New Dish needed for 28E: Selection and Installation

[pooksahib]

Hi. My mini-dish is now off the wall due to rust and I want the replacement to be rustproof. Googling tells me that you can now get a fibreglass dish which seems ideal but my local installer is offering (for those looking to go rust free) a 'solid dish' (pic attached). Does anyone recognise this dish and could tell me if it's fibreglass or specially treated metal?

Would I be right to say that fibreglass is the ultimate in non-rust? Thanks for all help offered.

 

[Mickha]

It looks like a penta dish, I got my parents a Fracarro Penta 85cm, it's quite light, and pulls in quite a good signal.
That image looks like a smaller penta, probably 60cm.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Yes, a Fracarro design, very nice if original. Though the dish on the promotion has not failed due to rust but vandalised.

Probably by the usual two drunks in Glasgow, or the gardener cutting the vine creeper whilst under the influence.

 

[pooksahib]

Har! So the Fracarro will be aluminium? Any views here as to aluminium v fibreglass?
Actually, most of the rust on my current setup is in the bracketing and I imagine the fixings on a quality dish would be the same whatever the dish material i.e. galvanised. Am I right or a meringue?

 

[rolfw]

The Fracarro alu dish is a very good dish, have used loads. The bracket is pretty well made and I believe stainless steel. If you periodically spray the bracket once installed with a rust preventative, it should last for years.

 

[pooksahib]

Hi. My soon-to be-replaced dish is a Sky minidish which has a bracket of the type pictured. Is there such a thing as a rustproof bracket designed so that the same four holes can be used to fix it to the wall? Thank you.

 

[ozumo]

Have it galvanised? There doesn't appear to be any washers, which would help stop the nuts from damaging the paint.

 

[jeallen01]

Can you get the new dish and then check if the "J" arm will fit into the old bracket? If it will fit, then take the old bracket off, thoroughly derust it and paint it with Hammerite paint as that should protect it for a decent period of time.

OTOH, the new bracket will have a bit of "adjustability" in it - can be bent inwards in a strong bench vice, or outwards with a hammer! It should be possible to open up or redrill the mounting holes with a power drill and High Speed Steel (HSS) drill bit, and then paint that with Hammerite.

 

[pooksahib]

Thanks, guys. The old bracket is too far gone to re-use. I thought there's bound to be others who've been in my position and that manufacturers would have spotted a market...

 

[jeallen01]

Very little market for"dedicated" replacement brackets for SKY dishes because they are very cheap to start with - OTOH, you might find something suitable on ebay as some sellers list "universal" brackets that might work.

 

[Channel Hopper]

I - probably - have an unused bracket of the same type in the shed

I'm guessing it is the original Channel Master type1 design

 

[pooksahib]

Hi. I've decided to get an aluminium dish but googling for one hasn't been too successful. On ebay, the dishes seem to be coming from Germany! Can anyone recommend a dealer/shop in the UK - Scotland, ideally. Thank you.

 

[Mickha]

What size? Motorized, or fixed system?
You can buy a Penta 85cm in the UK, but would be overkill for just a single, strong, satellite, but if you want difficult feeds, or obscure satellites, then you might need bigger.
Can you please provide more information, regarding size of dish required, and location of installation, ground, top of the roof, etc..

 

[jeallen01]

Basic questions about the dish for which you appear to be looking:
- What satellites do you want to receive?
- Where are you located and is that in the countryside, or in a town (where "planning rules", especially those relating to the maximum dish size, are more likely to be enforced!)?
- Do you intend to fit it on a motorised mount?
- How high can you mount it (the higher can "the better", but the more "difficult" it can then be to install)?
- What size of dish are you currently looking for?
- Finally, what is your budget for the dish, and a motor if you intend to get one?

 

[pooksahib]

I'm replacing a rusted Sky minidish used for Freesat so all I need is 60-65cm which I'll fit myself.

 

[jeallen01]

If you can't locate a suitable aluminium dish, then why not get a decent new standard Zone 2 dish and then thoroughly treat it with rust prevention protection before fitting:
- clean everything with something like Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) to remove any grease etc.
- Apart from the actual dish face, but including the rolled back edge thereof, and the horn end of the LNB, give everything a couple of coats of something like Hammerite.
- Spray the dish face with several coats of non-metallic car spray paint
- Replace the supplied normal steel bolts and nuts with stainless steel ones, and treat all the bolts, nuts, fixing screws and the interior of the LNB feedarm, with a rust-prevention liquid before fitting, then clean up the exterior surfaces of those with IPA and then paint them with Hammerite to seal all the "joints"

That should prevent corrosion for quite a long time, even in poor environmental conditions.

BTW: don't forget that even aluminium dishes will use steel fixings!

 

[pooksahib]

Excellent info - thanks for taking the time. For now, I'll keep looking for a supplier. I may have found one: .satshop.co.uk

 

[pooksahib]

Hi. According to Dishpointer on my PC, I need a skew of 10.2 whereas the app on my phone says 17.7. The difference is 7.5 which google tells me is the pre-skew on the Astra satellites. But what google hasn't so far told me is which one do I go with when installing my LNB - Dishpointer or the phone app? My thanks if you can help me out.

 

[Mickha]

LNB Skew depends upon your location, and the satellite you're aligning the dish at.

From your previous thread, you are only intending to install a fixed dish, pointing at 28.2E. If that's still the case, then first fix your dish, and attain the strongest possible signal, by adjusting your dish, before skewing, rotating, your LNB, to peak the signal.

 

[Lazarus]

Mod. Note

It might be easier, for context and continuity, to Merge all the related Threads - I'll sort if after my coffee.



Edit: Now done