Dish recommendations for the Borders UK

[Dream33r]

Hi guys,

This is all compeltely new to me but I'm buying a house where no or limited freeview is available at the minute so have decided in getting setup a nice motorised dish system paired with a dreambox to get freeview and hopefully catch the odd footy game or two.

Can someone recommend a dish/motor combo for my area?

Where my house is the dish will have clear line of sight from south south west right round to north north east.

Will this be ok? Will I be able to get all of theh foreign footy channels? I know sky is ok from there.

Does anyone know anyone that can help with the installation in the Borders area? I'm in Berwick-upon-Tweed...all of the local peeps just laughed at me when I mentioned a motorised!


Cheers

 

[Analoguesat]

Yah another Scottish Borderer! Welcome - there arent many sat nuts in the area!

Well a nice Orbital 1m dish will be sufficient for a DigitAlb subscription to give you some of the football at 3pm on Saturdays.

All the interesting satellites are between about south east and south south west, 16E for DigitAlb is a bit south from "Sky 28E"

Cant help with motorised but Im a dab hand with multiple dish installs - Ive got 5 operational at the moment!

BTW Im in Galashiels - although Ive got the thickest Brummie accent for miles around

 

[Dream33r]

wow just had a look at your setup! The neighbours must think that your trying to find the beagle!

What do you think about motorised then? Or should I keep the existing sky mini dish for the sky/freeview and put another multi lnb dish up for the footy/other stuff?

Can't make up my mind, too much information! Yep I'm a borderer although strickly I live just over the border in England, I do a bit of work up your way at Earlston though will have to keep an eye out for that setup

 

[Robbo]

Hi dream33r, Welcome to the forum.

Yes a 1 metre motorised should suit well.

The first thing you need to figure out though is a place to put it. South south west to North north east will give you a pretty good view of the arc, as Analogue says SE to SW is where most of the decent satellites are located.

What dish and motor to get depends how much you have to spend. A budget Diseqc motor and 1m dish would certainly cost less than £100, whereas a quality dish such as a channel Master ( now Andrews) and a decent 36V motor could cost 2-3 times that amount.

We can help you on the forums if you need help, loads of members have motorised systems of all types. The basic principles of operation of any motorised dish however are very similar.

Robbo


EDit:-

If you have a SKY Dodgy box, keep the minidish. It won't like it on a motorised dish.


A motorised dish is much more flexible than a mult-LNB setup, and you will be able to get weaker satelites. (On a multi LNB only one LNB is at the dish focus). The disadvantage is you have to wait for the motor to move, but I think it is a better option.

 

[Dream33r]

Thanks for the help so far guys it's appreciated, I only really have one side of the house that I can stick the dish on since it's a semi, there is an old sky mini dish already up there.

Could I reuse that for the freeview stuff and plug it into the dreambox as well?

Based on what analoguesat recommended I found this from a site sponsor

http://shop.strato.com/epages/61463802.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61463802/Products/%22Orbital%201%20Meter%20Dish%20Pack%22

Now would this coupled with this

http://shop.strato.com/epages/61463802.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61463802/Products/%22Moteck%20SG2100%20DiSEqC%201.2%20Motor%22

Also am I right in saying that the dreambox would both control and power this type of motor through the coax simplyfiying things?

 

[Robbo]

Thanks for the help so far guys it's appreciated, I only really have one side of the house that I can stick the dish on since it's a semi, there is an old sky mini dish already up there.

Could I reuse that for the freeview stuff and plug it into the dreambox as well?

Based on what analoguesat recommended I found this from a site sponsor

http://shop.strato.com/epages/61463...61463802/Products/"Orbital 1 Meter Dish Pack"

Now would this coupled with this

http://shop.strato.com/epages/61463...802/Products/"Moteck SG2100 DiSEqC 1.2 Motor"

Also am I right in saying that the dreambox would both control and power this type of motor through the coax simplyfiying things?

Yep, those two would do fine. The LNB supplied is not too bad either.
The L-bracket is not reccomended for motorised installations though. He also does T&K brackets which are much easier to get the pole vertical.


Yes the Dreambox would control the motor using DiSEqC 1.2, straight down the same coax cable that the LNB uses. There are a couple of great guides to setting up a DiSEqC motor on this site (links to follow)

Rolfws guide

longstockings guide

There is no point in connecting the minidish to the the Dreambox, as you could still use the motorised dish for the free to air channels on 28E, and the FTV ones with a Sky Freesat card. It is possible to do it though, using a Diseqc1.0 switch.

 

[Dream33r]

Cool thanks plenty of reading there, I'll ring southernsat and get a price for the dish, lnb kit but with h&k brackets &pole.

Now just gotta find someone that will fit the damn thing! Call me lazy but I just want a price for someone to come and fix it and align and let me play with the dreambox.

 

[Robbo]

I think you might be talking £150 to £200. With that money you could afford to get a much better Dreambox.

Get drilling!

 

[Analoguesat]

In answer to your question keep the sky dish seperate. If for no other reason the family wont be impressed if they want to view eastenders and you have discovered an interesting football game on Iranian TV!!

 

[Dream33r]

Thanks for the heads up does the pole come with the motor or do you have to get one separate with the brackets?

Can you suggest a good shop to get this all from then? email to NO EMAIL ALLOWED if you cant post here for whatever reason.

