Freesat, what to buy?

RobMozza

I am located in North West Donegal two minutes away from the sea. I currently have a zone 2 minidish mounted on the wall. A quad LNB feeding the kitchen and our three bedrooms. The kitchen has a Ferguson Ariva 120 HD Combo box which is also connected to a digital aerial. Bedroom 1 has a cheap Bush BFSAT01HD box. Bedroom 2 has a Technomate TM3000D. Bedroom 3 has nothing installed (as yet)

Problems we've had in the past were absolutely no reception (due to a dead LNB, caused I assume from a storm?) When it rains the signal cuts out and even if it's not raining some of the channels have no signal whilst others have very good signal?

For an unknown reason we have poor satellite reception. I suspected that the dish may have moved in the recent winds. Today I put the ladder up to the dish to inspect and possibly to try and realign it. The dish itself doesn't look to bad but corrosion around the mounting bracket is quite sever. I was worried that the dish would fall off whilst I adjusted it.

I unscrewed the elevation and move the dish slightly up and slightly down and the quality decreased. Returning it to the same position increased the quality to between 52-58%. Therefore I doubt the elevation had moved and I retightened the screws back up again (no change).

I thought about moving the direction of the dish but decided against it due to the corrosion. Therefore I'm looking for a new dish and mount. This really is the point of this topic and after having a quick look around for possible replacements I've decided that I would like:

- A larger dish (apparently bigger is better in terms of reception) although I'm unsure how big is too big (very windy here)

- A galvanised steel dish and mounting bracket (hopefully this dish would last more than three years!)

- Possibly a motorised setup to move the dish onto other satellites (I don't really know what other programs are available on other satellites but if I'm going to be re doing all of this then a little more selection would be good)

- A compass to correctly align the dish.

- An Octo LNB (I need more feeds for the living room!)

I have generally have limited knowledge, I will try to do all of the work myself but I know absolutely nothing about a motorised setup, or the current problems that I am facing in terms of poor reception.

I found a great website called DishPointer so I'm confident that I should be able to realign it myself once I get some new equipment.

In the past I've gone down the route of buying things from eBay because of the prices. Well I'm beginning to think this is a bit of a false economy and if I buy better it should last longer. Also I want to support Irish retailers in these harder times.

Suggestions please.

Liameter

Is it just the brackets rusting? Any decent dish will do. Just make sure that you give all metal parts a good undercoat then two coats of oil-based paint. The brackets should be wrapped with Denso tape (get it from any local plumbers merchant). It's filthy stuff so buy a packet of plastic gloves. See http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/denso_tape.htm

Be sure to weatherproof the wall bolts, too. See bottom of this page: http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/wallbolt.htm

Make sure you weatherproof the 'F' plugs, too. See details here: http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/boots.htm

Again, everything you need should be available locally or from an Irish supplier.

If you prefer a fibreglass dish, look at the Triax DAP series.

Don't go too large if, as you say, wind is a problem. A larger dish has a narrower "focus" and more susceptible to signal loss if the dish moves a fraction.

Liameter

In view of your poor reception with unknown cause. I recommend you replace the cables, just in case. Belt & braces but the average life of unprotected cable outdoors is as little as 5 years before signal loss becomes measurable. Be sure to protect the new cable with paint.

RobMozza

Thank-you Liameter, that's excellent information.

I guess it must be down to either incorrect dish alignment or perished wiring? although I find it hard to believe that all four wires are perished to the same degree.

Yesterday I was speaking to my father who I think mentioned using an oil based grease to protect the connectors. Obviously doing nothing can be a problem, thank-you local based satellite installer!

OK, so I'm going to do some more research on products thanks for all of the suggestions so far. Of course if anybody has anything else to add please do! Thanks in advance :-)

Liameter

I don't know what "oil based grease" is. I use silicone grease. Available from plumbers merchants and elsewhere.
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/silicone.htm

sesswhat

If possible, locate the dish low down on an East facing wall to protect it from the worst of the storm.

