New Satellite Dish and System

S

sparky_lad

Member
My Satellite Setup
just planning
My Location
South Yorks
I am embarking on a house refurb and this seems a good time to get all the cabling in.

I had intended to run with Freeview but having seen 3 satellite systems that friends have had installed I have come to the view that the picture quality with satellite is better. Is this a reasonable perception or just "chance"? Ot perhaps that 2 of the receivers were Humax?

Either way I have to invest in a new system and see no reason why this should not be Freesat. I think my requirements are quite modest. I have 6 rooms to feed - I think this calls for a dish and a single LNB with 6 ports so that each receiver can receive independently of the other. (I think the next size up from quad might be 8, not 6)

I have seen systems that have two LNBs separted by a few degrees arc to pick up a 2nd satellite. But what advantage would that be? Can anyone point me to a list of channels that would become available with a 2nd LNB so that I can make my mind up?

Some of the receivers would be TV with built in Freesat (so only 1 LNB possible for these), two rooms would have dedicated receivers (I have heard good reports of both Humax Foxsat and Sagem). I did have a small dish many years ago when I subscribed to Sky and in poor weather I did get some interference (53°N), so I'm thinking of buying a decent size dish and a decent quality LNB. Would 90cm be OK? Any recommendations for a good quality LNB?

My guess is that the money is best spent on good receivers and decent cabling. Agreed?

Thanks,
Ric
 
Take a browse here for satellite lists and channels _http://www.flysat.com/satlist.php

Regarding your proposed system, an octo LNb will give 8 outlets but remember that some receivers may take 2 feeds requiring more outlets, in which case a multiswitch arrangement.

An 80cm dish with an LNb offset bracket would cater for the three popular satellites 13e, 19e and 28e.
 
Hi and thanks for the link - just what I needed. Having checked out the available channels there's not much by way of English-speaking programming that would interest me so sticking with EuroBird 1 - Astra 2A/2B/2D on 28.2°E with a single octo LNB will be good enough. What I will do is cable-in dual coax to the main rooms just in case.

I've seen many an old rusting steel mesh dish; how do the fibreglass/aluminium dishes fare by comparison? Thew Triax looks good - but overkill?

Thanks,
Ric
 
Regarding cabling - make sure that you get good quality cable. If an electrician is doing the job they tend to use cheap analogue TV co-ax - you should insist on WF100 or equivalent. This type of cable can be identified by the fact that it has two layers of shielding under the outer sheath. They are both copper; one is foil whilst the other is a braid. Cheaper cables have an aluminium foil whilst analogue TV co-ax just has braid (BTW it's recommended to use sat cable for digital TV because of its superior shielding).

Cheap steel ones will rust but it's surprising how much rust the signal will tolerate. It doesn't look pretty though. It's really a matter of choice and how much you want to spend. Triax is good.

Just noticed your nickname - hope I haven't insulted you!
 
sparky_lad said:
I've seen many an old rusting steel mesh dish; how do the fibreglass/aluminium dishes fare by comparison? Thew Triax looks good - but overkill?
Click to expand...

The cheapest solution is to get a Sky Zone 2 dish with sky octo LNB, this will cure your occasional signal problems. If you spray the dish the colour of the wall with plastikote spray from B&Q that will hold off the rusting. Make sure you have sprayed the inner parts of the mesh, check by holding the dish upside down.

Triax satellite cable is RG6 with aluminum foil! My circa 80m run is made up of that plus half of it is 20 year old air spaced RG6 with aluminum foil and an f connection in the middle. :eek:

If Triax are selling RG6 under their well respected brand name, it is not going to be rubbish. O-Ha
 
hexah said:
Triax satellite cable is RG6 with aluminum foil!
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I thought the OP was asking about Triax dishes not the cable?
 
:confused:

Certainly it's the first time anyone suggested Triax dishes were overkill!

I'm sure you agree that the OP can't go wrong with them, but the Sky Zone 2 package with an octo LNB is cheap and effective as it is only for 28e. :cool:
 
Yes, I take your point entirely on the Zone 2 dish - cheap and effective. The Triax dish is probably a hangover from originally asking about multiple LNBs and no longer necessary.
 
PaulR said:
Yes, I take your point entirely on the Zone 2 dish - cheap and effective. The Triax dish is probably a hangover from originally asking about multiple LNBs and no longer necessary.
Click to expand...

You are quite right - originally I had been looking at a 90cm Triax dish with 20� bracket for 2 satellites from a well-known internet supplier. All my neighbors have a standard sky dish with 1 LNB but I have noticed this past few days a build up of snow on the lower 1/4 of these dishes (correction, this morning it's about 1/3 of the dish - to just below the rivets). I'd prefer to be well above the threshold of any interference rather than have it marginal. (I'd always assumed, perhaps wrongly, that sky dishes and LNBs were the equivalent of "contract" aerials. Maybe not...)

I'm installing this myself, have already purchased cable (braided on copper foil) but may now buy extra dual coax for the two main rooms where a receiver will be installed rather than built-in Freesat. (even if 2nd LNB is never installed the 2nd feed could always be used for freeview - the main cost/effort is in routing and chanelling out, not the cable itself)

I have no problem spending a bit extra on something that is resilient to weather and will continue to look good. Taking your advice I'm going to cost the sky zone 2 (60cm) dish. I left sky many years ago for reasons that were other than technical so I'd have to bite my pride.

Thanks again for all your good advice.

Ric
 
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