Bits and bobs + 50€ motor = budget feed hunter

***Huevos*** · 05-04-2009

I put this together mainly from bits and bobs I had lying around.

Foto index.

Redundant 80 cm dish (previously used for Astra 2 South).
Famaval ground stand (40 cm). Titanium Smart LNB.
Getting the pole straight.
Pole with MOT-SAT 3 motor attached.
Testing dish movement with SatCatcher Excel-TV.
LNB attached. SatCatcher is brilliant; it has USALS built in.
Dish face on, set to due South.
Side view.
Pointed at 45ºE.
Pointed at 45ºW.
Pointed at 45ºW again.
Double picture for scale compared to the Gibertini 1.5m.

**satelliteman** · 05-04-2009

That's a nice install you have there, great pictures

***Huevos*** · 08-05-2009

The 70 x 80 cm offset dish was missing too many feeds so I updated the dish.

***wod*** · 09-05-2009

yes larger the dish, the better if your viewing feeds, dont you have the 1.5m dish anymore ?

***Huevos*** · 09-05-2009

Originally Posted by wod

dont you have the 1.5m dish anymore ?

Yeah I do... but that's the main system which the missus is in charge of it 95% of the time. The 1.5 is connected to a Vantage x221 TSCI used for digital terrestrial, and Sky using the latest unofficial patch so the NDS card works. That system needs the 1.5 so it is possible to receive (at least some) channels from Astra 2D.

The system in the pictures above is paired to a Manhattan Plaza XT-M at the moment. I want to be able to watch 4:2:2 feeds and was considering a Skystar card but due to the lack of blind scan and proper motor control I've decided against that. So it looks like a Linux box now. I toyed with the idea of an Eagle Box but apparently the motor control of that is also dubious. I'm not going to buy a dreambox due to the overinflated prices so now I'm considering one of the Technomate Linux boxes, although I'm not sure which yet.

cooltv · 13-05-2009

Originally Posted by Huevos

The 70 x 80 cm offset dish was missing too many feeds so I updated the dish.

I would like to ask you a few questions about your black dish.

What is the round plate for on the end of it and what does it do?

What does the strange LNB on the arm of the dish do?

What is the size of the dish?

Is the Tripod stand bolted into the ground?

***Huevos*** · 01-06-2009

Originally Posted by cooltv

What is the round plate for on the end of it and what does it do?

It's the secondary reflector. You can read about Gregorian optics on Wikipedia. _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_telescope

Originally Posted by cooltv

What does the strange LNB on the arm of the dish do?

It's just a regular LNB (Invacom QDF-031) and does the same as the LNB on every other satellite dish (converts received signal to a lower frequency).

Originally Posted by cooltv

What is the size of the dish?

90cm

Originally Posted by cooltv

Is the Tripod stand bolted into the ground?

No, it's bolted to the roof. If it wasn't it would blow over.

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Bits and bobs + 50€ motor = budget feed hunter Upload your photos here (Don't link to them with img code, upload them), doesn't matter how basic your setup, it's nice to see what everyone is working with. If you've seen an interesting setup, then post it here. All photos here are copyright and cannot be used without permission of the poster.