[listerdiesel]

To answer two questions at once:

We were hoping to have a look round the European satellites out of interest, but also wanted to get RTL, hoping to be able to pivk up the FTA F1 races this year.

Dishpointer shows a clear shot at the sky, nothing in the way of obstructions at height/distances along the track.

The location we started out was just too easy to try it out on. I'm still surprised that nothing came through, even allowing for the (leafless) branches of the tree.

Had a 'funny' message from ebay this morning about the wall brackets, seems the seller got it into his head that we didn't want them after all, something that we have very firmly advised him, and ebay, about

Regards to all, just off out to feed the nags

Peter

PS: My own hobby is Stationary Engines, we drag a large Ruston & Hornsby horizontal diesel round to shows, and we also go over to Europe with it.

[logiciel]

Originally Posted by pedro2000uk

get a motor on it

Quite right, as the answer to my question is "a look round the European satellites".

Originally Posted by listerdiesel

Dishpointer shows a clear shot at the sky

So, what's the problem?

[listerdiesel]

A motor is planned

The problem is: no signal at all, caused, we are advised by the honking great tree in the way

Peter

[listerdiesel]

Talking of motors, any preferences as to make or price?

Technomate do one that we have looked at, but with no previous experiemce, I'll throw ourselves on the experience of the forum to make the right noises.

Technomate TM-2600 Super DiSEqC Satellite Motor ebay 290641324321

Peter

[Vin Blanc]

Originally Posted by listerdiesel

Dishpointer shows a clear shot at the sky, nothing in the way of obstructions at height/distances along the track.

I took a look at dishpointer.com for Astra 2D and from the position on your photo that you marked with a circle the line of site to the satellite is straight into that 30 to 40 foot high tree.

From Grubb street, that tree would appear to be at least half as high again as the apex of your house (or the house in the picture).

From what I can see on Dishpointer and Google earth, your only option is to mount it on the other (northeast) side of the house or perhaps even at the front and as far from the tree as you can get it.

Your photo of the tree is misleading because you have taken it from the opposite side to where you say you plan to mount the dish.

Furthermore, you haven’t said whether the dish is to be mounted high up (guttering level) or ground level?

Vin Blanc

[listerdiesel]

I didn't want to post too many pictures, I though that what I had put up would be self-explanatory, apologies if it was misleading/confusing.

The other side of the rear of the house is going to be, and and always was, the preferred location, we can get a clear shot over the roof side and without the tree interfering. The downside is that it is more complex to put a pole up there as we haven't a flat vertical face like the TV aerial pole side, it is the junction of two parts of the building which are offset to each other, with two pitched rooves coming together.

My initial mistake was to think that the tree would not impede microwave signals, I was wrong.

Peter

[pedro2000uk]

what meter are you using ..

maybe you have another issue

try to get 1w 1st


Darkmotor Superior btw..

[logiciel]

Originally Posted by listerdiesel

Dishpointer shows a clear shot at the sky, nothing in the way of obstructions

Originally Posted by listerdiesel

no signal at all, caused, we are advised by the honking great tree in the way

[Vin Blanc]

OK, now for dish sizes. In light of the recent gale force winds do you still feel that a 1m diam. offset dish is a wise choice when mounted high up in an exposed place?

If you just want to get Astra 2D Freesat channels plus RTL (Astra 1) and other non-Freesat channels, you don’t necessarily need a 1m dish.

I have my spare “caravan” dish set up in the garden and aimed at Astra 1. I can access lots of non-freesat channels including RTL (for F1 next year), Sport 1 and Sat 1 for English footy on German TV.

My dish is a 57cm Prime focus alluminium dish and with that I get 80% signal strength with 100% signal quality. Receiver is a Humax Foxsat HD Recorder.

Food for thought???

Vin Blanc

[pedro2000uk]

Originally Posted by Vin Blanc

OK, now for dish sizes. In light of the recent gale force winds ..

There's loads of motorised 90s 1ms 1.2s 1.8s been installed for over 10-15 years or more still in use .. & we install loads of 90s 1ms 1.1s & bigger . but they have to be done properly - you really have to know buildings & engineering- the biggest problem is keeping on top of manufacturers [we design/ build our own brackets].

this has been an unusual & very long spell of strong winds & Met Office warnings though- about 2-3 months -not just the 106mph we just had,..

[logiciel]

Originally Posted by logiciel

A 60cm dish would be more than adequate

Thanks V B for confirming that from experience.

[pedro2000uk]

Originally Posted by logiciel

Thanks V B for confirming that from experience.

.......you couldn't just drive over to 3e & get JSC SPORTS 1 to 10 free like that .. not with a small dish..

[logiciel]

Very true.

[Vin Blanc]

Hi Peter, we have established that a single motorised 60cm dish would be sufficient to receive Astra 2 (Freesat) and Astra 1 for the three German sport channels (RTL, Sport 1 and Sat 1). Alternatively, a fixed 60cm dish for each.

But if you want more channels than that and have some idea of which channels you want and on which satellite they can be found, then you really need to list them so that someone like Pedro can advise you on the necessary equipment, e.g. larger dish? Etc.

Vin Blanc

[pedro2000uk]

He's already got a 1m dish .. & already says they want to use it for other satellites- not just F1 .... a 60cm cuts off most of the best free stuff & drops margins on a few others & if, as we think it could, F1 is shown on 7w Nilesat 101/102 /104- Atlantic Bird 7 .. he'll need it all [or 16e/26e/4w/3e & a few others].

A 60cm [or zone 2] motorised is very good though done well, especially if size is an issue, as is a motorised sky zone 1 dish....we do quite a lot & most people are amazed at what you can still get on them if really peaked out.... over 30 sats & over 5000 channels.... especially with access to subscription channels & very handy for very deep east / west access to put them very high up..

