hotbird on a minidish ?

[dave821]

Is it possible to receive a decent Hotbird signal in the uk using a sky minidish?
(i mean pointed to 13E only) I currently get 40% with a 80cm dish.

 

[rolfw]

You can get a passable signal, not weatherproof with a minidish in the South of England, but I would doubt it is possible in Scotland.

 

[dave821]

thanks rolf, wont waste any time on that now!

 

[spiney]

Yes, .........

In midlands, I get Hotbird on minidish, but only some channels, as the elliptical shape means v polarisation is received worse. It's more marignal during rain, and some channels are alwasy unreceivable.

Works ok here for RAI, but in Scotland probably ifffy even for that!

 

[jimmcgee5]

first dish I had was a minidish and got 13e no problem on the back fence, minidish and skystar2. living in glasgow

 

[rolfw]

Was that a zone one or zone 2?

 

[jimmcgee5]

zone 2 dish

 

[rolfw]

OK, I keep forgetting that the zone 2 is standard issue in Scotland, and is of course 70cm in width, so would certainly succeed where a standard 45/50cm minidish would fail.

Apologies dave821, if you are using a zone 2, then you will get better results.

 

[BarMoo]

No.

I currently get 40% with a 80cm dish.

The advertised hotspot covers Scotland in a mild-glowing 49dbw. Hotbird speaks of 70cm dishes for your region?

IMHO, there is no way of getting 40% (whatever it is: signal, channels) unless you have effed something up - or Canary Wharf moved up to your part of the UK overnight and stood in front of your antenna. Joking.

Not quite the same location, but I could get over 400 hotbird channels on my minidish in Berlin. 78cm = all channels.

edit: just realised that someone is gonna pick me up on that last point.

 

[Analoguesat]

Now Hottie 1 has been effectively pensioned off and replaced by the high power Hottie 7A, a zone 1 should give reasonable performance even in Scotland. I tried on a couple of years ago and was amazed at the performance and what I could get.

Look at the stuff in red dated May 2004:
http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/2004news.html

I agree with the others though - a zone 2 would perform much better.

However with the older birds reaching the end of their lives and two more high power sats coming on line in the next couple of years things should be most favourable in the not too distant future

 

[spiney]

Oops, sorry ...... I forgot that Sky installations in Scotland normally have a zone 2 dish!

 

[Analoguesat]

Oops, sorry ...... I forgot that Sky installations in Scotland normally have a zone 2 dish!

At least 30% of the installations round here have zone 1's up

 

[dave821]

i get 40% signal on a 80cm dish which is maybe 1 foot above ground level, i assume if this was higher up on a side of the house etc this would improve significantly?

I tried a 75 x 55cm sky minidish but got no signal whatsoever, could i be missing something ?

 

[Analoguesat]

i get 40% signal on a 80cm dish which is maybe 1 foot above ground level, i assume if this was higher up on a side of the house etc this would improve significantly?

I tried a 75 x 55cm sky minidish but got no signal whatsoever, could i be missing something ?

Yes you are missing something - the satellite! Even on the smallest dish available you should get something. If you arent getting anything at all, then either the dish is misaligned or theres a fault.

My battered and very second hand 80cm dish is only a couple of feet above the ground and the Echostar is getting 85%+ on many of the 13E tp's Try tweaking the dish alignment slightly.

 

[coley99]

I get all 13e in London with 45 minidish - including old HB1 signals before they went

 

[BarMoo]

I agree with Analogue, and he knows - I think, Dave, you have unwittingly effed-up your install somehow. 'specially since it hasn't improved with a larger antenna, correct?

Check obstructions - are there any, things like trees and mother-inlaws? Is the dish pointing to your local Asda - not 13° - try 16° to test your install for reference? Cable breaks, connector shorts, duff Ebay STB purchase? et al.

This is a sat hobbyist site and the last thing we need is someone without satellite TV - given that DVB-T is such a pile of shite. IMHO.

.

 

[spiney]

I disagree with BarMoo.

DVB-T ain't bad, considering that Freeview is free, and Film4's a-comming, and there's currently still huge limitations due to continuing analogue broadcasts.

There was the huge OnDIgital disaster - true enough - but I think that's pretty much in the past now, and DVB-T is "moving forwards" .....

Maybe it's different in Berlin?

 

[BarMoo]

DVB-T ain't bad.... Maybe it's different in Berlin?

Yes it is. Its a ropey cheapskate nasty digital frankenstein

BTW, I was only ever concerned about the quality of service: never content or freeness. You get more channels over in the UK - only because you have more ads. Whatever, I am swinging this thread OT.

I understand that ERP isn't everything, but, Alexander Platz throws out 120kW on three of its MUX's !!! (I think Crystal Palace manages about a light-bulb's worth) - and the quality is still shite. I would go as far as saying that analogue cable looks better.

Anyways, I think this thread has inspired me to replace my DVB-T roof antenna with my old Minidish and hook back up to Hottie or Astra: problem is which ???

 

[spiney]

Yes, true enough, DVB-T in UK is broadcast at the lowest power. Partly because, there's no intention to allow in-vehicle and on-the-move reception (since, the mobile phone companies want to make even more money, by broadcasting direct to mobile phones).

 

[BarMoo]

DVB-H ;) (trials of which are ongoing here in Berlin). I thought the phone companies were buying into DVB-H ?? heho.