Newbie Here Some advice please for a new member.

moonbase

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...Another thing. It would seem that "what's out there" is on the decline, what with new satellites and technology to prevent us from finding anything worth watching.



Most of the raw satelite feeds are still in the same format they have been for years. Changes to encryption standards generally impacts on consumer broadcasts rather than the raw feeds. New satellites can sometimes be accompanied by higher power signals which enables mini dish men to grab a seat at the table.

Satellite signal reception for the enthusiastic hobbyist is constantly evolving. Satellites come and go, encryption standards get hacked and tightened up again but the man in his back garden messing about with spanners at the back of a dish in the middle of winter is a constant feature on the landscape.
 

airbourne

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Well I now have another CM 1.2, a very well built (76mm) stand with a 1224 motor/v-box, and a Technomate 5400 CI+ USB receiver.
The dish has a very small crack on the back-turned lip and has a small support plate across it, held with a small nut and bolt each end of the plate to stop the crack progressing. Its been painted a cream colour in what looks like emulsion paint. I'll be re-painting it so it blends in with its new surroundings.
First thing will be to site the stand. This has a three legs, each with a bracket welded on to enable a bolt-down so the original idea of paving slabs may not be on.
I've down-loaded a manual for the TM receiver but the V-box has a manual with it. I must say that I've no idea what I'm doing with these units but I have a lot of work to do siting the dish and the stand so I'll be back to ask some questions when all that has been done. Steve
 

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@airbourne Nice! Just some pictures are missing here. Hard to visualize, at least for me :cool:
 

moonbase

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airbourne

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Here are some pics. The black LNB came with the first (fixed) dish. Ten pics in all. Hope this is not breaking any rules!
 

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PaulR

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Not breaking any rules at all. In fact it's positively encouraged.
 

Mickha

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Very good starting kit.
You'll probably only ever upgrade your receiver.
The stand looks similar to mine, you remove the plates, the things at the bottom, and bolt them to concrete, or in my case paving slabs. You then set the stand, on the bolts, attached to the middle of the plates, allowing you to adjust them, individually, to get your pole absolutely vertical.
Once done you attach the motor, and the dish.
Your 1224 has 4 electrical wires, attached on the inside, you can view the connections by removing the top cover. These are fed through the hole, at the bottom of the 1224, and connected to your V-Box, make a note of the connections, at the 1224, and ensure you match the corresponding connections at the V-Box.
You will be amazed how simple it is to initially set up, and how infuriating it is to get it tracking the satellite arc, so that you get the strongest signal quality, possible, on all satellites.
A simple satellite meter makes the job a lot easier.
satellite meter.JPG
 

Channel Hopper

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What's in the first two images look very familiar.
 

RimaNTSS

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The dish has a very small crack on the back-turned lip and has a small support plate across it, held with a small nut and bolt each end of the plate to stop the crack progressing.
In the same way I've treated crack on my SMW-OA-1600 IMG_20150703_201922 (Large).jpg
 

airbourne

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Thanks for that info Mickha. I do have a couple of meters that I bought when finding satellites in Spain. O'ne looks very much like the one you have there. I think it has a compass on it as well.
I've been looking through the threads here and the TM 5302HD box seams to be favoured over the 5400 that I have here but of course there are some others out there as well. I'll be working on the stand for a while as I want to put it on a flat roof out of the way of the garden. Kerb stones are ok on the floor but far too heavy for elevated positions.
The guy who sold me this kit also has a 1.8 precision setup that's on fleabay and it does look well restored. here's the link for those interested.
Satellite Dish Precision 1.8 +Jaeger 1224 36V+SuperJack+ Heavy Ground Stand Etc | eBay
 

Channel Hopper

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Thanks for that info Mickha. I do have a couple of meters that I bought when finding satellites in Spain. O'ne looks very much like the one you have there. I think it has a compass on it as well.
I've been looking through the threads here and the TM 5302HD box seams to be favoured over the 5400 that I have here but of course there are some others out there as well. I'll be working on the stand for a while as I want to put it on a flat roof out of the way of the garden. Kerb stones are ok on the floor but far too heavy for elevated positions.
The guy who sold me this kit also has a 1.8 precision setup that's on fleabay and it does look well restored. here's the link for those interested.
Satellite Dish Precision 1.8 +Jaeger 1224 36V+SuperJack+ Heavy Ground Stand Etc | eBay
That also looks rather familiar......
 

moonbase

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...I've been looking through the threads here and the TM 5302HD box seams to be favoured over the 5400 that I have here ... I'll be working on the stand for a while as I want to put it on a flat roof out of the way of the garden. Kerb stones are ok on the floor but far too heavy for elevated positions...



@airbourne

The TM-5302 HD receiver reports signal frequencies and symbol rates accurately whereas a few other Technomate receivers do not provide similar accuracy. However, this comes at a trade off, the menu structures and operational functionality of the TM-5302 HD receiver take a bit of getting used to and the blind scan can be very slow at smaller frequncy step rates.

You could use concrete blocks to anchor the stand on a flat roof. They are lighter, smaller, easier to carry up ladders and drill easier than concrete kerb stones. I bought a few from Wickes for test installs and they seem to work OK. If you are concerned about there not being sufficient weight for anchorage you can double them up or lay short lengths of gravel board or decking across them and add extra ballast on top.

