Satellite dish for boat, (maplin)

[Radio-Ga-Ga]

Hi Radio-Ga-Ga,

Sorry if I'm being a bit thick but this is all very new to me, I've managed without quite happily for 3 years but now I feel it's time to enter the modern age...

My kit is all Maxview, the Omnisat 40cm dish & camping kit complete with MXL014 digital satelite "free to air" receiver.

In their BASIC instructions there's no reference nor obvious place to even stick a card should I wish to subscribe to Sky or whoever, perhaps I need to take a better look tonight.

Though the box does say it should pick up BBC 2 or other FTA's without sticking a card anywhere ??

Once again, many thanks !

Steve

 

Just had a look at the quick start guide for it but I couldn't see a reference to the freesat channels, freesat is a set of something like 60 channels that include most of the freeview and a few others, If you check on the information screen for the box it will show the network ID this needs to say 003b, is anybody else getting Freesat on this reciever?

Edited to add: are you sure your on the right sat? hotbird and astra are very close. If your not sure tilt the dish down until you just lose the signal then turn the dish slightly east, (anti clockwise looking from the top), if you find another signal that is astra 2

Edited April 20, 2010 by Radio-Ga-Ga

[Secret Garden]

Just had a look at the quick start guide for it but I couldn't see a reference to the freesat channels, freesat is a set of something like 60 channels that include most of the freeview and a few others, If you check on the information screen for the box it will show the network ID this needs to say 003b, is anybody else getting Freesat on this reciever?

Edited to add: are you sure your on the right sat? hotbird and astra are very close. If your not sure tilt the dish down until you just lose the signal then turn the dish slightly east, (anti clockwise looking from the top), if you find another signal that is astra 2

Got it now ! didn't realize that Kim Tait is no longer in Emmerdale, seems that I've been away a while

It finds three satelites so it would seem, working out which one was Astra 28 was the key I think

Perhaps rotating the LNG 13 degrees as suggested helped too

Just need to get the dish feet suckers to work now...

Thanks for your help

Steve

[Radio-Ga-Ga]

Got it now ! didn't realize that Kim Tait is no longer in Emmerdale, seems that I've been away a while

It finds three satelites so it would seem, working out which one was Astra 28 was the key I think

Perhaps rotating the LNG 13 degrees as suggested helped too

Just need to get the dish feet suckers to work now...

Thanks for your help

Steve

Glad you sorted it, it gets easier as you get used to it!

[Grace and Favour]

Hi chaps!

 

In the next few weeks I'll be purchasing a new dish (my first), and would appreciate your opinions

 

We'll obviously be using Freesat, already have (from the house) a Humax free2air box

 

What, in your opinions, is the best satellite dish? - i.e. - the dish that produces the best receivable quality.

 

With many thanks

[nb Innisfree]

Hi chaps!

 

In the next few weeks I'll be purchasing a new dish (my first), and would appreciate your opinions

 

We'll obviously be using Freesat, already have (from the house) a Humax free2air box

 

What, in your opinions, is the best satellite dish? - i.e. - the dish that produces the best receivable quality.

 

With many thanks

 

We have a setup from Aldi which works well. The only snag we have with sat tv is the inability of our Humax PVR (9300T model) to record it, only able to record terrestrial. Mind you around the canal system we find, on average, a terrestrial signal more easily available than a satellite one.

[Grace and Favour]

We have a setup from Aldi which works well. The only snag we have with sat tv is the inability of our Humax PVR (9300T model) to record it, only able to record terrestrial. Mind you around the canal system we find, on average, a terrestrial signal more easily available than a satellite one.

Many thanks, food for thought (but the Humanoid* boxes are good aren't they . . . . (*family name for Humax))

 

Interesting comments about terrestrial though . . . . . .

[Radio-Ga-Ga]

Hi chaps!

 

In the next few weeks I'll be purchasing a new dish (my first), and would appreciate your opinions

 

We'll obviously be using Freesat, already have (from the house) a Humax free2air box

 

What, in your opinions, is the best satellite dish? - i.e. - the dish that produces the best receivable quality.

 

With many thanks

 

Metal/mesh dishes are very fragile and once bent are near impossible to fully repair. whatever brand I would go for one of the fibreglass dishes even though they are a lot more expensive.

same as aerial (and other things in life) size is everything, a 30cm dish looks neat, but bigger means more signal, mine's a 60cm and works well for me but does look big on a narrowboat. some folk say smaller dishes are less prone to signal loss from boat rocking, but the jury is out on that, most mini dishes will give you a 60-70% signal at best, my 60cm shows 90-95% signal and when facing over the side of the boat (worst case for signal loss) no ammount of deliberate rocking will take the signal to less than 70%. 50% is usualy the point where the picture is likely to be lost.

but you're bound to get different reponses so good luck with the final choice

[nb Innisfree]

Many thanks, food for thought (but the Humanoid* boxes are good aren't they . . . . (*family name for Humax))

 

Interesting comments about terrestrial though . . . . . .

