Back to basics...

sonnetpete

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My Satellite Setup
Laminas 1.2M fibre dish with an IBU, on a Clarke Tech USALS motor, covering 57E - 24.5W to an Octagon SX88. Displayed on a 20" Dyon LED TV.

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.
My Location
Normandy, France
Since having our roof replaced I've realised two things. (a) The multi sat dishes on the front of the house look a mess...and (b) I rarely use them nowadays. So, I decided to mothball the multisat (actually 'cobweb' them as they are being stored in the room of requirement) and install the 1.2 Laminas again. I'm going to buy a small LED TV and receiver and have them in the library. I don't want a fancy receiver as I'm not overly interested in feed hunting etc. so I'm thinking of an Octagon or Edision.
 

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Channel Hopper

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What about the integrity and flex of the pole that the dish / motor is bolted to ?
 

PaulR

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Since having our roof replaced I've realised two things. (a) The multi sat dishes on the front of the house look a mess...
I beg to differ. It looks fine to me. :)
 

Captain Jack

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My mindset about multiple dishes has changed as time went on/I got a older. I prefer the simplest possible system with maximum capabilities. My T90 is perfect for quick zaps of stronger satellites, though it has its limitations, and my 1.8m I use for everything else but is mostly parked on either 5E or 40E C band.

A dish per satellite is a bit too much for me - though AS's opinion may differ ;)
 

sonnetpete

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My Satellite Setup
Laminas 1.2M fibre dish with an IBU, on a Clarke Tech USALS motor, covering 57E - 24.5W to an Octagon SX88. Displayed on a 20" Dyon LED TV.

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.
My Location
Normandy, France
What about the integrity and flex of the pole that the dish / motor is bolted to ?

It's mounted on the French equivalent of a T&K and the pole has held the 1m Gibertini and the TD88 in multisat mode so I'm not too worried about it....
 

PaulR

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It's mounted on the French equivalent of a T&K....
I enquired a couple of years ago about some brackets to push a dish further away from a wall and the satellite shop didn't know what K-brackets were and could only offer a pair of T-brackets.
 

sonnetpete

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My Satellite Setup
Laminas 1.2M fibre dish with an IBU, on a Clarke Tech USALS motor, covering 57E - 24.5W to an Octagon SX88. Displayed on a 20" Dyon LED TV.

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.
My Location
Normandy, France
Got my brackets online from 2Galli, in fact most of the dishes and mounts.
 

PaulR

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I needed the brackets in a hurry and couldn't wait for a delivery as I only had a few more days left in France at the time so could only find time to go to a local shop in Orange. As it turned out I ordered them in the UK and brought them out with me the next time.

I do have my suspicions about the place though. After I had installed the 1m dish the wind blew it out of alignment and my friends had to call them in to realign it. They couldn't find Astra 28! Our friends had to do without TV for four months until I came out. They blamed the installation and said wasn't very professional but I managed to find it with my meter. I suspect that they weren't used to dishes larger than 80cm. I had to screw some extra straps onto the dish to beef it up and (touch wood) it hasn't moved since.

They also said that 1m wasn't needed and 80cm was big enough which I consider to not be giving best advice nowadays.
 

Channel Hopper

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They also said that 1m wasn't needed and 80cm was big enough which I consider to not be giving best advice nowadays.

Most that say a smaller dish will suffice need shooting.
 

sonnetpete

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My Satellite Setup
Laminas 1.2M fibre dish with an IBU, on a Clarke Tech USALS motor, covering 57E - 24.5W to an Octagon SX88. Displayed on a 20" Dyon LED TV.

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.
My Location
Normandy, France
Update : Dish is aligned and working well. I went for the Octagon SX88 as a receiver. I'm impressed by it's performance and the fact that it fits neatly under the small LED tv I bought, which is quite acceptable, considering it was well under €90.

