question about motorized dish

[gulfbreeze]

Hi.
I'm trying to learn more about FTA.
I'm probably going to get this package in the near future:
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Order/Satellite-systems/Motorized-Systems.htm
The first on the page. Comes with the receiver, lnb, and dish. Is it a good deal?
Also, I noticed it doesn't come with a mount.
Should a beginner like myself hand-pick the lnb, dish, receiver,etc, or should I stick to packages like this?
Also, any recommendations for what store to buy from?
Thank you

 

[iafirebuff]

Welcome! I have the same gear as what is in that package minus the motor. It is an excellent system! And the dish does come with a nice heavy duty mount with support arms. As for where to buy, I have made all of my purchases from Sadoun. Fast service and great prices. The offer discounts and have give aways almost every month. Again, that is a great system that is easy for a beginner, but has plenty of advanced features for down the road. ENJOY!

 

[PSB]

Sadoun will not do you wrong!

All systems come with a dish mount

 

[iafirebuff]

The only other thing you will need is coax, and Sadoun has good prices on that too. Some folks like to have a signal meter too. I think I finally figured out how to use mine

 

[gulfbreeze]

Cool.
So if I get that first package, I get the dish, motor, mount, lnb, and receiver? I think I'll be getting that.
Would you happen to know which mount comes with it?
Also, I was wondering if the satellites you can pick up depend on where you are geographically. I'm in Northwest Florida just south of Pensacola.

I'm still thinking about where I would mount the dish. Our house has a slanted roof facing dead south, with clear view of most of the southern sky, but I'm scared of drilling holes in the roof. I don't think my dad would like that. Other options include mounting on the north side wall overhang facing south.
There's an extra directv dish on the north side of the house mounted to the roof overhang with the dish facing south and when I plug my receiver into it I get great signal quality.

I have some coax around here somewhere I think.

 

[PSB]

Systems come with a standard mount designed for the dish, to motorize you usually need a south facing down sloping roof for the dish to clear the roof, some members have tried on the north facing roof only to find out there is not enough clearance. Of course the roof is the last option but you may have no choice if you want to see as MANY satellites as possible!

DirecTV signals will not give you ANY quality on a FTA receiver, if its a single dish its pointing at 101º West. There is also a linear satellite at that position (AMC-4) that will be whats giving you quality, but the DirecTV dish is too small for FTA and the LNB is not compatible with linear signals!

                      Pensacola
         Latitude 30° 31.806'N Longitude 87° 16.758'W

                       Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m)   El  Skew
--------------------------------------------------------------
                               
                   
                               
