Our local BricoCash sells 60 & 80cm dishes, so I suspect that those sizes are best suited to the local area. But it is interesting that an additional 20cm almost doubles the surface area and presumably also doubles the received signal strength.
Shouldnāt need two dishes, with 33° of separation there should be room to have a single dish and two LNBās. Yes an 80 cm dish will give more signal - I think itās 2.5dB more remembering that relative signal strengths are on a logarithmic scale.
Itās probably quicker to talk to an antenniste about your requirements.
Mat your 90cm comment sounds like you have experience?
We have an arm attached to the primary LNB so we have Freesat and French tv via the orange decoder box from one dish
Here is a link which shows how a multi-LNB setup works.
Thanks Paul, that is very interesting and l didnāt know it could be done. But as I already have the Sky set-up working perfectly, I would prefer to leave it alone. If it aināt broke⦠Also, the multi LNB option is likely to be rather more expensive than a dish with a single LNB. I also wonder if locating the LNBs off centre has any effect on signal strength or quality. Maybe the dish would need to be larger to compensate?
Yes, the fact that you arenāt using the main focal point does reduce signal strength. Whether you need a larger dish to compensate depends on how marginal the signal if it is quite a strong signal in the first place you might be ok. Yes a multi LNB setup will be more expensive as there are more bits to buy and itās a bit more complex to set up. But it avoids having to adorn the house with multiple dishes. That said I do get what you are saying about your existing Sky dish working and not wanting to break it - but it no longer meets your requirements.
Edit: Mike might be interested in this thread which discusses exactly what he wants to achieve - reception from Eutelsat on 5W and Astra on 28.2E - looks like it can be done but 33° is a big stretch so might need some faffing and fiddling.
I suspect he will be back to tell us that he went down the two-dish route
We live in the Gironde and have both UK Freesat and French sat. TV with two LNBs on one dish. How did we achieve this? We went to our local TV shop told them what we needed and do you know they came out and fixed it for a very modest price. Why do people faff about when the expertise is readily available locally?
Maybe cost David ?
I got away with a 60cm dish near Limoges but need a 90cm dish in Albi. French tv is supplied by Orange in their Zen package with internet and landline etc.
Cost? The desire to understand the problem and do the job yourself? The warm glow of success when you do that and it all works?
Cost is a tricky one, of course - trying to do the job yourself could wind up dearer because of false starts and wasted purchases whereas, hopefully, getting the professionals in should do the job right first time.
I believe I have suggested talking to an antenniste twice in the thread
I did say modest cost Peter. TV from Orange would be nice but weāve got to wait until 2021 for the fibre to arrive.
We have Orange internet by the landline but the Orange tv is via a satellite dish, apparently fibre will arrive within a few months.
I have always installed the satellite dishes wherever weāve been mainly to save money but this time asked a local Albi firm to supply and install the 1 metre dish (the minimum requirement was 90cm) plus I needed other gubbins to make it Orange tv via satellite work and the cost was over 500⬠which I donāt find āmodestā at allā¦
Right Paul, I can live with the two dish solution. The Sky Minidish is virtually invisible on my lean-to shed, so the only problem is finding a way of camouflaging an 80cm French dish. I wonder if a coating of cow muck would do it? Like they do with new roof jobs in the Cotswoldsā¦
As far as DIY is concerned, I have always thought that it makes sense to foul things up myself, rather than pay someone a fortune (plus TVA) to foul things up for me. And when it works out, the sense of achievement is worth as much as the money saved.
I will post some feedback - whatever the outcome.
Finally went and bought a 27⬠no-name 60cm dish and LNB from BricoCash. I also got a Chinese dish finder on eBay for 5ā¬.
Set the approximate elevation before fitting the dish. Using a compass, I lined up a wooden lath on the ground to the azimuth for my region. Mounted the dish on the front of my lean-to shed, lined up the LNB feed arm by eye with the lath and found, using the dish finder, that I was only a couple of degrees away from the satellite.
