Which new dish should I buy?

[SteveCrossX]

I've recently moved into a new flat and didn't manage to remove my old Visiosat Trisat dish from my old building. I've got virtually no chance of removing it from there, so I may as well forget about that possibility. As you may realise, it's a fixed dish with three LNBs, which can pick up signals from Astra 1, Astra 2, and Hotbird. I don't seem to be able to find any stockists of Visiosat dishes or prices for them at the moment, so I think I may have to consider another type of dish. Perhaps it would only have to pick up Astra 1 and Hotbird, but not Astra 2, as I could receive channels on Astra 2 via another smaller dish, or by cable.Of course, I've noticed that there are a lot of Triax and Technomate dishes about, especially in London where I live and I wonder why this is. So, to sum up, I'm on a tight budget, looking for a dish, with at least two LNBs, and everything else I need to go with it, apart from the receiver, definitely for under ?200, probably for under ?150, and I don't think I can afford to have it installed, so would probably have to do it myself, meaning ease of installation would be an important factor, otherwise it would be totally useless to me. Based on all these factors, what does everyone recommend I should buy?

[dick b]

if you only want astra 1 and hotbird any 80cm dish and a 6 degree monoblock LNB will do the job,I installed that setup for my son and it works perfectly.
www.southernsat.co.uk do a complete set of dish,wallmount,monoblock lnb and cable for ?69.(SKU orb80mon)
I"ve used that firm and found them OK.

[setfiretorain]

Yeah, great firm are southern sat, I got my receiver from there, My Spiderbox 7000HD, great box and good service they provide!

[SteveCrossX]

if you only want astra 1 and hotbird any 80cm dish and a 6 degree monoblock LNB will do the job,I installed that setup for my son and it works perfectly.
www.southernsat.co.uk do a complete set of dish,wallmount,monoblock lnb and cable for ?69.(SKU orb80mon)
I"ve used that firm and found them OK.

OK, thanks for that! I'm sorry I didn't check back here sooner. I saw a full system on eBay, supposedly for Astra1 and Hotbird, with a monoblock, but only a 64cm dish, so I assumed that wouldn't work. I wonder what would be a good dish for Astra 2, as well as Astra 1 and Hotbird, though? I also wonder about the new curved adaptors for fitting additional LNBs. I saw a dish with the logo TM a couple of days ago, plus one of these adaptors, with 2 LNBs, not monoblock and wondered if that would be a good one to go for. I need to buy a dish quickly, though.

[dick b]

if you want 3 sats 28.2E,19E & 13E you would need to set the central lnb up for 19E and then looking from behind the dish the 28.2E lnb would need to be to the right of it and the 13E lnb to the left of it all controlled by a diseqc switch.you can get the brackets to fit the lnbs from most satellite dealers,Inverto make a multi connect system that will fit universal lnb holders that are on most dishes but it can be pricey by the time you have finished. if the slight noise a motor makes wont be a problem have you considered that?as that would open a lot more sats to you.I would not worry too much about the make of dish as all will do the job.just for 19E&13E the 64cm outfit you saw would probably have been ok but I"m not a fan of e/bay.

[setfiretorain]

Should just get a 1.1Meter motorised system and pick up the lot mate!

[bosvelt]

OK, thanks for that! I'm sorry I didn't check back here sooner. I saw a full system on eBay, supposedly for Astra1 and Hotbird, with a monoblock, but only a 64cm dish, so I assumed that wouldn't work. I wonder what would be a good dish for Astra 2, as well as Astra 1 and Hotbird, though? I also wonder about the new curved adaptors for fitting additional LNBs. I saw a dish with the logo TM a couple of days ago, plus one of these adaptors, with 2 LNBs, not monoblock and wondered if that would be a good one to go for. I need to buy a dish quickly, though.

try this limk for full kits
motorised satellite system items - Get great deals on Consumer Electronics, Vehicle Parts Accessories items on eBay UK!

[SteveCrossX]

if you want 3 sats 28.2E,19E & 13E you would need to set the central lnb up for 19E and then looking from behind the dish the 28.2E lnb would need to be to the right of it and the 13E lnb to the left of it all controlled by a diseqc switch.you can get the brackets to fit the lnbs from most satellite dealers,Inverto make a multi connect system that will fit universal lnb holders that are on most dishes but it can be pricey by the time you have finished. if the slight noise a motor makes wont be a problem have you considered that?as that would open a lot more sats to you.I would not worry too much about the make of dish as all will do the job.just for 19E&13E the 64cm outfit you saw would probably have been ok but I"m not a fan of e/bay.

