Morris Minor Owners Club

I am thinking about installing free sat and just wondered the following?

Is the size of dish important?

The dish needs to have a an uninterupted view to the sky in a south east direction but will tall trees, interfere with the signal. I want to mount the dish on the chimney and there are some trees about 15m away and I wondered if these would cause problems with the signal.

Maplins do a motorised dish this seems to give more channels but has anyone used this and is it worth the extra £££'s

I have an existing co-axial cable from the loft to the tv point/s is it possible to buy an adaptor so that the cable coming from the dish can be joined to the existing co-axial to save any upheaval in running new cables to TV points

Thanks in advance for any help.

There is loads of info online,
http://www.freesattvdish.com/freesat_tutorial.html

I'd suggest having a good look at the condition of the chimney as you will be adding load to it, especially when it's windy.

Keeping the old coax is almost certainly a false economy.

MarkyB thanks for the site that is useful. The chimney is fine to fix to and the coaxials were run out to the TV points about 10yr ago and and I really could do with out having to install new cables all through the house as this would be a headache.

Thanks again, Jeff

I looked into this Jeff a while back. Up where you are - you probably need an 80cm dish - and the trees will wave about in the wind and cause some break up - even heavy rain etc can do that! Just chop down the trees - plenty more about........ Screwfix were doing a complete satellite kit last week for £30, deal may still be on - I very nearly bought one - but was 'warned' I would NOT be drilling a hole in the wall or the window frame to bring the cable in..............And to have the window open slightly in winter is not really practical. I don't think 'Dave' (WRC + Top Gear) is on freesat anyway - but is on freeview - so I'm working on making a better aerial that will work indoors.

Thanks BMC, teh more I look into it free sat becomes less appealing like you I might just go for a decent digital aerial. Cheers, Jeff

My M-in-Law has an ancient set top aerial - that works really really well on freeview! It's way before digital TV was invented (probably dates from black and white) - but boy does it work! I bought one of these 'amplifier' aerials ~ £25 - useless - completely hopeless.... Currently I have a £1 aerial (yes - Poundland) dangling out the window - one leg vertical and the other horizontal - it works 'ok' on most channels - but I'll be in trouble when it gets spotted - and no use in winter. Hence the search for an acceptable indoor aerial. The spider's web of wire I had in the ceiling was deemed unacceptable a while back...... This freeview set is upstairs in my 'den' - the main set is on Sky - and for some reason only receives Jewellery channels...........

"and for some reason only receives Jewellery channels" Mmmmmm funny our TV has the same problem?? When I am not being dragged out to shops I get it on TV. Thank goodness the TV is on the blink at the moment which is what has instigated all this freesat stuff. I am hoping for some dry weather soon so I can go and fettle the Morris and tidy up the building site we call a garden.

I think I can advertise this because it has nothing to do with Minors

I just bought a kit from Southern satellites Google will find them.
£100 for every thing you need for HD and I pestered the guy into throwing loads of extras.

bmcecosse wrote:I looked into this Jeff a while back. Up where you are - you probably need an 80cm dish - and the trees will wave about in the wind and cause some break up - even heavy rain etc can do that! Just chop down the trees - plenty more about........ Screwfix were doing a complete satellite kit last week for £30, deal may still be on - I very nearly bought one - but was 'warned' I would NOT be drilling a hole in the wall or the window frame to bring the cable in..............And to have the window open slightly in winter is not really practical. I don't think 'Dave' (WRC + Top Gear) is on freesat anyway - but is on freeview - so I'm working on making a better aerial that will work indoors.

I've seen a flat coax adaptor!! on ebay to go through windows in caravans. I just drilled a hole through the wall behind the furniture.

You can advertise anything you like - just as long as you don't say anything negative about it. Yes, thanks - I've seen the flat adapter cable - and I would get caught if I drilled a hole in anything - I'm on my last warning........

Is the flat cable thin enough to go through a opening window and then close the window without crushing the cable??

That's the idea Jeff - someone posted it up for me - either here or on the other forum. Maplin product ~ £9 I think. Here it is ! http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Mod ... &U=strat15

I found trees to be a real problem. I installed a freesat dish last winter and it worked fine till the leaves grew back!
Can't wait till autumn!!!!