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Message: <blockquote data-quote="2old4this" data-source="post: 5973" data-attributes="member: 174998">Well first of all, welcome to the hobby! Pheww, where to start...??I'll deal with trhe easy thing first: signal strength.The "line of sight" to the satellite is only part of the story when it comes to determining what size dish you need. Fact is, although you are quite far North, so all sats will be fairly low in the sky from your point of view, the signal strength will be much more dependent on (a) whether the beam transmitted by the satellite is aimed at your location (ie whether you are within its footprint) and (<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite6" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":cool:" /> whether the transponders are transmitting a strong beam or a weak beam (they vary). A 40cm dish is ok for Astra2 since the beams are aimed at UK/Western-Europe and are VERY strong. But a dish that size will be next to useless for anything else.If you want to get the most out of your hobby, then the bigger the dish the better. There will always be more signals you can receive with a bigger dish than a smaller one. And in any case, a large dish provides a better "margin" against poor reception in bad weather, etc. The downside of a large dish is (a) planning permission is required in UK (<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite6" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":cool:" /> it is much more costly and (c) it is much more susceptible to high winds, requiring a very strong mounting. Also, a large STEERABLE dish will require a more powerful motor.Note also that there are different kinds of dish, each with its own characteristics. The highest gain widely available dish is a solid (ie not mesh) "Gregorian" type (which has a secondary reflector in front of the main dish). If you get deeper into your hobby and require access to the lower "C" band signals then you need a prime-focus dish and special C-band LNB. For normal ku-band (higher frequencies) an offset dish and "universal LNB" are better. In fact, some digital receivers (including the Sky digi9box) can ONLY work with ku-band universal LNBs. An offset dish has the LNB mounted on an arm "at the bottom" of the dish rather than in the middle. This avoids the LNB/mount obscuring the view the dish has of the satellite - hence providing better reception. If you go for a steerable system, then there are basically two systems to choose from: a "proper" motor such as would be used in conjunction with the ad3000's internal positioner. Or a DiSEqC motor. The latter can be driven by commands passed up the single co-ax cable from a receiver which is running DiSEqC v1.2 or higher (that being an increasingly popular software feature in digital receivers). But as a DiSEqC motror has no independent power supply (getting its power also from the receiver) there are limits to how much it can draw - and in practise the low power can not drive dishes of more than 1m or 1.2m max. These types of drives also tend to be slower. But before deciding which dish/receiver/etc you want, you need to decide which channels you want to watch.For Sky digital you have no choice: it must be a digibox since only a digibox has the right (videoguard) decoder.For other channels, you will have choices. FTA stuff of course can be received with almost any receiver but encrypted signals require the appropriate decryption modules (CAMs) and associated cards. If you want access to such signals and are looking to purchase or program one or more "pirate" cards then check out the other fgorums in this board (esepcially the smartcards & CAMs forums). My advice would be to go for a receiver with at least two CAMs - preferably one with 2 Common Interface slots (for the CI CAMs) and also one or two built-in modules. The ad3000 viaccess is one of the few that does this - and it also offers a built-in positioner as well as analogue - and even the ability to connect external analogue decoders (eg D2MAC). So it's a real all-rounder. Probably the best.Anyway, have a good read of the info on this board and come back with other specific questions.Oh, and don't worry about stepping outside the standard "kits". All offset dishes work the same way and all work with all receivers. A universal LNB is also standard (with very few exceptions - again Sky's digital LNB being one, matched as it is to the peculiar elliptical geometry of the minidish). If you get a separate motor, just make sure it will not interfere with the dish as the dish swivels (eg the Jaeger 99 silentgold series can interfere with some dishes).  The best advice I could give would be to agree on all purchases that should there be a mismatch/fit problem they can be returned and replaced with something else. Most (good) satellite dealers will happily help you out.Good luck!2old</blockquote>

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