Hi snap1946; yes i used to use Mast head amplifiers ( Kingray make a very good mast head amplifiers, but there are other brands ) with the antenna that i used to have and it made a big differance to the television reception, up to a point. Even with a good quality antenna, amplifier, and a telescopic mast in some areas reception could be quiet poor and unwatchable. In the end i cracked it and when out and bought a Vast sattilight reciever from one of the local sales rep's that were comeing through my area ( i work in the electronic industry- repairs and antenna installations for nearly 30 years )And use a old S/H Austar dish & LMB. This has not let me down as yet and the inital cost can be a pricey, but NOW i have perfict reception were ever i go.
The only hard part is trying to find the sattilight and alighn the dish, practice makes easyer with time.
Hi turbopete; LMB is Low Noise Block. This is were the coax cable connects to. It is the recieving part of the dish and recieves the focused signal from the dish ( works on the same principle as the head light on you car, but in reverse ). As the frequency from the dish is very high there is also a converter built in that electricly changes the input frequency to a lower frequency and this frequency is then fed down the coax cable to your reciever ( Vast, Austar, etc ).
Be cause of the higher frequency, this is why useing good quality coax cable is very important.
One other thing that some people may or may not know is there are two types of signals the the sattilight transmitts and they are horizontal and vertical signals, and the polarity of the signal that you want is determined by the voltage that is sent up from your reciever ( 13 or 18 Volts ).
i have an old austar dish on my house can i use that what else would i need
cheers snap
Hi Snap, you certanly can. Even the LNB will be the right one for Vast and Foxtel etc.
You need cable. Work out the length you need. About 15 will do. You can run up to 30M with RG6 cable. Your local antenna bloke should be able to supply you with some cable and fitted fittings. Make sure they are compression fittings not crimped. Very critical. If not you can get it from Bunnings/Jaycar etc.
i have an old Astor dish on my house can i use that what else would i need
cheers snap
Hi Snap, you certainly can. Even the LN will be the right one for Vast and Fox tel etc.
You need cable. Work out the length you need. About 15 will do. You can run up to M with REG cable. Your local antenna bloke should be able to supply you with some cable and fitted fittings. Make sure they are compression fittings not crimped. Very critical. If not you can get it from Burnings/Jay car etc.
Buy or make a tripod/mount.
Al.
hi AL
what else would i need besides the dish to get TV reception
i have an old Astor dish on my house can i use that what else would i need
cheers snap
Hi Snap, you certainly can. Even the LN will be the right one for Vast and Fox tel etc.
You need cable. Work out the length you need. About 15 will do. You can run up to M with REG cable. Your local antenna bloke should be able to supply you with some cable and fitted fittings. Make sure they are compression fittings not crimped. Very critical. If not you can get it from Burnings/Jay car etc.
Buy or make a tripod/mount.
Al.
hi AL
what else would i need besides the dish to get TV reception
Sorry Snap I usually proof read my posts! LNB, RG6, 30M.
Apart from your sat dish assy-
Mount/tripod etc
Cable- 15M is a good length as you can run up to 30M with RG6 and cheap. Your local antenna bloke should be able to look after you in this respect. (get a quote and let me know). Make sure he uses compression fittings not crimp. This is essential.
A "patch lead" made up by the antenna bloke. Same as your 15M lead only short to go from your wall plate etc to your topbox.
Topbox- I'm assuming you want free to air, so a Vast box is about $260 the last I looked. Haven't fitted one for some time. Pricey yeah for FTA but that's it. There is a new box out at $450 that records etc.
A meter for tuning in your dish assy. I haven't had any experiance with these as I use a pro meter. From what I hear, there are some good units out there.
A smart phone can be handy for finding the satellite and incline. There are free apps online.
Snap, it can sound all quite daunting, but mate, it's not that bad. You will make quite a saving by starting with an old Austar dish assy. Give it a go and keep all posted and you will get help along the way.
Yes, you can use a Masthead Amp as mentioned, it also needs a power supply unit. Should be coupled with a Band Specific Antenna (other wise you are amplifing all the other junk across the frequency your wideband antenna will pick up).
I think UHF (band 4/5) covers most digital translators across Oz.
Major Cities will still use VHF off there main tower though
Satilite option:
You can get an Auto Sat finding dish, it will automatically deploy and find Optus C1/D3 for the viewing of VAST or Foxtel.
Or you can postion your dish manually. In which case you need to use "dishpointer" with you actually location added, this will give a very good starting point and gives the exact dish evevation angle. You can also use dishpointer to line up with some object in the distance.
Then you need to use a Sat Meter like the SF-500 $42 to tune the dish to a few known transponders.
Once that is done, you are away......
-- Edited by SaltyDog on Friday 8th of March 2013 03:24:58 PM