                   Intelsat 905   24.5W 104.6 106.3 14.8 -56.4
                               
                   Intelsat 907   27.5W 106.5 108.1 17.4 -55.7
                               
                  Hispasat 1C/D   30.0W 108.1 109.7 19.6 -55.0
                               
                   Intelsat 801   31.5W 109.1 110.7 20.8 -54.5
                               
                   Intelsat 903   34.5W 111.1 112.7 23.4 -53.5
                               
                    AMC 12/T 11   37.5W 113.2 114.9 26.0 -52.3
                               
                        NSS 806   40.5W 115.5 117.2 28.5 -51.0
                               
                      Pas 3R/6B   43.0W 117.5 119.2 30.6 -49.8
                               
                         Pas 1R   45.0W 119.2 120.8 32.2 -48.8
                               
                   Intelsat 705   50.0W 123.7 125.4 36.3 -45.8
                               
                   Intelsat 707   53.0W 126.7 128.3 38.6 -43.7
                               
                   Intelsat 805   55.5W 129.4 131.0 40.5 -41.8
                               
                          Pas 9   58.0W 132.2 133.8 42.3 -39.7
                               
                       Amazonas   61.0W 135.8 137.5 44.4 -36.9
                               
                     EchoStar 3   61.5W 136.4 138.1 44.7 -36.4
                               
                      Rainbow 1   61.5W 136.4 138.1 44.7 -36.4
                               
               Estrela do Sul 1   63.0W 138.4 140.0 45.7 -34.9
                               
                   Brasilsat B2   65.0W 141.1 142.8 46.9 -32.7
                               
                   Brasilsat B1   70.0W 148.5 150.2 49.7 -26.7
                               
                       Nahuel 1   71.8W 151.4 153.0 50.6 -24.3
                               
                      DirecTV 1   72.5W 152.6 154.2 50.9 -23.4
                               
                          AMC 6   72.0W 151.7 153.4 50.7 -24.1
                               
                          SBS 6   74.0W 155.1 156.7 51.6 -21.3
                               
                     Echostar 4   77.0W 160.4 162.0 52.7 -16.8
                               
                          AMC 5   79.0W 164.0 165.7 53.3 -13.7
                               
                      Nimiq 2/3   82.0W 169.7 171.3 54.0  -8.9
                               
                          AMC-9   83.0W 171.6 173.3 54.1  -7.2
                               
                   Brasilsat B3   84.0W 173.6 175.2 54.2  -5.5
                               
                          AMC 2   85.0W 175.5 177.2 54.3  -3.9
                               
                          AMC 3   87.0W 179.5 181.1 54.4  -0.5
                               
                           IA-8   89.0W 183.4 185.0 54.4   2.9
                               
                      Galaxy 11   91.0W 187.3 188.9 54.2   6.3
                               
                     Nimiq 1/4i   91.0W 187.3 188.9 54.2   6.3
                               
                   Brasilsat B4   92.0W 189.2 190.9 54.0   7.9
                               
                           IA-6   93.0W 191.2 192.8 53.9   9.6
                               
                      Galaxy 3C   95.0W 194.9 196.6 53.4  12.8
                               
                           IA-5   97.0W 198.6 200.3 52.9  16.0
                               
                      Galaxy 4R   99.0W 202.2 203.9 52.2  19.0
                               
                     Spaceway 2   99.2W 202.6 204.2 52.1  19.3
                               
                DirecTV 1R/4S/8  101.0W 205.7 207.3 51.4  21.9
                               
                          AMC 4  101.0W 205.7 207.3 51.4  21.9
                               
                     Spaceway 1  103.0W 209.0 210.6 50.5  24.7
                               
                          AMC 1  103.0W 209.0 210.6 50.5  24.7
                               
                         AMC 15  105.0W 212.2 213.8 49.5  27.3
                               
                      Anik F1/R  107.3W 215.7 217.3 48.2  30.1
                               
                      DirecTV 5  109.5W 218.8 220.5 47.0  32.7
                               
                EchoStar 6/8/10  110.0W 219.5 221.1 46.6  33.2
                               
                        Anik F2  111.1W 221.0 222.6 46.0  34.4
                               
                  Solidaridad 2  113.0W 223.5 225.1 44.7  36.3
                               
                       SatMex 6  115.0W 226.0 227.6 43.4  38.3
                               
                       SatMex 5  116.8W 228.1 229.7 42.1  39.9
                               
                         AMC-16  119.0W 230.6 232.2 40.5  41.7
                               
                     DirecTV 7s  119.0W 230.6 232.2 40.5  41.7
                               
                     EchoStar 7  119.0W 230.6 232.2 40.5  41.7
                               
          EchoStar 9/Telstar 13  121.0W 232.7 234.4 39.0  43.3
                               
                     Galaxy 10R  123.0W 234.8 236.4 37.5  44.7
                               
                      Galaxy 14  125.0W 236.7 238.3 35.9  46.1
                               
                  Galaxy 13/H 1  127.0W 238.6 240.2 34.3  47.3
                               
 Intelsat Americas 7/Echostar 5  129.0W 240.3 242.0 32.7  48.5
                               
                         AMC 11  131.0W 242.0 243.7 31.1  49.5
                               
                      Galaxy 15  133.0W 243.6 245.3 29.4  50.5
                               
                         AMC 10  135.0W 245.2 246.9 27.7  51.4
                               
                          AMC 7  137.0W 246.7 248.4 26.0  52.3
                               
                          AMC 8  139.0W 248.2 249.8 24.3  53.1
                               
                   EchoStar 1/2  148.0W 254.1 255.7 16.6  55.9

       Satellite Finder is (c) Copyright 2004, P. Lutus

Some of the above satellites are C-Band (6' dish needed) check Lyngsat if you are not sure what ones.