ISAA

I would suggest a good quality dish, triax 65cm, all galvanized, or triax fibre glass.

both have excellent mounts, and by using a good L bracket fully galvanized, say 2.5 inch OD, you will have no problem.
In relation to connectors, don't bother with tape, just use compression connectors, if put on correctly you won't have problems.

PS : In relation to signal level the C4 transponder in donegal on a triax 54cm dish with 30 metres of wf100 cable is 72db/MER 11.7db, this is one of the weaker transponders.

RobMozza

Liameter wrote: »

I don't know what "oil based grease" is. I use silicone grease. Available from plumbers merchants and elsewhere.

http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/silicone.htm

Thanks, that sounds like what he was on about!

sesswhat wrote: »

If possible, locate the dish low down on an East facing wall to protect it from the worst of the storm.

Unfortunately our bungalow is in a bit of a dip and either the dish has to be mounted near the top of the roof eaves or I'll have to run cable 10m to install the dish up the top of the slope and maybe on a small pole to get line of sight.

ISAA wrote: »

I would suggest a good quality dish, triax 65cm, all galvanized, or triax fibre glass.

Both have excellent mounts, and by using a good L bracket fully galvanized, say 2.5 inch OD, you will have no problem.

In relation to connectors, don't bother with tape, just use compression connectors, if put on correctly you won't have problems.


PS : In relation to signal level the C4 transponder in donegal on a triax 54cm dish with 30 metres of wf100 cable is 72db/MER 11.7db, this is one of the weaker transponders.

Yes, im looking at changing the dish in the near future and that information helps thankyou.


Situation update : During the strong winds of recent we must of had some thunder/lightning that I was unaware of? I lost my central heating controller and now I have a 3A fused switch and a 6A MCB on the house fuse box so hopefully I will not loose the central heating controller again?

This brings me onto the LNB, assuming the thunder/lightning knocked out my central heating controller I'm guessing my problems could well be with my LNB again. I've just got hold of another quad LNB and as soon as I get hold of the silicon grease I'll get that swapped over and update this thread.

Is there anything that can be done to prevent this from occuring again in the future? I've read that dishes can be earthed and I assume this is what I need to do. Is this simply a case of running an earth wire from the dish to the fuse box? I wont be able to install a purpose built earthing rod due to concrete we have around the bungalow and it's on a foundation of mainly rock.

Information greatly appreciated, thank-you in advance.

dharn

im pretty sure earthing you sattelite dish would make no difference if it was hit by lightning

watty

Earthing dish is to reduce wind and atmospheric based static and safety on shared systems. Only to its own earth spike. Only usually done on wooden, timberframe, caravans or Mobile Homes.

The LNB is always electrically isolated from dish and only earthed explicitly on a Distribution system (The Multiswitches must be earth bonded if shared to different apartments, houses or building with more than one phase.)

Nothing protects against a direct strike, and improper earthing rather than none can shatter walls in event of direct hit.

A mast in South Africa was earthed to the steel reinforcing rods of the concrete "hut" at base of mast instead of the big external strap. The concrete was blown off all the walls when the mast was hit.

Liameter

It's "silicone" grease not "silicon". (Silicon breast implants would be extremely uncomfortable!)

I agree entirely with Watty over lightning and static. Earthing a dish is mandatory in some countries but generally unnecessary if not downright dangerous as far as lightning is concerned. A friend's TV aerial mast was struck recently and just about everything electrical was damaged - apart from his satellite TV system! Even though the TV and Hi-Fi were killed, the satellite system was fine, once he'd connected a new TV.

His house is also on rock so there is zero possibility of providing a useful earth connection. The best you can do is to bury a large area of metal fencing around the property and use that as your "earth". Suitable metal poles connected to it, all around the house, may help to attract lightning discharges away from the building itself.

watty

Yes... Get the Mobile, Garda or Tetra to put a mast beside your house:

1) you likely never get hit by lightning.

2) Your phone will run at 1/10th Transmit power, making battery last longer than a mast 2km away.

3) If the mast is REALLY close, there is less RF than from one 200m away!

4) There is ZERO ionising / headache/cancer radiation from Tetra, Mobile, etc.