Help !?

Delboy5

Guys,
I want to setup and install a satellite dish at home and try and pick up as many satellites as possible, preferably to watch as much soccer as possible from foreign satellites.
I'm going to get a Technomate 5600 from ebay as my receiver, would this do the trick !?
After that I'm kind of lost, what else do i need........what are Diseqc's, LNB's etc etc
I see a lot of posts mentioned a Wavefrontier T90 dish, i want to be able to connect a few receivers in different rooms to one dish that can point at multiple satellites, would this do ? Is this a motorised dish, what exactly is a motorised dish ?
How many satellites should i be able to pick up and can anyone please tell me what exactly i need to get !?

biologikal

If you want to use more than one receiver, then motorised is out - unless you get a dedicated dish and motor for each receiver.

Presuming you're NOT going motorised route, to use more than one receiver, you need an LNB with an appropriate number of outputs. 3 or 4 receivers, you need a quad. 2 receivers, you need an LNB with two outputs.

The number of LNBs you need will then depend on the number of satellites you want to see, one LNB for each satellite (presuming you're not going the motorised route). Then each LNB will need the appropriate number of outputs for number of receivers (previous paragraph).

Next consideration is dish size. Minimum for a typical multi-LNB arrangement is 80cm, but if you want more than say 3 satellites, which are likely to be spread all over the Clarke-Belt, then a T90, with appropriate number of LNBs would be advised.

Have a look at flysat.com or lyngsat.com, and decide how many sats you're likely to want. If motorised is definitely out, a good starting point for you might be a T90 with 4 LNBs (each with appropriate number of outputs), you can always add more LNBs later if you wanted - google for T90 setups; I think I've seen T90's with 10 or more LNBs on them. Spread is about 40 degrees.

Receiver you mentioned is pretty good, there aren't any really bad receivers out there, but of course you have to consider stuff like HD, twin tuners, PVR, number of channels.

DiSEqC switches will again depend on the number of receivers you want, then the number of LNBs you plan on using; one for each receiver, then the number of inputs required on each switch (2, 4, 8) will depend on the number of LNBs you plan on using. Something like this page will give you an idea of what you might need:

http://www.galaxy-marketing.com/diseqc_switches.htm

Delboy5

How many cables will be running from my Dish to my reciever ? One per LNB or what way does it work...........
What if i had a distribution box in the attic, house was built 2 years ago, think i remember hearing there was one put in during Aerial setup.........
Should i go motorised and just setup up a reciver in one room ? Which is a better setup ?

biologikal

If you have 4 LNBs for example, you use a 4 input DiSEqC switch (has 4 inputs and 1 output), so 4 short cables from LNBs to DiSEqC switch behind dish (usually), then one cable to your receiver.

No experience of distrubition boxes with sat, so can't advise, sorry.

Hard to advise whether you should go motorised or not. Ultimately, you may want a T90, not sure a T90 would be usable/practical with a motor for starting out though, so if either way doesn't work completely for you starting out, you may be left with unused equipment. It's something to consider if you don't have/want to spend a considerable amount. Also, motorised can take a few seconds switching from one sat to another (and can be noisy), multi-LNB is almost instantaneous.

Me for example, I got an 80cm Lidl kit a year ago, a couple of extra LNBs, and picked up a Sky dish destined for the skip, so have 28E, 19E and 13E on one dish, and the Sky dish I can move about to experiment with different sats as I feel fit, all connected through a 4 input DiSEqC. I also had bought a motor, but found it a bit excessive for what I wanted to watch, so stuck with the multi-LNB. There may be other channels on other sats that might be able to give you the football you need, but someone else would have to advise you on that front. A lot of it is tied up in subscriptions though.

Delboy5

Biologikal, thanks for all your help so for. So am i right in saying that if i was to connect one reciever to a dish looking at 6 Satellites all i will need is:
Dish
Receiver
6 single output LNB's
one 6 input DiSEqC switch
and cabling of course

Now one more question for you, whats the differnece if i get a motorised dish, what changes from the above and why !? Which setup is better ?

Eurorunner

Delboy5 wrote: »

Now one more question for you, whats the differnece if i get a motorised dish, what changes from the above and why !? Which setup is better ?

According to your original post, you want to be able to receive Sat in different rooms in the house. If this is the case, motorised makes this an impossibility. Other differences as already outlined above ie. delay when changing sats, and if your in an estate, do not underestimate the noise of a diseqc motor!
I have T90 setup with 4 lnbs and it works fine. Its a difficult setup but if you have the time to tinker with it, its great once its done and dusted. Other thing to consider is if you have the opportunity to ground mount the T90 (if you decide to go this way) as opposed to wall mounting. These dishes are big and take one hell of a load bearing when theres a gale blowing. If your thinking of wall mounting, I would only do so if your satisfied you have a relatively sheltered site.
I never investigated the using distribution box but in hindsight I think I should have done so. They are expensive - but they leave the job a lot tidier - and negate need for extra cable runs, f connectors and quad lnbs.

biologikal

Delboy5 wrote: »

Biologikal, thanks for all your help so for. So am i right in saying that if i was to connect one reciever to a dish looking at 6 Satellites all i will need is:
Dish
Receiver
6 single output LNB's
one 6 input DiSEqC switch
and cabling of course

Yes, although I'm not sure whether there are 6 input DiSEqC switches, I think they go from 4 to 8, so if you want 6 sats, you'd need an 8 (though there may be a 6, I've never seen them).

Going for 6 sats on 1 dish, you'd need to go for a torroidal dish, either a T55 or T90, depending on the footprint of the weakest satellite you intend to pull in. This information is generally available in the right-most column on the sat lists at flysat and lyngsat. If even only one is difficult to get with a regular 55cm dish, then you'd be advised to go with the T90.

Nearly any recent FTA receiver should be able to handle 6 inputs without any difficulty (dunno about FreeSat though).

Remember, the effective range of these torroidal dishes is about 40 degrees, meaning that if 28E was the east-most satellite you wanted, you can only (safely) expect to get as far as 12W, in the west direction. If one satellite was too far in one direction to make it convenient to get the others you want, it may be possible to get an extra smaller dish, and dedicate it to the odd-ball - all LNBs don't have to be on the same dish (I use two myself).

Delboy5 wrote: »

Now one more question for you, whats the differnece if i get a motorised dish, what changes from the above and why !? Which setup is better ?

If you go motorised, you only need 1 LNB with 1 output, called a single (with dual/quad, you will have no use for extra outputs, as already mentioned, motorised only good for 1 receiver).

You also just need a regular dish, at least 80cm, but if you wanted a sat like 26E, you'd probably be advised to go with a 1.1m or bigger; 26E is a good sat if you can get it. (As a *rough* guide, of all the sats you should be able to see from here, a 60cm might get you 50% of them, an 80cm maybe 80%, and 1.2m 95% of them - obviously bigger will give you more, and better rain margin).

Again, impossible for me to say which is better. I've tried both, and multi-LNB suits me better right now. If I was a football fanatic though, I would need more choice, or a subscription, but since I'm not, the 30-odd decent English language channels on 28E, along with Eurosport, RAI Sports, Dubai Sports, Abu Dhabi Sports, French channels, Slovene channels, and a lot more that might sometimes have something good to watch on 13E and 19E, I'm quite happy with that. I know people who have both setups, multi-LNB for general viewing, then something motorised for a different room, for when you'd need to pick up a channel or feed from a sat you wouldn't normally have any interest in (I can kinda do this with my extra dish, but it might take me a few minutes to move the dish, whereas the motor would move in a few seconds).

If you're still unsure right now, wait and think about it. Read some more, ask more questions.