Installing Dishes In Spain for 2E Chit-Chat

[Lazarus]

That crack looks nasty.

 

[Archive4]

That crack looks nasty.

Yes, I thought that myself the other day when I was setting the dish up.
Not sure if it is a lack of footing or the last quake! Something else to keep an eye on! And move the dish quick if it gets any worse

 

[4wd]

for anyone interested here are the Famaval and Laminas

Nobody is interested in such stuff on this forum :O)

Similar situation here, best reception for everything 28 would be something like 2 x 150, E & F+G.

 

[Archive4]

Had another couple of comments re people having problems with some of the HD channels on 23.5 E ( NPO2 HD ) etc. Have run some tests myself today and 23.5 E seems to have dropped by over 1 dB between 14:30 and 17:30. Not sure if it a local problem on " normal " for this bird at this time of day.
Anyone else noticed it, or had reports from friends or clients?

 

[Archive4]

Had a very unusual job today. Went back to a dish I re-aligned on Thursday, following the bad winds we have had of late.
Turned out the guy´s stb ( Bush twin tuner with hard drive ) had given up the ghost and although the lights came on, nobody was at home. No output from the box to the tv on the HDMI or scart cable. Basically, new box or repair.
The strange thing, no signal on the cables in the living room on my Smart S1 or the Emitor. OK, ladder off the bus and onto the shared roof we go!
All bolts we well tight as I expected, tried to move dish by hand, no chance. So, methinks, maybe the stb has shot a bit of HV up the coax and blown the lnb. Changed the lnb for a new one, no signal.
Starting to doubt my sanity now ( yes I know there will be comments ) so walked across shared roof to another dish about 5 pads away and tested my tester there! All ok, tester working fine ( although that dish does need some tweaking ), so back to " my dish "
Had to loosen bolts and rotate dish about three cm right to get signal back. I do not leave the mounting bolts loose, and I never work after " beer o´clock " so know it was OK when I left on Thursday. The fact I had to undo the bolts to correctly align the dish means they were done up.
Can only assume that " a n other " has been working on the same shared roof and fancied another " quick " buck from one of the neighbours.
Illegitimate individuals

 

[Huevos]

I've aligned a dish twice in a week when the weather was windy... and charged both times.

 

[samoloko]

Going to have another play now, but for anyone interested here are the Famaval and Laminas I´m comparing

View attachment 91314

They are both looking at 28.2 ish, even though it doesn´t look like it!

which one Is winner on 28.2

 

[Archive4]

I've aligned a dish twice in a week when the weather was windy... and charged both times.

Don´t disagree with that, but the only bad wind since last Thursday has been in my bathroom following Saturday nights curry!

 

[Archive4]

which one Is winner on 28.2

The Famaval prime is easier to align and get the balance between Astra 2 E,F and G. However, after quite a lot of fine tuning the Laminas gives better SNR at a higher level than the Famaval, by about 1 dB. That said, it is difficult to do a direct comparison as one is using an Invacom 0.3 dB lnb ( Famaval ) and the other is using a 0.1 dB Galaxy Innovations lnb. As one is prime and the other offset, it will be tricky to find a lnb I can use on both to do a very direct comparison.
When it comes down to appearance, I think the Laminas looks better!

 

[Lazarus]

All that, just for Emmerdale

 

[Archive4]

All that, just for Emmerdale

Well, lets face it, it´s a lot safer than leaping out of helicopters and swimming through sharks just to deliver chocolates

 

[woborny]

So, where I am, my 80x85cm dish gets most of the frequencies, but try as I may, i cannot get the ITV1HD frequencies on it.
A few weeks ago I took it with me when I went inland about 30kms to the Xativa - Ontinyent area for a job...as i had already seen that some of the 110x120 and 125x135 dishes I had done in that area were getting higher signal readings that other areas.
So after installing a 125x135 dish, and confirming the slightly better readings than what I usually get nearer the coast, I went about 1km up the road, to a nice secluded spot and get the 80x85cm dish out.
With the Ultra Black on ITV1HD still no showed.
Stuck on a GI single, and in they popped...6.9db.
So I may have found the sweet spot for the new UK beam for 2G....?

 

[Huevos]

they popped...6.9db.

On what transponder?

Theoretical limit for reception of 8PSK 3/4 is 7.9dB. Practice is worse.

So it can't have been either 11053 or 11097. So was it STV/UTV? Either that or your meter is broken and reading low.

 

[woborny]

Now, not sure which it was!

Normally I use 11053 as the benchmark, as i know 11097 tends to be harder to receive.

But there is a good chance it was 11068 - STV UTV HD....

 

[Archive4]

IBU's ain't what they used to be. Should have tried the GI212E and would have got at least 1dB more, they are better than the single.
Go back tomorrow and repeat the test

 

[Huevos]

11068 is 8PSK 2/3 so receive threshold is 6.6dB, but not strictly "ITV1 HD" though. Easy catch on a 90cm up there.

 

[Archive4]

11068 is 8PSK 2/3 so receive threshold is 6.6dB, but not strictly "ITV1 HD" though. Easy catch on a 90cm up there.

What size dish for a nice Pollock or Flounder ? I love easy catches!

 

[Huevos]

I love easy catches!

I bet you do.

 

[Tururu]

Good fishing.

 

[Archive4]

Visitors due to arrive next week, so time to rig up the temporary gazebo.



Thought it would have severe impact on signal from the 1.8 dish, but surprisingly only knocked the signals down by about 0.9 dB across the range of txp´s.