dish behind the window

[purplemarina]

I drove past the old SPECTRUM shop in Selsdon yesterday.
It is now a Kitchen and Bathroom appliances shop but the old Grundig 1.2m Gregorian dish dish from the SPECTRUM days still seemed to be on the wall.
I did not get the chance to get a good look at it as the shop is on the corner of a junction and the traffic lights were changing so I nipped through without having a good look.

i bought a tm 1000 from there years ago, still got the technomate shopping bag they gave me.

 

[rodscha]

so,this looks like an old-fashioned set.
I imagine,little gain from the double reflector then?
Were the lnbs different too?
Looks nice anyway!

 

[Manikm909]

i bought a tm 1000 from there years ago, still got the technomate shopping bag they gave me.

i remember there was a satellite shop in holloway road north london - bought a receiver there once, for a monoblock setup, must have been 1998 - do you remember also, there were satellite shops in tottenham court road - all gone now.....that was great for tech gear, and due to the amount of shops all selling tech stuff - you could play them off against each other - however, i think they all knew each other, so the customer was always the fool.

ahh it was turbosat !

https://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/satellite-television-services/45078-turbosat

maybe this could be a new thread starter topic =- "old satellite shops"

 

[jeallen01]

i remember there was a satellite shop in holloway road north london - bought a receiver there once, for a monoblock setup, must have been 1998 - do you remember also, there were satellite shops in tottenham court road - all gone now.....that was great for tech gear, and due to the amount of shops all selling tech stuff - you could play them off against each other - however, i think they all knew each other, so the customer was always the fool.

ahh it was turbosat !

https://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/satellite-television-services/45078-turbosat

maybe this could be a new thread starter topic =- "old satellite shops"

I think that's from where I bought my very first sat system in 1991!

I "jumped straight in" with an NEC 5000 steerable system, including the demo-system dish and mount that was bolted to the outside front wall because I figured that it should be correctly set up in terms of elevation & declination, and so all I would have to do would be to get it pointed in the right direction when I got it home. OTOH I didn't then make it easy for myself by deciding to mount it on top of the front bedroom bay window and thus had to run all the cables through the attic and down to the downstairs rear lounge, but I eventually did all that and the system then worked well for quite a few years.

As for other, now defunct, sat shops, there was one in Croydon (also called Spectrum or something like that??) from which I bought my first Sky Digital system in 1998 (and then quite a few "pirate" cards for various decoders to attach to the receivers which replaced the NEC!)

 

[moonbase]

As for other, now defunct, sat shops, there was one in Croydon (also called Spectrum or something like that??) from which I bought my first Sky Digital system in 1998 (and then quite a few "pirate" cards for various decoders to attach to the receivers which replaced the NEC!)

See post 19 of this topic.

 

[jeallen01]

See post 19 of this topic.

Didn't realise that that part of Croydon was called Selsdon - thought that was referring to somewhere in the Midlands

OTOH, there was also SMS in the Camberley area - bought stuff from there in the early 2000's, including one of their own-branded "old-style" analogue sat meter that I still found to work very well when I last aligned a dish (in 2021).

 

[Channel Hopper]

so,this looks like an old-fashioned set.
I imagine,little gain from the double reflector then?
Were the lnbs different too?
Looks nice anyway!

The advantage is better discrimination between different polarities.

Fibo/Philips design must be around 25 years old now, just as universal LNBs were appearing. The integral feed would be used with a polariser and single (or wideband) LNB, but could accomodate the newer type though fitting was fiddly unless you used hex bolts and a lot of self amalgamating tape.

 

[rodscha]

so,no way I could buy this type of dish now... just a bygone set up?

 

[Channel Hopper]

Didn't realise that that part of Croydon was called Selsdon - thought that was referring to somewhere in the Midlands

OTOH, there was also SMS in the Camberley area - bought stuff from there in the early 2000's, including one of their own-branded "old-style" analogue sat meter that I still found to work very well when I last aligned a dish (in 2021).

I first started out in the business at a shop in Cheam, Clearview in the mid 80's.

Selling domestics but dabbling with C-band kit for Russian TV, and the -much- larger Ku outdoor equipment.

The parade of shops has changed but the lamppost I used to chain the 90cm dish to for Gorizont is still in place.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[RimaNTSS]

I imagine,little gain from the double reflector then?

In addition to polarities issue CH already mentioned, the side-lobe situation also better. And with double-reflector design you will never burn the LNB during sun-outage periods. But the main advantage of the double reflector design nowadays is the "show off".... I mean, it is complicated and looks nicer than simple antenna.

 

[rodscha]

the side-lobe situation affects me:Carcassonne and Astra2.
But is there a 120cm dimention available?

 

[ozumo]

the side-lobe situation affects me:Carcassonne and Astra2.
But is there a 120cm dimention available?

Cahors SMC 120 Dual Optics

 

[RimaNTSS]

But is there a 120cm dimention available?

Fibo made 3 versions of dual-reflector antennas 55cm, 90cm and 120cm.
CAHORS also made dual-reflector designs.
I personally think that main part in dual-reflector antenna is the SUB, as it has very difficult and precisely made surface (impossible to replicate at home). But for main mirror, I think it is better to use plastic antenna like Channel Master, Prodelin or Cahors. I went this way several times when I used the SUB on Channel Master and Prodelin antennas and got satisfactory results.

 

[purplemarina]

Didn't realise that that part of Croydon was called Selsdon - thought that was referring to somewhere in the Midlands

OTOH, there was also SMS in the Camberley area - bought stuff from there in the early 2000's, including one of their own-branded "old-style" analogue sat meter that I still found to work very well when I last aligned a dish (in 2021).

I bought stuff from the camberley shop, i think it was on a industrial estate if i remember correctly. i also remember going to bristol to buy a feed horn from hisat (tony hiscox) he was trading from his house at the time.

 

[rodscha]

Cahors SMC 120 Dual Optics

do they still sell it?

 

[ozumo]

do they still sell it?

Probably better to ask Cahors. Found one here but it isn't cheap:

https://shop.level421.com/Visiosat-120-cm-KU-Band-Dual-Optics-divided-Cross-Pole-Rx-Tx-Antenna

 

[RimaNTSS]

but it isn't cheap:

ouch But it's interesting model though.

 

[Manikm909]

What's the point of a 1.2m dish cut in half ?

 

[Trust]

What's the point of a 1.2m dish cut in half ?

Easier and more secure to transport , fits in any car

 

[Channel Hopper]

Fibo made 3 versions of dual-reflector antennas 55cm, 90cm and 120cm.
CAHORS also made dual-reflector designs.
I personally think that main part in dual-reflector antenna is the SUB, as it has very difficult and precisely made surface (impossible to replicate at home).

Actually there is some kitchen cookware that does rather well as a subreflector.

WOKGRYTA, gjutjärn, Rela Electro 33

WOKGRYTA, gjutjärn, Rela Electro 33

sodersens.se

Will get the exact dimensions tomorrow.