2 dishes connected together to improve signal?

A

akabronson

Member
My Satellite Setup
2 dishes - 1.3m and 0.8m
Bush freesat HD
My Location
Mallorca, Spain
I live in Mallorca and try to watch freesat. With my 1.3m dish I can pick up all freesat channels until late afternoon, then the signal fades rapidly. Unfortunately, due to neighbours, I can't install a bigger dish but I can use another smaller one! I have another 0.8m dish pointed at the same satellite. Is it possible to connect the 2 together to improve the signal strength as if it were one big dish? If not, is there anything else, like a feedhorn for instance, that might help? I already bought a new LNB (smart electronic titanium 0.1db LNB TS).

Thank you for any help.
 
Not possible on a hobby level although thats exactly how multiple radio telescopes work.

Unfortunately if you cant put up a bigger dish you will have to do without or tweak up your existing dish and hope you can eke out a bit more performance from it. And thats likely to be trial and error
 
To all intents and purposes, no.

All sorts of difficulties will arise from attempting to combine the separate sources in a coherent manner.

Are your neighbours Mallorcan, fellow Brits, or Germans? (Those three being the most likely)
 
Try the Inverto Black Ultra LNB,you may be able to eeek a little more out of what you have with that.
 
Thanks for the info, although it's a little disappointing. My neighbours actually cover that whole spectrum but it's more the Mallorquins who are against it. Fair enough, to be honest, as I'm right on the top in the centre of town where lots of people would see a HUGE dish. So If I don't manage to sweet talk them in to allowing me to use a bigger dish, what's the best way to tweak my existing set-up please?
 
What dish is the 1.3m out of interest, Famavel/Tecatel?
 
No idea, doesn't have anything on it at all. Must be some generic dish. Does the make of dish make that much difference? By the way, what size exactly would I have to go to get a clear signal all day and night?
 
Between 2.4m and 3m I believe according to the map I have seen for 2D. Another one says between 2 and 2.4m
 
akabronson said:
No idea, doesn't have anything on it at all. Must be some generic dish. Does the make of dish make that much difference?
Click to expand...

Reason for asking is I believe one type of popular 135cm offset have a Cassegrain adapting kit which will give you slightly more gain. Chances of you having this dish would be fairly remote.
 
akabronson said:
My neighbours actually cover that whole spectrum but it's more the Mallorquins who are against it. Fair enough, to be honest, as I'm right on the top in the centre of town where lots of people would see a HUGE dish.
Click to expand...

A 2.4m is not a huge dish. You might be able to minimise the visual impact by cutting down the pole to its absolute minimum so the dish rim is just off the roof. Then you coud colour match it or break up the outline with strategic murals.

Additionally you could put a large microwave transparent box over it
 
"A 2.4m is not a huge dish.", Channel Hopper, I would like to be a fly on the wall when you try to run that line past your Local Authority Planning Compliance Officer!

Unfortunately most neighbours think anything over 1m (and some over 60cm) is huge!
 
DishDick said:
"A 2.4m is not a huge dish.", Channel Hopper, I would like to be a fly on the wall when you try to run that line past your Local Authority Planning Compliance Officer!
Click to expand...

That conversation happened over ten years ago. Done it - got away with it.
 
i did live in Mallorca and found that a 1.66m dish was fine on all transponders except in heavy rain,you will get itv wales all the time and the bbc"s, itv2, itv3, itv4 and channel 4 will give you problems in bad weather. just noticed you have a hd box so you should get channel 4 hd ok
 
Well done Channel Hopper, you were lucky to get a reasonable officer, they do exist - but are few and far between!
 
Forgot to mention tha basic math(s).

If you put two 1.3m antennas together the most you could hope to get would be the reception of a 1.85 m dish, and that is before you calculate the losses from phasing a domestic Ku band system using off the shelf kit.
 
Back
Top