wanting to buy a satillite dish

kazza58 · Veteran Member

wanting to buy a satillite dish

KFT · Guru

Good morning kazza 58

A lot depends on where you intend to use the dish. If you will only be touring the east coast a 65cm dish will do. If you will be venturing to the north and west of Australia an 85cm will work much better as it will be easier to aim and will work better in rainy weather.

I would have a look at www.satplus.com.au and check out their caravan kits.
you could also look at www.accessantennas.com.au

These two companies are well known amongst caravanners for giving good after sales service and support and also for supplying good quality equipment.

We use a tripod mounted dish as they are much better on uneven ground and you don't need to get down on your knees to make adjustments.

hope that helps

frank

-- Edited by KFT on Saturday 12th of September 2015 09:33:50 AM

Delta18 · Guru

Good advise Frank, especially about avoiding the box type that lays on the ground, very painful on the knees.

Also consider how you will transport it. I prefer the type that allows the LNB Arm to be removed via one wingnut. The dish is then almost flat.

I have a short pole bolted to the rear bumper & the dish travels on that.

I have another taller pole on the drawbar which is mostly where the dish is operated from. Only when I can't get a clear shot at the satellite does the tripod come out.

As for pricing, under $100 should get a good dish + LNB.

Cheers Neil

TommyG · Senior Member

Although you dont mention it, I assume you are asking about a full satellite system. Dish & decoder.
If this is the case the info Frank (KFT) has provided is still your best option for retailers.
The SatKing is a better unit than the Altech.
Our 85cm dish is the type with the folding LNB arm and has lived on the back of our motorhome for over 7 years with the LNB attached. I did replace the LNB once but found that it was in fact a cable fault that was causing me grief, not the LNB at all.
I have a hinged bracket 50cm long that swings the dish away from the vehicle and I can position the dish through a radius of 270 degrees, this is handy, no mater where Im parked I can swing the dish to point to the satellite. A short cable connects the LNB to a standard antenna inlet that then goes to the decoder.
We have travelled far and wide across the country, through every state, even across the Great Central Road, with great reception everywhere. Though some areas do take a bit more patience to tune in than others. (Trees stop the signal)
Good luck with your project and be patient at first, Im sure you will find it gets easier as you gain experience and eventually becomes a 5 mins or less affair to set up.
It takes a somewhat longer with the Altech decoder, because it takes so long to boot up and get going.

banjo · Senior Member

Even though an 80cm or bigger dish is always recommended, it is not essential, we have traveled for 4 years full time, half West coast half East coast, my dish is a very good quality Hills industries ex Foxtel 65cm dish ! still available new on ebay for around $50.

Never had any issues with signal strength and quality for both the Vast system and Fox (we had fox when we first traveled but soon got rid of it) the best bit is, my dish cost $10 from the tip recycling and came with a quad lnb ! the lnb finally failed but was replaced by a new dual one for around $30.

As for stb, I have a Humax twin tuner model (we record commercial stations then blast the dreaded adverts) which is a top piece of kit, but does require a small inverter for off the mains use, we have a 300W Suresine which works our Samsung 32" led tv, sat box and our laptops and phone charging.

Stay away from the Itech type of dishes with triangular floor stand, get a low profile tripod, the main criteria with a dish is the adjusting mechanism, to allow simple setup.

Oh and many years ago I used to install sat equipment and am a qualified but now retired electrical contractor tradesman.

kazza58 · Veteran Member

Thank you for all your advice on the satellite dish...
Will.. get all the appropriate gear installed first...
I would be lost with out all your kind support...
Thank you very much.
Frank /Tommy G / Neil / Brian...