Just Sharing This Ordered a Red Rocket....

[hexah]

. . . since the 100XP dish is part of the planned upgrade (together with a single black ultra or red rocket to squeeze every last drop out of the Astra 2 signal).

Needing to squeeze the most to get a signal that you want to watch regularly is a bad sign. What you need is a good rain margin and that means getting a larger dish, there is no other way.

Reading around if I lived where you are in France I would be inclined not to go for the Gibertini 1.25m but to get a generic 120x130m dish (=1.25m) with the same gain at half the price. 19e and 13e will be through the roof regardless of what you use and any old bracket will do. You can get them on 35cm dishes.

The 1.25m won't look any bigger than the 1m on the wall, you can spray paint it to blend it in and most importantly you should be future proof. You don't want to be fannying around with it again in couple of years.

I would only use white coloured LNBs due to the intensity of the sun for most of the year. Nothing but white. Electronics get noisy and fail sooner in the reflected heat. You could use the white Opticum with the 1.25m if you wanted an octo on 28e only €22 or a Smart Titanium Quad €14 and have a decent rain margin.

If I used a Black Ultra I would spray paint it white, I have painted dark grey LNBs white when I had my big dish up because the reflection is so intense (and the sun hardly shines here!).[/quote]

 

[sonnetpete]

The hmsat page is interesting. The OP SE is not our OP. It looks to me like the OP SE is designed with a massive hollow feed arm for use high up to resist wind deflection and to stop snow and ice accumulation it falls through the gap. Being metal a heating element can be taped round in a square on the back. It wouldn't be my first choice for use at exposed heights in this country but it certainly would be good for use in the alps.

The XP shares the same hollow, rectangular feed arm. I've found it will easily accommodate four feed cables for a multi LNB set up. How this would affect it's aero performance I'm not sure....

 

[pipino]

looks like a Black dildo to me ...LOL

 

[hexah]

Officially it is a lipstick stick.

 

[hexah]

The XP shares the same hollow, rectangular feed arm. I've found it will easily accommodate four feed cables for a multi LNB set up. How this would affect it's aero performance I'm not sure....

The Triax dishes have a hollow feed arm and you can put two cables in with the plastic bung in the back or take it out and get more in.

The OP SE feed as you can see has a big hole in it so the snow will fall through and water will drain towards the back where it should drip away and not form massive icicles that pull it off line or fall on people below. In Germany and the Alps most dishes are on the roofs using through the roof mounts. Houses have warm attics with the insulation just behind the tiles. They don't normally have to go on the roof to free ice dams because they should never form and so they should not have to go up and fiddle with the dish in winter it should look after itself.

On the other hand places like Canada have not quite understood that concept so you get people unclipping their gutters in winter or designing houses with big overhangs and no gutters. Then have to get a suicidal maniac in anyway to clear their roof. Often several times over winter . . .

The XP feed arm is like the Triax it should be ok in the wind at low levels or if sheltered high up. The Triax DAP 60, 70 and 90 are for high wind exposure like you get in the mountains and on tower blocks. But it is a bit difficult to heat them up compared with the metal dishes like the OP SE.

Gibertini also have a small cassegrain dish which looks like a UFO. It could be used high up and hidden behind a wall. No feed arm and the smoothness means the wind flows easily over it. It also looks exciting and eye catching like a small UFO. But you would need to be able to get to it to clean it every three months. And to occasionally push the snow off unless it is under a roof overhang or in a balcony.

 

[sonnetpete]

And......we have touchdown....

 

[hexah]

Hooray!





Hurrah!


The Swiss flag is much more prominent than I thought it would be. Looks great.

Love the lighthouse stamp. It would make a good photo for the wall.

 

[peapod1]

It wouldn't look as good if I had to paint it white :-)

PS Hexah - thanks for the tips.

 

[Steve Steve]

I wouldn't get too excited guys...The Opticum Red Rocket .....has been reported on other forums ..to be nowhere near as good as the standard white Opticum x2,x4 & x8........

 

[Lazarus]

48 minutes later ................... Is it fitted and working?

 

[hexah]

Give the man a chance!



He's not Speedy Gonzales in disguise.

 

[PaulR]

I wouldn't get too excited guys...The Opticum Red Rocket .....has been reported on other forums ..to be nowhere near as good as the standard white Opticum x2,x4 & x8........

So, if we accept that the single output LNB is a weaker performer than the multi output LNBs, which model is it that we should be looking at?

 

[hexah]

Careful, you might find yourself buying them all.


In stereo?!

 

[Steve Steve]

The Quad white Opticum ....is reported to be the best one to get for dishes upto 120cm.....I had a 8 output Opticum that was very good too.....avoid the single white opticum....!!

 

[Lazarus]

He's not Speedy Gonzales in disguise.

Ah. My bad

 

[sonnetpete]

Give the man a chance!

He's not Speedy Gonzales in disguise.

No, I'm Red Rocket Pete apparently.....had to go out and buy food for the goats...I do have a life other than on here LOL.

However, I did quickly try it on the small oval dish I've set up for testing Astra2E...without quoting specific figures it was up 2 to 3% SNR over the white Inverto I had on there.....that may be down to the ability to move it into dish focus due to the long feedhorn..

 

[hexah]

I do have a life other than on here LOL.

Utter twaddle.




(so les petit goats tell me )

However, I did quickly try it on the small oval dish I've set up for testing Astra2E...without quoting specific figures it was up 2 to 3% SNR over the white Inverto I had on there.....that may be down to the ability to move it into dish focus due to the long feedhorn..

A bit of in out usually brings a smile to the face. Indeed to all our faces.

A good start.

I have one of those oval dishes it was sold as the orbital platinum. They certainly are small but better than the $ky crap.

I hope you are not still using that rickety old ladder.

 

[sonnetpete]

So, I've tested on two satellites using the multisat on the Penta. 9E (at focus) and 16E. Readings taken from my Satlink meter and expressed as % SNR

9E
Technomate LNB Red Rocket
11919V 73% 72%
11938H 66% 65%

16E
Black Ultra Red Rocket
11046H 34% 15% (No lock)
11132V 42% 40%

There's not a lot of difference as you can see, except for the one which must be just above lock on the Black Ultra. The Red Rocket isn't a bad performer and would be useful in a multi sat due to it's long feedhorn. I might be persuaded (when I have sufficient savings) to try an Opticum Quad seeing as it's being put forward as a Black Ultra beater. Incidentally, whoever designed the shroud around the F connector on the Red Rocket has never had to fit an F connector!

Finally for Hexah, a close up of the lighthouse stamp.....

 

[timo_w2s]

Thanks for that, although maybe slightly down on the Black Ultra, it might still be better for me since I can't get the Black Ultra's to align up properly on 13E and 9E on my 80cm dish as they are just a few mm too wide.

 

[sonnetpete]

It might work Timo. I have that Technomate at focus and a slimline ALPS for 13E next to it and both work fine.