C-Band signals have a 4 digit Freq.

Ku-Band signals have a 5 digit Freq.

 

[iafirebuff]

I have relatives in Pensacola and Gulf Breeze. Beautifull area!

 

[gulfbreeze]

Pete, I mentioned the directv dish mounted on the north side facing south because it is able to clear to the roof and get a good signal from all 3 satellites. Does this mean I would be able to mount the FTA dish on the north side too facing south and be able to clear the roof? Or is the directv dish irrelevant because it's a high powered service?
Thanks for the list.

 

[PSB]

Defiantly have a look at your elevation angles, most will clear the apex of the roof no problem.

The problem comes when you add a motor! The mount that DirecTV uses is smaller than a mount that comes with FTA dish! Some motors have the mounting tube pointing down (LIke the SG2100 + HH90) Some point UP (HH100)

This is why you may have clearance issues on a north facing roof, Sadoun does have longer mounts available!

 

[gulfbreeze]

Larry, I like this area too, I like the beaches, but I just thought about something.
How well could a 31" dish do in hurricane winds?
Last year in Katrina our directv dish didn't fall, and we probably had like 50mph winds max then.
Larry, do you know santa rosa sound between the island and Gulf Breeze?
We used to live halfway between Gulf Breeze and Navarre, across the street from the sound.
Right where the eye of Hurricane dennis made landfall. I remember we had directv, and that storm was strange. It was very windy outside, probably 120+mph for a good hour or so. And the power didn't go out untill like 10 minutes before the eye made landfall! I remember posting at a forum right before it went out, saying how crazy it was that it was storming like crazy outside and I was posting to a computer forum...then the power went out for a week.
Our directv dish there wobbled alot in the storm, but it remained correctly aligned and didn't fall.

If I installed a 31" dish very securely, would it fair as well? Seems like something that flat and large would be picked up easy. I suppose I could put it on a pole and concrete it into the ground...

 

[PSB]

Should have no problem with the Winegard 76cm dish!

http://www.winegard.com/home/76cm.htm

Environmental
Wind loading

- Operational
80.5 Km/hr. (50 mph.)
- Survival
161 Km/hr. (100 mph.)

Of course you could always remove the dish reflector during storms (4 bolts 5 minutes)

 

[voomvoom]

Some people on this site, particularly in south Florida and the Gulf coast, will simply take them down when a Hurricane becomes a threat. A dish that size is a bit easier to dismantal than the larger C-band dishes.

Al

 

[iafirebuff]

I too would lthink you would be ok. The Fortec from Sadoun comes with 2 "legs" that help support the dish. We have had 60mph winds during storms with no problems.

As for your area, One of my sets of relatives used to live somewhere on the gulf in or near Gulf Breeze, and I remeber visiting them as a kid and you had to go on a loooooooong bridge to get there. I mean like a mile or more long bridge

 

[Tron]

Being in New Orleans, I have the same worries regarding my dishes. I have two dishes on the flat roof of my shed... a 1 meter Channel Master fiberglass and a 36" on a SG-2100 motor.

Last season, of course, we were slammed by Katrina. For that storm, I removed the reflector only (leaving the mount alone) on my 1 meter Channel Master, and removed the entire motor/dish assembly from its mounting pole. Had those dishes been left up in the 140+ mph sustained winds we had, they'd have been toast.

I left both dishes up for an earlier storm last year, Hurricane Cindy. This was a minimal Category 1 storm that hit New Orleans directly. We got 80-90 mph sustained winds for about 3 hours as the storm passed overhead. During that time, I was receiving (yes, WATCHING) NASA TV on the motorized dish. I only lost signal for about 10 minutes during a brief heavy rain. The winds were howling outside, I kept looking out of the window (and even venturing outside), expecting at any moment to see the dishes go flying across the yard. They stayed mounted and correctly aligned through it all.

 

[gulfbreeze]

Wow tron, that's pretty amazing, lol, still able to watch NASA tv.
So I guess with a dish I'd keep it up in up to a category 1-2 storm, and take it down for anything more.
Larry, is it the three mile bay bridge you're thinking of?

