Astra 2F: Western Europe Discussion

mickwig

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My Satellite Setup
240cm Raven Offset, Invacomm Quad LNB;
120 cm Kathrein PF Polarmount, Kathrein Quattro LNB
90cm Astra1 dish;
Samsung LED TV with built-in DVB-S, Panasonic BlueRay Rec with Twin-Tuner, Panasonic BSkyB-Box 1.Generation; TBS5925 USB Card
My Location
49.77N;11.41E Pottenstein, Germany
I hope you don't get frost heave otherwise you would have to underpin it with concrete. And that will not be fun.

I have never heard of it being done but you could try making a wooden deck around your mount.

I very strongly suggest you don't use a brush on your dish. Like using a brush to remove snow from the car it will leave swirls and scratches on the dish. The swirls and scratches make a key for the snow, ice, water and muck to stick to the surface of the dish. Keeping the dish face pure means they will slide off more easily. I use a telescopic squeegee with sponge to remove the snow and to wash the dish face and use a microfibre car wash mitt to clean the back (mine is textured) and mount. If you look at the dish manual it should say not to use harsh detergents on it. I use Dri-Pak liquid soap flakes on my dishes. It is gentle, it will not damage the surface coat and it is very effective. There is nothing better to use on the dish face. Rinse it down with a hose not a pressure washer.

You can also use the telescopic squeegee and sponge to clear snow from the car. You just push it off then use the rubber blade to quickly clear the windows. It is small so it can be easily stored inside the car. A top tip I learnt from a Finnish guy years ago is to use the car screen cleaner and wipers to wash the front and rear windows before turning the engine off. I use -20C screencleaner in winter (and always carry a liter of -65C for top ups). That stops the ice forming overnight and any bits of snow come off instantly in the morning. (His other top tips were to wear yellow / amber sunglasses in snow, to enjoy the sideways movement because it is "fun" and that the Finns are the best drivers in the world :rolleyes:).

There are lots of big dishes that are 25 to 30 years old and are in good condition. If you look after your dish and replace any nuts and bolts if they show any sign of rust with A2 stainless steel then it will easily give excellent performance for fifty years or more.

Thanks for the tips. I got that wrong. What I called a brush is actually a car squeegee with a sponge on the backside. They used to lie around on gas stations when I was younger. I attached the implement to a long pole. A normal car squeegee would not reach the top of the dish since it is 250 cm high plus the base plus some air between base an the bottom of the dish. We are talking about 300 cm easy. The idea with the soap flakes is excellent.
 

timo_w2s

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My Satellite Setup
See Signature
My Location
Maidenhead, UK & Helsinki, Finland
(His other top tips were to wear yellow / amber sunglasses in snow, to enjoy the sideways movement because it is "fun" and that the Finns are the best drivers in the world :rolleyes:).
To be fair you do see some impressive* driving in Finland during the snowy months and that sideways feeling is strangely addictive... U-turns at traffic lights are so much easier when you can just flick the back end round for example. Seen that a few times. Every young guy thinks he's a rally driver too. Anyway, going off topic.

* the police may use other terms.
 

NWW

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My Satellite Setup
TD88 9E/13E/19.2E/28.2E 4x Inverto Black Octo's, 8x Diseqc
HTPC with DVBlink 4.5.2 TBS6981/Digital Devices Cine S2 + DuoFlex S2 with Hadu
Oscam with TNTSAT
My Location
Belgium
Well, update to my earlier report:

Location: Vilvoorde

Dish: TD88 centered around the 16°E mark, with 9E/13E/19.2E/28.2 quad/octo/octo/octo LNB's properly aligned.

Receivers: Vu+ Solo², DM800HD, Samsung UE55D8000, TBS6981 and DD Cine S2

Reception: perfect on all 2F transponders, no breakup during heavy rain.

And I set up another dish for my sister a couple of km away:

Location: Same

Dish: TD78 (smaller dish) centered around the 19E mark, with 9E/19.2E/28.2E dual/dual/dual LNB's.

Receivers: Vu+ Solo²

Reception: surprisingly, I thought I'd have issues with the UK beam, being a smaller dish and being offset, but reception is perfect on all tranponders. Hooray for proximity to England!

Will do the same tests at both locations when 2E is in operation.
 

mickwig

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
263
Reaction score
158
Points
43
Age
65
My Satellite Setup
240cm Raven Offset, Invacomm Quad LNB;
120 cm Kathrein PF Polarmount, Kathrein Quattro LNB
90cm Astra1 dish;
Samsung LED TV with built-in DVB-S, Panasonic BlueRay Rec with Twin-Tuner, Panasonic BSkyB-Box 1.Generation; TBS5925 USB Card
My Location
49.77N;11.41E Pottenstein, Germany
Well, update to my earlier report:

Location: Vilvoorde

Dish: TD88 centered around the 16°E mark, with 9E/13E/19.2E/28.2 quad/octo/octo/octo LNB's properly aligned.

Receivers: Vu+ Solo², DM800HD, Samsung UE55D8000, TBS6981 and DD Cine S2

Reception: perfect on all 2F transponders, no breakup during heavy rain.

And I set up another dish for my sister a couple of km away:

Location: Same

Dish: TD78 (smaller dish) centered around the 19E mark, with 9E/19.2E/28.2E dual/dual/dual LNB's.

Receivers: Vu+ Solo²

Reception: surprisingly, I thought I'd have issues with the UK beam, being a smaller dish and being offset, but reception is perfect on all tranponders. Hooray for proximity to England!

Will do the same tests at both locations when 2E is in operation.
At your location you are sitting right in the center of the beam! No surprise then!
 

NWW

Member
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Messages
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Age
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My Satellite Setup
TD88 9E/13E/19.2E/28.2E 4x Inverto Black Octo's, 8x Diseqc
HTPC with DVBlink 4.5.2 TBS6981/Digital Devices Cine S2 + DuoFlex S2 with Hadu
Oscam with TNTSAT
My Location
Belgium
At your location you are sitting right in the center of the beam! No surprise then!

The 88cm dish, I knew I'd have no issues. I was worried about the 78 cm one, while also being offset. Surprised to see that it's coming through perfectly :)
 

Saterman

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My Satellite Setup
Sky plus HD, 1 meter, Offset Antenna, dual LNB
My Location
Andorra
I live in Andorra, no spot beam on my 1m dish.

It appears there is a dead spot over Catalonia and very south France. Can anyone clarify?
 
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