In article <55tpkcF26ar22U1@mid.individual.net>,
Pat <psweeney@riversway.ac.uk> wrote:
> "Bill (Adopt)" <adopt@billsimpson.com> wrote in message
> news:4ec41b41c2adopt@billsimpson.com...
> > In article <55qvl7F26g0n6U1@mid.individual.net>,
> > Pat <psweeney@riversway.ac.uk> wrote:

[..]
> For what it will cost me Bill I might just see if I can mount it on a pole
> in the garden. if not, nothing lost. Do you think I need a bog dish if I am
> having a motor? I wonder if I will get away with a 60cm dish if its
> motorized?

Hi Pat..

Sorry for the late reply, just got back in..

...erm.. Although not experienced with it, I'm not too sure
if a 60cm dish will grab all of the available satellites,
or that it would manage to grab the wider range of channels
available on those satellites that it can focus upon...

I guess you may be able to get much of the channels from the
Astras at 19.2E and 28.2E/28.5E, which is where most (Sky)
60cm dishes or their smaller digital 45cm(?) dishes are aimed.
You might possibly be able to get much of the Hotbird group
at 13E as well, but I can only guess that Turksat 42E and
Hispasat 30W may prove somewhat more elusive.

(Perhaps the reason why some report that Turksat is impossible
to acquire is that they're using too small a dish).

Other satellites outside that range, especially at the far
extremes of our part of the Clarke Belt from NSS703/57E or
perhaps a bit beyond and Intelsat 9 at 58W will probably
prove difficult if not impossible to get.

I guess that 80cm/85cm might be a practical compromise -
although as said general planning regs have recently changed
to allow the use of a 100cm dish, plus an additional 60cm
dish.

As for the "pole in the garden", yes.. it should be OK,
providing it has some sort of stable base. I think Jim
(from Gibralter?), might be able to advise better here.
I believe he has a wide experience of such mounts ..but
remember that dishes in the UK are mostly aimed a little
'lower' - sort of 'along' the horizon - as compared to
those in more southerly latitudes, which point a little
more vertically into the heavens...

...but yes ..it should work if your mount or tripod is solid
enough to support the mass of your dish and motor. Remember
that, for the motor to be effective at pointing your dish
correctly around the arc, the vertical part of your mount
will still need to be not only very stable in all sorts of
weather - but remain perfectly perpendicular, otherwise it's
range of focus will very rapidly degenerate...

Certainly many mobile/camping setups also have such mounts -
although not always with motors - and as lighter-weight
mobile mounts are quite successful, at least for the
stronger satellite signals and general news/entertainment
channels from the stronger sources.

As for the dishes themselves, apart from size and such
details as being reasonably weatherproof etc, there's no
need to go to enormous expense. Mine, (a LiDL 85cm now
around 14.99gbp but at the time initially part of a
complete analogue kit at 39.95gbp), has to date withstood
the elements for the last 36 months without any sign of
distress, rust or lack of fine-focus performance..

I daresay there will be a few much more expensive dishes
that might be better contstructed, but as you know, purchase
price is not always a good indicator!

Similarly, you earlier mentioned the LNB. Yes, you will get
a more sensitive LNB at the high end of the cost scale - but
again whether or not it will get you anything more useful is
another matter.

(I can equally warrant that a 3.99gbp Universal LNB with a
3 year comprehensive guarantee from LiDL will get you most
everything - as indeed will many if not most similar LNBs)!

Perhaps, for the dish and the LNB, start at the cheaper end
with that which you judge to be of reasonable quality and
then only upgrade once experienced and looking for that small
increase in performance that might get you that extra feed
or two lurking in the background, among the many thousands
that you will already be enjoying...

hh... )

Bill ZFC
e&oe...! )

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