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http://www.maxview.co.uk/products/info_B2566_KITD1.html

Hello

Am about to take plunge and get satellite for forthcoming france trip.

I'm thinking of going for 66cm Maxview (link above).

Anyone had experience of these, and is the dish size big enough (from experience, not charts!) on french med coast?

Thanks

Ben.

Hi Francais

Thanks for that.  I'm very confused as a lot of the maps appear to show 60cm as being sufficient, but don't want to get down there and wish I'd got a larger one.

From what I can gather from this and other forums, 80cm would seem to be better option - we're going nr Sete so will be on coast and dont' want to chance it.

Any other views welcome from seasoned southern france satelliters!

Thanks

Thanks very much - yes just phoned Maxview and very helpful lady.

However still not sure - they have said that the 66cm dish will be fine.  In fact said that they have tested as far as Barcelona and it works fine.  There still seems to be contradictory opinion so not much further forward.

Pete as you say it will be cheaper to source separately.  I'm just a novice at this so I suppose not sure what I need, but haven't thought about that route just yet but may do as it's quite a saving.

Rgds

Ben.

Ben

Maxview stuff is very good but as Pete says it is very expensive and if you shop around you can get a kit much cheaper. One thing I would say about selecting a dish, and would agree the the 80cm dish should cover all bases, to buy one with a folding LNB arm. THis is a good place to look to see what is available http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/cat.htm and here http://www.wizardsatellite.co.uk/ Have purchased from both in the past. http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/redirect.asp?redir=http://www.satgear.co.uk/ advertise on here.

David

Thanks David / all for advice.

I'm going for an 80cm I think which should be OK.  Not a clue what I'm doing but am sure will work it out!

Appreciate your recommendations, as ever.

Cheers

Ben

Hi Ben.

           If your going for an 80cm try and get hold of a solid Aluminium Dish, the cheap ones tend to be made from steel, also don't go for a mesh dish, reasons for this are as follows, cheap steel dish's can under perform, so an 80cm steel may only work the same as an 60cm Aluminium, as for mesh dish's they are not designed to be lugged around, and quite soon become deformed, not always obvious, and again a 80cm mesh can soon start working like a 60cm solid, of course a good spec LNB can make a difference, but not as much as a larger dish, they qoute noise figures on the LNB's to give you an indication of performance, but unfortunatley the figures quoted are often nonesense, as they are what is known as a typical measurement, unlike commerial LNB's which quote a maximum noise figure, having said that you can pick up a decent LNB for well under a tenner these days, and a decent 80cm Aluminum dish say £40.

  http://www.falconsat.co.uk/products/ORBITAL-80cm-Pole-Mount-Dish-ALUMINIUM.html

Thanks all for help.  Have gone for the 88cm Triax from Satellite Wizard, who had excellent service and explained what I needed.

Will report back - the dish will be huge but erring on side of caution.  Will probably get a smaller one for UK travels so don't have to lug around in this country.

Ben.

Hi Ben.

           88cm is a little OTT, but not to worry, just remember though, it is harder to align a larger dish than a smaller one, due to the more narrow  beamwidth of larger dish's, it only realy becomes an issue when you get to say 1.5m upwards, so just pesevere, and do a few practice goes in your back garden before you go, don't want you comming back from France saying you couldn't get a picture lol.

Andy.

Also for those looking to upgrade the LNB on there Dish, I picked up a Universal LNB, with a claimed noise figure of 0.3db yesterday for £2.99!  from Lidl. 

Cheers Andy ... will report back!

I think we may look like the BBC World Service transmitter unit, so if you see us in the future say hello!

Appreciate your help.

Ben.