TD88 with 11 lnbs, a temporary set up

Piltdownpaul

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Pictured is the current set up , with 11 lnbs. This is only temporary as its coming down to go on a motor soon. It turns out that the screw mountings that hold the narrown invertos are not up to much. The 8mm nut which sits in a freefloating piece of plastic mounted on the rear of the lnb isnt really up to it. Its far too easy to overfasten them, the plastics on the thin side. A metal former would have been better. There is too much stress on the middle lnb when you have 2 or 3 either side, it simply cant hold it. It was always my plan to put support bars left and right but seeing as this has took me weeks of setting up and i'm still not happy, i've decided to go down the motorized route. No sight issues here - i can get 53E easily to 30W no problem.

IMG_7478b.JPG
 

Piltdownpaul

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Thanks Tivu, t and k brackets ordered , technomate tm2600 motor ordered,just got to persuade the boss to let me cut up an old scaffold pole.
 

Lazarus

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Fast switching seems to be the main attraction of multi-LNB setups.

Frankly, the transit times for a DiSEqC Motor are perfectly acceptable for use on the main Satellites of interest to UK based hobbyists.

And if one is Feed Hunting etc, then what's a few extra seconds?

That said, I currently have two motorised systems (80cm controllable from the Drawing Room; 1.1m controlled from the Playroom for my own faffing about) plus two fixed dishes for 28E (One providing two feeds to our Humax Foxsat PVR and the other providing four feeds to various rooms at the back of the house) and an old "Analogue" dish with a 13/19E Monoblock plus an additional LNB for 5W (The latter dish for the exclusive use of SWMBO).
 

sonnetpete

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Seperate 80 cm dish on 28E with a Humax Freesat for SWMBO.
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Interesting PDP, I'd never though of trying to rig up supports from the LNB's to the dish edge. Currently my TD88 covers 9°E to 45°E....at least it would do if I could get the most easterly LNB's to the right height. 39°,42° & 45° are on a supplementary useless plastic holder so I've given up for now and settled for just 36° working. The other more westerly ones are on a proprietary Triax bar....
 

Piltdownpaul

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Fast switching was my main attraction, i have all my sport channels listed and sometimes i flick down them seeing what i fancy watching. Obviously this is very quick with this setup. But the down side is obviously feeds which i do watch, and fringe stuff. You just cant beat a dish pointing bang at the satellite for maximum reception can you? My 60 cm for turksat 42 is straight at it,no rain fade and 200 channels on tap. So the plan now is to put the 60cm on the wall with the quad lnb for her freesat, and i'll mount the td88 on the back of the garage above the roof, the better half is fine with this , she says as long as there is no interruption to her viewing its all systems go.
 

Piltdownpaul

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It was a idea i had Sonnet, i knew there would be some appreciable weight. I used threaded bars for B&Q so that you could also alter the curve somewhat by using nuts on the bars.
 

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Sounds good!

First job, keep SWMBO mellow.

Second job, disappear into the shed.


Or


If First job fails, Second job, disappear into the distance.
 

sonnetpete

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Seperate 80 cm dish on 28E with a Humax Freesat for SWMBO.
Free Sat V8 meter. Sony Bravia 46" LCD, Sony BluRay and Home Cinema.
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To pick up an Tivù's post....I have a bouquet for Music....made up of channels from 13°E, 1°W, 30°W, 28°E, 16°E and 19°E and a couple of others. Similarly I have a sports one with a few other channels from differing satellites in it. There's a definite advantage to being able to zap from sat to sat, though I have retained the motorised set up through the F15 so I guess I have the best of both worlds...
 

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I had a 1.8m motorised dish back in the analogue days but it was pretty slow and noisy. I'm guessing smaller dishes with DiSEqC motors are faster these days. I've sometimes been tempted to try a motor again but I've got nowhere with a clear line of sight across the whole arc and I do like the instant switching of multiple dishes and LNBs and the fun setting them up.
 

Piltdownpaul

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Just been out to get these pics.....
IMG_7479.JPGIMG_7480.JPGIMG_7481.JPGIMG_7485.JPG
 

Piltdownpaul

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Question is , do i sell all these lnbs, diseqc switches or keep them for a rainy day(not literally!)
 

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Definitely keep them.

They won't be worth much when converted into cash and a healthy (if occasionally pointless) spares box is essential to the hobbyists way of life.
 

Piltdownpaul

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Tivù said:
They won't be worth much when converted into cash and a healthy (if occasionally pointless) spares box is essential to the hobbyists way of life.
I figured the same.......you never know if a mate wants a dish setting up, the Piltdown could spring up with the gear......
 

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Definitely keep the bits n pieces. You never know when you will need them. Ive got all sorts of old lnb's stashed away in my parts bin - 0.6dB noise isnt much good on weak signals but for high power sats they are fine.
 

Piltdownpaul

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As mentioned by Timo in another thread on here, the other disadvantage/trade off with the narrow lnvertos has been the signal quality compared to a standard lnb-generally i found 5-10% down which is fine for near focus satellites but on the fringe youre definately at a disadvantage.
 

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Piltdownpaul said:
As mentioned by Timo in another thread on here, the other disadvantage/trade off with the narrow lnvertos has been the signal quality compared to a standard lnb-generally i found 5-10% down which is fine for near focus satellites but on the fringe youre definately at a disadvantage.
Yep, they are not good for weak signals, of which I have way too many. ;)
 

Piltdownpaul

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"Yep, they are not good for weak signals, of which I have way too many. ;)"

And you're not alone there, 0.8W Thor is the worst for me by far - i get more on my 60cm pointing straight at it, so a motorized 88cm should drag in nicely.
 

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timo_w2s said:
Yep, they are not good for weak signals, of which I have way too many. ;)
I find that they dislike raindrops on the cap more than traditional LNBs do.
 

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hairybadger said:
I find that they dislike raindrops on the cap more than traditional LNBs do.
Yes, I found that too. A quick fix is to cover the cap with a plastic drinking cup.
 

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timo_w2s said:
Yes, I found that too. A quick fix is to cover the cap with a plastic drinking cup.
:) I might give that a shot next winter - this winter I've been giving them a periodic tap with a broom to clear off the fresh snow.
 
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