Dish Size

Stephen W

Is there likely to be much difference in terms of the numbers of satellites available to receive in having a 90cm rather than a 1M dish? I live on the coast in Norfolk. I am about to go motorised and my receiver is going to be a Technomate 5000 DACI (if this is relevant).

Channel Hopper

Not much, larger is almost always better though

The quality of installation may reduce the margin

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

Stephen W

Thanx CH. My installer is recommending having a 0.3 LNB rather than the 0.6 that we had originally decided. He says this might improve the reception on a 90cm dish.

Channel Hopper

If he says 'it might' then make sure he brings both far a demo before parting with cash

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

bcpa0632

Hi Stephen W

I'm just down the coast from you, Felixstowe area. I had a Gibertini 85cm dish and Cambridge 0.6dB lnb. I could receive all the satellites in the arc from 45east to 45west, except those on inclined orbit.
I then changed to a 99cm Funke dish and 0.3dB lnb. I hardly noticed any difference in receive levels except, during daylight hours I can receive Nilesat (7west) as long as there is clearish sky. Any sign of cloudy weather or rain I lose the satellite, previously I could only receive that satellite during the hours of darkness. The other advantage is that I have a more robust signal from Arabsat (26east) when there is light rain whereas I lost signal previously.
Those are my observations by going slightly larger in dish size and have a lower noise figure lnb. Overall I think that for the average user that the extra cost was not worth it, that is my opinion, for myself I am well satisfied with the slight increase in the capability of my system. Useing Stab HH100 motor and Technomate 5000DA receiver.

Cheers

Stephen W

Thanx to all, will certainly ask for a demo of each before parting with the £15 for the 0.3 version. To bcpa - how do you manage with reception of the Thor channels?

Channel Hopper

£15 for a 0.3 LNB is cheap

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

GotMyBusPass

@ Channel Hopper
Perhaps he means the difference in price between a 0.6dB and a 0.3dB lnb?
My 0.3dB lnb cost including shipping and german tax just over £20 and compared with 2 0.6dB lnb's that I also have, is in my opinion, far superior.
@ Stephen W
The dish just points at the satellite and the channels come romping in LOL
Joking apart I seem to have no problem at all, but, I do not have cams or cards, I find that over with over 1400 fta digital & analogue channels stored I can allways find something to watch (not all on thor), which in my case is not very often as I seem to spend more time surfing the boards.

Regards

GotMyBusPass

@ Stephen W

Hi, I'm close to bcpa0632 with a similar set up as his. I have just carried out a re-scan of the satellites at that locatio, taking into account that the software in my receiver is over 12 months old, I have not updated since I bought it. I have logged a total of 141 channels of which 21 are ftv, the strongest is on the tp that carries BBC World and comes in at 84% strength and 98-99% quality.
You might like to have a look at http://www.nordic-satellite.com/ , some interesting facts and figures and footprints for the satellites located at 1west & 5east.

Regards

Stephen W

Thanx - very interesting and useful. I get my system installed 5 Feb so should be able to find exactly what I can get then!