What kit do I need?

B

boothuk

Member
My Satellite Setup
Don't have any yet! Still researching!
My Location
North West England
Hi, i'm looking to set-up a motorised dish for European sat reception. Just wondering what kit I will need?

So far I understand...

- Fracarro Penta 85cm HG Dish (c. £60)
Does this mean I need the LNB seperate? (Suggestions?)

- T&K mounting brackets, minimal sizes
Possibly aluminium alloy scaffolding? Anyone recommend a good supplier?

- Co-ax cable for dish fitting and to house

- Receiver
I'll opt for a 500S seeing as this is my first outing into the wonderful world of Sats

- Cable tie's!


What else? Or any recommendations? I am located in the NW of England and am looking to pick up primarily 30 W, 19.2 E, 13 E and 1 W.

Cheers people!
 
boothuk said:
Hi, i'm looking to set-up a motorised dish for European sat reception. Just wondering what kit I will need?

So far I understand...

- Fracarro Penta 85cm HG Dish (c. £60)
Does this mean I need the LNB seperate? (Suggestions?)

- T&K mounting brackets, minimal sizes
Possibly aluminium alloy scaffolding? Anyone recommend a good supplier?

- Co-ax cable for dish fitting and to house

- Receiver
I'll opt for a 500S seeing as this is my first outing into the wonderful world of Sats

- Cable tie's!


What else? Or any recommendations? I am located in the NW of England and am looking to pick up primarily 30 W, 19.2 E, 13 E and 1 W.

Cheers people!
Click to expand...




Errm, a Motor! :-rofl2


And welcome to the Forum :)
 
Welcome,

Here goes...

1. The FR Penta 85cm would certainly be a good choice. Any of the popular LNb's would suit (Inverto, Invacom etc).

2. T&K bracketry sizes will depend on your dish location and clearance needed. Use a steel or aluminium scaffold mast, no less than 50mm. Try _http://www.dishpointer.com/ to roughly calculate from your location what swing you'll need for West to East satellites. Wall fixings use sleeve or shield anchors, high quality and strong.

3. Cable: Best stuff is benchmarked double screened coaxial cabling eg, Wf100.

4. Receiver: My advice would be to buy something simple to start off, you can always upgrade later. As said you'll need a DiSEqC motor also, Moteck are fairly good and reliable.

Also take a browse through the dish set up section, lots of info :)
 
satelliteman said:
Welcome,

1. The FR Penta 85cm would certainly be a good choice. Any of the popular LNb's would suit (Inverto, Invacom etc).

2. T&K bracketry sizes will depend on your dish location and clearance needed. Use a steel or aluminium scaffold mast, no less than 50mm. Try _http://www.dishpointer.com/ to roughly calculate from your location what swing you'll need for West to East satellites. Wall fixings use sleeve or shield anchors, high quality and strong.

3. Cable: Best stuff is benchmarked double screened coaxial cabling eg, Wf100.

4. Receiver: My advice would be to buy something simple to start off, you can always upgrade later. As said you'll need a DiSEqC motor also, Moteck are fairly good and reliable.

Also take a browse through the dish set up section, lots of info :)
Click to expand...

Cheers pal, I already have experience with the 500C (shh!) so I wouldn't have to much of an issue using it's satellite counterpart. The other advice will be soaked up!

I remembered the motor after I posted! Hah. Settled on a Technomate TM-2300 for now. All this is provisional though, just costing it up you see.

Quite a few people are telling me to get a 1m or 1.1m dish for top reception, will the FR Penta .85m be sufficient for my intentions?

Thanks for the site, will take a look shortly!
 
Well the Penta is only an 85cm dish but can perform as good as some 1Mtr dishes. I would of thought though given your location and satellites required, the Penta would be just the ticket.
 
You've beaten me to it, boothuk - I was about to recommend the Technomate TM2300.

The thing is, a fair proportion of the H-H Motors available are based upon the Moteck anyway, although some variants (like the Fortec Turner) are worse and some (like the TM2300) are better (metal gearing as opposed to plastic, for example).