Tarmac Standard Dense Block - 7.3N 100mm | Wickes.co.uk
 

airbourne

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Hi Moonbase. The receiver I have here is a 5400 CI+ USB. I don't know how good or bad that one is. As far as I know, none of them are good for HD unless its stated on the case somewhere. There are other makes out there as well but I'd sooner I had a recommendation from someone on here rather than spend good money on kit that isn't up to scratch.

I've been doing a bit of measuring today on the stand. The three legs are just 18 inches long (46cm) and its a metre high. The top two thirds is 76mm and very thick-walled which makes it a bit top heavy rather than if it were 76mm all the way down. The stands on that well known auction site look to have a larger base on them in relation to the height, and they take four slabs. I was thinking of extending the legs and moving the fixings out further to give the weight of the slabs a bit more of a chance. I suppose I could position the slabs a bit further out and lay extra slabs on top as you have suggested. I've also read on here that by siting the stand in this way it isn't a "fixture" as it were, and is "portable" Not sure an official would see it that way! Steve
 

moonbase

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I've also read on here that by siting the stand in this way it isn't a "fixture" as it were, and is "portable" Not sure an official would see it that way!...


@airbourne

Check out posts 14 and 15 in the topic I have linked to below. They present the mobile structure I bodged together for a dish. There is nowt the local authority or your neighbours can do about it.

Precision 2.2 metre Antenna Install

I would just get on with the install with the tripod stand you have, forget about this top heavy malarky and see how it goes. If you have movement you can revisit options for anchorage. The channel master 1.2m is not a big dish and the wind load aint gonna be that great. It's just my personal opinion but you seem to be overthinking and theorising almost every aspect of the install.

On the subject of receivers, the TM-5400 ws a decent SD receiver in its day, it is old and will be missing the HD channels but it has easy to use menus and will get you started. Once you get the dish installed and start scanning with the TM-5400 you can then look out for an HD receiver that meets your needs. Technomate have fallen behind a bit in the world of satellite receivers, however, there is still the TM-5402 (M3) HD box from them. It is missing some of the functionality that the latest receivers have but for blind scanning satellites for feeds it is easy to use and gives a good quality picture.

The Octagon SF8008 is a new receiver about to be released. There will be probably be reviews of this box on the forum in the comings days/weeks. It might be worth reading the below topic to see if it appeals to you? It is a 4K capable UHD box and has aroused interest on the forum.

OCTAGON SF8008 E2 4K UHD
 

jeallen01

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FWIW ref the TM 5402 M3, it's well-known (and it's my experience as well) that this Rx has quite a poor SD picture as compared with the HD picture (both via HDMI) - otherwise I agree that it's quite a good starter box and fairly easy to get to grips with (although the manual is poor in places and does not cover some of the secondary functions/options).
NB: both of mine also seem to have a low level of audio o/p via HDMI - not sure if that's true of all of them.
 

airbourne

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You can call it overkill if you like MB, but when I put that dish up there, it won't move! Although I have a fairly large south facing rear garden, that cunning pallet setup you built just wouldn't work for me. Too many levels and steps. I like it though.
Interesting on the SF8008 receiver. I'll keep an eye out for the reviews. I must be a bit careful though or I'll end up with all the best kit and won't have the experience of having had the lesser stuff. I'll have a go at the one I have and move over to something else later. I expect the latest stuff to be quite expensive too. When I get this stuff together I'll post some pics. Steve
 

airbourne

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Hi Moonbase. Been a bit busy of late but I have put a few mods into this stand. I've cut it in half and welded a flange to the joint making it a lot easier to carry up a ladder. The top half still weighs in at 8.5kg and the bottom bit is 12kg. I've also welded tabs to the bars and both the top and bottom halves but I've not got pics of the whole thing assembled yet. All the parts are stamped for ID.
I did go up on the flat roof for a look at the condition of the whole thing and decided to make some reps to the pointing round the chimney where the flashing is installed as it would be a bit difficult to do it with the dish installed.
I still have to paint the dish another colour to make it less noticeable to any critical eyes but its covered in what looks like cream emulsion at the moment. I'd like to get that off if I can without harming the surface of the dish.
Here's a couple of pics of the flange fitting.
 

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moonbase

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Hi Moonbase. Been a bit busy of late but I have put a few mods into this stand. I've cut it in half and welded a flange to the joint making it a lot easier to carry up a ladder. The top half still weighs in at 8.5kg and the bottom bit is 12kg. I've also welded tabs to the bars and both the top and bottom halves but I've not got pics of the whole thing assembled yet. All the parts are stamped for ID.
I did go up on the flat roof for a look at the condition of the whole thing and decided to make some reps to the pointing round the chimney where the flashing is installed as it would be a bit difficult to do it with the dish installed.
I still have to paint the dish another colour to make it less noticeable to any critical eyes but its covered in what looks like cream emulsion at the moment. I'd like to get that off if I can without harming the surface of the dish.
Here's a couple of pics of the flange fitting.


Its looking good, nice work.

I am not sure how to approach removing paint from the surface of a channel master dish. Its not a smooth surface so is not readily amenable to sanding. The reflector part of the dish is the steel mesh embedded under the resin surface so you can probably get away with any paint removal procedure that does not compromise the integrity of the parabolic profile?
 
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