Location of dish - Inside the house?

Mredmond · 19-12-2001 12:08am #1

Has anyone ever heard of a mini-dish mounted inside the house, say in an Attic?

Any thoughts?

Lennoxschips · 19-12-2001 12:17am

Unfortunately sattellite waves, which are low power microwaves, aren't too strong. They are so weak in fact that they have to turn up the power when it is cloudy. You cannot mount your dish where trees conceal the path of sight to the satellite either.

You could put it in your attic however, if you cut a hole in your roof.

Tony · 19-12-2001 12:27am

Originally posted by Lennoxschips
Unfortunately sattellite waves, which are low power microwaves, aren't too strong. They are so weak in fact that they have to turn up the power when it is cloudy. You cannot mount your dish where trees conceal the path of sight to the satellite either.

You could put it in your attic however, if you cut a hole in your roof.

Are you serious? Turn up the power on the satellite when its cloudy? So presumably the satellite has built in cloud radar. In any case various degrees of cloud would exist through out the coverage area.

Tell me this is a wind up

Tony

7Day Theory · 19-12-2001 6:57am

Placing a dish by a window is possible but problimatic.
Mini dish working is doubtful, but worth a try.

As for the wave power, i believe the transponder output power is similar to a 100w bulb, but turn the power up in clouds...right....

Lennoxschips · 19-12-2001 8:22am

When the weather is especially cloudy over much of Europe then the people at ASTRA will instruct the transponders to operate at a higher power than they would if it was a clear day with blue skies.

thegills · 19-12-2001 8:36am

Its true. But its not done by hand. Sky would have a few recievers strategically placed around Britain and Ireland which monitor the signal strength. Each reciever sends back info to the control centre which then adjusts the transmit power on the satellite transponders. Tree's aren't usually a line of sight obstruction. Why would you want to put a dish inside your attic anyway!!!:)

Gunn4r · 19-12-2001 8:39am

My mate has sky digi (we are in dublin btw), his apartment residents commitee made him remove the dish from the outside o his building. He has it mounted in a room pointing out the window and it works flawlessly

Mredmond · 19-12-2001 10:56am

Yeah its an issue of unsightliness. I had heard before that it works indoors, but I suppose a skylight or velux window would be a must for Attic mounting.

Good Debate, anyway.

Lennoxschips · 19-12-2001 2:28pm

Wow, I didn't realise it would work through a window. This opens up a whole new avenue of possibilities.

Doctúir · 19-12-2001 3:13pm

A few years back Mawzones were developing a flat "dish" which consisted of concentric metal circles on a plastic backing and this could then be fixed to the inside of a window. Haven't heard much about this product in the mean time.

Tony · 19-12-2001 6:46pm

Originally posted by Lennoxschips
When the weather is especially cloudy over much of Europe then the people at ASTRA will instruct the transponders to operate at a higher power than they would if it was a clear day with blue skies.

My apologies I thought you were having a bit of fun. What is the purpose of reducing power when weather is favourable, to save power?

Regards Tony

Tony · 19-12-2001 6:48pm

Originally posted by Lennoxschips
Wow, I didn't realise it would work through a window. This opens up a whole new avenue of possibilities.

It will actually work but when the glass gets wet it will attenuate the signal.

Regards Tony

bkehoe · 19-12-2001 9:45pm

There was also the Squarial (spelling?).

byte · 19-12-2001 10:42pm

Wotsat magazine has numerous adverts for satdishes etc and some include a dish that's concealed inside a globe on a pole and looks like an outside light. Another is one without LNB arm which is white and diamond shaped. i have also see a bracket that is stuck under your roof slates for your minidish to be set on. That apparatus is questionable!

Aardvark · 20-12-2001 4:28pm

Originally posted by Tony

It will actually work but when the glass gets wet it will attenuate the signal.

Hi Tony,

How badly does this affect signal quality? I'm guessing it'll result in the blocky/tearing effect in the picture (can't remember the correct term), or is it a total loss of signal?

I'm VERY interested in putting a mini-dish up indoors in an apartment. (American Football playoffs in January on Sky Sports Extra!) I called about installation a week ago, but it turns out my lease precludes any external dish installation.

Also, how does double-glazing impact on this situation?!!

Tony · 20-12-2001 4:58pm

Originally posted by Aardvark

Hi Tony,

How badly does this affect signal quality? I'm guessing it'll result in the blocky/tearing effect in the picture (can't remember the correct term), or is it a total loss of signal?

I'm VERY interested in putting a mini-dish up indoors in an apartment. (American Football playoffs in January on Sky Sports Extra!) I called about installation a week ago, but it turns out my lease precludes any external dish installation.

Also, how does double-glazing impact on this situation?!!

Its difficult to say, I had a squarial in the old BSB days and it would pixelate anytime it rained and sometimes go competely. Theres really only one way to find out unfortunately.

Regards Tony

7Day Theory · 20-12-2001 6:43pm

Originally posted by bkehoe
There was also the Squarial (spelling?).

Ah, the old BSB broadcasting with that "dustbin" like satellite.

Squarial would work better but ever time you wanted to watch a channel that was on the opposite polorisation you would have to change the angle of the dish.

But there are newer versions of the squarial here..uhh here (that dont need realignment for different polars)

And it works very well.

jmcc · 28-12-2001 1:16pm

Originally posted by Doctúir
A few years back Mawzones were developing a flat "dish" which consisted of concentric metal circles on a plastic backing and this could then be fixed to the inside of a window. Haven't heard much about this product in the mean time.

Yep I remember this. (Of course my feet ar actually resting on a BSB Squarial as I type this.

) However it was intended to be an external reflector with the LNB offset. The idea was based on Fresnel zoning/lenses I think but they had problems with localisation of the pattern. The design would only work well in a few hundred square miles region before they would have to tweak the design again.

It is possible to mount offset dishes on the horizontal axis rather than the vertical. It was dead easy to disguise the dish as a bird bath. This kind of concealed antenna was very popular in places where satellite reception was banned.

It is possible to mount a dish inside a house as long as it is pointing though a window and has a clear shot at the satellite. It would also be possible to replace some tiles with plastic (transparent or similarly low attenuation) tiles on a roof and put the dish in the attic. From a noise perspective, this would be a nightmare given that most tiles are black and tend to heat up.

The main problem with the Sky minidish though is that the beamwidth seems squinted so I am not sure about using it on the horizontal axis.

Regards...jmcc

Location of dish - Inside the house?

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