Hotbird and Astra2 on a zone 1 sly dish?

[devans18]

Hi all,

Currently I've got a zone 1 mk4 sly dish, aligned at 28.2e currently. I want to receive 13e as well to get freeview Italian tv through a Vu+ box. I live in the south west of the UK.

Ideally I want to be able to put an adapter on my current dish, and fit a second LNB to receive 13e, rather than fit a new dish.

I've read conflicting information on this though. Some say it's possible to receive 13e on this dish, others say not.

I'd rather not go through fitting a new dish if I can get both satellites with my current installation. Anyone know if this is achievable, or am I going to have to fit a new dish?

[Mickha]

You can receive Hotbird, 13E, on your dish, by moving it, but I'd think it's too small, to get both 28.2E, and 13E, on a small sky dish.
Personally I'd get at least an 80cm dish, which allows for bad weather, but you might get away with a good 60cm dish, depending on how west your location is.
You might also want to add a motor, in future, to provide the option of viewing other satellites, and a 80cm dish is a reasonable starting point.

[satwyn]

yes the dish i would say is too small you could use a small motor diseqc type to move from 13e to 28e if it's spot on the arc it would work

[digicon]

A Zone 1 will do both 19.2° east and 28.2° east by simply taping another LNB to the side of the existing one, as for 13° east then as other members have stated not a chance it is far too small and also you would have to redesign/lengthen the LNB arm to actually have any success.

[devans18]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I'll be buying an 80cm dish this weekend then!

[KARABANGA]

Hi You could also try with a 80cm dish and motor if youre interested. Will give you more italian channels elsewhere. Remember that most italian channels on Hotbird are scrambled and more are going to be scrambled sooner rather than later. Regards

[Detlef]

A Sly Zone 2 dish should do it too. Same fitment as a Zone 1 and the same LNBs.

[sparky_dog]

I've seen 13-19.2-28.2 working on a 60cm with multiple lnbs, but a zone 1 dish is just too small... not only the dish area, but it will be very tight for the 13 & 19.2 lnbs because of the short arm. The arm length is determined by the dish focus, so is fixed to all intents and purposes.

[devans18]

Ahh, I might go for the zone 2 dish and see if that works. I take it I would need to get another sky lnb due to the shape of the dish.

[satwyn]

another model dish would be better than the sky 60cm some will have addons for multiple lnbs on an arm at the front and you could use other makes of lnbs on the sky 60cm dish

[Detlef]

Ah! but Sky dishes are very cheap and do the job.

I have set up several Zone 2 dishes in the French Alps for mates and they work well even in bad weather and according to Astra the location is fringe for 28E at that location.

In the UK put the Hotbird (13E) LNB at the main focus and put the Astra 2 (28E) LNB in the displaced position as 28E is very strong. I have mine set the other way as 28E is my preferred sat - I even have a 19E LNB mounted between them to get the German stuff.

[digicon]

Using another type (standard) LNB on a Zone 2 dish will work but not as effectively as the official Sky Quad, i am pretty sure we all know the Zone 1/2 dish is elliptical in shape and so is the feedhorn on the official LNB thus maximising dish surface area .

if you used anything else then your 60cm zone 2 (its actually nearer 70) becomes less efficient and more of a say 45-50cm dish surface area

[satwyn]

yes sky dishes are cheap but most 60cm dishes are cheapish i mentioned other dishes for ease of use with some supplying the extra arm adaptor as a kit the sky dish does not have this option but of course can be adapted as most things can i have also used other lnbfs on the sky dish with good results but as to what signal is lost i don't have the proper test equipment to test maybe others have

[devans18]

So, to update this a bit. I bought a zone 2 sky dish this afternoon. Reason being it will be a direct replacement for the zone 1 dish, and it comes with a LNB designed for the dish, so I can put it up without too much fuss (read: nag from the OH).

What I intend to do is install it in place of my current dish, mark up the position it's in on the wall bracket, and then try and move it to focus on Hotbird. As this is only the second time I've tried to focus a dish, I imagine it will take a while. At least if it's marked up I can get it back to Astra so she won't miss Eastenders (heaven forbid!)

Now all I need is a multi LNB adapter that fits, or make one if I can't find a suitable one.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[chariotuk]

As others have said the dish is to small. I'd consider a 2 dish setup.

I'm in the middle of England and use my old Analogue Sky dish (60 Cm equiv) originally with a 6 Deg Monoblock for 19/13 but I've recently changed to discrete LNB's and a 4:1 Diseqc switch mounted just below the dish. As I have spare outputs on my octo LNB on the 28.2 dish I've run an external cable from the 28.2 LNB to the Diseqc switch all into a spiderbox 6000 HD works a treat.

[johnhenry]

I have a 80 cm dish with 3 LNB'S fitted. I set up on 13e as my primary to align the dish, then i fitted my secondaries 19e and Thor 0.8w all connected to 4 to 1 down switch fitted to the frame of my dish. I scanned each satelite on to my receiver first starting in with position 1 Hotbird 13e, position 2 Astra 19e, position 3 Thor 0.8w, As for my Astra 28e i ran this from my sky mini dish (Sky LNB with 4 connections 2 of which went to HD Skybox for Sky+ the third connection on the Sky LNB is a spare) the 4th Sky LNB connection is then connected to the 4 position on the down switch and scanned to position 4 on the receiver. By using the Sky dish for 28e this gives room on the 80cm dish to easily fit the 3 LNB'S for 13e, 19e AND 0.8w. Do hope this all make sense