Help Required Simple motorised system

Trader

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
40
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
TM-5402 HD with 1m Gibertini on STAB HH100 coming soon!
My Location
Gloucestershire
Hi

I am stuck at home after an illness left me disabled. I love TV and now have Virgin cable TV as a gift which was a gift from a friend.

I used to fit satellite systems in the early 80s and then into the early 90s but it was almost all analogue in those days. I have the electronic knowledge but sadly my legs won't get me up the ladder so to speak.

Would there be a decent setup I could aim for using say a 80cm -100cm motorised dish? I am not looking for free sports or racing, I have all that via Virgin but it would be interesting to know if there is more FTA channels out there worth watching. In the older days I used a 1.2m dish to get some of the sports feeds for golf, football etc but I doubt they're available these days in the clear.

My though was perhaps Hotbird would have some decent FTA channels?

Can you guys advice me on what to buy in terms of dish, motor, receiver etc? I can get my mate to install it under my supervision. I have a south facing elevation for the dish and very good LOS across most of the satellite arc.

Thank you
 

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,078
Reaction score
8,664
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
There's still a great deal of interesting stuff out there for free and to get most of it and maybe a few Feeds, get yourself a Triax TD88, An Inverto Black Ultra LNB and a TM2600 Motor.

Do use T&K brackets for the mount rather than one of those L shaped jobbies.

For an inexpensive HD capable Receiver with decent Blind Scan, you can do little better than a Skybox F5S.

Sorry to hear of your situation, but you won't regret getting stuck in to multi-Satellite and, to boot, you've got this Forum to enjoy too!
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
Hello Trader, welcome back to the forum.

There are many hundreds of free channels available in western Europe. Hotbird has the most international services carrying output from such exotic locations as Thailand, Russia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, and dozens of other places.

There isnt much English output - a few news services from around the world.

If you want to see whats availablpe these days have a poke around here:

http://www.flysat.com/satlist.php

and for (mainly) free channels that we have logged here on the forum:

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/new-channels.610/
 
Last edited:

satelliteman

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 7, 2007
Messages
12,039
Reaction score
387
Points
83
My Satellite Setup
See signature
My Location
Northants, Midlands UK & Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Hello Trader.
As above, a decent 90cm on a motor will get you thousands of multi lingual channels. We have a few motor dish set up guides to help you or your friend get a working system installed.

P.S a warm welcome ;)
 

gibertini

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2013
Messages
479
Reaction score
337
Points
63
Location
up north
My Satellite Setup
DM800HDSE SIM 2.10 80CM ORBITAL FIXED@28.2E
My Location
53.6N 2.4W
imo a 1m orbital or triax td110(105cm) would be a bit better for feeds and if your finances allow it a technomate tm5402hd along with a black ultra lnb. there is still a great deal available in fta and there are plenty of feeds available if you put the work in or use feed sites like satelliweb/solosat
 

Trader

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
40
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
TM-5402 HD with 1m Gibertini on STAB HH100 coming soon!
My Location
Gloucestershire
Thanks guys I will have a look at the costs of your suggestions tomorrow. Gibertini; my mate has a Technomate receiver set aside for me, I'm not sure of the model number.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
 

Trader

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
40
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
TM-5402 HD with 1m Gibertini on STAB HH100 coming soon!
My Location
Gloucestershire
Good afternoon

My good mate came to see me and he has indeed saved me a TM-5402 HD Rx. He was using it but has just upgraded to a Twin input model. He wanted £50 for it which seems good to me; what do you think?

On the feeds front I notice on 12.5W there is an SiS feed listed. Now before you jump down my throat I am not trying to get fast pictures - my disability means I would be 20 seconds behind the action! I was merely curious as to the dish size to get 12.5W? I have the view with nothing blocking so would 1.0m dish cut it? I could see that being a bit of fun if the feeds are ever in the clear.

Cheers

EDIT: I asked about this 12.5W bird because I saw this thread http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/threads/12-5w-larc.158047/ and noticed it mentioned greyhounds, which I like to watch from time to time!
 
Last edited:

wod

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
4,213
Reaction score
238
Points
63
My Satellite Setup
1m channel master, jaeger smr1224, Inverto black ultra twin, technomate tm-1500ci, broken receiver vantage x221ci, New additions Skybox F5s and technomate tm-5402 HD arriving soon.
My Location
yorkshire
50 for one of them is very good, they are 129 new.

Is the dish going to be ground mounted as you could get away with a 1.2m dish depending on if you have fussy neighbours next to you.

feeds wise, bigger the dish the better, a lot of them tend to be in MPEG 4 now in 4:2:2 which means you need a PC satellite card to view them in vlc media player but there are some which are viewable on a hd satellite box.

Have a look on sateliweb to see what feeds people have found etc.

If you can keep an eye out on eBay you can get lucky and get a used channel master 1.2m dish with polar mount/motor for next to nothing that your mate could collect and fit for you.
 

Trader

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
40
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
TM-5402 HD with 1m Gibertini on STAB HH100 coming soon!
My Location
Gloucestershire
I will corner wall mount the dish to get the best overall arc view. My neighbours aren't too fussy so I should be okay....famous last words!
 

Trader

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
40
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
TM-5402 HD with 1m Gibertini on STAB HH100 coming soon!
My Location
Gloucestershire
I will corner wall mount the dish to get the best overall arc view. My neighbours aren't too fussy so I should be okay....famous last words!

