DIY installations

jister · 11-11-2002 2:13pm #1

I want to do a DIY installation at a second house. I am planning to buy a second minidish and cabling and bring the digibox with me from time to time. Any tips on how it can be done?

Cloud · 11-11-2002 4:18pm

http://www.the-cool-book-shop.com/
Satellite TV -> Installing Sky Digital

Greenman · 11-11-2002 4:30pm

I've always found it easy.If your dish can be close to the ground for easy access ie to turn and twist it.I always use a portable tv and box and I move around till I get a signal.If your neighbour has $ky see where his dish is pointing.$ky's signal is strong so getting a signal will be easy.
Finally look here as this guy seems to cover most things
http://www.davesull.dabsol.co.uk/

Regards JD!!! Belgium!!!
PS Let us know how you get on!!!

Tony · 12-11-2002 1:06am

Originally posted by Cloud
http://www.the-cool-book-shop.com/
Satellite TV -> Installing Sky Digital

Excellent source of info, Martin Pickering really knows his stuff.

Tony

jister · 18-11-2002 5:41pm

Thanks for the help guys. Looks like it shouldn't be too difficult.

Next question, where is the cheapest place to buy a dish that will do the job. Basically what I want to do is buy is a dish, brackets, LNB and 50' of cable etc, so all that I have to do is stick the dish onto the wall, point it in the right direction and push the cable through a hole in the wall and screw it into my digibox. No crimping, no cable cutting etc. If I have too much cable I can leave it behind the TV.

Tony · 18-11-2002 7:00pm

take a look at my site and let me know what you think

url below

jister · 02-12-2002 11:25am

I got a quote from mid west communications for €150 for the dish and €100 installation! I replied to their email and said I could buy a dish for about €75 from www.satellite.ie and that I would do the installation myself. They then replied to me informing me that I wouldn't be able to do a DIY installation as I would need a digital tuner and they also tried to tell me that I will have to have to have the phone plugged in all the time. There is nothing more annoying than dealing with "professionals" who either don't have a clue, or tell lies in order to try convince you to give them your money.

If I can't tune in the dish manually then I will buy a tuner, which will cost me a lot less than their €100 installation fee.

watty · 02-12-2002 11:42am

Signal meter, not tuner.
You only need an Analog meter..

You can do it perfectly with Digibox built Signal/Quality meter, once you find the right satellite! (A compass is a help, but go to www.lyngsat.com "sat tracker" to discover what bearing the Astra / Eurobird satellites at 28.2 that carry Sky are at from your house. Do correction for magnetic versus true north...

Or point dish at about same direction as a neighbor and then fine tune it when you get a signal.

It can be done with no compass, no meter just with reading the "book" and patience.

It is quicker if you have compass, meter (£20stg) and experience

jister · 02-12-2002 12:51pm

I checked the message again and they did say meter, not tuner, but thats not the point. I will gladly spend hours (although from the links above it should take less then an hour, worst case scenario) doing this myself just for the satisfaction of not paying somebody €100 for a few minutes work.

Tony · 02-12-2002 1:00pm

In fairness it is more than a few mins work. Remember the guy has to get to you from wherever he is (return trip) he has to maintain a vehicle and hopefully carry insurance (although these days most of us cant even get a quote) 100 Euro (incl vat @21%) is about right for a an installation including ct100 cable, if its just an alignment, assuming you have it mounted on the right wall , then it should be less.

Good luck with the installation, as Watty says study and patience are the key.

Tony

Originally posted by jister
I checked the message again and they did say meter, not tuner, but thats not the point. I will gladly spend hours (although from the links above it should take less then an hour, worst case scenario) doing this myself just for the satisfaction of not paying somebody €100 for a few minutes work.

watty · 02-12-2002 4:09pm

I agree with Tony. 100 Euro is a bargain for a trained persons time, sep including travel time.

Of course some insatallers are very good, and others may be poor than a DIY.

If you are confident and experienced in drilling holes in a south or east facing wall then it is achievable DIY.

