Advice Needed What FTA Receiver to use with 1m Dish

H

Heinz

Member
My Satellite Setup
Sky+HD (EE+)
My Location
Earls Colne
Just a quicky from a sadly out-of-date (not done this since analogue days) satelliter.

I've just acquired a 1 metre dish pre-fitted with a pair (13 and 19.2) of dual LNBs. I have the necessary T&K brackets and 2" pole to put it on the back of my bungalow looking over the roof and that task will be done in the next week or so.

So, the question is, what to put at the business end? Obviously it's have to be a FTA receiver but I have no clue what to pick. I'm thinking of taking a chance on eBay at first and upgrading as necessary later in the year.

Anyone got any suggestions for a cheap-ish receiver?
 
The Skybox F3 or F5 (despite the name not Sky UK related!) are reasonable receivers and cheap as chips. Sveral members here have one, and whilst they have their quirks - especially for recording onto pendrives - they are perfectly adequate for free to air use.

Scan through this thread to see some comments about them.

Or there are the Technomate TM54xx series, well regarded and capable receivers for a bit more money.
 
Chaps, I've shifted these Posts to a Topic of their own.


The Skybox Receiver Topics are here
 
Analoguesat said:
The Skybox F3 or F5 (despite the name not Sky UK related!) are reasonable receivers and cheap as chips. Sveral members here have one, and whilst they have their quirks - especially for recording onto pendrives - they are perfectly adequate for free to air use.

Scan through this thread to see some comments about them.

Or there are the Technomate TM54xx series, well regarded and capable receivers for a bit more money.
Click to expand...
Thanks Ross (LTNS). I'll never match your set-up but a dabble will be fun.
 
I have to agree that a skybox receiver would be more then adequate since your dish is stationary, would opt for a technomate if it was motorised.
 
Is there something i dont know about Skyboxes not running motorized dishes Costactc? Ive been using my F3 on a technomate tm2600 motor Usals with no bother at all ever.
 
My Skyboxes both show reluctance to shift either the 1.1m or the 80cm on occasion: I think the current-sourcing is marginal for some H-H Motors.

Minor niggle, but a niggle nevertheless.
 
Piltdownpaul said:
Is there something i dont know about Skyboxes not running motorized dishes Costactc? Ive been using my F3 on a technomate tm2600 motor Usals with no bother at all ever.
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Not at all. My skybox f3 was my main receiver with my motorised setups but I feel that the tecnomate receiver I have is by far superior for tuner sensitivity, tp info and doesn't miss any tp in a blind scan.
 
I consider myself extremely lucky then.
 
Ive got my F3 hooked up to a 16 way diseqc switch and setting it up to run via diseqc 1.2 is dead simple. :)
 
Depending in what you can spend, the technomate tm5402 hd would be a good buy.

I have a skybox f5s and it is a nice little receiver.

I tend to use it as a backup receiver and not as my main receiver though.
 
wod said:
Depending in what you can spend, the technomate tm5402 hd would be a good buy.

I have a skybox f5s and it is a nice little receiver.

I tend to use it as a backup receiver and not as my main receiver though.
Click to expand...



my thoughts exactly
 
Heinz said:
I've just acquired a 1 metre dish pre-fitted with a pair (13 and 19.2) of dual LNBs. I have the necessary T&K brackets and 2" pole to put it on the back of my bungalow looking over the roof and that task will be done in the next week or so.

So, the question is, what to put at the business end? Obviously it's have to be a FTA receiver but I have no clue what to pick. I'm thinking of taking a chance on eBay at first and upgrading as necessary later in the year.

Anyone got any suggestions for a cheap-ish receiver?
Click to expand...

You would also need a DiSEqC switch to run the two LNBs, plus the additional cable and connectors outside.
To save the cost of a standalone receiver you might get away with a Freesat TV (one that has DiSEqC switching of course), which would also remove the need of an HDMI cable.
 
The LNB is an SMB55 (6º) quad monoblock so I'm assuming that the Hotbird and Astra 1 positions would be covered (with a pair of ports unused) and, if I add a cable from a spare port on my Sky LNB (an adjacent dish), switching between the 3 satellite positions would be possible.

Excuse my ignorance but I assume the receiver is programmed to select which LNB to use for a particular channel (or group of channels) and the single cable to the DiSeqC switch near the dish makes that selection in some way (tones?).

I've seen a Technomate TM 1000 on Ebay at a very reasonable price. Any good as a first receiver?
 
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Heinz said:
The LNB is an SMB55 (6º) quad monoblock so I'm assuming that the Hotbird and Astra 1 positions would be covered (with a pair of ports unused) and, if I add a cable from a spare port on my Sky LNB (an adjacent dish), switching between the 3 satellite positions would be possible.

Excuse my ignorance but I assume the receiver is programmed to select which LNB to use for a particular channel (or group of channels) and the single cable to the DiSeqC switch near the dish makes that selection in some way (tones?).
Click to expand...

not possible as the mono-block itself has a diseqc switch inside it. you could get some form of smart switch or 0v/12v if your stb supports it. a diseqc switch uses a type of tone to switch the lnb,s over. if you have the T+K, pole and a 1m dish then why not look at getting a cheap usals motor as you can pick them up for £40... along with a inverto black ultra and skybox f3s you would only be spending £100 and the choice of channels would be in the thousands
 
Heinz said:
The LNB is an SMB55 (6º) quad monoblock so I'm assuming that the Hotbird and Astra 1 positions would be covered (with a pair of ports unused) and, if I add a cable from a spare port on my Sky LNB (an adjacent dish), switching between the 3 satellite positions would be possible.

Excuse my ignorance but I assume the receiver is programmed to select which LNB to use for a particular channel (or group of channels) and the single cable to the DiSeqC switch near the dish makes that selection in some way (tones?).

I've seen a Technomate TM 1000 on Ebay at a very reasonable price. Any good as a first receiver?
Click to expand...

Never had a chance to test the tm 1000 but it's a discontinued receiver and the last file on the main site is from 2010.
 
The technomate tm3000d is a no frills sensitive box but it cant handle DVB-S2 (hd ).
 
The TM1000 was the predecessor to the 1500, and not bad at all for a non HD receiver with limited channel capacity.
 
Channel Hopper said:
The TM1000 was the predecessor to the 1500, and not bad at all for a non HD receiver with limited channel capacity.
Click to expand...

Like my Manhattan Plaza XT-F these are half useless now...the XT has nice menu's with switchable colour option ;-)
 
I don't think there is much difference in receiver sensitivity nowadays. My X2 Premium HD is a great performer for blind scan fast and accurate. Only cost me £34 at the time from aliexpress price has now shot up to £57 though :(

With a 1m dish though you really want to go motorized and get a decent LNB like the Inverto...
 
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