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How to Motorize a Satellite Dish

By: Mark Sieblin

A general source to tune into analogue and digital TV is with satellite installations. There are official subscriptions for TV packages from around the globe, you probably hold one too and receiving channels through a satellite dish. One truth is that if you tried turning the dish you might be able to scan in channels from other orbital positions. The horizon is full of satellites along with free to view channels that does not require a huge dish. To view FTA you don't have to pay for a registration.

The main FTA satellites in Europe are Astra 19E and Hotbird 13E, these carries many FTA channels in different languages, such as Italian, Turkish and Arabic. However there are plenty additional satellites containing free channels. A number of channels also include English audio channels. The best way to receive multiple satellites is by motorizing a dish. With motorizing a dish, you will gain the freedom of having more than one satellite positions.

Motors: There are currently a range of types of motors available, such as DiSEqC, 36v Horizon to Horizon in addition to actuators. DiSEqC motors are the most talked about and they work perfect for dishes up to 1 meter. Along with this type of motor it makes use of your satellite receivers power which works on 12v/17v. Receivers have a certain amount of output power for the motor as it combines it with the LNB. This means they are slow down and not as strong as 36v H to H motors. Still its a convenient upgrade because it makes use of the existing coax cable which previously connects to the LNB on the satellite dish so you wont need additional cables to drive the motor So for a small dish a DiSEqC motor would be a good choice. 36v H to H motors and actuators are better, can cope with higher wind loads and rotate larger dishes, they make use of their individual source of power from a receivers built-in 36v positioner. Still a lot of receivers do not have this positioner built-in but in this case you could make use of a device called VBox. The box uses DiSEqC commands to drive a 36v motor..

Basically all the motors are designed to accomplish the equivalent thing, to track the satellite arc within 180 degrees. Its not doable to see beyond this range because the remaining satellites are under the horizon, like from your location invisible. Its a good move to figure out where to place the dish so trees or buildings are not in the way of sight to the satellites you plan to receive. This could often cause complications for low elevation satellites. Limit here is the size of dish.

Lyngsat is a remarkable site that tells you which dish diameter you need from your position for any selected satellite. So the bigger dish you have, the additional channels you would be able to scan in. There is as well the possibility of subscribing to packages from further satellites. Bear in mind many channels have English audio tracks. There are choices like Documentary, Cartoon and Nature channels. So for example, if your are located in the UK you wont have to choose Sky UK. A large amount of receivers can handle multiple encryption systems.

Its worth to mention, there are multiple bands, these are operating in different frequencies. C-Band is low band and generally requires large dishes. Ku-Band that is used throughout Europe, works in higher range of frequencies. Both these bands have Vertical and Horizontal (Linear), Left and Right (Circular) polarization. A LNB type is either Linear or Circular, you could still combine two on a dish if you mount the two LNB's next to each other. When you do this you can use a 2/1 DiSEqC switch, this will automatically tell the receiver what LNB to use for the type of signal. {This way could also be an alternative to motorized installations, as its possible to catch several satellites with a fixed dish by connecting a serie of LNB's.

There are endless combination's of dishes, motors in addition to satellite receivers however don't worry its not as confusing as you may suppose. The horizon is containing loads of satellites and frequencies which everyone can watch using hardware that is available.

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