Options for a 2nd Satellite Dish

Rayob

My present set up is a 60cm sky dish with a quad lnb. Two feeds to a vu+ ultimo in the living room and two feeds to a Humax in a bedroom. I am thinking of getting a 2nd dish 80 cm. I thought about getting a motorised system but now I think maybe a multi lnb setup maybe would suit me better, but not really sure.
I have a few beginner questions for which I would be grateful for any advice.


1. Say I opt for a 3 lnb setup, what would be my best options on an 80 cm dish ? Looking at the forums most people seem to opt for 13 E ,19 E and 28.2 E . I am in County Wexford.


2. Do I need 28.2 E on the new dish, as tuner A on the vu+ is already connected to the old sky dish,
or will I lose the facility of record one channel and watch another if I dont ?


3. The lnbs on the 80 cm dish, what should they be, single or dual ?


Hope my questions make some sort of sense and thanks in advance for any help.

SalteeDog

Some questions for you to clarify your needs.

1. What do you hope to be able to watch? Free stuff or subscription? Which languages?

2. Do you wish to have PVR capability for each satellite in both rooms e.g. watch one channel while recording another on the same satellite?

Rayob

I would be mainly interested in free stuff for the moment, and english language.
I would really only be interested in pvr function on the vu+ in the living room

Auvers

I have a VU in my living room, with 13e (single lnb) 19e (single lnb) & 28e (quad lnb) on an 88cm dish using the Triax multiblock

I have one feed coming directly into Tuner A from 28 and then 28\19\13 on a disec coming into tuner B

I am also thinking of getting a KA-Band LNB and ruining that through another disec to Tuner A for the RTE channels

Wiggy

Rayob wrote: »

1. Say I opt for a 3 lnb setup, what would be my best options on an 80 cm dish ? Looking at the forums most people seem to opt for 13 E ,19 E and 28.2 E . I am in County Wexford.

You don't need to have 28.2E on the 2nd dish if you already have it on the 1st dish. Unless you want to connect additional devices besides the ones you already have?

So, I would suggest you are looking for a 2 LNB setup for the new dish.

Rayob wrote: »

2. Do I need 28.2 E on the new dish, as tuner A on the vu+ is already connected to the old sky dish,
or will I lose the facility of record one channel and watch another if I dont ?

Your question is confusing. Surely both Tuner A and Tuner B on the VU+ are connected to the existing Sky dish?

There are many ways to do what you want - here is one option. I am assuming you don't want to feed 13E and 19E to the Humax?

You will need to connect your two Sky dish (VU+) LNB outputs to two DiSeq 2-way switches. Then connect the single 13E LNB to the free input on DiSeq switch 1, and the single 19E LNB to the free input on DiSeq switch 2. You then connect each switch to the VU+, one to Tuner A , one to Tuner B.

Rayob wrote: »

3. The lnbs on the 80 cm dish, what should they be, single or dual ?

That depends on whether you want the facility of record one channel and watch another on 13E and 19E.

Using the config above, you will already have that facility on 28.2E. For example, if you use single LNBs for 13E and 19E (as I described above), you will be able to watch a channel on 28.2E, and record a different channel on 28.2E, 13E or 19E. If you are watching 19E, you will be able to record any channel you like on 13E or 28.2E, but you will not be able to record from a different transponder on 19E.

If you did want to feed 13E and 19E to the Humax, and you also wanted dual record for 13E and 19E, you would probably want to use quad LNBs for the two new sats. You would need to use 4-way DiSeq switches instead of 2-way, and you would need them for the Humax as well as the VU+.

druss

I'm also in Wexford.

I have a Vu Duo and an older receiver in bedroom.

I have a sky dish for Freesat and a second dish with three lnbs for 9 E, 13 E, 19 E.

I have two Diseqc switches.

The sky dish feeds directly to tuner A of the Vu Duo and also to both switches, which output 9 east, 13 east, 19 east and 28.2 east to tuner B of the Duo and to the 2nd receiver.

This means that i have PVR on the Duo but not on the Mvision, which isn't capable anyway. There is spare capacity on the dishes, so if i upgrade i can change this.

I'm not sure if this is the optimum solution, but it works for me anyway!

Rayob

Thanks guys . Its great to get the advice from people who have already done this. Its a lot to take in for a beginner but will tackle it over the next few weeks.
Sorry Wiggy, yes of course two feeds from existing sky dish go to tuner A and Tuner B.
So it looks like I'll only need two lnbs on the new dish, probably 13E and 19E. which one would be in the centre and which one to left or right as you look at the dish ?
Also this may be a stupid question but I'll ask anyway.
Is there any reason why the diseq switch needs to be up near the dish ?, the reason I ask is that the existing sky dish is very high up on the gable and getting on a bit here and
not comfortable any more on big extension ladders. So could that diseq switch be located
in the room near the back of the sat box ?
Anyway my ultimate aim is to have the humax in the other room as it was, ie 28.2E freesat using two feeds from existing sky dish and pvr on the vu+ in the living room.

SalteeDog

In my set-up the disecq switch is right beside the sat box. The advantage of having it outside at or near the dish is that you reduce the number of cables you run through the house.

Auvers

hey OP since you have a VU box and have a have a smartphone make sure you use something like this

its invaluable setting up multi lnb's

and if you don't have a smartphone put onestep satfinder on your laptop

Rayob wrote: »

So it looks like I'll only need two lnbs on the new dish, probably 13E and 19E. which one would be in the centre and which one to left or right as you look at the dish ?

