The evolution of my satellite equipment (analogue and digital) 2000 - present.
Winter 2000 - May 2001
I originally started searching for analogue satellite signals with the following equipment:
Mitsubishi ST-PB10 satellite receiver. This was an ex-Sky box that had done service for several years, and was made redundant when friends went over to Sky Digital.
60 cm mesh dish - this came with the Mitsubishi box. This dish was dismantled and stored when I got the 80cm dish in May 2001.
10m satellite cable - this was the original cable that came with the dish.
The original lnb is an ancient enhanced unbranded type, and covers 10.700 Ghz to 12.100 Ghz. (Therefore it covered the Astra 1D band without need to use an ADX frequency shifting box).
2 bricks (to hold the dish in place on the lawn!)
May 2001
The Mitsubishi remote control went wrong, so the decoder was replaced by a nice Pace MSS 100. However, the Mitsubishi wasnt junked - it still worked as long as you used the buttons on the front. It was passed onto a workmate who had a dish on the side of his house, but no box. It was reported to be still working fine in May 2002, and is used for the news channels.
Pace MSS 100
80 cm dish (scavenged from the side of the road in town on bin day!!)
the same lnb / cable (no lnb on the new dish)
3 (!) bricks to hold the bigger dish in place...
I also invested in a Philips "On Digital" DTT box to give us a basic selection of pay tv services. The extra few channels was a big bonus after only having the 5 terrestrial services, and a few strange German ones for such a long time :-)
Philips DTX 6370 DTT receiver.
June 2001
I treated myself to a lovely Echostar 3000IPVA (embedded Viaccess) digital & analogue receiver. However, the Pace is more sensitive to weak signals, so I normally use that one when I'm looking for the weaker signals or new satellite orbital slots.
A new Cambridge G57 0.6db lnb (dual band - 10.600 - 12.700 Ghz) was put on the 80cm dish to allow the Echostar to get it's full frequency range.
January 2002
A SECA conditional access module was added to the Echostar to widen it's capabilities.
The coax cable running to the 80cm dish was replaced as the original had started to split. I bought a 20m length of satellite grade coax from the local B&Q for about a tenner.
Nowadays, I have the dish supported on an old car tyre. The bricks were knocking too much paint off the dishes causing them to rust. I have also found that aligning the dish is much easier when it is sitting on a car tyre.
May 2002
Oh dear. I picked the wrong pay tv service..... With the end of ITV Digital at the end of April 2002, we lost most of our extra channels :-(
So I bit the bullet, and decided we had to go with with Sky... I treated us to a new Grundig GDS 3000 sky digibox so we can have our pay tv channels back. The picture quality is superb from this box.
The Grundig GDS 3000 Sky Digibox
The 60cm dish was bought out of store, and dusted off. A new Cambridge G57 0.6db lnb was put on it, and it's been permanently bolted to the wall on the side of the cottage. To get the Sky Digital signals, the dish was initially aligned onto Astra 2C at 19.2E, then moved onto Astra 1D at 24.2E, then finally onto Astra 2 at 28.2E.
I wanted to install all the equipment myself having seen the mess the Sky installers had made when they put a dish up next door a couple of months previously....
This far north, the 60cm dish was a little too small for the analogue Astra 1 signals - they suffered from sparklies especially in bad weather, but is perfect for the stronger Sky Digital signals.
I am hoping to get hold of an old 1.2m dish in the near future. Its a glass fibre dish with a metallic coating on the front face. It's white, so will definitely have to be painted so it blends into the garden better!
January 2003
I got hold of the 1.2m dish, but its currently safe in store at work until I find somewhere to put it.... Just been donated a redundant Nokia Sat 780 IRD, and a nice 80cm dish. Thats the 4th dish I now own. The lnb is an old single band one, and will have to swapped when the dish is put into use, but it's been dismantled and put into store for now.
February 2003
The Nokia 780 IRD has been disposed of. I tried it out and although the picture and sound was excellent, the tuning on it was hit and miss - no proper numerical details of what you were tuned to. Its been passed on to an old lady who was desperate to get Eurosport for the tennis. Her old Sky receiver packed up a few weeks ago. All working nicely, and old lady is thrilled to get her tennis coverage back :-)
March 2003
The Mitsubishi ST-PB10 has been handed back, as the chap who was using it has gone over to the new DTT "FreeView" service.
June 2003
Ive finally added a tv card to my computer, so I can watch tv on the monitor. The main reason I wanted one is for screen captures of interesting transmissions for the web sites, but its fun watching the tv on the monitor. Ive used a cheap splitter to divide the rf output at the end of our rf chain, so Ive got all the terrestrial tv channels, my beloved European satellite channels, Sky, and the video :-) At some point, I'll have to set up a proper rf distribution system, but at the moment I cant be bothered. The current system works well enough.
The card is a Pinnacle PCTV Rave, and was picked up for about 30 quid from a local big name household electrical shop.
December 2003
The Philips DTT box - redundant for 18 months since we switched over to Sky - has finally found a new home. Ive dug it out of its cupboard, blown the dust bunnies out of it, & given it to a lad from work so he can have a few extra channels.