IMG_20190109_215751.jpgIMG_20190109_215826.jpg
 

jeallen01

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Update : Dish is aligned and working well. I went for the Octagon SX88 as a receiver. I'm impressed by it's performance and the fact that it fits neatly under the small LED tv I bought, which is quite acceptable, considering it was well under €90.

View attachment 122171View attachment 122172
"Tell that" to my SX88 which can't find the Dakar TV1/TV2 channels on 11047/H/14400 on 10E - whereas the TM5402 M3/ Free Sat7HD / OpenBox V8S find them using the same TD110 dish with few problems! This SX88's sensitivity is total c**p by comparison!:(
 
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Lazarus

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Much else.
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"Tell that" to my SX88 which can't find the Dakar TV1/TV2 channels on 11044/H/14400 on 10E - whereas the TM5402 M3/ Free Sat7HD / OpenBox V8S find them using the same TD110 dish with few problems! This SX88's sensitivity is total c**p by comparison!:(

Not an issue with the Edision Primo.
 

jeallen01

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Not an issue with the Edision Primo.
"Somehow" I thought you might say that!:-doh

Personally, I think that I may have a "rogue" SX88 - will aim to try the SX88+ on the same dish if I can find the opportunity.
 

sonnetpete

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My Satellite Setup
Laminas 1.2M fibre dish with an IBU, on a Clarke Tech USALS motor, covering 57E - 24.5W to an Octagon SX88. Displayed on a 20" Dyon LED TV.

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.
My Location
Normandy, France
Tried the SX88 on the Dakar feed frequency this morning with no result. However, the feed may not be active ATM. I'll try again this evening.
 

jeallen01

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Tried the SX88 on the Dakar feed frequency this morning with no result. However, the feed may not be active ATM. I'll try again this evening.
Dakar 1 Feed often starts about 16.00 GMT (i.e. 17.00 in France) - so should be starting very soon (nothing on the TM as yet) for about (maybe) an hour, and then again from around 18.00/19.00 for 2-3 hrs.
BTW: Dakar 2 Feed may also come up unencrypted - but seems to be "Feed1" and then the Globecast Promo, and then it goes encrypted for the actual feed.
 

sonnetpete

Grumpy Old Retired Moderator and quiz inquisitor..
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My Satellite Setup
Laminas 1.2M fibre dish with an IBU, on a Clarke Tech USALS motor, covering 57E - 24.5W to an Octagon SX88. Displayed on a 20" Dyon LED TV.

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.
My Location
Normandy, France
No sign of any activity on the transponder just now. Find it hard to believe that the SX88 is 'deaf' on that particular transponder and SR but there does seem to be a problem...
 

jeallen01

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I think I got the times wrong as the signals started a few minutes ago

Now getting very intermittent video of the Globecast Promos on Dakar TV1 & TV2 on the TM 5402 M3, but the signal level is definitely well down on what it was yesterday - the pictures are pixellating badly and the audio is breaking up.

It the TM is doing this then there's little point in trying here with the SX88!

OTOH I think reception is getting a little better as time goes on - maybe the SNG guys are having trouble with their dish alignments?
 

sonnetpete

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My Satellite Setup
Laminas 1.2M fibre dish with an IBU, on a Clarke Tech USALS motor, covering 57E - 24.5W to an Octagon SX88. Displayed on a 20" Dyon LED TV.

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.
My Location
Normandy, France

jeallen01

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Still nothing here...
Do you still have any other Rx that you could replace the SX88 with? If so, try that as the feeds have now stabilised at very slightly higher signal strengths.
 

sonnetpete

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My Satellite Setup
Laminas 1.2M fibre dish with an IBU, on a Clarke Tech USALS motor, covering 57E - 24.5W to an Octagon SX88. Displayed on a 20" Dyon LED TV.

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.
My Location
Normandy, France
Do you still have any other Rx that you could replace the SX88 with?

The VU+ went west a while back (hence the SX88) and the other ones are buried deep in the 'room of requirement'...SWMBO has recently been on a tidy up and I don't think dragging another RX into the equation would go down well....it's too cold for someone my age to be sleeping outdoors..
 
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