Installing Dishes In Spain for 2E Chit-Chat

[Tururu]

Hi everyone, I'd be grateful of some advice from those of you with experience installing dishes. I am planning to buy a 110x120 Tecatel offset dish to receive Astra 2E in Madrid and I would like to know if the bracket in the picture below would be suitable/safe for fixing the dish to a TV mast similar to the one pictured below. The bracket is 850mm long, 40mm in diameter and is made from 2mm thick galvanized metal.

Thanks for any comments.

No es buena idea.
1.- La torreta es flexible y con algo de viento, todo se movera.
2.- El tubo del soporte es frexible para el peso del conjunto antena/LNB 12Kgs.
3.- Tengo esta instalacion para pruebas rapidas.

Normalmente las torretas que tenemos en casa son de 18cm/20cm o menos y estas son flexibles, siendo de las buenas, si es de las malas, no parara.
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Not a good idea.
1 -. The turret is flexible and with a bit of wind, everything will move.
. 2 - The tube is frexible to support the weight of the antenna / LNB assembly 12Kgs.
. 3 - I have this installation for fast tests.

Usually the turrets we have at home are 18cm/20cm or less and these are flexible, being the good, the bad if not stopped.

 

[Tururu]

Thanks woborny. There is a 50mm version of that bracket but unfortunately I can't find anywhere that sells it.
Do you think 40mm is too small because it might be too small for the mounting on the dish or because it might not be strong enough to hold that size dish? The dish weighs 11.5kg. If it's only a question of the mounting, I could check first to make sure it will fit ok.

Como indica el compañero, con 50cm mejor, pero la torreta se movera.
El tubo de 40mm por peso, bajara/doblara unos milimetros, al ser fija la antena, lo puedes compensar, pero con una ligera brisa, nada.
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As indicated in the companion, 50cm better but the turret will move.
40mm tube by weight, down / bend a few millimeters, to be fixed antenna, then you can make, but with a slight breeze, nothing.

 

[madridman]

Como indica el compañero, con 50cm mejor, pero la torreta se movera.
El tubo de 40mm por peso, bajara/doblara unos milimetros, al ser fija la antena, lo puedes compensar, pero con una ligera brisa, nada.
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As indicated in the companion, 50cm better but the turret will move.
40mm tube by weight, down / bend a few millimeters, to be fixed antenna, then you can make, but with a slight breeze, nothing.

OK, thanks Tururu. I guess I'll have to try to find somewhere else to fix the dish.

 

[Huevos]

Probably a silly question(and I know higher gain is better) but what are the dB gain figures for a satellite dish relative to? I know multi element vhf/uhf aerial gain figures are referenced to a standard dipole but satellite dish gain is still a mystery to me.

dBi. Decibels measured against isotropic. Isotropic is a theoretical antenna which if placed at the centre of a sphere would illuminate the entire surface area completely uniformly.

 

[samoloko]

Huevos you got a PM

 

[dxsat]

I am planning to buy a 110x120 Tecatel offset dish to receive Astra 2E in Madrid

Why are you planning to install a 110cm dish? It's too small for Madrid. You will get some signal on 2E but no rain margin at all. The bracket you are planning is too small. You need a 50mm diameter. In anything other than the most sheltered site, the wind will rip it away.

 

[madridman]

Why are you planning to install a 110cm dish? It's too small for Madrid. You will get some signal on 2E but no rain margin at all. The bracket you are planning is too small. You need a 50mm diameter. In anything other than the most sheltered site, the wind will rip it away.

It seems that the recommended size for Madrid is 150cm or more but I'm trying to balance reasonable reception against a low budget and keeping my neighbours happy. For the moment, I have permission from the neighbours to put up a 110x120 dish but I might be able to get away with 120x135. My aim is to be able to receive all 2E transponders most of the time but I don't mind losing some transponders in bad weather, and 2F is a bit stronger so should have more weather margin there (came in fine on the 90x100 dish I had where I lived before). What size dish would you recommend to meet my aims?
Regarding the bracket, thanks to the good advice I have received here, I have abandoned the idea of fixing the dish to the mast and will try to find somewhere else to fix a proper bracket (60-70mm). I need to get up on the roof for an inspection (it's a pitched roof with access through a trapdoor in the ceiling so should be fun!).

 

[Archive4]

I need to get up on the roof for an inspection (it's a pitched roof with access through a trapdoor in the ceiling so should be fun!).

That´s why plumbers are plumbers, electricians are electricians, and sat installers are complete phychos!