We use a motorised zone 2 very high up, mostly to get into the 60s east & west, but otherwise it's not used that much except for signal tests/ checking cards/ setting up stbs etc etc.. a bigger dish is used far more.

[listerdiesel]

All being taken on board while we await the new brackets, we are very grateful for the help and support given, thanks very much!

I'm just trying to find the archive USB sticks with the back of the house pictures (we had the roof replaced in its entirety a couple of years back, over Xmas!)

Peter

[listerdiesel]

OK, just to give an idea of the preferred location, the following two pictures are the back of the house after the roof was almost finished. Everything from the flat roof and small pitched roof in the foreground upwards is new.

First picture is the intended location, probably off a pole attached to the side of the front half of the house, although there is an offset wall of about 4ft width down below the scaffolding.

Second picture shows where the existing pole (not the rusty one in the picture! that's been replaced) is located, and the tree in the background.

Any thoughts on the motor I mentioned previously (Technomate TM-2600 Super DiSEqC Satellite Motor ebay 29064132432) ?

Peter

[pedro2000uk]

what's the flat roof material & how strong is it underneath -- a non penetrating roof mount could do what you want & get you further away from that tree= higher.

Darkmotor Superior - we dropped the tm2600 a bit back but they may have improved since - I've installed the odd one for a customer since - seem the same.

[1saintly]

That tree should go, as well as causing future damage to the house and dividing wall, its going to ruin youre viewing experience. and it will get worse when the leaves start to grow on it.
A ash tree can grow to 30m high with a 20m spread!

Had to move my dish twice due to loosing signal from a near by tree that bends and stops my signal when it moves in strong winds.

[pedro2000uk]

Originally Posted by 1saintly

That tree should go, as well as causing future damage to the house and dividing wall, its going to ruin youre viewing experience. and it will get worse when the leaves start to grow on it.
A ash tree can grow to 30m high with a 20m spread!

Had to move my dish twice due to loosing signal from a near by tree that bends and stops my signal when it moves in strong winds.

we do carry a chainsaw on installs...:

[listerdiesel]

Originally Posted by pedro2000uk

we do carry a chainsaw on installs...:

We do have a suitable Stihl chainsaw, but the tree is our neighbours although he probably would be glad to see it go, it dumps a huge volume of leaves every autumn.

Peter

[listerdiesel]

Originally Posted by pedro2000uk

what's the flat roof material & how strong is it underneath -- a non penetrating roof mount could do what you want & get you further away from that tree= higher.

Darkmotor Superior - we dropped the tm2600 a bit back but they may have improved since - I've installed the odd one for a customer since - seem the same.

The flat roof is 3/4 ply over rafters, but it's got a 22 year old lead roof on it, and we don't want to disturb anything. Plus, it still has the issue of the tree or the roof peak to get round.

If we mount of the side of the house as above, we can keep the dish within height limits and still get a clear shot southwards.

I'll go for the Technomate motor, it seems to cover our needs and the dish size.

Peter

[pedro2000uk]

Just as a matter of interest .. what make/s are the dish, lnb & coax & what bracket/s are you going to use.

[listerdiesel]

Dish is from SystemSat, RG6 co-ax and F plugs from Digitalis Direct. Brackets are 18" TK galvanised. The brackets will be Rawlbolted to the wall.

The brackets are long enough to clear the eaves, no more. Pole is whatever we need to get the didh in the right place, we have a pile of good scaffold poles in steel and some in Aluminium.

Peter

[listerdiesel]

Brackets are here, as was a second Konig signal strength meter +patch cord, the quality of which was a bit suspect, but it was thrown in for free, so can't complain.

The satellite dish is a King Satellite KS-TRX 110, which is in fact larger than I thought, it's a 1.1metre offset dish. The LNB is an Inverto, and a quad LNB of the same make also turned up today.

Hopefully we will get a decent bit of weather on saturday and we can go for getting this up. Will advise once it is all in place. Motor unit not here yet.

Peter

[logiciel]

You got planning permission then?

[listerdiesel]

Originally Posted by logiciel

You got planning permission then?

Sorry for the delay in replying, I'm building PCB's all this week and I have to wear close-up glasses to do it, by the time the end of the day comes my eyeballs are fried and I don't fancy sitting in front of a monitor!

Re the planning, we did speak to the local planning office before we started, and they basically said that they don't go out with a measuring tape to check on every installation, but if they had a report/complaint then they would be out to check and uphold the reg's. Fair enough.

My feeling is that as long as it is not too conspicuous and nobody complains, then it should be OK, but if there was a problem, we could soon swap for a smaller one if needs be. Next door is having a feed from it, so he's OK, there are no others close that it would be a problem for.

From the road in front, you'd need to be almost underneath it to see it, you wouldn't notice anything from a casual drive-by.

That's for the future, right now I want to get it running!

Peter

[kevkbuk]

Originally Posted by listerdiesel

Next door is having a feed from it, so he's OK, there are no others close that it would be a problem for.

I believe the cables require earthing for this have you planned for that?

[listerdiesel]

Originally Posted by kevkbuk

I believe the cables require earthing for this have you planned for that?

There will be an earth bond between the dish/LNB and the receivers. Each receiver is 2-wire AC feed with no earth conductor, so although we are running in different buildings, there should be no obvious problem with earthing.

We have already looked at checking inter-system voltages in case of any issues, BEFORE plugging it all in

If I have missed anything out there, I'd be happy to be corrected.

Thanks,

Peter

[logiciel]

That's OK, and my question wasn't entirely serious, so I'm impressed that you've done all the necessary on planning, and also on that important point about the earthing.