Advice Needed Seek advice for reception of 5W-28.2E in Belgium

[sophie101]

Hi!

We have a south facing house with out any obstructions, and would like to receive several satellites on one dish. We would prefer a multi-lnb configuration, like the Wavefrontier T55. This was difficult for me to install ( I paid for somebody in the end ), and has since rushed apart. I've saved the LNBs.


Are there are any alternatives to the Wavefrontier dishes that have better wind and rain resistance?

Kind regards, Sophie.

 

[archive10]

Cahors Visiosat does a SMC dish, i.e. "plastic" (meant in a good way) called Big Bisat.
This is similar to the T55 in performance, but a bit more expensive.
Available by mailorder at reasonable prices from multiple mail-order vendors (German, French).

But they are just as challenging to set up correctly as the T55 (once you've done it once, it becomes easier). But a proper Sat-meter is extremely useful.

There are tutorials on this very forum (and others) on how-to; bu´t you may want a pro install Again to aviud hassle and pain.

Questions:
1) What age are the LNBs, and what make are they (it's a bit more crowded on the Visiosat)
2) What specific sat positions are you looking for (e.g. 5W, 13E, 19.2E, 23.5E, 29.2E?)

 

[sophie101]

Questions:
1) What age are the LNBs, and what make are they (it's a bit more crowded on the Visiosat)
2) What specific sat positions are you looking for (e.g. 5W, 13E, 19.2E, 23.5E, 29.2E?)

I do not recall the LNBs, but they were not terribly large, but on our old T55 they were fine for reception. They're gathering dust in the the garage.

Positions 5W, 13E, 19.2E 28.2E

 

[sophie101]

I have an alternative:
1 x SlimSat SA 62 ( two LNBs integrated ) for 28.2 and 19.2)
1x SlimSat SA 62 for 5W and anything else I could pick up.

Looking at their site I could not see how wide they could be used, if at all.
Important ones are 5W and 28.2E with the others a nice to have.

 

[sonnetpete]

Hello Sophie, welcome to the forum....

I have four satellite dishes, set up for multisat reception. All of them are 'normal' dishes, unlike the design of the T55. It may just be possible to achieve reception of the satellites you've mentioned on a standard dish with a couple of multi brackets. I've had good results using a Penta 85cm dish, which was receiving 5W, 5E, 9E, 13E, 16E and 19E. Your main problem is how to achieve the spread of over 30 degrees from 5W to 28E. Is it not possible to have two dishes, one a small dedicated dish for 5W?

 

[archive10]

I do not recall the LNBs, but they were not terribly large, but on our old T55 they were fine for reception. They're gathering dust in the the garage.

Positions 5W, 13E, 19.2E 28.2E

Ok, plenty of space then (at least 6 degrees separation).
Your existing LNBs may work, if they break they can be relatively easily replaced.
You should probably be ok with a Visiosat SMC dish.

This is by no means the only solution, you can buy "normal" 100 cm dish and put multiple LNBs on it - but you may struggle to get 33 degrees of span on it for ggod reception.
You can of course just buy another T55 (third of the price of a Visiosat), and just keep replacing when too rusty.
There are also other multifocus dishes (sometimes branded Maximum), but these rust too.

Decision is up to you bsaed on criteria such as:
- do your require a dish that does not rust?
- what is your budget?

this determines the make, then

- do you want to mount the dish yourself?

Determines where you source your dish. If you get an installer to do it, they may want to provide the dish themselves.

 

[sophie101]

Hi,
Agreed, I could use a small single flat dish of 50cm ( maybe 40cm) for 5W because it's footprint is good for Belgium, and then a another simpler dish for 28/19/13.

13 is just a nice to have for back up for ARTE and TV5FBS reception if they were removed from 19.

Do you think 60 cm could be ususable for FTA channels for the BBC/ITV/C4/C5 over near Liege Belgium?

- Unrustable dishes please because of longevity.

- My bugdet is flexible but I prefer simplicity; I could not re-aline a T55 after a storm but maybe I could call somebody in to put a simple dish with a couple of LNBs on it pretty quickly. ( I've not found anybody in BE who would install a T55, and I think it's because they'd be happier installing larger and simpler dishes instead for more money)

Sophie.

 

[sonnetpete]

Are you receiving just the free to air French channels from 5W? If so you might be interested to know that there are free to air Swiss (French language) versions of TF1, M6, W9, and 6TER on 9E...along with HD versions. I'd guess a 60 cm dish would be fine for 28E if you had that position central, with 13E and 19E offset but you'd be tight with LNB spacing for the latter two.

Don't discount dishes with an alloy reflector (the Fracarro Penta and Gibertini XP series). Whichever you choose, the support brackets will be steel and subject to corrosion. You really could have a go at installing a dish for 28E, 19E and 13E or possibly 9E yourself. It's not as tough as you think and we'd give you plenty of support and assistance on here.

 

[sophie101]

Are you receiving just the free to air French channels from 5W? If so you might be interested to know that there are free to air Swiss (French language) versions of TF1, M6, W9, and 6TER on 9E...along with HD versions. I'd guess a 60 cm dish would be fine for 28E if you had that position central, with 13E and 19E offset but you'd be tight with LNB spacing for the latter two.

Don't discount dishes with an alloy reflector (the Fracarro Penta and Gibertini XP series). Whichever you choose, the support brackets will be steel and subject to corrosion. You really could have a go at installing a dish for 28E, 19E and 13E or possibly 9E yourself. It's not as tough as you think and we'd give you plenty of support and assistance on here.