19e Center \ 13e Right (looking at the dish)

oh and you could get 19e and 28e on the Sky dish with little more than an LNB and some insulation tape, I had mine like that for two years until I bought a bigger dish to get 13e, had a bit of breakup in very bad weather on 19 but not anything too serious

Wiggy

Rayob wrote: »

So it looks like I'll only need two lnbs on the new dish, probably 13E and 19E. which one would be in the centre and which one to left or right as you look at the dish ?

Answered in this thread

Rayob wrote: »

Is there any reason why the diseq switch needs to be up near the dish ?

Not as far as I am aware. It just means you'll need to run a cable from each LNB to where you want the switches - so in your case four cables into the livingroom.

oxo_

Would you not consider a Visiosat dish ?
I got mine from hm-sat online from Germany, cash on delivery too

http://www.hm-sat-shop.de/antennen-visiosat/

I got the g2 for 100 euro and the multifeed add-on for 13,19,28 for 20 euro. Job done, light dish, very stable, easy to install. Even got it in brown colour to match red brick wall so it actually blends in a little (though lnb's and untidy cable give it away).

Rayob

Thanks oxo, I hadn't started pricing anything yet but that looks very interesting.
Did you buy the lnbs from them or will it take any make of lnb ? Would signal strength be as good as an ordinary 80cm dish ?
Thanks also to everyone who offered me advice.

SalteeDog

Rayob, I don't believe there is a lot of English language free to air content on 13E and 19E. Check out this site for details. Subscription content is a different story.

oxo_

Rayob wrote: »

Thanks oxo, I hadn't started pricing anything yet but that looks very interesting.
Did you buy the lnbs from them or will it take any make of lnb ? Would signal strength be as good as an ordinary 80cm dish ?
Thanks also to everyone who offered me advice.

Yeah I bought slim inverto brand lnb's (I think they were) from them, less than 10 euro each at the time along with a 4-1 diseq switch and sundries. I already had a wall mount but they sell those too.
So long as your lnb's aren't big bulky things, I reckon most would work no probs but the slimline invertos are really cheap anyway.

Signal is great, no problems at all on anything so far. So easy to set up. Cables can be run from lnb's through the antennas arm, so it's nice and tidy.
I had a motorised setup before with a big 90cm dish, honestly I'm getting as good on this dish as I got on the motorised, at least for 13,19 and 28 - which are all I found myself watching anyway so the motorised was overkill. Just take your time fine tuning, one of the easiest dishes I've installed btw and easy and quick to build (it comes flatpacked).

I'd love a torridial 90 but I couldn't have anything like that around where I live and I dunno if the brick front would cope with it's weight either.

Takes about 3 or 4 business days to be delivered by that German site when doing cash on delivery.

fergald

hi, about three months ago i read an article about having 3 lnbs on a sky dish, so i thought it was not possible until i tried it.

What i did was pointed center one at astra 1 and then added hotbird and astra2(quad lnb) on the ouside using one of those brackets you can buy for 13 euro's and a diseq switch, i had a meter dish and took it down.

Have to say it was relatively easy to get it working and the picture is perfect quality and signal excellent even in this bad weather. All three lnb's fit snug up against each other and almost support each other, added an extra bar and some tape to make it stronger

can not believe it give it a try, cheap and cheerful.

fred.

STB

Rayob wrote: »

1. Say I opt for a 3 lnb setup, what would be my best options on an 80 cm dish ? Looking at the forums most people seem to opt for 13 E ,19 E and 28.2 E . I am in County Wexford.


2. Do I need 28.2 E on the new dish, as tuner A on the vu+ is already connected to the old sky dish,
or will I lose the facility of record one channel and watch another if I dont ?


3. The lnbs on the 80 cm dish, what should they be, single or dual ?


Hope my questions make some sort of sense and thanks in advance for any help.

I'm also in Wexford.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79068206&postcount=9

Can be done on an existing Sky Dish 60cm with a bracket from Vortech on ebay, a 4 input diseq switch and 2 extra single lnbs. About €30 in total. Dont let anyone tell you otherwise. I did it to prove a point.

I presume you already have a sky quad lnb (since you have two cables coming in to the VU+Duo). You leave one connected to the Quad and run the other to the output on the diseqc switch. Then run cable feeds to the diseqc inputs from the three lnbs.

Not a lot of english speaking channels besides AXN and MTV music channels etc.

jimmyjim11

Any one try one or these

do they give good reception in limerick ?

kingtiger

jimmyjim11 wrote: »

Any one try one or these

do they give good reception in limerick ?

yeah I have one setup with six LNB'S, although a did modify the mutli-block to get more of an angle for Saorsat on 9e

they will work well in nearly all parts of Ireland

machiavellianme

Sorry to hijack but I've a few follow on questions from the recommendations above:

Why is no one recommending a mesh dish (say an 80cm mesh)? Arent they supposed to be better in strong winds or is that a myth?

Also, how does a parabolic dish compare to a round one? Say that Visiosat G2 vs a standard 80cm dish? Are they better worse for reception? Or in strong wind? Are parabolic dishes sized differently, say that G2 is 75 x 64 cm. Would that be equivalent to a 75cm round dish or a 64cm one?