Advice on monoblock installation in sky dish

[anonimity]

Hello,
I have recently moved to a new flat and that has a sky dish preinstalled. I would like to replace the original LNB with a monoblock LNB so as to watch ASTRA and HOTBIRD.
I must note, I am completely new to this and have no idea how to install it, on the other hand I don't want to spent money on a professional installer if it is easy (for an amateur) to do it.
Any advice? Also, is the configuration going to work with the sky 60cm dish or needs 80cm?
Cheers.

 

[Lazarus]

Tricky.

Monoblocks are designed to work most efficiently with 80cm dishes, but are generally ok for slightly smaller or larger.

Indeed, I have one on an old Sky "Analogue" dish.

But there is another issue as the current Sky dishes are wider than they are high - the opposite of a standard dish.

Add into the mix the fact that a Monoblock LNB will have a Feedhorn designed to match a normal dish and you have the potential for a difficult installation.

I have read of people succeeding, but not totally ie on all frequencies.

So my advice would be to replace the Sky dish with a proper one - provided the existing dish serves only you and not other flats too.

 

[PaulR]

There are two Astras. Monoblocks are for fairly narrow differences in satellite position and a six degree monoblock would be needed between Astra 1 at 19E and Hotbird at 13E...

BUT $ly is at Astra 2 at 28E and anyway a $ly minidish isn't really big enough to get a decent signal from a secondary satellite (even if you could get a monoblock to fit).

It can be done but you would need a larger satellite dish, preferably 80cm but 70cm would be ok most of the time, and you would need two separate LNB on a multi-LNB holder. I have an 80cm dish with LNBs pointing at 13E (primary position), 19E and 28E. You could run two leads or put a DSeqc switch at the dish end if you only wanted a single lead.

 

[anonimity]

Thanks for the quick reply Tivu. Do you have any link with the success stories handy?

 

[Lazarus]

Thanks for the quick reply Tivu. Do you have any link with the success stories handy?

Not without searching extensively ............... which you could do yourself!

Anyway, my reply assumed you meant Astra 1 at 19.2E because that is a "standard" use for a Monoblock.

PaulR reminds us there are other Astras ............. and not even just 2: There's Astra 3 at 23.5E and Astra 4 at 4.8E as well as Astra 1 and Astra 2.

So we need to be clear which Astra you want: I've no doubt it's either Astra 1 or Astra 2, but if it's the latter, then my answer doesn't apply anyway.

 

[PaulR]

There's Astra 3 at 23.5E and Astra 4 at 4.8E as well as Astra 1 and Astra 2.

Very true and I had forgotten that when posting.

So we need to be clear which Astra you want: I've no doubt it's either Astra 1 or Astra 2, but if it's the latter, then my answer doesn't apply anyway.

I'm fairly certain it's Astra 2 as the OP taks about a $ly dish.

 

[Lazarus]

I suspect you are right, but at least we've given answers which relate to either possibility! My initial assumption was he intended to re-align it - which is why I shoved in the afterthought about whether anyone else had an interest in the dish. moving it off 28E might seriously spoil their day

Anyway, more info required from OP, please.

 

[anonimity]

Thank you guys for your thorough help. Just to clear things up indeed my initial plan was to pick 13E and 28E which as I was informed is not gonna work with a single dish and a monoblock
So, I reconsidered and I have two options. The first is to install another dish for 13E and use a DiSeqC adaptor (expensive) or to ignore 28E completely and the second to realign the dish to 13E (cheap).
Now, as I am completely new to it I suspect this is not as simple as slightly turning the dish isn't it? I am willing to put some effort on doing it.

 

[satelliteman]

You could,

1. Put up another zone1 dish for 13e connected to a DiSEqC switch.
2. Align the current dish to 13e.
or 3, install for example a 70 Raven and have all three satellites 13, 19 & 28e with single feed to receiver.