If you the sort of person that breaks a light switch by looking at it too hard and ends up setting fire to drill or demolishing wall ("Some Mothers Do have them" / Michael Crawford), then PAYING a professional is a saving.

Here are quite a few DIY satellite pages. Ignore multi-LNB stuff for now (esp. on a Digibox):
http://homepage.eircom.net/~watty/satellite/satellite.htm

These pages I did millions of years ago has step by step photos of how to make the cable / satellite F-Connectors and TV connectors.

psychotic mouse · 03-12-2002 12:12pm

Realistically, how easy is it to install a dish. I've recently moved from Dublin to Cork City & brought my dish with me (presume dish size is ok) - numerous attempts later to get a signal (even using the excellent guides mentioned) and still no luck ! - There are not many dishes nearby, so it's a bit hit & miss.

Can I ask - does the signal show up immediately if I get the angle & pitch right, or does it take a few seconds to register - ie, if I 'sweep' the dish in the general direction, will I get an immediate signal showing or do I have to move the dish, stop for a while & wait for it to show up ??

Its not that I begrudge the pro installers their fees, in fact far from it - just that if I could save a few quid it would be nice

(what is the likely fee for getting someone to do the installation ??)

Cheers

Andi:)

jister · 03-12-2002 1:19pm

€100 is fine for installation if a guy has to drive 50 miles from A to B and back again to do the job. But these guys are travelling all over the place and would presumably do numerous installations along a route in the same day, so allowing 1 hour per installation, including travel time that would be about 8 installations a day, more in the summer. Even if he only got to 5 installations in a day then it would earn him €500/ day. Not bad considering its not rocket science and give any fella a day or two in training and he would be able to do it just as good as the "professional" Also the tools required are quite minimal.

But as the saying goes "there is a fool born every minute" so plenty of people will gladly pay €100 to avoid the hassle of swinging out of a dish all day and in the ignorance that they can't do it themselves

For comparison I got the chimney cleaned recently for €18 and simlar travel criteria would apply, and its a dirty job that can take up to an hour.

I also got a price to come out and fit a new seal on a dishwasher and it was €70 including the seal. I rebuilt the seal myself instead using layers of silicone, but thats another days story, if it ever happens to any of ye!!

psychotic mouse · 03-12-2002 2:16pm

Well without getting too deeply into it, I personally wouldn't begrudge €100 for the full installation - Sure I could probably get some local fella to nail it to the wall, but if you want a job done properly by an insured, qualified engineer, you gotta expect to pay.........& I certainly wouldn't class myself as a fool

Anyways, about this problem with alignment.......

Tony · 03-12-2002 2:29pm

Originally posted by jister
€100 is fine for installation if a guy has to drive 50 miles from A to B and back again to do the job. But these guys are travelling all over the place and would presumably do numerous installations along a route in the same day, so allowing 1 hour per installation, including travel time that would be about 8 installations a day, more in the summer.

Nobody would drive 100 miles for 100 euro let alone do a job as well. Anyone who does 8 installs a day is doing shoddy work no question, the average installation time is 2 hours excluding travel.
[/B][/QUOTE]

[ Even if he only got to 5 installations in a day then it would earn him €500/ day. Not bad considering its not rocket science and give any fella a day or two in training and he would be able to do it just as good as the "professional" Also the tools required are quite minimal.[/B]

Firstly deduct 21% VAT, dont forget about insurance fuel vehicle costs etc. Theres nothing minimal about a spectrum analyser which most proffessional installers will use, try 1500 Euro for starters. A day or two training will not suffice, I spend a lot of time re doing what guys with little or no training carry out.