I am getting 67% signal strength according to the meter in my Fransat box. No idea what that actually means in dB but I am getting perfect pictures. I may try some tweaking later, to see if I can get any improvement.
I have to say that Eutelsat 5W seems to be harder to find than Astra 28.2°. Maybe it is a weaker signal, but there is very little tolerance on adjustment. When tightening the clamps, I noticed that the signal would begin to drop off if I wasnāt careful to tighten the nuts on each side alternately.
In conclusion, I have to say that the satellite finder was a very good investment. It has sound as well as a visual scale and can be hung from the feed arm, leaving both hands free. It even has an illuminated scale in case you should want to use it at night! It is sensitive to all frequencies, so you donāt have to pre-select the satellite you are looking for from the menu on the receiver. And finally, by making the job easier, you are less likely to fall off the ladder (an all too common accident) and that has to be a good thing!
I know there was anothert thread on this but this will do as it aligns, almost, with my own experience.
I bought a German satellite finder and followed all the instructions, in English, to the letter and then finally switched on at the mains. The Fransat Strong box was already switched on once I threw the mains switch.
Nothing. No power to the finder at all. I checked all the connections and cables between LNB and decoder. All good. It is quite a long cable line from LNB to decoder ( 15 metres) and they are 2 cables joined together with correct connections.
I uncoupled that connection and coupled the finder to the decoder and to a spare, brand new, LNB. Still no power to the finder. There is no on/off switch on the finder. It is dead, not a flicker.
So, before I contact the finder manufacturer, is there any other explanation available? The decoder switches on as normal and displays the various channels but constantly shows āno or bad signalā.
The last time I used it was in March I think and it was working perfectly. There have been no changes, workings or interruptions to the whole affair since it was last working. It seems that I shouldnāt have gone straight to the dish before, the problem is either a fairly old but recently working decoder, or a brand new finder.
So, all contributions gratefully received. My friend Eddie did try and his finder did light up but we had already disturbed the dish by then (in fact I fitted a brand new one with LNB) and he was hampered in finding south with his smartphone because of the glare of the sun on its screen.
I remember the Sky boxes worked on an 18v line to the LNB, not sure about the newest boxes from Arris.
DC voltage between centre contact pin and connector body will be 13-18Volts depending on whether the channel the satellite box is trying to receive is vertically polarised (13V) or horizontally polarised (18V).
Itās always worth having at least one short Type F male to Type F male coax cable in your Technobag so that you can check thereās voltage at the received output using your sat finder gadget before venturing outside.
No voltage = short between centre pin and outer screen somewhere.
Itās the bloody cable.
I removed the antenna cable from a no longer used but still live, Humax decoder, and connected it to the finder and beyond that the spare LNB, and the finder lit up.
I then did the same with a short cable I have from the Fransat decoder to the finder and the latter lit up.
So it must be the length of antenna cable between the Fransat decoder and where it joins to the longer one to the LNB and dish. Or even that longer one.
So, presumably the answer lies in the purchase of a new 15m or so antenna cable. And the fitting of it between the decoder and LNB/Dish before I alter the angles of the new dish. For all I know, I have them right now.
Can anyone see anything I have got wrong in the above.
No, your plan to replace the coax and connectors with quality ones is the correct one.
Remember that you need sat specific coax cable - thereās a post somewhere from Hairbear with a recommended coax brand and type.
Thank you, while I search for that what do you think of this from Amazon FR. It is 20 metres and I actually need 18m but that is good because I believe the connectors are packaged separately so there is a minor loss of length.
deleyCON 20 m HQ Satellite Coaxial Cable SAT 130dB Shielded 4 Layers DVB-S DVB-S2 DVB-T DVB-C 4K 1080p Full HD HDTV + 10 Gold Plated F Connectors
It might not be the best quality available, but itās a whole lot better than the faulty cable that you have right now.