After reading the guides I actually feel comfortable giving it a shot and it will save money like mentioned, only think is my diy is crap do the drill/mount thing will be interesting!

Being in the north east eng/scot border 1w must be the sat to lock onto for the arc east?

Last thing for tonight is it worth buying on of the sat meters?

I take it you could point it true south them tinker until you hit best reception on 1w rather than use a meter?

 

[Dream33r]

In answer to your question keep the sky dish seperate. If for no other reason the family wont be impressed if they want to view eastenders and you have discovered an interesting football game on Iranian TV!!

Lol good idea!2

 

[Analoguesat]

Yes do your initial set up on 1W in Berwick, and yes you can tinker around with the dish without a meter - Ive got a 30 year old B&W portable TV which I use for alignment purposes

 

[MR-T]

hi m8

welcome to the site and i also live in scotland,i have a 1metre dish and a dbox 500s which i get most sats from east to west,when i got my setup i installed the dish myself although it was not perfect so i decided to phone around for a price even though i had the dish on the wall the guy gave me a price for just tuning in the box and i nearly had a heart attack when he said £250 you can imagine what i told him lol.
The best way is to have a read through the link on this forum on how to install a motorised system and you will be amazed its a piece of cake to do after you have entered your longs and lats the rest is easy as it moves to where roughly where the sat should be,should take no more than couple of hrs.
Sometime over the next few day i gonna take mine down and reistall it on the chimney as mines is just above the rhones on an 8ft alliminium pole and when its windy it blows like mad so if you need any help the lmk.

p.s try e-bay for some good deals on a motorised setup i got 1 for my b inlaw for around £120 thats including next day delivery

 

[Dream33r]

Aha, ebay never thought for some reason.


had a quick look and what about this for this for the bracket/pole

ebay 260201264557

And this for the dish/lnb

ebay 260205548399

Do you reckon I could cheekly re-use the sky coax?

Thanks in advance.

hi m8

welcome to the site and i also live in scotland,i have a 1metre dish and a dbox 500s which i get most sats from east to west,when i got my setup i installed the dish myself although it was not perfect so i decided to phone around for a price even though i had the dish on the wall the guy gave me a price for just tuning in the box and i nearly had a heart attack when he said £250 you can imagine what i told him lol.
The best way is to have a read through the link on this forum on how to install a motorised system and you will be amazed its a piece of cake to do after you have entered your longs and lats the rest is easy as it moves to where roughly where the sat should be,should take no more than couple of hrs.
Sometime over the next few day i gonna take mine down and reistall it on the chimney as mines is just above the rhones on an 8ft alliminium pole and when its windy it blows like mad so if you need any help the lmk.

p.s try e-bay for some good deals on a motorised setup i got 1 for my b inlaw for around £120 thats including next day delivery

 

[Robbo]

Hi,

There is one problem with the ebay listing I can see, and that is you don't know what make the dish is, some can be a bit flimsy.

I have read nothing about the satcatcher motor, but plenty on the Moteck sg2100, reccomending it.


The brackets in the first picture, I think they have been put on upside down by the way, or is the photo upside down?

Also be careful of the pole, it needs to be rigid enough to be clamped tight without deforming. I got mine for a quid a foot from a local scaffolders.

Yes you can get away without a separate meter, you can use the one built into the receiver. The main thing is the portable TV, which you can drag out to the garden, so that you can see it whilst adjusting the dish.

 

[MR-T]

yes thats exactly the same setup i got for my b-inlaw,and is the same tk brackets am using at present looks like the guy who put up the pick on ebay has it upside down lol,as for using the old sky coax i would not recommend it as it could be weathered anyway you get new coax withe the setup and if not enough its cheap to buy from b&q,you do not need a meter as the receiver has a built in 1 which i found much easier when u a potable tv that way u can see the signal go up or down,i got a cheap 1 from lidl's and cost me £4 and a great wee thing at that price and does the job if u cannot get a portable tv up on the roof lol

 

[Analoguesat]

Yes that K bracket is upside down, but as its not bolted to anything it must be standing on the ground

 

[MR-T]

the guy must have been pissed or fell flat on his rear end wen he took the pic or its held up with sky hooks lol lol wonder wot stas u would get with it lying around like that wi a dish prob get the aliens

 

[Dream33r]

Nice one I take it that the dish & lnb performs ok then?

What the motor like speedwise?

yes thats exactly the same setup i got for my b-inlaw,and is the same tk brackets am using at present looks like the guy who put up the pick on ebay has it upside down lol,as for using the old sky coax i would not recommend it as it could be weathered anyway you get new coax withe the setup and if not enough its cheap to buy from b&q,you do not need a meter as the receiver has a built in 1 which i found much easier when u a potable tv that way u can see the signal go up or down,i got a cheap 1 from lidl's and cost me £4 and a great wee thing at that price and does the job if u cannot get a portable tv up on the roof lol

 

[MR-T]

yip the dish is ok when its not windy but i get some ber on some sats thats because of the 8ft scaffolding pole the dish is mounted on the top so thats why am hoping for some descent weather so i can sift it to the chimney where it will be more stable,am alos using a multi lnb which is used for sky mutiroom so i can move the box round the house whenever i wish but again am going to change it when i move it.
As for the motor it performs well sometimes can take up to a minute if am like moving it from say turksat which is 42e to hispasat 30 west but depends on what you want to watch,only takes seconds moving from sky 28e to hotbird which is 13 e so probs there.