absolute beginner seeks motorised system...

[TimUK]

After many years of sky digital I have decided to cancel my subscription and install a motorised system

I don't watch much "pay" sky and my wife is originally arabic so the ability to pick up such channels appeals.

Looking around I see complete "no brand" systems for around £140 - this is with a HiDef receiver, 80cm or so dish, bracket and motor.

Does anyone have experience of such cheap set-ups ? In particular the dish/motor side of things.

I will install the system myself, have installed several fixed set-ups and have a scaffolding tower so don't forsee any problems here, though should I budget for one of the cheap signal meters or are these not required as I guess all recievers have on-screen meters.

Grateful of any comments or alternative systems I should consider, would obviously like to keep spend down.

 

[Lazarus]

I will install the system myself, have installed several fixed set-ups and have a scaffolding tower so don't forsee any problems here, though should I budget for one of the cheap signal meters or are these not required as I guess all recievers have on-screen meters.

A cheap meter is probably worth getting because the indication is available "on location" while you align the system: Receiver metering is obviously invaluable if you can see it ............. (or, as with my SL65, hear it!)

But a basic meter is so cheap it would be daft not to have one handy. Just beware that the short cable stub they come with uses cr*p quality cable with a really thin centre core which can easily bend, break or fail to engage adequately with F sockets: Best idea is to make a short stub up yourself - not only can you guarantee decent connections, but you can cut it to a length that is manageable for your system, as opposed to the usual "any piece of cable cut to length is always too short".

 

[rolfw]

If you buy one of these cheap kits, don't use the crappy L bracket they normally supply, treat yourself to a set of T&K brackets and a piece of scaffold pole.