 

[gulfbreeze]

Systems come with a standard mount designed for the dish, to motorize you usually need a south facing down sloping roof for the dish to clear the roof, some members have tried on the north facing roof only to find out there is not enough clearance. Of course the roof is the last option but you may have no choice if you want to see as MANY satellites as possible!

DirecTV signals will not give you ANY quality on a FTA receiver, if its a single dish its pointing at 101º West. There is also a linear satellite at that position (AMC-4) that will be whats giving you quality, but the DirecTV dish is too small for FTA and the LNB is not compatible with linear signals!

                      Pensacola
         Latitude 30° 31.806'N Longitude 87° 16.758'W

                       Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m)   El  Skew
--------------------------------------------------------------
                               
                   
                               
                   Intelsat 905   24.5W 104.6 106.3 14.8 -56.4
                               
                   Intelsat 907   27.5W 106.5 108.1 17.4 -55.7
                               
                  Hispasat 1C/D   30.0W 108.1 109.7 19.6 -55.0
                               
                   Intelsat 801   31.5W 109.1 110.7 20.8 -54.5
                               
                   Intelsat 903   34.5W 111.1 112.7 23.4 -53.5
                               
                    AMC 12/T 11   37.5W 113.2 114.9 26.0 -52.3
                               
                        NSS 806   40.5W 115.5 117.2 28.5 -51.0
                               
                      Pas 3R/6B   43.0W 117.5 119.2 30.6 -49.8
                               
                         Pas 1R   45.0W 119.2 120.8 32.2 -48.8
                               
                   Intelsat 705   50.0W 123.7 125.4 36.3 -45.8
                               
                   Intelsat 707   53.0W 126.7 128.3 38.6 -43.7
                               
                   Intelsat 805   55.5W 129.4 131.0 40.5 -41.8
                               
                          Pas 9   58.0W 132.2 133.8 42.3 -39.7
                               
                       Amazonas   61.0W 135.8 137.5 44.4 -36.9
                               
                     EchoStar 3   61.5W 136.4 138.1 44.7 -36.4
                               
                      Rainbow 1   61.5W 136.4 138.1 44.7 -36.4
                               
               Estrela do Sul 1   63.0W 138.4 140.0 45.7 -34.9
                               
                   Brasilsat B2   65.0W 141.1 142.8 46.9 -32.7
                               
                   Brasilsat B1   70.0W 148.5 150.2 49.7 -26.7
                               
                       Nahuel 1   71.8W 151.4 153.0 50.6 -24.3
                               
                      DirecTV 1   72.5W 152.6 154.2 50.9 -23.4
                               
                          AMC 6   72.0W 151.7 153.4 50.7 -24.1
                               
                          SBS 6   74.0W 155.1 156.7 51.6 -21.3
                               
                     Echostar 4   77.0W 160.4 162.0 52.7 -16.8
                               
                          AMC 5   79.0W 164.0 165.7 53.3 -13.7
                               
                      Nimiq 2/3   82.0W 169.7 171.3 54.0  -8.9
                               
                          AMC-9   83.0W 171.6 173.3 54.1  -7.2
                               
                   Brasilsat B3   84.0W 173.6 175.2 54.2  -5.5
                               
                          AMC 2   85.0W 175.5 177.2 54.3  -3.9
                               
                          AMC 3   87.0W 179.5 181.1 54.4  -0.5
                               
                           IA-8   89.0W 183.4 185.0 54.4   2.9
                               
                      Galaxy 11   91.0W 187.3 188.9 54.2   6.3
                               
                     Nimiq 1/4i   91.0W 187.3 188.9 54.2   6.3
                               
                   Brasilsat B4   92.0W 189.2 190.9 54.0   7.9
                               
                           IA-6   93.0W 191.2 192.8 53.9   9.6
                               
                      Galaxy 3C   95.0W 194.9 196.6 53.4  12.8
                               
                           IA-5   97.0W 198.6 200.3 52.9  16.0
                               
