Advice Needed Astra 2e from the french riviera

Stuggy

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I've been reading various threads and it seems it is possible to get reception. I have a freesat dish 80cm in the Dordogne. From what I have read here you need around a 1.2m dish for the Riviera. I am close to Tourettes which is roughly maybe 10km north of Nice.

I'm looking for recommendations for dishes as in where to buy them from. Also, any current confirmations from people in the area and what kind of dish they are using to get signal down here.

Thanks
 

PaulR

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I have no personal experience but a 1.5m dish might be a better idea from what I've read. I'm further north and west of you and although an 85cm dish works there's precious little rain margin and a 1m dish works better here.
 

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Don't know if you found this topic > 1st dish in France - SatsUK
This dish > Parabole AC138W Acier . Hors-tout : 142 X130 cm (it's the 135X125 pictured there).

Excellent for the strong transponders, but not much weather margin, and absolute minimum to get the weakest ones, and needed the "re-aiming" of lnb to give decent output (see #31). Situated approx 40 km north of Nice\Cannes. IMO, a quality 150 cm would be better further south.
 

Stuggy

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Thanks for the reply. I did see the thread and am going to re-read it. I was hoping to not have to get too big of a dish since it will be mounted on the roof. I am maybe 10+ km north of Cannes. I see a Gilbertini 125 or 150. Do you think the 125 would be better or the same as the dish you recommended? If i thought it would work I would get the dish you linked to.
 

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Can't comment on the the gibertini 125, never used one. btw, it's a 121 cm, see Gibertini SRL :: OPL125 Antenna \ Gibertini SRL :: OPL125 Antenna.

Now, a precision made 120 will be better than some bad or warped 140, the only real value is reception quality in practice.

Am (quite) sure the inexpensive (Famaval) 142 X 130 cm in the link in former post will work for many channels (on 28e UK beams) much of the time, but it may (will) struggle with the weaker transponders \ HD's, especially at periods of the day \ year as the sat levels fluctuate. The best bet would surely be the Gibertini 150, but if size (wind etc) is a problem, go for as big as you think is max and hope for the best :O) then later, after a period of reception experience in the region, improve dish \ placement \ lnb \ mount system.

A sensitive receiver + a good lnb helps for squeezing out a stable picture when sat levels are low, but nothing helps more than dish size.

If thinking of getting some more sats, on the Famaval 120 I got at my cottage in Norway the 'temporary test' mounted 19e has been working very well, even when partly obstructed by the support arm, see #21
 

Stuggy

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I got on the roof today and measured the existing dish. It is 105cm diameter. I played around with the alignment and didn't get much of anything on the sat meter. Just a very small blip. I came inside and was surprised that I actually get 20+ channels that are viewable. I was expecting nothing. There are obviously a lot of channels that have no picture. I didn't check them all. So the next step would be to choose a dish and LNB.
 

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It is 105cm diameter
Is that prime focus dish? Offset dishes have horizontal and vertical size as they are not round :Y Just kidding.
 

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I got on the roof today and measured the existing dish. It is 105cm diameter. I played around with the alignment and didn't get much of anything on the sat meter. Just a very small blip. I came inside and was surprised that I actually get 20+ channels that are viewable. I was expecting nothing. There are obviously a lot of channels that have no picture. I didn't check them all. So the next step would be to choose a dish and LNB.
The first step has got to be to see if adjusting the dish alignment, LNB skew and (if possible) LNB in-out distance from the dish will improve things. All zero cost!

As Rima says - is that 105cm horizontally and vertically?
 

Stuggy

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Thanks for the replies. The dish is round. The LNB and the dish seem to have no discernable brand. I need to read up on skew. I did loosen the LNB and rotate but saw no difference. While is was on the roof I googled which way to turn the lnb for -13 skew but couldn't find it. I feel like the issue is that I just need a bigger dish and a new LNB. I doubt I can get it to work fully with this dish but am still looking for advice. Since I got some action with this dish should I be ok with the 125 prime or the other dish recommended here?

I didn't explore whether there is a way to move the LNB in and out.
 

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Yes, apart from anything else we would like to check that the correct type of LNB is fitted.
 

Stuggy

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Ok here are a couple of pics. IMG_20190221_144753b.jpgIMG_20190209_153411a.jpg
 

RimaNTSS

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Stuggy

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Hmm interesting. It wasn't obviously oval to me so I only measured from the top rim to the bottom.
 

RimaNTSS

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Then, most likely, this is 1m offset antenna.
 

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A couple of points : It may be worth trying an Inverto Black Ultra instead of the existing LNB. This will allow you to experiment with the LNB to dish centre distance, due to it's extended neck. Also, is the dish mounted directly to the chimney stack or to your terrestrial aerial mount? If you did want to go up a size or two with the dish, how it is mounted is a major consideration.
 

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Since I got some action with this dish should I be ok with the 125 prime or the other dish recommended here?

What does 'action' imply (which channels \ transponders)? IMO must be the widebeam (2E\F\G Europe) transponders, which are zero problem with a quite small dish. If looking to get SKY, it's mostly on the EU beam.

The UK beam (ITV, BBC etc on 2E\F\G UK) has other requirements > dish size. UK beam may work now and then for some hours on a small dish, but come and go due to sat strength variations\weather conditions. Most difficult of all is 12382 H on 2F.
See FlySat Astra 2E/2F/2G @ 28.2° East
 
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Stuggy

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My main goal is the UK spot beam channels. I don't watch most of the channels in the list but would like the BBC, ITV etc in HD I hope.

Maybe I should order a new LNB as suggested and see what that does. I do think that I will need a larger dish but can do it in stages. I have seen the Inverto Black Ultra mentioned here and elsewhere. Also in another thread I saw mention of Opticum Quad LNB - LQP-04H. Is there any preference between the two? I need to probably just use 2 cables (probably buy one of those cables that has two feeds in one cable).

The dish is mounted on the pole that also has the tv antenna (not used). The pole is connected to metal concreted into the chimney stack and also has a metal strap going around the chimney (from memory).
 
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^^^ some good lnb is always good to have (...it will be used on the new, large dish you will buy later on :O)

What a fully suitable dish should cope with: 3 different sattelites with some different coverage\strength\position, 2 different main coverage beams, quite large daily\seasonal\weather level variations.

Now, one may choose to concentrate on one of the satellites\some of the channels\SD only\accept some periods of reception loss, which makes the job (well, the dish size) easier to handle. 2E UK (ITV\BBC\CH4 etc) seems to be the 1st goal, it's quite strong among the UK beams.

Also, the tyniest mm of dish\lnb adjustments (and things like raindrops on the lnb frontcover) can make big differences for reception of those low levels UK beams.
 
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