| The Sky minidish is too small to use a second LNB and no brackets are available. So it's usual to buy a 60cm dish or larger - normally 80cm - with an LNB bracket that allows an extra LNB to be fitted. Lots of customers ask me to specify a suitable dish size... But I really can't answer such questions and, even if you give me full information, I'd still have to look at the published satellite "footprints" - which you can do just as easily as I can! However, here are some suggestions:- In the UK, for a "standard" Sky or Freesat installation with cable run no more than 25m, south of Manchester, a Sky "minidish" will mostly be OK. As you head north of Manchester or West of Bristol, consider using a larger dish (60cm or more). North of Carlisle and West of Belfast, consider 70 - 80cm and north of Aberdeen, larger still. Similarly, for Northern France, a standard "minidish" (nominally 53cm) will do but, as you head south, you can combat problems with "rain fade" better if you increase the size, aiming towards 90cm at the Spanish border. If your cable run is longer than 25m but less than 50m, or if you are using a "Quattro" LNB with a "multiswitch", use the next larger dish size. Using a larger dish is MUCH more likely to give good results than using an amplifier, but, with an LNB cable run greater than 50m, use both. To look up dish sizes click on this link: Click HERE and HERE for Astra 2D, and for the rest click on this link: http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.shtml This page lists satellites and programmes from the Astra satellites at 28.2'E
To find the dish size, look in the column entitled "Beam" and click on the satellite number (eg "2A") The page shows recommended dish sizes but bear in mind that they may not be correct for your specific location as there are "hot spots" and "cold spots" in signal strength. For example, you may receive programmes from Astra 2D in Tenerife with a suitable 2.4m dish, LNB and receiver *if you get the combination right*. For Sky Digital you can read my book "Installing Sky Digital TV and Freesat" which holds 120+ pages of hints and tips from professional installers, as well as pages and pages of reports from Sky Digital viewers as far away as Africa. Read what they have to say about dish types, sizes and LNBs then make up your own mind. If you can afford to, always err on the large side and remember that the type of LNB, receiver and cable (and cable length) can all make a big difference to the results. Remember, too, that a solid dish invariably gives better results than a perforated ("mesh") dish. For HOT BIRD at 13'E click here: http://www.lyngsat.com/hotbird.html Click on the links in the column labelled "Beam" to see the individual footprints of the various Hot bird satellites. | 
| Sky Digital in Spain (and southern Europe) Salvador Ferrairo Castella spent weeks carrying out tests with various LNBs and dishes. This book is a report of his findings. What size of dish and which LNB works best and why? Complete with photographs including the dishes, LNBs, the ground station where he did the work and the equipment that he used to analyse the signals. Computer plots showing the differences between transponder spectra. This book is full of technical information but Salvador writes in impeccable English with a style that makes the book easy and interesting to read. You can feel his excitement as he reports on his findings! Absolutely invaluable for any expat in southern Europe. Companion book to the book below. | Type of material used for Dish What are the relative advantages / disadvantages of the different materials used for satellite dish manufacture - steel, aluminium, mesh, plastic etc.? Steel is cheap but rusts unless very well protected. Good microwave mirror properties. Aluminium is expensive but is easier to press to the correct shape and doesn't rust. (However, it will corrode in the presence of salt water unless well protected.) Good microwave mirror properties. Plastic/Mesh dishes (strands of wire embedded in plastic or fibreglass with resin) don't rust but are more expensive to manufacture. Good microwave mirror properties if the mesh is fine enough. The clear type as sold by "Metronic" can be cosmetically good, dependent on the surroundings; however, they do reflect the light, which makes them highly visible from some directions. Mesh dishes (open wire structure) normally suitable for C-band but not Ku-band operation. Perforated dishes (solid sheet with holes punched) are easy to press and cosmetically better than solid. Good microwave mirror properties but very slightly worse than a solid dish. | Painting a Dish I'm frequently asked about painting dishes. YES you can paint the entire dish any colour you wish, including the LNB and cable. Use the thinnest coat possible. Don't paint the LNB cap which faces the dish. Although white is a nice colour if your building is white, it reflects the sunlight too efficiently. In countries where sunshine is strong and continuous you should paint the dish a dark colour with matt (not gloss) paint. If the dish concentrates sunlight on the LNB cap, it will melt! Camouflaged dishes and unusual satellite antennas are discussed in this book.... | | 
| Installing Sky Digital TV and Freesat Companion book to our free "Understanding..". Essential reading if you want to move your old system to a new house, install a brand new Sky-Plus or standard system, fit a system to your house, apartment block, motorhome, caravan or narrow boat or use it in Europe, this book answers your questions. What size dish, what sort of cable, connectors, which receiver is best for outside the UK ... 120+ page book filled with colour photographs and easy-to-understand explanations. I guarantee you'll be delighted with this amazing book full of information! Installing Sky Digital TV and Freesat FREE BONUS BOOK!: UK Digital Satellite TV in Europe
When you download "Installing..."
