Your thoughts on a 1m dish over a Fracarro Penta 85cm

thecaretaker

thecaretaker

Regular Member
My Satellite Setup
VU+ Ultimo, Duo2
85cm Fracarro Penta dish
Inverto BLACK Ultra QUAD
My Location
South East Coast, England
I've currently got a 85cm Fracarro Penta dish and I'm extremely happy with the performance. I currently have 8380 TV channels on 45E, 42E, 39E, 36E, 33E, 26E, 25.5E, 23.5E, 21.6E, 19.2E, 16E, 13E, 10E, 9E, 7E, 4.8E, 3E, 0.8W, 4W, 5W, 7W, 8W, 11W, 12.5W, 15W, 22W, 24.5W, 30W and 45W.

Luckily, living on the SouthEast coast of UK, gives me a slight advantage over people further up north (apart from the channel gales that is). I get some of the weaker sats like 25.5E and 21.6E reasonably well in good weather.

My question: Would I gain anything by stepping up to a 1m dish? I want to remain legal.

And if so, what make of dish would you recommend?

Looking at the figures on various makes of dish, it is difficult to know for sure if it is any better or less good than the Fracarro. The Fracarro does perform very well.

So I will be happy to be advised by you and your thoughts. Would there be any advantage move up to a 1m?
 
You won't stay legal with many of the '1m' dishes on the market.

Do you have any channel in mind that you definitely can't currently receive that 'might' come in with the larger dish?
 
Applying for (and getting) Planning Permission is another Legal route to joy.
 
Channel Hopper said:
You won't stay legal with many of the '1m' dishes on the market.

Do you have any channel in mind that you definitely can't currently receive that 'might' come in with the larger dish?
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I hadn't thought of that. I assume some must be 1.1m in height.

And no, I don't have any specific channels in mind, I wondered if I might drag in a few of the weaker transponders on existing sat positions. I do enjoy trying for weak distant satellites.

Like I read in a previous post today, I want as many channels as I can pull in, but most of the fun is trying. There's not much on telly worth watching :-rofl2
 
You shouldnt have too many problems getting half a dozen tp's on 21.5E - that one is a fairly easy catch nowadays.

Have to say I havent been over impressed with my 85cm Fraccaro - its little better than some of the fairly battered 80cms in my collection. A cheap Orbital 1m runs rings round it. The only thing the Fraccaro has going for it is the cool shape!

Mine currently aligned onto 7E
 
Totally agree with you about Orbital, AS. Oddly, some folk are contemptuous of them, yet they are light, well made and fairly easy to adjust. And they perform well.
 
Analoguesat said:
The only thing the Fraccaro has going for it is the cool shape!......
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Oh you dead now!! Lol Penta fan boys probs parachuting into your backdoor as I type this......lol
 
Ghostleader said:
Oh you dead now!! Lol Penta fan boys probs parachuting into your backdoor as I type this......lol
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:D

Makes a change from the duo fanboys parachuting in - I REALLY upset some of them on another forum when I got mine due to my somewhat acidic comments about how poor I thought it was..
 
Best not to mention Vu+ Duo, methinks.
 
thecaretaker said:
I've currently got a 85cm Fracarro Penta dish and I'm extremely happy with the performance. I currently have 8380 TV channels on 45E, 42E, 39E, 36E, 33E, 26E, 25.5E, 23.5E, 21.6E, 19.2E, 16E, 13E, 10E, 9E, 7E, 4.8E, 3E, 0.8W, 4W, 5W, 7W, 8W, 11W, 12.5W, 15W, 22W, 24.5W, 30W and 45W.
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Have you tried for 47.5E & 48E recently?

Theres a high power testcard which we think is coming off Eutel 48C

Down near the bottom here - http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/topic/157872-475e-intelsat-10-stn-mux
 
your hitting a good arc any chance of pics please incase ive missed them.

I would keep your setup and have a play ;-)
 
A 1m dish will outperform a Penta 85. My 1m Channel Master and a 1.1m Triax trumped it. A Gibertini 1m was only marginally better.

The Penta is a brilliant performer for its size but surface area rules all in the end.
 
I've always been dubious about the "outperforms 1m dishes" boast, the Penta 85 is certainly better than most 80cm dishes I've used, including the Triax TD88, but will only outperform cheap and nasty 1m dishes. I guess you could always try a Fibo 90cm clone, one of those should give you an improvement over the Penta.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
My Gilbertini 1m walked all over my old Penta 85 which it replaced. For pulling in signal the Penta just didn't compare. I can now get 4w and a lot more transponders off 7w which i couldn't get with the Penta.

The Penta is a really cool shape but in my opinion it doesn't perform as well as a good quality 1m dish would.

Nano
 
martin-f said:
your hitting a good arc any chance of pics please incase ive missed them.

I would keep your setup and have a play ;-)
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I've some pics in this thread
http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/topic/107730-my-85cm-fracarro-penta/?hl=%2Bfracarro+%2Bpenta


Analoguesat said:
Have you tried for 47.5E & 48E recently?

Theres a high power testcard which we think is coming off Eutel 48C

Down near the bottom here - http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/topic/157872-475e-intelsat-10-stn-mux
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As you see from the 3rd pic, the house next door prevents me from going any further east. I'm amazed I can hit 45E. I have tried for 48E but get nothing.

EDIT: Just to add, I have a quad ultra fitted now and have replaced the T brackets for heavy duty 'proper' galvanised and I have a scaffold pole which lets me tighten the brackets hard to stop movement. The dish kept twisting around on the ally pole and if I tightened it, it just deformed. You live and learn.
 
Captain Jack said:
A 1m dish will outperform a Penta 85. My 1m Channel Master and a 1.1m Triax trumped it. A Gibertini 1m was only marginally better.

The Penta is a brilliant performer for its size but surface area rules all in the end.
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I was wondering whether you meant the Gibertini was only "marginally better" than the Penta, or "marginally better" then the Channel Master/Triax?

Thanks!
 
Gibby marginally better than the Penta. I haven't had long to play with the 1m Gibby though, so this is only from a brief glimpse on a couple of transponders.
 
Captain Jack said:
Gibby marginally better than the Penta. I haven't had long to play with the 1m Gibby though, so this is only from a brief glimpse on a couple of transponders.
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OK, thanks..

So we think the Triax 110 is better than the Gibertini 100 (despite being about the same size).. ?

I'm deciding on which one to upgrade to from a basic DIY 80cm here in South France on Astra 28E. I'd like to try a lighter 100cm before going the whole hog and installing a Gibertini 125 (which will involve expense/weight/new brackets..) Something readily available mail order off the shelf.

Both the Triax & Gibertini would appear to be happy on a 40mm mount, and should be good with a 0.2 db Inverto SCD (unicable) LNB..

:)
 
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A word of warning: the Triax dish has a VERY awkward elevation adjuster. It's a complete pain to set up and a lot of installers avoid the dish for this very reason. Good performer once up though..
 
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