Thinking of getting a motorised set up

[cric2k]

Having recently moved back to the UK from Malta and having got used to the millions of channels most households get their from the various European satellites I'm seriously considering getting myself a motorised Dreambox system for my house here in Belfast.

So basically I'm looking for newbie advice on which dish hardware to go for. I'd probably go for the Dreambox 800HD which I can get cheap from china and my budget would be around £500 for the dish set up.

Unfortunately the front of my house is the side facing towards the satellites - its a chalet bungalow too so a big dish hanging off the side of my living room window might look a bit ugly. I've got a flat garage roof and I can hang the thing off the side of the house but again it might look a bit ugly.

I'd ideally be looking to install the thing myself too if it isn't horrendously difficult.

So yeah any tips/tricks/suppliers/installation guides and preferences on satellite type would be great.

 

[satelliteman]

For a location of Belfast, budget for a decent 100cm dish and motor. Depending on line of sight, it maybe possible to install at the rear of the property using a TK arrangement.

Motor set up guides are at the top of this section or you can link to them from my signature below.

 

[cric2k]

Ok thanks, not sure if it is against the rules but can you recommend any good online stores?

 

[satelliteman]

Have you tried our site sponsors?

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/advertisers.php

 

[daro2096]

If you can I would get a Wave Frontier T90 dish and have a disqec 1.1 system. With adjustments you can have 42 east right through to 15 west having upto 16 lnbs.

It would probably cost just the same as a motorised setup and when you can get an installer they charged a fortune anyway. My setup cost nearly £200 install fee and that was just for 3 satellites.

 

[Channel Hopper]

That does sound a little excessive, unless the installer had to provide something additional to the equipment you already had

 

[Huevos]

If you can I would get a Wave Frontier T90 dish and have a disqec 1.1 system. With adjustments you can have 42 east right through to 15 west having upto 16 lnbs.

It would probably cost just the same as a motorised setup and when you can get an installer they charged a fortune anyway..

No way would it cost the same.

16 decent single port LNBs (Black Ultras) is going to cost 320€ to start with then another 100€ for the dish and 50€ for a 16 way switch. Total 470€ without fitting or mounting brackets.

Compare that to motorised: 1 LNB 20€, DiSEqC motor 50€, decent no name dish 25€. Total 95€. Anything else is just icing.

As for fitting pricing we had a consensus on here the other day that a motorised setup is 2 to 3 hours work. I would guess to do a T90 properly with 16 LNBs would take at least double that.

 

[Robbo]

I have to agree with Huevos. The most cost effective way to get 'multisat' is via a Diseqc motorised dish, both in terms of parts required and setting up labour. A fixed dish is advantageous though, in terms of switching sat speed (almost instant) and if wanting to feed to various rooms.


Oh, and if your'e slightly worried about the uglyness of a largish dish viewable from the front of the house, they can often be mounted on a pole looking over the roof.

 

[wod]

is there no line of sight in the garden as that would be better and easier to setup maybe ? as with it being a bungalow the dish might be able to see over the roof if the pitch of it is not too high ?

 

[defcon]

Has anyone got any recommendations for the dish? I am setting up my motorised outfit having taking a 2 year break and I curse my Triax TD110 dish up and down. The elevation adjustment on the Triax is crap imo and I spent a good part of today trying to tweak it only to find when you tighten the nuts, the elevation changes and it takes two hands to adjust it. Hopefully someone can suggest to you cric2k a good dish that can avoid the hassle I am having. I see now why quite a few folk over the various forums hate the Triax dishes.

cric2k, since your in belfast, your reference satellite will be Atlantic Bird 3 at 5W. -http://www.uksatellitehelp.co.uk/2007/08/12/satellite-alignment-calculator-v2/to find your lat and other useful info you may find handy.

[fieldset=Admin]no live links please as per rules[/fieldset]

 

[daro2096]

Well for me there is nothing worth picking up outside the three main satellites(28, 19 and 13). And even on these three there are duplicate channels. 16 maybes if there was a way of doing it that didn't involve a second dish.

For my original planned setup the installer was going to quote me nearly £300 for the job. Yes there was the pole and brackets that the installer had to get.

 

[satelliteman]

For my original planned setup the installer was going to quote me nearly £300 for the job. Yes there was the pole and brackets that the installer had to get.

Have to agree with the others regarding costing.