Includes tips on receiving ITV in Europe. | | | | | Which Receiver? For weak signal areas, an (obsolete) Pace BSKYB2600, DS430N, or "Javelin" minibox work best. The obsolete Panasonic TU-DSB30 was good but later had software problems, while the TU-DSB20 or the Grundig GDSxxx (various models) are also quite good as the tuner selectivity is good. This phrase "tuner selectivity" means that the tuner can winkle out a weak signal even when very strong signals are present (as in the case of the weak Astra 2D signal and the strong southern beam in southern Europe). Note that good selectivity does not necessarily mean "sensitivity". Indeed a "sensitive" tuner might suffer overload from the strong signal produced by a large dish. It's possible that some non-Sky Digital Receivers will perform even better than the Sky Digiboxes mentioned above. This is an important point for the BBC channels and others which are Free to Air. In that case you may wish to add a FTA receiver to your system and use that for BBC and ITV etc. To do that, you'll either need to choose a receiver with LNB loop-through (uses the same LNB) or else change your LNB to a twin-output version that will let you use two receivers simultaneously. |
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| Will an amplifier improve my signal/picture? CLICK HERE to find out |
Dear Martin I read with interest the piece in your newsletter on Astra 2D channels dropping out at random on the Panasonic Digibox and the Panafix2d filter solution. I've had this problem for ages on 2D, but with a Pace 2500. My complete system is : Cambridge G57 'platinum' LNB, 1 metre solid offset dish, Cryptik DisEqC motor, about 40 metres of CT100 connected to an Echostar DSB-808 then the LNB loopthrough to the Digibox. It's certainly no lack of signal - I live in the London area! The Echostar TP signal strength meter indicates between 85 and 90% for Astra 2A/B and Eurobird, dropping to between 80 and 85% for 2D. Dish alignment can't be bad as I can get all expected satellites for a 1m from 45E to 30W (whereafter trees come into play). It's also not TP specific. I can have problems getting one or more channels whilst others on the same TP are fine. The only solution at present is as you say by channel switching until the one you want comes up. I would be interested to know if you think this filter would help on the Pace. Regards Steve Potter I think it unlikely. The losses in your cable coupled with the connections to the DisEqC motor may be causing the problem. Try connecting directly to the LNB with the shortest possible length of coax. 40m is really on the top limit. Best Wishes, Martin Hi Martin Thought I'd drop you a note to say thanks for the tip. Unfortunately due to geographic location (rear of house faces due south) and the wife (AV equipment in the front room, please) shortening the cable was not a real option. I managed to loose about 4 metres with a bit of re-routing! So, I had the ever efficient Nicola dispatch me a Global TVRO16F. This made only a marginal difference to the 2D channel switching problem, but made a big improvement to signal stability, especially on marginal channels such the Italian ones on the Eurobird S2 beam. Of course now we have plenty of BBC FTA channels to observe, channel switching with the Echostar is not a problem - it never fails to lock on to 2D channels unlike the Digibox. As a matter of interest I recently upgraded the Echostar software to EchoNav v3.01 from v2.2 and experienced a problem that neither the dealer nor Eurosat were able to explain, but came up with a workaround. After about 2 days, having selected DisEqC 1.2 motorised from a factory reset, it would revert to the default Fixed Dish setting, making further sat positioning impossible without another reset. The workaround is to select 2 LNBs with DisEqC 1.2 (just in case you come across anyone else with the problem). Kind regards -- Steve Potter August 27, 2003 Thanks for the info. The TVRO16F is supposed to be fitted after about 40m of cable so I'm interested to know where you positioned it as, in general, attaching it behind the receiver is not recommended! I'm receiving more reports of 2D problems with Pace Digiboxes but, as I don't have one here to investigate, I'm no closer to a solution. I have a suspicion it may be yet another symptom of the ZIF tuner problem. Best Wishes, Martin Aug 29th 03 Dear Martin Before I fitted the TVRO16F I called Global and asked if it should be at the receiver or LNB end - they said it didn't matter! So of course I took the easy option and it is behind the receiver. For sure it has stopped at lot of the picture breakup problems on weaker signals. I did a straight comparison, with and without, checking the Echostar signal quality meter and without the TVRO16F the level would be about say 60%, then drop for a second or so to 30%, then go back to 60%. With the TVRO16F it remains stable. However I did wonder if the TVRO16F was the factor with the Echonav 3 problem, even though it had not been a problem with 2.2. Are you thinking I should fit it at the LNB end - if so, between the motor and LNB or after the motor? Steve No, as I recall from about 13 years ago, they told me it should "after approx 40 - 45m of cable for best results". I was just curious. It's a trade off between amplifying noise and amplifying signal. If it's close to the dish then it will be amplifying more signal than noise but, since the signal is already strong, it may be overloaded. Further from the LNB, the cable has picked up noise and the signal is weaker so both get amplified. You might like to try it at or near the LNB. Martin Pickering Dear Martin Having fitted the Global TVRO16F between the LNB and motor as you suggested I am no longer experiencing the Astra 2D channel switching problems on the Pace 2500. I left it a while to try it in different weather conditions and times of day. Finally we have some heavy rain and it's still switching channels no problem. Kind regards Steve Potter Sunburn During the months of March and October, the sun goes directly behind Astra 28.2'E This can have two effects: - Your satellite picture and sound will disappear for a few minutes
- If you live in a hot, sunny place, your LNB cap might melt!
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