Buying from ebay

G

geezermate

Member
My Satellite Setup
Planning to install Freesat
My Location
Cornwall
Hello all, I'm planning to install Freesat myself but I'm a complete newbie so I wonder if somebody can answer 3 questions for me. I hope this is the right place to post the question.

1 I appear to be well in the footprint for the Astra 28.2 satellite (SE Cornwall) with good line of sight, so can I use a 43 cm dish?

2 There are dishes on ebay for about £30 including quad lnb, cables, connectors etc. Are they likely to give good enough performance?

3 Last question. The dishes I have seen for sale are all dark colour and I wonder if I can paint the dish and fittings (obviously not the lnb) to match my house colour? If it's yes, should I sue a particular type of paint?

Thanks in advance
 
Welcome to the forum geezermate

If the dish is a zone 1 you should not have any problems in Cornwall, what shape is this dish you have seen? can you upload a picture? (no links to)

£30 for dish, lnb's cables and connectors seems too cheap to me so would not like to comment. I believe you get what you pay for

A dish can be painted provided it is a thin coating (sprayed) and the paint doesn't contain any metallic content i.e. lead oxide, which was used in large quantities in some paints.
 
You will need a receiver as well, or a Freesat TV. What were you going to buy for indoors ?

Have you checked that you can get Astra 2 from your location and can fit it yourself ?
 
Matt, non-metallic spray paint will do the job.

£30 sounds about right from ebay for a minidish +quad.

Not sure, but I thought Cornwall was in a a zone 2 area, rather than zone 1.
 
Robbo said:
Not sure, but I thought Cornwall was in a a zone 2 area, rather than zone 1.
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Well I thought zone 2 was anything north of Birmingham :cool: but will bow to others superior knowledge
 
Topper said:
but will bow to others superior knowledge
Click to expand...

Ditto that.:)
 
Robbo said:
Matt, non-metallic spray paint will do the job.

£30 sounds about right from ebay for a minidish +quad.

Not sure, but I thought Cornwall was in a a zone 2 area, rather than zone 1.
Click to expand...

What difference does non metallic paint make?
 
smiffie said:
What difference does non metallic paint make?
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The satellite waves are bounced from a dish and concentrated onto a focal point, if you alter the focal point by using metallic paints then you will get reduced gain from the dish hence poorer reception
 
The question is "What difference would metallic paint make?"

Paint with no metal content would make no difference, which is what we want.

Metal content is not good, as it would, depending on how evenly it was applied, and how well it stayed where it was put, alter the shape of the dish face slightly and affect it's performance.
 
Cornwall is zone 1.
 
Thanks everybody for responses. In response to questions from yourselves I'm going to get a Humax Digital Recorder and I am able to carry out the installation myself.

I'm not sure what zones 1 and 2 are but having referred to footprint maps in this site my home appears to be well covered. I'm in South East Cornwall (i.e. close to Devon/Plymouth).

Regards the ebay satellite dish the following picture shows an example (this one happens to be grey and includes 15m cable and connectors) of what's available for £25 plus £10 p&p.
View attachment 21089

Any additional suggestions will be gratefully received. I appreciate all your help.
 

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The dish you have shown will be fine for Freesat, and not a bad price. Have a look in your local papers classified ads. You sometimes see them up for sale even more cheaply.
 
Topper said:
The satellite waves are bounced from a dish and concentrated onto a focal point, if you alter the focal point by using metallic paints then you will get reduced gain from the dish hence poorer reception
Click to expand...

I've heard of this before and never really understood it even though I have a background in electronics; so I've done some further reading.

Given that the wavelength at 10Ghz is 3cm, you would have to introduce a 3mm (1/10) defect to bugger up the focal point, thats a serious amount of paint! I think you are more likely to have problems with manufacturing defect and/or damage to either the feed arm or the reflector itself.

One thing I have read is that using a gloss paint metallic or otherwise can reflect sunlight straight into the LNB feed horn possibly overheating it.
 
geezermate said:
Regards the ebay satellite dish the following picture shows an example (this one happens to be grey and includes 15m cable and connectors) of what's available for £25 plus £10 p&p.
View attachment 21089
.
Click to expand...
Thats the very same as the dish I started with a few years ago, along with a thompson LNB. Its still in use by the inlaws for watching FTA. You'll have no problem with it for Freesat on Astra2.

I did feel that where the main arm attaches to the swivel point on the bracket was a bit of a weak spot. I thought it might move in the wind so, I added an extra bolt either side of it after alignment. I did the same thing on the elevation adjustment.

It never budged dispite being in an exposed location. :)
 
Thanks again for all help. I plan to install within the next few weeks, weather and time permitting. If I get any other queries I'll raise them here 'cos response is great. I'll let you all know the outcome.
 
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