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Hotbird on the cheap
CherylFan
Posts: 1,620 Forum Member
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Hi there
Is it possible to use a portable satellite dish (like those for caravan use) to get Hotbird? I already have a 90cm dish on the roof with 2 LNBs (for 19.2 and 28.2) and am looking for a cheap way of getting Hotbird, which I would only need occasionally. (I live in Warwickshire).
Thanks
Is it possible to use a portable satellite dish (like those for caravan use) to get Hotbird? I already have a 90cm dish on the roof with 2 LNBs (for 19.2 and 28.2) and am looking for a cheap way of getting Hotbird, which I would only need occasionally. (I live in Warwickshire).
Thanks
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Or you could add another LNB to your 90cm pointing at 13e, that would work equally as well.
What about swapping the lnb for Astra 19 for a duo lnb ?
A 90cm dish will hapilly get all three. Just fit a third LNB. That's exactly what I have.
Then he couldn't switch between three. A duo has the diseqc switch built in which stops you switching to a third, He might not even have a diseqc control source - he could be manually switching between the two or three.
Yes I am indeed manually switching between the cable feeding from the "Sky" lnb and the 19.2 lnb. I was trying to find a way of accessing hotbird without having to get a satellite engineer onto the roof!
Hotbird is an easy sat to get, whenever I'm setting up my Astra 1 dish for the F1 I nearly always end up on Hotbird if it's gone out of alignment and I'm trying to find the strongest sat!
According to Satbeams here in South Notts the signal strengths of the sats I've found strongest are (strongest to weakest)
Eurobird - 56dBW
Astra 1N - 54dBW
Hotbird is next at 53dBW
Astra 23.5 at 52dBW
Astra 2A & 2B at 50dBW
Astra 19.2 at 50dBW
(from my experimenting this seems to be about right).
I have the DiSEqC switch permanently connected to my receiver, Astra 2 in port 1 and when I have the F1 dish up I simply plug that into port 2. When playing I had Hotbird on port 4, and Astra 23.5 in port 3 (all from a 60cm dish).
I`m guessing that if I really want to go for broke and try to receive the Metropolitan Opera`s live opera telecasts I need to go properly motorized!
You could get a zone 2 Sky minidish,or a 60cm standard dish and get a monoblock lnb,and receive both Astra 1 and Hotbird.
Stick the dish on to the fence or side of the garden shed/outhouse to keep the cost down.
As for the Met's live broadcast,they are also broadcast on 5W,(no English subtitles,only French),which is receivable on a zone 1 minidish,but as they are live feeds,I don't know if a stable signal can be received on a zone 1 minidish.
Maybe someone who's tried can let us know.
Thank you - appreciate all the help. My current dish is 90cm on the chimney with twin lnbs one for sky and one for 19.2. Not sure whether a second dish mounted on the fence is going to be acceptable to my nearest and dearest but for occasional use I might be able to get away with one which can be put up when required and then stowed away. Sounds a lot of hassle though. And alighting with an intermittent live feed source from a different satellite ie 5W might be even more of a hassle as presumably one of those signal meter/satellite finder gadgets would only "find" such a source when a live feed is broadcast.
I can only speak from my own experience.
I've been using a zone 2 minidish with a standard monoblock lnb,for a number of years now,apart from not receiving a couple of transponders on Hotbird,I've had a stable signal from both Hotbird and Astra 1,in all weathers.
Don't forget 0.8W if you want English subtitles... the 0.8W feed is considerably weaker than the 5W feed though so you may loose it in bad weather.
As a rule I don't take a chance and use the 5W feed with French subtitles.
still more than possible, i know this through experiance.
i have a zone 1 sky dish set up for sky at 28.5 but have rigged another lnb up to the dish for 19.2 and have no problems with signal unless there is heavy rain.