I ventured outside with my mate Jim and we scanned the sky using an iPhone App. I can see 70.5E around to 31.5W and outside of that they drop below the distant houses. If I take the reading from higher up I may squeeze an extra bird at the extremes of East and West although I am not overly concerned about that.

So guys I have blagged a 1m Gibertini from Jim :-applausehe is going to a 1.5m setup soon. I will need corner mounts and a motor. What do you guys suggest?

EDIT: BTW Jim is another mate, not the one who will be fitting the kit. Jim pays a local firm to fit his kit and I can't really afford that.
 
Last edited:

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,078
Reaction score
8,664
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
Most common recommendation for a decent quality Motor is the Technomate TM2600 and that should handle the Gibertini just fine.

As for the arc, don't forget that 60E/W is where things get tricky regardless owing to the far horizon.

I'd balance possibly getting the odd extra Bird near the limits against maintainabilty (especially access) of the system.
 

Trader

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
40
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
TM-5402 HD with 1m Gibertini on STAB HH100 coming soon!
My Location
Gloucestershire
Most common recommendation for a decent quality Motor is the Technomate TM2600 and that should handle the Gibertini just fine.

As for the arc, don't forget that 60E/W is where things get tricky regardless owing to the far horizon.

I'd balance possibly getting the odd extra Bird near the limits against maintainabilty (especially access) of the system.

Yes I think I will be happier with more reliable birds rather than trying to squeeze extra birds at the ends of the arc. I am looking forward to this now, it would be a real bonus if I can watch the dogs on 12.5w!!
 

Trader

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
40
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
TM-5402 HD with 1m Gibertini on STAB HH100 coming soon!
My Location
Gloucestershire
This is going to sound a bit daft but how does the motor interface with the TM-5402 HD Rx? Is it all done via the coaxial cable? In my time we used a positioner and separate control cable.
 

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,078
Reaction score
8,664
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
Not daft at all!

There is one coax cable from Rx to Motor and then one from Motor to LNB.

The Motor draws its operating current from the Rx (Typically 400mA max).

When a V target is selected, Motor supply voltage is around 13 volts (ie as demanded via DiSEqC for the LNB switching).

When an H target is selected, Motor supply voltage increase to 18 volts (again, primarily due to the call from the LNB for a voltage dependent Polarity switching signal)

Ergo, the Motor pans faster when an H target is selected (A trick that can be made use of!)

In addition to the DiSEqC commands for LNB Polarity and Band Switching, you can also set two Motor positioning modes, one which lets you find and store individual Satellite positions and another (USALS) whereby you simply set up one Satellite and an algorithm sorts out the rest automatically, based upon your own Lat/Long.
 

wod

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
4,213
Reaction score
238
Points
63
My Satellite Setup
1m channel master, jaeger smr1224, Inverto black ultra twin, technomate tm-1500ci, broken receiver vantage x221ci, New additions Skybox F5s and technomate tm-5402 HD arriving soon.
My Location
yorkshire
Even though I can get from 45e to 58west, there isn't a lot once you get past hispasat 30w unless your into c band and that's for another day and forum member vs can tell you about that or read about his adventures on it.

The tm 2600 diseqc 1.2/usals motor, I hope it's the metal gearing version as the plastic cogged gearing ones aren't up to much. I managed to strip the teeth on one I had but the dish was very exposed.

on the gibby 1m you have choice of polar mount or usals motor too which is nice to have.
 

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,078
Reaction score
8,664
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
@Trader

................ Gosh you're quick!

I've added a bit to the above since you "Liked".
 

Trader

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
40
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
TM-5402 HD with 1m Gibertini on STAB HH100 coming soon!
My Location
Gloucestershire
@Trader

................ Gosh you're quick!

I've added a bit to the above since you "Liked".
............when you're stuck in the house on your own this is your stimulus so I am usually pretty quick. The two mates who are helping me usually call in mid morning or lunchtime and then I see nobody!

I will be looking at the metal geared TM2600 as I have also heard horror stories of the plastic geared version. I was also looking at this Technomate LNB as it means I can set the dish and then get TV in other rooms. I may look at other Rxs later and will use the cabling from a previous Sky installation. It just means I don't have to get the LNB changed later and at that price it seems a no-brainer if you guys say it is okay?
 

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,078
Reaction score
8,664
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
I would get the Inverto Black Ultra Quad in preference to the Technomate, but that's mainly due to the fact that many of us swear by the Black Ultra! Currently available for just under 20 sovs.

I note the TM LNB claims 0.1dB NF whereas the Inverto claims 0.2db, but don't set too much store by those headline figures.
 

wod

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
4,213
Reaction score
238
Points
63
My Satellite Setup
1m channel master, jaeger smr1224, Inverto black ultra twin, technomate tm-1500ci, broken receiver vantage x221ci, New additions Skybox F5s and technomate tm-5402 HD arriving soon.
My Location
yorkshire
A lot of us forum members use the inverto black ultra lnbs in either single, twin or quad 4 output versions.
 

Trader

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
40
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
TM-5402 HD with 1m Gibertini on STAB HH100 coming soon!
My Location
Gloucestershire
That's good enough for me, I am not going to try and reinvent the wheel so to speak. So this Inverto Ultra Black Quad seems a decent price?
 
Top