Thank you so much for all of this! Unfortunately, after looking for a Visiosat stockist, then wondering for so long what other dish I could buy instead, I'm running short of money! I've come to the conclusion that I need to buy a good dish first, which my system will be based round. Due to their popularity, it seems I'd be safe with a Technomate or Triax dish. Perhaps Technomate would be better, as they also do receivers, and I may buy a Technomate receiver soon, but I don't remember hearing about any Triax receivers. I was thinking that this Technomate dish 1m Technomate Mesh Hi-Gain Satellite Dish & Fittings on eBay (end time 19-Apr-11 19:16:45 BST) would probably be a good one to get. The link will soon expire, but it's described as a "1m Technomate Mesh Hi-Gain Satellite Dish & Fittings". I think that 1m is still the limit before requiring Planning Permission and this dish is 90cm in whichever direction counts legally. I can see lots of dishes in my neighbourhood of about this size. The problem is that it's not supplied with any LNBs, so I need to check what kind of LNBs and LNB holders are compatible with it. The dish with just a TM logo which I mentioned seeing before was either 1m or perhaps 80cm, with 2 LNBs, one of these attached to a curved metal adaptor, while the other one was in the standard holder on the end of the arm. I had a bad experience with a motorised dish years ago, while using analogue satellite, giving a total of about 85 channels, so I'm not keen to repeat it. This was a cheaper, somehow cut down, dish by IRTE and kept wobbling about in winds, which, according to BBC Teletext at the time, were as little as 12MPH (18KMH). I remember regularly consulting the weather page on BBC Teletext and whenever it gave a wind speed of 12MPH or more, I knew my satellite viewing for that day was more or less cancelled. I used to sit in my living room shouting "F*** IRTE!" a lot. I got information from the dealer and/or IRTE about what may have been causing this, then phoned the Installer and told him, but he said that whoever had told me whatever was talking crap and he couldn't or wouldn't fix it. IRTE suggested I dismantle the dish and post it to them. They certainly weren't prepared to send anyone out and check what was wrong with THEIR equipment! Apart from this, which probably wouldn't happen with a "proper" motorised dish (I can't remember the model number or how it had been cut down) all motorised dishes seem to have only one LNB attached. This means they can only receive one satellite at a time, so you'd often have to choose between watching a UK based channel and another European one. If a motorised dish had 2 or more LNBs attached, then the distances between these LNBs would only be correct when the dish was pointing at a certain position. The solution to this would be a holder which could move the LNBs closer to or further apart from each other, but no one seems to have developed this technology yet. At the moment, I'm considering what other satellites I may want to receive which aren't too far away from Astra 1, Astra 2, and Hot Bird, but there's a lot to go through. I don't know what everyone on here is into, but according to Wotsat magazine I'm a Euro TV viewer and may be a tinkerer. I speak several European languages, which I'd like to improve my knowledge of and possibly learn some more. Due to this, I'd like to receive the satellites at 1' W (Scandinavian) and 5' W (French) if possible. I need to know what is the maximum arc of satellites I could receive on a 1m fixed dish. I remember reading about one adaptor which can receive from a 20' arc, which I hope is on a 1m dish, but I don't know if that's the maximum. Whatever happens, I'm buying a dish in the next few days.

[dick b]

hello mate,
most std dishes will take any universal lnb its usually a 40mm fitting.
motorised dishes these days are very reliable my personal setup for my main tv is an 85cm gibertini dish with a Technomate 0.1 lnb and technomate motor and gives no problems.I also have a 1mt televes dish with a smart lnb also with a technomate motor I use to play around with that too gives no problems.I enclose a couple of pics of the gibertini mounted using a pair of 12" T&K brackets and a 24" length of scaffold pole.yes you can only get one sat at a time but you can only watch one at a time cant you?

[SteveCrossX]

hello mate,
most std dishes will take any universal lnb its usually a 40mm fitting.
motorised dishes these days are very reliable my personal setup for my main tv is an 85cm gibertini dish with a Technomate 0.1 lnb and technomate motor and gives no problems.I also have a 1mt televes dish with a smart lnb also with a technomate motor I use to play around with that too gives no problems.I enclose a couple of pics of the gibertini mounted using a pair of 12" T&K brackets and a 24" length of scaffold pole.yes you can only get one sat at a time but you can only watch one at a time cant you?

Thanks! Unfortunately, although most or all dishes with take any universal LNB, it seems they won't take just any multi LNB holder. It looks like most of the multi LNB adaptors for sale specify that they're designed for Triax TD dishes. They seem to have a rectangular fitting which goes over the end of the arm. They will fit some other dishes with a Triax type fitting, but no mention of Technomate dishes. A few other multi LNB adaptors actually fit on to the LNB holder itself and are described as "fits all dishes", but that's all. One or two seem to have an arc of more than 20' , but with the others I'd have to choose between receiving Astra 2, or 1'W, not both. Of course, you can only watch one satellite at a time, but you could be recording from another satellite at the same time, or sometimes even recording 2 channels from the same transponder, unless I'm missing something!

[dick b]

yeah you are asking a lot to get 1W and 28.2E on a fixed dish and I dont think you will do it unless you aim the dish at say 13E although you may with a wave frontier torodial dish(expensive and not easy to set up).
As cost is a consideration you will have to compromise between what you want and what is achieveable but you initially only wanted 19.2E and 13E off your new setup.I still think a motorised dish with say a twin lnb would be your cheapest option for multi sats.with the twin lnb you could then record off the same sat but from any TP.
If you still only want 19.2E and 13E a fixed dish of any make with a twin output LNB would cover all your viewing and recording needs.

[blueflash234]

i would agree with dick by the time you buy your lnb's you will probably be cheaper a motorized set up and you will get loads of sats to play with, nice setup dick