January 2004
Some minor changes to the equipment set up. Ive swapped the LNB on the Sky dish for a 2 output MTI Blue Line 0.6dB. Ive added a DiseqC switch to the Echostar, so the second output from the Sky dish now goes to the Echostar. The 80cm moveable dish has also been connected to the DisecQ switch, so I can now switch electronically between dishes 1, 2, & 3.
April 2004
3½ years after starting with the moveable dishes, I have finally made a decent mount for one of the 80cm dishes - nothing fancy, its 2 fence posts, and some cheap bolts from B&Q! Dish 2 is now locked off pointing at 13°E.
May 2004
I now have a Triax 43cm zone 1 Sky minidish to play with. This is going to be used for test purposes to see what I can find with it.
June 2004
Another second hand 80cm dish joins the growing collection! It was rather bent, and I thought it was going to be for spare parts only. However, half an hour spent carefully straightening it out worked wonders. Initial tests showed it now picks up the low bit rate channels of 42E no problem. Havent decided exactly where it is going to be pointed, but 1W, 5E or 7E are distinct possibilities.
The Mitsubishi PB-10 has gone to a good home so some friends from work can watch Eurosport & CNN :-)
The disecq switch has had to be replaced as port 4 wasnt working. It stopped working after an accidental short circuit so I think it must have been damaged somehow...
November 2004
A 1m Orbital solid dish joins the farm. Initially tested out on 5E, I want it on 26E eventually, but the hedge is in the way. It will be going onto 5E until the warm days of Spring when I plan to make a new mount for it.
Christmas 2004
Im currently in the middle of completely revamping the dish farm in the garden. Details will be posted when its finished - bad light / rain & snow has stopped me completing the project..
February 2005
Dragon Cam added to the Echostar.
March 2005
A Fortecstar Lifetime Ultra joins the list of receivers. Its a terrific receiver, and works very well indeed.
May 2005
A rather nice Technomate TM-1000D joins the list of receivers.
September 2006
Ive treated myself to a Dreambox 7020S. Its hellish complicated after some of the other receivers and its had me scratching my head on more than one occasion!
Yet another dish joins the ever growing collection - its an white 80cm solid dish removed from the roof of my workplace. They were going to throw it away so I grabbed it! Its currently got an ancient blue cap lnb on it, so that will be replaced before it goes into service. Im thinking about spraypainting it dark green - the current bright white paint job sticks out rather badly in the garden!
Dishes:
Dish 1 (fixed - 28.2°E for Sky Digital)
second hand circular 60cm ex Sky analogue dish
MTI Blue Line 0.6dB twin output universal LNB
---output 1 to Grundig GDS 3000 Sky Digibox
---output 2 of LNB to Technomate TM-1000 in bedroom
Dish 2 (fixed - 13°E for the Hotbirds)
Dish 2 had a new mount contructed out of 2 salvaged fenceposts March 2005, and is the Hotbird dish.
second hand circular 80cm dish (rescued from the
local woodlands!)
MTI 0.6dB LNB
via DiseqC switch to Dreambox 7020S
Dish 3 (moveable - sits on an old car tyre - but spends most of its time on 19°E)
secondhand circular 80cm dish
Cambridge G57 0.6 db universal LNB
via DiseqC switch to Dreambox 7020S
Dish 4 (fixed - 16°E for Eutelsat W2)
new Orbital 1m solid dish
MTI 0.6 db universal LNB
via DiseqC switch to Dreambox 7020S
Dish 5 (fixed - 5°E
for Sirius 2)
very second hand 80 cm - was VERY bent & had been subjected to kids
jumping on it when I got it ! Half an hour with a 2lb hammer and a pair of molegrips
straightened it out nicely.
unbranded secondhand 0.6dB universal LNB.
via DiseqC switch to Dreambox 7020S
Dishes in store
1x 1.2m dish. (the mount was destroyed in a gale, so it will only be used for experimental satellite hopping on the weak satellites) Currently in my office at work! :-)
second hand salvaged dishes:
80cm saved from the side of the road in May 2001, and it really needs some work
doing on it as its rusting badly.
80cm white solid removed from the roof of my workplace & rescued from the rubbish pile.
New Triax oval Sky minidish (43cm, zone 1 type)
Grundig 0.7dB Universal LNB
currently only used for experimental purposes.
Theres a faint possibility of more dishes joining the farm, with reports of a "shed full of old dishes" from one of Carol's workmates! This definitely needs checking out at some point...
Coship CDVB2300A blind scan receiver - nice bit of kit.
Pace MSS 100 - used occasionally on one of the moveable dishes to find weak analogue signals. A great little receiver.
Amstrad SRD400 receiver. (When used with a 9750MHz LNB on a 19E dish, it picks up all the channels up to MTV Pop on 11421H - so 10 channels missing!)
Want to know where I put this pile of entertainment equipment? Have a look here. This is just the operational day to day stuff - there are large piles of other bits & pieces hidden in various cupboards round the house!
This page has a picture of the 60cm satellite dish outside in the garden during an afternoon channel hunting session in March 2001. This is the dish which is now used for our Sky Digital reception.
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