                      Galaxy 4R   99.0W 202.2 203.9 52.2  19.0
                               
                     Spaceway 2   99.2W 202.6 204.2 52.1  19.3
                               
                DirecTV 1R/4S/8  101.0W 205.7 207.3 51.4  21.9
                               
                          AMC 4  101.0W 205.7 207.3 51.4  21.9
                               
                     Spaceway 1  103.0W 209.0 210.6 50.5  24.7
                               
                          AMC 1  103.0W 209.0 210.6 50.5  24.7
                               
                         AMC 15  105.0W 212.2 213.8 49.5  27.3
                               
                      Anik F1/R  107.3W 215.7 217.3 48.2  30.1
                               
                      DirecTV 5  109.5W 218.8 220.5 47.0  32.7
                               
                EchoStar 6/8/10  110.0W 219.5 221.1 46.6  33.2
                               
                        Anik F2  111.1W 221.0 222.6 46.0  34.4
                               
                  Solidaridad 2  113.0W 223.5 225.1 44.7  36.3
                               
                       SatMex 6  115.0W 226.0 227.6 43.4  38.3
                               
                       SatMex 5  116.8W 228.1 229.7 42.1  39.9
                               
                         AMC-16  119.0W 230.6 232.2 40.5  41.7
                               
                     DirecTV 7s  119.0W 230.6 232.2 40.5  41.7
                               
                     EchoStar 7  119.0W 230.6 232.2 40.5  41.7
                               
          EchoStar 9/Telstar 13  121.0W 232.7 234.4 39.0  43.3
                               
                     Galaxy 10R  123.0W 234.8 236.4 37.5  44.7
                               
                      Galaxy 14  125.0W 236.7 238.3 35.9  46.1
                               
                  Galaxy 13/H 1  127.0W 238.6 240.2 34.3  47.3
                               
 Intelsat Americas 7/Echostar 5  129.0W 240.3 242.0 32.7  48.5
                               
                         AMC 11  131.0W 242.0 243.7 31.1  49.5
                               
                      Galaxy 15  133.0W 243.6 245.3 29.4  50.5
                               
                         AMC 10  135.0W 245.2 246.9 27.7  51.4
                               
                          AMC 7  137.0W 246.7 248.4 26.0  52.3
                               
                          AMC 8  139.0W 248.2 249.8 24.3  53.1
                               
                   EchoStar 1/2  148.0W 254.1 255.7 16.6  55.9

       Satellite Finder is (c) Copyright 2004, P. Lutus

Some of the above satellites are C-Band (6' dish needed) check Lyngsat if you are not sure what ones.

C-Band signals have a 4 digit Freq.

Ku-Band signals have a 5 digit Freq.

Agh... help me out here. I forgot how to measure how many degrees high in the sky something is. Something like an anglometer or something? I know we did this in science class last year... I'm talking about measuring degrees of elevation.

ok... I just walked outside with a protractor, and placed it on a level surface, and realized 50 degrees is pretty high up. Is this a correct way of measuring degrees of elevation?

 

[LordAlex]

Yep essentially that's it. I'm in FL too so our direct south angle is pretty steep. So if you are using your dish without the motor first that's where you put the 55-60. otherwise its kinda split between the motor and the dish depending on the brand.

:

 

[Mr Tony]

sort of. The dishes have an offset of between 20-25 degrees so when you aim the dish, it looks lower due to the signal bouncing off the dish

Here in Minnesota, our highest satellite is only 38 degrees. I have 2 dishes (one at G10, one at SBS6) and both are 30 elevation and they look like they're aimed directly into the house.

Prime Focus (the older C-Band dishes) look at actual angle so its true

The dishes have an elevation scale on the side, use that and not the protractor when setting up the dish or it will be a long day

 

[PSB]

Use the elevation scale on the side of the dish

 

[gulfbreeze]

PSB, in the list you posted earlier in this thread, it looks like AMC 3 is almost my true south satellite. Should I try aiming for that at first?
Thanks for all the help guys. Thanks for the help in this thread, and reading older threads and searching the forum here has helped me out alot.

I've just gotta get the money for the equipment... I'm only 14, and it's almost the end of summer, so there's pretty much nobody hiring.