To get a DiSEqC motor system professionally installed locally, it should cost no more than £200 maximum and that should include all materials and bracketry for that money.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Have to agree with the others regarding costing.

To get a DiSEqC motor system professionally installed locally, it should cost no more than £200 maximum and that should include all materials and bracketry for that money.

Unless you have seen the job first, there is no way to determine the full cost if materials or labour needed, even on a fixed mount system.

I have spent nearly £140 on one installation, (two sets of 36" T/Ks, a 20' scaffold, three guy lines, plus additional achorings), just to provide the height required to look over a roof. 'Through' roof installs are again, more expensive.

But back to the o/p, with the system in Malta, the majority of satellites will be somewhat higher in the sky than in the UK, so fewer issues of shielding by buildings.

 

[sonnetpete]

Having recently moved back to the UK from Malta and having got used to the millions of channels most households get their from the various European satellites I'm seriously considering getting myself a motorised Dreambox system for my house here in Belfast.

CH, he's moved back to the UK, although I bet he wishes he was still in Malta

 

[cric2k]

CH, he's moved back to the UK, although I bet he wishes he was still in Malta

Quite right! I'm actually commuting between working Guernsey and my missus and kids in Belfast - have to go where the work is which unfortunately is no longer in Malta.

Anyway thanks for all the tips lads. I'm about to take up half my back garden with a new conservatory/cheap extension so won't have much room to manouver there even if the line of site was possible, I'm thinking of sticking the satellite at the side of the house now, 1m shouldn't be too daunting if that's sufficient for most channels (although with a few break ins in the area recently I'm worried about advertising myself as having something worth stealing inside).

One thing extra, any tips for getting the coaxel cable wired around your house without pulling up floor boards?

 

[cric2k]

_http://satronics.co.uk/satshop/product.php?id_product=27

This looks quite good, DM800 was going to cost me 180 quid plus postage from China so relieved to find a competitive UK supplier of the same device. Not sure about the dish, motor and LNB since he gives no specs for them.

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[sonnetpete]

Quite right! I'm actually commuting between working Guernsey and my missus and kids in Belfast

Blimey, bet that's a convoluted journey!! Though lot's of expats here commute to the UK for work!

Sorry no tips re wiring the coax but you might want to think of a Fracarro Penta 85 instead of a "normal" 1M dish. I haven't personal experience of it, but there are lots of posts on here about it, and it's near 1M performance. Try pairing it with an Inverto Black Ultra LNB and I don't think you'd be dissapointed. It would look less obvious and you can get them in a variety of colours.

 

[cric2k]

Found the sat you mentioned, _http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fracarro-Penta-Satellite-Antenna-Aluminium/dp/B001APNOMU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1273060620&sr=1-1
seems pretty reasonable, not sure about the motor, mountings and LNB.

[Moderation] Unparsed URL. Please take note of forum rules.

 

[smiffie]

If buying a DM800 clone beware of the bootloader problem. If the box does not have an original Dream-media sim, then you may not be able to load the latest available images to the box, depends how concerned you are about that side.

In terms of mounting the dish have a look at this link:-

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...allations/170357-42e-45w-motorised-setup.html

The front of the house is pretty much bang on due south, yet the installation gives the full arc. The site survey is critical to ensure that the dish can "see" as much of the arc as possible. Just because the dish is below the roof line does not mean it cannot "see" the satellite as these are Offset antennae. I personally wouldn't use a solid dish on such an exposed location.

In terms of cost, on a different installation, I replaced a dish and mount last week, 85cm Mesh £42.50, Technomate 2600 Diseqc HtoH £40, Icecrypt 0.1dB LNB £3.50 new and delivered all from reputable Satellite dealers in the UK. It does depend on budget, but this system provided a great choice from 28E,23E,19E,16E,13E,1W I hadn't setup anthing between 13E and 1W at the time of writing but I'm cencern it will pull in the euro beams from 10E,9E,7E,5E in NW england.

 

[Channel Hopper]

_http://satronics.co.uk/satshop/product.php?id_product=27

This looks quite good, DM800 was going to cost me 180 quid plus postage from China so relieved to find a competitive UK supplier of the same device. Not sure about the dish, motor and LNB since he gives no specs for them.

I would advise against going down that route, unfortunately the company that has got the name of the old advertiser is in trouble with a number of false claims of stock levels and delivery.

Try another from the list.