satellite dish motor.

[maximus999]

Hi guys,
I am a caravaner and have a sky system with the dish and receiver (Sky+), when on site I am finding it really hard to get a signal but I do in the end. i am looking at a satellite dish motor and i believe i need the USALS motor? do these find the signal for you i.e. i point it at south and it moves to find the satellite?

Sorry for the lack of knowledge but i am just setting ut int he world of satellites.

Many hanks for any replies.
Ian

 

[satelliteman]

Welcome to the forum Ian.

Indeed once set up correctly, the dish will certainly track the arc via USALs. You will need to make an initial alignment on your due South satellite though. There are also some angles to set , ie motor bracket / inclination. Take a browse at the dish set up guides in this section.

 

[Lazarus]

Can you clarify exactly what dish you have?

 

[maximus999]

Thanks for the reply guys, the dish is a small sky dish black in colour, i am unsure of the name but it is what sky are putting up all over at the moment, the lnb i bought off flebay which has 4 terminals. At present i am using port one on the lnb to get the signal with my meter, do i have to connect port one to my sky box port one or can i use port two on the lnb to go to port one on my sky box


P.s is there any motors out there what can be adjusted manually say by a remote control to move the dish around.

Ian

 

[Lazarus]

Ok. The reason I asked was because you need to consider how easy it is to mount some dish types on H-H Motor.

You'd be better off going the whole hog and getting a 60cm plus (80cm is a good compromise between size, portability and getting maximum benefit from the motor) "proper" dish".


And, as for remote control, if you use virtually any recevier other than a Sky one, they will have features called DiSEqC and USALS. These are motor controls (amongst other things) that you operate directly from the Receiver remote telecommander.

 

[maximus999]

Horay, what you have just said I was trying to sus out on the net, so it is the actual receiver which controls the motor!! right that set aside, can i get a receiver which will mirror sky i.e i can use my sky card in?

many thanks

 

[Lazarus]

Well there are - but that's a case of running before you can walk.

A good compromise, which will give you continued use of your Sky Box plus access to loads of other Satellite is to get a cheap generic Sat Receiver that you can use for everything but Sky and an A/B Cable Isolation Switch (qv) so that once you've used the cheapo box to drive the dish to 28E, you press a single clunky chunky button on the switch and connect the Sky box to the dish.

A cheap and effective solution.

 

[Cormoran]

Hang on guys but this chap is a caravanner (and I don't mean that in a disrespectful way, Ian). I don't want to be a party-pooper but is the investment of time and money worth it?

Favourite methods of mounting dishes for caravanning are: a) on a tripod, b) on a mast bolted to the drawbar or c) either clamped directly onto the jockey wheel stem or onto a mast clamped onto the jockey wheel. (I know - I've been there and done that!!).

The faff involved in setting up a motorised system on a securely fixed residential setup is daunting enough but to suggest it on a 'van that's going to wobble about as the occupants move around and most likely not be on a level pitch, or perhaps worse, hanging one off your typical Maxview tripod that isn't going to be terribly stable in any sort of breeze is, with respect, daft.

Far better (to my mind) is to invest in a decent compass and sat finder, stick with your minidish and practice the art of pointing it in the right direction. A successful (temporary) install will be acheived much quicker than fiddling about with a motorised setup.

The only sensilble way, if you want a self-seeking, stabilised, motorised setup for a touring caravan, is to invest the £1600 or thereabouts in the proper kit and bolt it to the roof of the 'van (as seen on a lot of campers and boats).

Ian, with reference to your query - "do i have to connect port one to my Sky box port one or can i use port two on the lnb to go to port one on my Sky box" - you can connect any 'port' on your quad lnb (that's what you've got) to the digibox. It's usual to remove the meter from the lnb and connect the digibox to the same output as you have a known good signal there.

Hope this helps.

 

[maximus999]

Hi there,

You said: Hang on guys but this chap is a caravanner (and I don't mean that in a disrespectful way, Ian). I don't want to be a party-pooper but is the investment of time and money worth it?

When I go away it always lands on F1 weekend, I would walk to the end of the earth to watch it haha.

Thanks for the comments anyways.

Ian

 

[Lazarus]

In which case, having a more elaborate system will give you access to F1 coverage on RTL (for example), should you wish to dodge Sky adverts.


Those of us without Sky will be obliged to do just that once BBC's live coverage drops to 50%.

 

[Cormoran]

When I go away it always lands on F1 weekend, I would walk to the end of the earth to watch it haha.

Save yourself a lot of grief and money - record it on Sky+ at home and enjoy it in comfort!! :-righton

 

[Lazarus]

Have you tried avoiding hearing the result? Near impossible, in my experience.

But what you suggest is nevertheless going to have to be part of the armoury from next year.

Thank heavens for Foxsat.

 

[Cormoran]

Have you tried avoiding hearing the result? Near impossible, in my experience.

Know exactly what you mean. We have a static van up on the coast and spend a lot of weekends up there and I try desperately to not hear/read anything.

Usually we get back on Sunday evening and I make the mistake of phoning my mum to see how she is. (She's 89, an F1 fan and thinks the sun shines out of Lewis Hamilton's mouth - oh no, my bad, it's not his mouth he talks out of is it??)

First thing I get is "Have you heard how Lewis got on?" and before I can say a word I then get a complete run down of the finishing line up.

Must remember to phone her on Mondays........