To be frank, a Penta shouldn't cause any undue stress to any of those.

As regards size in relation to your needs, 13E, 19.2E & 30W can be received on a battered dustbin lid, but 1W can be fickle. What in particular attracts you to 1W?
 
Cheers for the input. I read somewhere about masts. Do people recommend against using a swan neck aluminium mast?
 
where about in the northwest are you based?

if you need an installer to help out or supply parts of the system then i maybe able to help
 
jonwisbey said:
where about in the northwest are you based?

if you need an installer to help out or supply parts of the system then i maybe able to help
Click to expand...
Bolton mate.

Your contact got a website?
 
boothuk said:
Cheers for the input. I read somewhere about masts. Do people recommend against using a swan neck aluminium mast?
Click to expand...


Yes they are no good for motorised, too much movement.
 
dont know if i can post my website on here so it may get removed and i cant pm you but the site is URL REMOVED
 
Tivù said:
You've beaten me to it, boothuk - I was about to recommend the Technomate TM2300.

The thing is, a fair proportion of the H-H Motors available are based upon the Moteck anyway, although some variants (like the Fortec Turner) are worse and some (like the TM2300) are better (metal gearing as opposed to plastic, for example).

To be frank, a Penta shouldn't cause any undue stress to any of those.

As regards size in relation to your needs, 13E, 19.2E & 30W can be received on a battered dustbin lid, but 1W can be fickle. What in particular attracts you to 1W?
Click to expand...

Not sure pal. I received that info off someone else for the football broadcasts? So with the above sats, is it feasible to install a dish on the back of the house. The house is almost East facing but I was thinking maybe putting it on the West or North wall and slightly elevate above the eaves?
 
Well the Dish is actually going to be looking up at an angle which will vary from around 18 degrees to knocking on for 30 degrees depending upon which Satellite it is pointing to and where exactly you are located.

Even though the Dish face will look more or less vertical (especially for Thor), this is deceptive as the LNB arm is "offset" and the reality is that the look angles are as just mentioned.

That should help as in many cases it makes it perfectly feasible to clear a roof. The limiting factor is more likely to be other large objects in the line of sight, such as neighbouring houses, trees etc.

You could have a play with Dishpointer - some people find it really useful

_http://www.dishpointer.com/
 
Cheers Tivu i'll have a play about with Dish Pointer tonight, been recommended it previously. Also work out my exact angles.

Do I need any special hardware for calibrating the dish? Or is the receiver sufficient? Don't really fancy shelling out £300 for a piece of kit...

Thanks again.
 
boothuk said:
Cheers Tivu i'll have a play about with Dish Pointer tonight, been recommended it previously. Also work out my exact angles.

Do I need any special hardware for calibrating the dish? Or is the receiver sufficient? Don't really fancy shelling out £300 for a piece of kit...

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Mate, If I can install a DiecqC motor, anyone can :) and I just used the built-in meter on the receiver/TV to line up my dish. But my Dish is right next to my living room window so I can see the TV no problem. You can get a reasonable meter for 30 quid...or one of those cheap audible ones for under a tenner.

All I done was read a couple of installation guides on this forum....read them 3 times...then Bobs your uncle.
 
Ha cheers, sure i'll have no problems!

Just out of interest, how do you power the motor?
 
boothuk said:
Ha cheers, sure i'll have no problems!

Just out of interest, how do you power the motor?
Click to expand...

The Receiver provides the power, and no extra cabling is required as it uses the same 13/18v as is used to power the LNB and to switch the LNB polarity.

The Motors only consume about 4 Watts and are on a fairly light Duty Cycle, so all DiSEqC equipped Receivers are designed to be able to source the required Current.
 
Thanks. I've just looked at the angles i'd probably need and finding it difficult to pick a good spot for a dish. Is it feasible to mount it at the highest roof point? Or will the wind adversly affect it? Cant really do the front of the house...
 
change the pole to a piece of scaffold pole as it will be more rigid

dish wise take a look at the gibertini 1metre dish very good quality and light for a diseqc motor

as for the dish location, can you get some pics of your surroundings and we can advise on dish position.
 
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