 

[madridman]

That´s why plumbers are plumbers, electricians are electricians, and sat installers are complete phychos!

I'll probably end up calling in a professional but I want to make sure I can't do it myself first, because if I need to go up a dish size and pay an installer it's going to be a lot more than I was budgeting for.

 

[Archive4]

I'll probably end up calling in a professional but I want to make sure I can't do it myself first, because if I need to go up a dish size and pay an installer it's going to be a lot more than I was budgeting for.

I´ll do you a deal, I will lend you 14" and 15 year old receiver, and Lee´s eye (I havn´t returned it yet)

 

[davidcmadrid]

Madridman Ican reccomend a madrid based installer to you , he wasnt the cheapest that I found but hes work is damm solid. In the heaviest of downpours ( recall our Feb weather ) here I have not lost a single 2e or 2f channell ( but did lose 2a North ). That is on a 150cm ( 1.5 x 1.65 ) with black eco lnb ( real crappy lnb ) and about 50 meters ( perhaps moree of regular non specialised cable with a disecq switch ( good ) and 1 break / join in it . I suspect strongly that you would be fine with 1.4m certainly I suspect I would especially if i didnt have a setup that wasnt ideal.

 

[madridman]

Madridman Ican reccomend a madrid based installer to you , he wasnt the cheapest that I found but hes work is damm solid. In the heaviest of downpours ( recall our Feb weather ) here I have not lost a single 2e or 2f channell ( but did lose 2a North ). That is on a 150cm ( 1.5 x 1.65 ) with black eco lnb ( real crappy lnb ) and about 50 meters ( perhaps moree of regular non specialised cable with a disecq switch ( good ) and 1 break / join in it . I suspect strongly that you would be fine with 1.4m certainly I suspect I would especially if i didnt have a setup that wasnt ideal.

Thanks! Could you PM me the contact details? In one of your reports just after 2E came into service you said your 1.2m motorized dish was losing channels in bad weather. How has reception been for 2E on that dish over the last few weeks? Or have you not tested it again since the changeover?
Maybe with decent cable (run will be about 20m) and a well aligned 120x135 dish I could get reasonably stable reception, albeit without much rain margin (and possibly suffering from the "wobble" effect at certain times of the day).

 

[Archive4]

Hi all. just to let you know I have joined the 21st century. Old Comwell box died so now use Smart S1 for setting up dishes. Also bought a new 7" tablet today, but how the hell you swallow it is beyond me!

 

[Huevos]

Yoyo haber yo break-in itv UPS intoxicación salle peces.

 

[Huevos]

BTW, that was English. just the autotext on the phone was in the wrong language.

 

[lovelyperson]

.......... so now use Smart S1 for setting up dishes. ........

Glad I read this as on the edge of ordering one.

¿Are you pleased with its performance and is it short of anything you need info wise or comments about it?

Live in Alicante and cannot seem to find a seller local.....guess a U.K. based store would be safe!!

Thanks BP, enjoy your day.

 

[Huevos]

Brian was here the other day and we were comparing meters. Looks like a decent device for the price. Only points to note are:

• DVB-S only,
• Spectrum is pretty slow sweeping and course, and,
  
• The SNR output could be smoother, i.e. measured over a longer time base.

 

[lovelyperson]

Brian was here the other day and we were comparing meters. Looks like a decent device for the price. Only points to note are:

• DVB-S only,
• Spectrum is pretty slow sweeping and course, and,
  
• The SNR output could be smoother, i.e. measured over a longer time base.

Cheers for comments and certainly I would need the S2 capabilities.

Reading on I see that the Smart DVB-S2 Smartmeter S20 is available which seems to cover this.

¿Do you personally know or have heard any user write up with the S20? I shall of course use our friend Google to further this.

Have attached the .pdf manual

Again, thank you for your input.

 

[Huevos]

Have attached the .pdf manual

Again, thank you for your input.

Looks like the video decoder only works with DVB-S transponders.

 

[Archive4]

Brian was here the other day and we were comparing meters. Looks like a decent device for the price. Only points to note are:

• DVB-S only,
• Spectrum is pretty slow sweeping and course, and,
  
• The SNR output could be smoother, i.e. measured over a longer time base.

Cannot argue with Huevos, s1 does have limitations, but is better than taking 14" TV and decoder on a roof. For the money I am very happy with it and if you fine tune on the weakest txp in your area it works fine and it then gets dvb-s2 signals OK on the decoder