• Why buy a system that is not sold by SKY or by your cable company - why not buy freesat or freeview?
• In this section I will attempt to answer the most common questions and give fair answers which reflect the realities of all your options
• Why buy what we offer instead of SKY or Cable?

The True cost!

The Cost of buying cable or Sky varies depending on what channels you want and how long you keep it but for the purposes of this piece I'm going to look at a three year period of time - this is because HISAT will typically sell you something top of the range which would include a three year warranty

If you subscribe to Cable or SKY for this period and you choose a films and sports package and DON'T get tempted to buy PPV services or adult TV services then the likely cost of having their service is £45 which over a 36 Month period = £1620 for this money you may receive somewhere in the order of 400-500 services including TV / Radio and some linked services (which you get by pressing the red button) you get a very user friendly system including a very good EPG this price doesn't include any premium equipment which you'll need if you want to record what you want to watch or time shift it - offers do change of course but this is I believe a fair overview of what you'll spend for what you receive

 

By contrast a top end Motorised system based on the Triple-Dragon DBS3000CNCIE might cost about £650-£700 if you include professional installation - less if you install it yourself so as you can immediately see the savings are £1000 ish - but with this system you'll get access today to as much and more than is on offer from your cable or Sky provider - Our clients regularly watch English premier League Football and other major sporting events including many which are PPV on the affore mentioned services - very many adult channels too - in short the basic system will give you access to 2000+ channels and by simple keeping abreast of software opportunities you can see some pay services too - the receiver is sold with a 500GB HDD meaning you can record much more than on Sky or Cables PVR receivers and you can watch TV from many more satellites - you can even use your receiver to store your own home movies pictures and music and you can view this via your TV - you can even stream to a PC in your house - and all of this is just the begining and is all available for no ongoing subscription cost - if you do wish to pay for a service you are not restricted to buying only from local providers - you can purchase packages from all over europe in accordance with European law

• How to Set up a motorized system
• How to install the Hyundai HSS-800CI or GbSat range & Stab Motor
• What is a CAM ?

Set up a motorized system

The conventional motorized system requires a "Dish" mounted on a "Polar Mount" which is driven by a "Jack Actuator" (sometimes called "the motor arm") the power for the Jack actuator comes from a "positioner" this can be built in to a satellite receiver or be a separate item.

Most positioners (but not all) will also let you store the positions - this is achieved by a counting method as the Jack actuator rotates extending or retracting the arm a small magnet opens and closes a reed switch, this reed switch is connected back to the positioner, which counts each opening and shutting of the reed so that each revolution of the motor is counted. Other methods are also employed on older (generally) systems but the type of jack described is without doubt the most popular.

To install a motorized dish you must first find a good location for the dish.

You need to see enough of the sky - in the northern hemisphere all satellites will be in the south (and visa versa) from your intended site - satellite signals don't pass through solid objects (with few exceptions) so watch out for trees which could grow.

Most TV satellites are all located 22000 miles above the equator - so the polar mount is so called because when mounted it will be parallel to a line drawn from the North to the south pole - If this where the only angle you had to find then that would be that, but because your location is unlikely to be on the equator but several thousand miles north (or south) of it, then you also need to set a declination angle this lets the dish actually point at the satellites rather than be pointing several thousand miles to the north or south of them (get it?) you can calculate these angles yourself, but there are plenty of books and web sites which give the information (we'll add this info here as soon as we can) so all you do is note the Polar elevation and declination angles for your location (latitude).

When you're looking for your site you need to think about how you are going to Fix the mount a wall is normal but a patio or Paving slabs on a flat roof might be better whatever you choose the structure should be able to withstand strong winds without moving.

The Pole that you'll mount your polar mount on should be perfectly upright and far enough away from any objects so that when the mount and dish are assembled and swung east and west the dish can't hit any objects (like the wall of your house) If this isn't entirely possible then you'll have to set the "limits" inside the full arc so you may not be able to see all the satellites to either the west side or east side of your location.

Note :- you can set limits in the Jack, by moving a plastic cam so that a switch lifts, stopping you driving the dish any further, you can set limits on the positioner (before the limits in the Jack are reached) to also stop the dish moving outside necessary parameters.

So to summarize so far

• find your site
• mount your pole perfectly upright
• mount the polar mount facing south
• set the Polar elevation
• and declination angles these last three can be done together

Use a satellite meter don't have the Jack fitted at this stage, hold the edge of the dish with one hand and use the other to make adjustments with a spanner - if you've got the mount about right, then you should be able to hear the tone from one or two of the strongest satellites on the arc.