[/QUOTE]
But as the saying goes "there is a fool born every minute" so plenty of people will gladly pay €100 to avoid the hassle of swinging out of a dish all day and in the ignorance that they can't do it themselves.[/B][/QUOTE]

Well swinging out of a dish is not to be recommended and the only ignorance I see now are your inaccuarcies and generalistions. DIY is fine for those who wish to do it but dont knock those of us who make an honest living from professional installations. If there is so much money to be made I wonder why you are not doing it your self. You seem to know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Regards Tony

Tony · 03-12-2002 2:32pm

Originally posted by psychotic mouse

Can I ask - does the signal show up immediately if I get the angle & pitch right, or does it take a few seconds to register - ie, if I 'sweep' the dish in the general direction, will I get an immediate signal showing or do I have to move the dish, stop for a while & wait for it to show up ??

It does take a few seconds so I would leave it in position for a little while each time you make small movements. Check out Watty's site he has lots of useful info on DIY.

Tony

psychotic mouse · 03-12-2002 2:39pm

Thanks Tony

watty · 03-12-2002 4:12pm

Originally posted by psychotic mouse
Thanks Tony

Thanks Tony!

I really must update it. A lot has changed in 18mths since last update. Also I will add a section on Tivo, Sky+, FTA HD recorders and "rolling your own" Video center on PC with:
Setting up Analog TV
Setting up Digital Sat
Program guides
PVR / Time shifting: Differences for Analog & Digital Receiver on PC
Transfer from Analog Tape or RF analog to SVCD or DVD.
Making SVCD with "Slides" Video, Audio, Menu.
Transfer from PVA satellite format MPEG2 to DVD or SVCD.
Diseq, Polar mounts and aligning better explained.

What stuff do I need to add?

Tony · 03-12-2002 5:36pm

UR welcome Watty, if you like I could lend you John Breeds book if you dont already have it. its an excellent reference source although obviously you cant quote directly from it without permission. I wish I had time to add an information site like yours to my own. Oh well one for the future I hope.

Tony

DMC · 03-12-2002 7:13pm

Heh! You wont make money from a reference site!

/me looks at my URL's

chernobyl · 03-12-2002 7:18pm

It would be nice if someone finally cleared up the issue of weather watching ZAP/Palco/Telepiu is illegal.

Tony, do you distribute those offical cards?*

/please feel free not to answer.

Tony · 03-12-2002 10:15pm

Sorry I dont but try this site which is Dublin based, I installed a system for the site owner whom I believe has access to official cards. http://www.knplogic.co.uk/JUBBLY/

Tony

Greenman · 03-12-2002 11:17pm

I have to say everything looks very expensive on that http://www.knplogic.co.uk/JUBBLY/ site this shop is local to me stay on the the German part of the site as its more updated. Anyway in this age of e-commerce have a look.
http://www.eurosat-electronics.com/cgi-bin/shop-d/iboshop.cgi?show0

Regards JD!!!! Belgium!!!!!

PS If you ring up they speak fine English.

jister · 04-12-2002 3:15pm

Tony,

Fair point, €100 inc. VAT is probably a fair price for a good installer if you don't fancy a DIY installation. But this company quoted me €150 for a dish and €100 for installation (IE €250). Would you consider this to be a bit pricey?

chernobyl · 04-12-2002 6:05pm

Well is this a Sky Digital installation or what size dish is it?

Tony · 04-12-2002 6:43pm

Originally posted by jister
Tony,

Fair point, €100 inc. VAT is probably a fair price for a good installer if you don't fancy a DIY installation. But this company quoted me €150 for a dish and €100 for installation (IE €250). Would you consider this to be a bit pricey?

Yes I would agree the minidish price does seem a bit pricey, perhaps they misunderstood and were quoting for an 80cm with lnb. The other possibilty is that they are being screwed by their supplier.

Good luck with the install

psychotic mouse · 05-12-2002 1:30pm

Watty - thanks for your excellent info on the site......

I've been struggling for a week to get my dish re-installed by myself with no luck. Having read your info, I managed to get the signal in 15 minutes ! (partly direction & partly F Connector)

Thanks again

halkar · 08-12-2002 9:40am

Here is a link for a dish installation manual, it is for USA but has some good info

http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/dish-installation.pdf

read it , print it , have fun :cool: good luck!

DIY installations

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