Hi Sonnetpete,
We're interested in FTA on 5W for France 3 O 5 ( I don't think 4 is FTA ). I knew of the Suisse channels on 9E but we are unlikely to watch them. All we really need are ARTE/France 3 5/TV5FBS/BBC/ITV/C4/C5/BBC News(or World)/CNN/Aljeezera and all children's channels in English. Any think else is a bonus.

 

[archive10]

Simplest and longet-life solution is a SMC-multifocus dish. Downsides are set-up complexity and price.
Simplest componentwise is one small for 5", one large for 28.2, 19.2, and 13.
Size depends, But I think 28.2 is quite strong in BE, so 19 could be center on if not at 64, then an 80.

Use SMC or alloy dishes for non-rust, and make sure all bolts where possible are replaced with inox bolts before mounting.

Incidentally, Visiosat has a special feed-holder for exactly this set-up (13, 19, 28.2) for their 100 cm SMC dishes.
But this can be done with almost any multi-feed holder for good dishes...

 

[sophie101]

Thanks lots, This sounds great.

Do you think this 70 cm SMC would work for 13/19/28? http://www.deschotelshop.be/cahors-smc-schotelantenne-70cm.
If not then perhaps only 19/28 would suffice.

For a small dish I'll look for a 50cm SMC or alloy.

 

[sophie101]

Hi,
I spoke with some satellite installers in Belgium and he said they likely would encrypt the FTA programmes from France Television on 5W next year, and that ARTE likely would be encrypted at a similar time. He cited restrictive copyright issue. No idea if this is true.

Thinking longer term, I should either have one 78cm dish pointing at 28.2 and 19.2, and may be a second 50 cm dish pointing at 5W. Reasoning is that when they drop FTA France TV, I have a choice of buying a second receiver for either TNTSAT or Fransat. Fransat seems better and the card works indefinably, but TNTSAT cards have to be renewed every 4 years.

** Does anybody know of a good receiver made for the either Fransat or TNTSAT that could use a DiscEq switch?

Thanks, Sophie.

 

[sonnetpete]

I haven't heard of this nor can I find evidence of it from an internet search. I suppose it's possible but they are the French equivalent of the BBC and I find it hard to imagine such a move. Can't help you with the receiver but I know a few guys on here have them...

 

[Hughes]

I've had dealings with three Fransat boxes, all second hand off eBay.
The first was an Aston HD and it failed quickly due to its poor power supply. The second is a Metronic, but SD. It's been fine for two years, but has recently started turning off and on again at will, so I think it's on its way out...
The best has been, and is a VirtuoZ HD box, which I'd never heard of!

I believe they all handle DiSEqC perhaps because unlike Sky and Canal Satéllite, who have millions of subscribers and can therefore have their own dedicated receivers, Fransat is a small operation, originally just for filling in areas not covered by terrestrial transmissions, and so receivers are more likely to be adaptations of existing general purpose receivers.

By the way, make sure you get an HD box as some channels are HD only, and I read somewhere that plans are afoot to transmit in HD only in the future.

 

[archive10]

I've had dealings with three Fransat boxes, all second hand off eBay.
The first was an Aston HD and it failed quickly due to its poor power supply. The second is a Metronic, but SD. It's been fine for two years, but has recently started turning off and on again at will, so I think it's on its way out...
The best has been, and is a VirtuoZ HD box, which I'd never heard of!

I believe they all handle DiSEqC perhaps because unlike Sky and Canal Satéllite, who have millions of subscribers and can therefore have their own dedicated receivers, Fransat is a small operation, originally just for filling in areas not covered by terrestrial transmissions, and so receivers are more likely to be adaptations of existing general purpose receivers.

By the way, make sure you get an HD box as some channels are HD only, and I read somewhere that plans are afoot to transmit in HD only in the future.

I have a Metronic too - which is only SD. Works fine, but User Interface and everything else is very, well, 2000's-ish.
Don't use it that much, so it still works well.
Hughes: Perhaps you just need to check the Caps and see if there are any going bad in the PSU? (Assuming you want to keep the box).

 

[sophie101]

Hi,

It's been years so thought I'd update.

I found an old 80cm Nokia dish for free with a broken LNB mount. I attached the LNB with a cable tie and have reasonable signal from 28.2e, but lost channels during heavy downpours. This has sufficed for a year. My Philips TV has a builtin DVB-T and DVB-S2 and a CI+ slot and Diseq 1.2

I've friends with Sky zone 1 minidish's with excellent reception of the Freesat channels in Brussels, and read some people had reliable 28.2e reception in Aachen Germany which is further away than Liege. I like the minidishes because they are smaller and less intrusive.

Keeping life simple, I'll ditch my hobbling 80cm and buy 2 x Sky minidishes.
The sky dishes can be pointed at 28.2E and at 5W.
If France government decided to encrypt the channels on 5W then I can easily buy a CAM for Fransat for 90Eurs. Their cards don't expire.
I will buy one at a time and test each sateliite first so that if I find 28.2 or 5w reception is poor then I can buy a zone 2 minidish instead.

lygnsat has France TV listed as FTA on 5w: 11509 H tp KB8 Wide 48
If I read well.

Cams available from here :
Module d'accès direct à FRANSAT HD - CGV

Amazon sell sat signal meters for 9 euros so I can use them.

Thanks to everybody for your advise.

Sophie