 

Yes Humax are nice, but, ours does freeze up occasionally requiring a reboot to clear it.

 

Edited to add: And it sometimes stops recording for the last few minutes, very aggravating Seems these faults are quite common.

Edited April 22, 2010 by nb Innisfree

[Secret Garden]

Yes Humax are nice, but, ours does freeze up occasionally requiring a reboot to clear it.

 

Edited to add: And it sometimes stops recording for the last few minutes, very aggravating Seems these faults are quite common.

On day 3 of ownership of the Omnisat 40cm camping I found the right satelite within 3 minutes (including getting all the bits out of the cupboard)

The dish itself is black plastic & I'd imagine fairly fragile & I can't get the vacuum cups to work at all, so I don't know what's going to happen when it gets windy, are the LNG's waterproof ??

 

At least 10 channels with great reception, only nothing worth watching !

[Grace and Favour]

Metal/mesh dishes are very fragile and once bent are near impossible to fully repair. whatever brand I would go for one of the fibreglass dishes even though they are a lot more expensive.

same as aerial (and other things in life) size is everything, a 30cm dish looks neat, but bigger means more signal, mine's a 60cm and works well for me but does look big on a narrowboat. some folk say smaller dishes are less prone to signal loss from boat rocking, but the jury is out on that, most mini dishes will give you a 60-70% signal at best, my 60cm shows 90-95% signal and when facing over the side of the boat (worst case for signal loss) no ammount of deliberate rocking will take the signal to less than 70%. 50% is usualy the point where the picture is likely to be lost.

but you're bound to get different reponses so good luck with the final choice

Many thanks Radio-Ga-Ga.

That's most helpful . . . . . as our boat's a wide'n, I guess a 60 cm dish won't look too out of place, (and fibreglass is what it'll be) - and, the boat rocking will be less of a problem too, of course, (unless Phylis is in the vicinity :lol: )

 

 

 

Yes Humax are nice, but, ours does freeze up occasionally requiring a reboot to clear it.

 

Edited to add: And it sometimes stops recording for the last few minutes, very aggravating Seems these faults are quite common.

 

 

Hmm - - - I've experienced similar problems with the freezing - - though never had any recordings castrated

[Mick and Maggie]

I go for the ASTRA sat on 28.2 east, just about everything is free. See the channel list. http://www.wildsat.com/astra.htm. I also use a simple cheap sat finder, that whistles and the pitch changes with signal strength. Astra 28.2 is the third loud whistle east of due south.

[Bricksh]

Metal/mesh dishes are very fragile and once bent are near impossible to fully repair. whatever brand I would go for one of the fibreglass dishes even though they are a lot more expensive.

same as aerial (and other things in life) size is everything, a 30cm dish looks neat, but bigger means more signal, mine's a 60cm and works well for me but does look big on a narrowboat. some folk say smaller dishes are less prone to signal loss from boat rocking, but the jury is out on that, most mini dishes will give you a 60-70% signal at best, my 60cm shows 90-95% signal and when facing over the side of the boat (worst case for signal loss) no ammount of deliberate rocking will take the signal to less than 70%. 50% is usualy the point where the picture is likely to be lost.

but you're bound to get different reponses so good luck with the final choice

Last weekend i knocked my mesh dish off the roof whilst turning in a winding hole. Up to that point I had been using it on my touring caravan and then on the boat, about three years use. In between it was crammed in a bag and LNB arm removed each time. I never found it to be fragile at all. I ordered a new one yesterday, for dish and quad LNB it was 15 quid. Also I never had a problem with smaller dish size.

[Radio-Ga-Ga]

Last weekend i knocked my mesh dish off the roof whilst turning in a winding hole. Up to that point I had been using it on my touring caravan and then on the boat, about three years use. In between it was crammed in a bag and LNB arm removed each time. I never found it to be fragile at all. I ordered a new one yesterday, for dish and quad LNB it was 15 quid. Also I never had a problem with smaller dish size.

Didn't intend to knock anybody with any sort of different set-up

But fibregass dishes are very much stronger than mesh, and a larger dish gets a stronger signal than a smaller one, often getting a good signal when partly obscured.

Some people like mopeds others like cars, just a question of taste