Installing satellite

[RF Lighting]

My friend has purchased this freeview satellite kit Click here and now expects me to fit it for him. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of kit. I am after tips for where to mount the dish, and where to point it etc. Any advice is welcome.

Cheers, Rob

 

[bondy]

hi rf. weve fitted a few of these. we try to get em on the chimney if poss. you must check the planners though. some areas wont ave em. when we fit em, we run the coax and terminate it then call a local aerial installer to set the dish to pick up the signal. £20. dont let the coax sit on the tiles though. the wind blows it back and forth and it aint long before its worn through. tuck it behind the lead flashing. if you mount it to a wall, then no problem.

 

[Bright_Spark]

chimey or house side is best option. from just looking quickly through the spec - use 75ohm coax not the 50 stuff. erm...pretty much echo what bondy said too...its best to get an aerial rigger to bring his LMB signal finder stuff and his protractor to find the best suited angle for the dish in order to gain the best possible signal strength.

however, in my experiences, some sat dishes are prone to loss of signal in bad weather conditions - living in a hilly area, ive had that problem regular - you might want to mention that to your mate because he'll only ring u up complaining when a bit of bad weather periodically (sp?) causes loss of signal.

 

[plugwash]

use high quality satalite grade 75 ohm coax, do not use 50 ohm coax (used for ethernet, some HAM antennas and various other stuff) and do not use cheap low grade 75 ohm coax.

 

[Adam_151]

CAI benchmarked cables: http://www.cai.org.uk/asp/bmcables.asp

Think PF100 is availabel at a reasonable price from SF tbh

 

[plugwash]

CAI benchmarked cables: http://www.cai.org.uk/asp/bmcables.asp

note that that benchmarking scheme is intended for digital terrestrial which i belive runs at considerablly lower frequency that satalite downleads (satalite signals are amplified and frequency shifted by the LNB as they'd be nearlly impossible to carry by cable in thier received state)

 

[RF Lighting]

I have a drum of decent quality 75ohm satellite cable on standby. Maplin were giving away a free sat finder with every kit too so I might have a go at pointing it myself. Thanks for all the advice so far guys.

<edit> attempt at ohm symbol replaced with actual word

 

[Bright_Spark]

I have a drum of decent quality 75&#937; satellite cable on standby. Maplin were giving away a free sat finder with every kit too so I might have a go at pointing it myself. Thanks for all the advice so far guys.

yeh fair play...if u have a sat finder then go for it...once your in the right kind of area its minimal movement to find the right satalite....i think were talking less than a degree in some cases. i think where i live im 19.2 degrees east. if that helps

 

[RF Lighting]

Seem to remeber hearing once upon a time if you point the LNB at the sun at 11am then this will line in up with the sattelite! Not convinced but I might try it tomorrow!

 

[Bright_Spark]

Seem to remeber hearing once upon a time if you point the LNB at the sun at 11am then this will line in up with the sattelite! Not convinced but I might try it tomorrow!

do you know something we dont? the sun? it might not shine 2moro - infact, theres a fair chance it wont.

 

[the_jinj]

Seem to remeber hearing once upon a time if you point the LNB at the sun at 11am then this will line in up with the sattelite! Not convinced but I might try it tomorrow!

Is that an exact science?

 

[Chris.J]

Have a look at the Freesat forum on http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk.

 

[Steve]

i looked at the sun at 11am, but i couldn't see the sillouette of the satellite. In fact, i cant see anything now. What have i done wrong?



What sort of channels can you get with that sort of kit? Does it use the same satellite as Sky?

 

[jondiy]

I hooked one up a couple of years ago, its still up there in fact. Its an 80cm dish with offset LNB's. Each different satellite broadcasts about 200 free channels and another 200 encrypted ones, plus radio channels etc. Popular Satellites are Astra 19.2 degrees East (The old Sky satellite before it went digital ) , Hot Bird 23 degrees ?? , and Astra2 (The digital one that Sky Uses now . There are plenty of others, but someneed bigger dishes, orare at impossible bands to receive.

Get a copy of What Satellite & TV theres loads in there on it, also ceck out www.lyngsat.com that tells you all the sats out there & what channels are broadcasting.

Once you get rigged up you may want to replace that free receiver with one with CAMs (Conditional Access Modules) , as they can be used for encrypted stuff. Alternatively, get a DVB card for your PC, then plug the F conector into your PC and watch the channels on there . You can even record to hard disc and use composite video outs into your tv!! - you would be amazed what your pc can do. Popular programs are progdvb , multidec etc , just search the net , its a MASSIVE topic!!

A LOT of stuff broadcasts in multi languages as it is digital, so if you find, say a tidy film you want to watch and its in dutch , just edit the radio selection to english, and bobs your uncle!!

If you set the dish on Astra2 you will only get the free stuff thats available on Sky so its quite controlled!! , theres not much european stuff. I woud recomend trying 19.2 Astra 1 , then moving to Hotbird if you are looking for a mix of films etc.

 

[the_jinj]

......so if you find, say a tidy film you want to watch and its in dutch.....

ohh ayyeeee - what you been watching then?