better reinforcement so hopefully it is better than the one you previously saw...

The pictures middle & the right shows our new clear 85cm dish. This dish is clearer than the older type on the left and is stronger with re-inforcing structures on the back of the dish. The older discontinued dish on the left has been included so you can size it against a person. The new dish also uses a slimmer back plate which adds to the abilty to see right through it.

Do you happen to know how the clear ones reflect the satellite signal onto the LNB? Do they have some kind of special coating on? This is what I'm mostly concerned about...that the reflective properties will be of a poorer quality than on the metal solid/mesh dishes.

***Park Royal*** · 24-09-2007

The ones that I have seen have a wire mesh embeded into the plastic, the wire mesh being the reflective surface.
Parky

**garym71** · 24-09-2007

On closer inspection of the pictures on the suppiers website it looks like you might actually be right. Although the images aren't that great it does look like there might be some type of micro-mesh moulded into the plastic. I didn't notice this before and just assumed they were 100% clear plastic.

**rolfw** · 24-09-2007

They all have the mesh, otherwise they would not reflect the signal.

**mhku** · 25-09-2007

I have an 85cm transparent dish and it works fine but I've nothing to compare it to. When it rains heavily I tend to lose all signals.

As to how inconspicuous they are I think a normal dish painted the same colour as the wall it is mounted on may be more inconspicuous .

**dasteelman** · 25-09-2007

Originally Posted by mhku

I have an 85cm transparent dish and it works fine but I've nothing to compare it to. When it rains heavily I tend to lose all signals.

As to how inconspicuous they are I think a normal dish painted the same colour as the wall it is mounted on may be more inconspicuous .

i agree ..........

**garym71** · 25-09-2007

Other than it probably being quite difficult to get paint to match the colour of my house bricks, I also have 2 different colours of bricks in the walls so I think trying to paint a dish the same colour as the walls will just end up with it looking a complete mess to be honest so I think I'd be better off just taking my chances with a transparent one.

If only my house wasn't South facing I would be able to put it on the back and not care about the colour

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)