80cm dish on chimney ok?

radioactiveman

Hi
I currently have a standard sky dish on my chimney which works fine.

I'm interested in getting ideally an 80cm dish as well to pick up channels on 19.2 east.

Would that be safe on the chimney? Or would the size be too big and be liable to come loose in the wind?
There is already a pole there with a fairly big terrestrial aerial - could that be used to mount the dish?
The saorview signal happens to be really strong without the aerial so I was thinking of taking the aerial part down and using the pole.
Thanks!;)

byte

Personally, I'd try avoid using chimneys for any dishes, unless it's absolutely necessary.

Is there nowhere else, like a gable or back wall, where you could locate the dish?

Peter Rhea

If it's a zone 2 Sky dish (almost certainly would be in Ireland), you could add a 2nd lnb for 19 east, works fine for me.

radioactiveman

Peter Rhea wrote: »

If it's a zone 2 Sky dish (almost certainly would be in Ireland), you could add a 2nd lnb for 19 east, works fine for me.

really? that would be great if it worked. Always thought the dish wouldn't be big enough to get both.

It's funny when I moved into the house 7 years ago I had to get the dish bolts on the sky dish re tightened because they had come loose.. but since then I've had no problems at all.

But I thought alright that 80cm would be pushing it a bit. I could put it on the back wall of the house but I'd have to bore holes for that (unless I could bring the cable in underneath the eaves).

kingtiger

radioactiveman wrote: »

really? that would be great if it worked. Always thought the dish wouldn't be big enough to get both.

nope it works great,

I just stuck an LNB onto the side of the Sky quad with gaffer tape and it worked perfectly even in heavy rain\snow for around two years

here is a thread on anther forum with pics

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1512308

radioactiveman

Thanks
I think I will stick with the dish on the chimney. It's been there for 7 years and hasn't had any problems so it should be ok. Would love to put it further down but there are a lot of trees in the estate in the line of sight and I can picture it a few years from now where they block it out completely.

Will get an installer to put on the extra LNB for 19.2 east because I don't have a ladder to go up that high (and wouldn't be able to do it even if I did )

Any idea of the price for a job like that? Just so's I don't get ripped off

Peter Rhea

First you'd have to find an installer who even understood what you wanted, should be a simple, quick job after that: there are multi lnb brackets that will work with a zone 2 Sky dish & you'll also need a DiSEqC switch for selecting lnbs. Sky boxes don't work with DiSEqC btw.




Here's my own homemade version, nothing like the commercially available brackets but all you need is something to hold the lnb in the right position (& make sure it stays there).

radioactiveman

Ok, would I be able to have a multi output LNB, and send one output from 28 east to sky box as per usual, then another output from 28 east plus the output from 19 east into a DiseqC switch for a second tuner capable of taking it?

kingtiger

radioactiveman wrote: »

Ok, would I be able to have a multi output LNB, and send one output from 28 east to sky box as per usual, then another output from 28 east plus the output from 19 east into a DiseqC switch for a second tuner capable of taking it?

yes, that's exactly what I had done

Peter Rhea

radioactiveman wrote: »

Ok, would I be able to have a multi output LNB, and send one output from 28 east to sky box as per usual, then another output from 28 east plus the output from 19 east into a DiseqC switch for a second tuner capable of taking it?

I'm sure plenty of the 19 east channels could be tuned into 'other channels' on the Skybox, but you'd need to run the cable from the 2nd lnb all the way to a manual switch at the receiver.

snaps

A sky box is only ok for sky nothing else. Its not worth the hassle. A 3rd party combo receiver will tick all the boxes and be versatile for what you are doing/want to do.

Also if your dish is over 7 years old, theres a risk its decaying (Rusting/corroding). any modification with extra weight etc on the arms will but a lot more stress on it. Personally if your going the multi lnb route, a larger dish fixed lower down the house somewhere is the way to go.

radioactiveman

Personally if your going the multi lnb route, a larger dish fixed lower down the house somewhere is the way to go.

Thanks - I think I'll check it with an installer. I don't know exactly how obstructed it would be further down, but if it was possible I'd get an 80cm dish and put it on the back wall of the house.

As it is I can't get near it at all - obviously for some people it's no bother going up on the chimney but for me I wouldn't be able to do it.

Just one other question, is it possible to bring a cable up under the eaves? It would be great to avoid drilling a hole.