Find out if you're actually peaking the signal by adjusting the dish up and down slightly but follow this logical pattern.

Lets suppose you can hear just 1 satellite on one side of the arc, then the chances are that you aren't facing true south (or north) try moving the dish around the mount to the east or to the west after each movement rock the dish over to listen for other satellites when you've found one on each side - you need to find the mid point roughly now adjust the elevation so you can here both satellites equally well.

Now check the centre of the arc can you hear the satellite that’s at true south (or North) from your location check your longitude and see which satellite falls closest to your longitude (there maybe one slightly to the east or to the west).

if you can't hear the satellite move the dish up and down until you can hear the satellite but note your starting point and how many times you have to turn your spanner to get the best signal.

Now move back to your west satellite is your dish pointing above or below the satellite adjust the dish but count the turns of the spanner bring the best signal turn the nut back to the original position.

Now check on the other side of the arc.

If you are above the satellites on both sides tilt the dish forward more on the declination adjustment and back more on the polar axis adjustment (this is the pivot of the dish).

If you are below the satellites on both sides the do the opposite.

If you are above on one side and below on the other turn the dish around the pole minutely towards the side where you are below the satellite.

Keep making smaller and smaller adjustments, until you can't improve on the signal strength.

by this time you should be able to hear many satellites some of which may be weaker than your original reference satellites and which you can use to better improve the peaking of the dish.

When all this is done the hard part is over, but don't cock up the easy bit.

Connect the jack up carefully making sure that its on the best side of the dish that the stroke of the dish will give you as many of the satellites that you've found as possible make sure you DON'T MIX THE MOTOR CABLES AND SENSOR CABLES, because if you do you'll blow the reed and you'll have to buy a new one straight away (most positioners won't work if they can't count the reed opening and shutting).

Hope this helps - if you have any comments concerning this document please feel free to e-mail us.

Tony Hiscox - HISAT ®

How to install the Hyundai HSS-800CI or GbSat range & Stab Motor

These instructions assume you are in the northern hemisphere of the planet if you aren't South becomes North.

Background

Hopefully you already know where your dish will be mounted - but it should go somewhere that has line of site of as many satellites as possible on the Clark Belt (that's the Hoop of space 22,000 Miles above the equator where Geo-stationary TV satellites are) Geo-stationary means that the Satellites appear to be stationary though in reality like the earth itself they are moving. The trick of course is that they move around the planet at the same rate as the planet turns and in the same direction thus though they are moving they appear stationary.

Dependent on how far north you are of the equator - you'll be able to see less of the Clark belt the further you go north. (The Mount below like all good motorized mounts does two things the Polar elevation is so called because when set correctly it adjusts the turning of the dish so that the dishes pivot point is parallel to a line drawn from the north to the south pole - if you where on the equator that would be the only adjustment needed however because you are probably several thousand miles north of the equator the dish has to be tilted down (declination angle) this is set on the dish or on a separate "Az/El" mount so that it actually points at the satellites rather than a hoop of space several thousand miles north of that point.

Fitting the Mount

Make sure that your pole is precisely upright - the success of the system is wholly dependent on your pole being perfectly upright - you have probably been supplied a T + K and Pole and these are designed to make this very easy. Fit the Mount and set the Polar elevation correct for your location. Now set the declination on the dish this is hard to calculate because the dish manufactures don't seem to say what the gradients on their dishes actually show and they vary from dish to dish but as a generally rule an offset dish will appear upright top edge directly above the bottom edge in the north of the UK in the south the dish will be tilted back slightly (If you imagine a Watch face where 12 o'clock is straight up then tilt back to between 1 minute or 2 Minutes past the hour - more on this later).

Installing the receiver

Connect the Cable CT100 or equivalent between the receiver and the Mount and between the mount and the LNB - now connect the receiver to the TV and start the receiver enter the Menu select antenna set up. Select STAB option now put in the correct Longitude and Latitude for your location.

Now select a satellite you wish to store lets start with a strong satellite like Hotbird 13 east - now highlight your longitude or latitude setting enter these for your location (we will supply these on request) and press enter - the dish will move to where Hotbird MUST be for the longitude and latitude of the satellite you just selected now press exit and select a Hotbird clear station - exit out of the antenna setting then choose EWTN (for example) turn the Mount around the pole - VERY SLOWLY - until the station appears if the polar elevation and declination are correct then you will soon see the satellite if not it's most likely the Declination that's wrong so adjust up or down and then scan SLOWLY back the other way because the STAB mount is clearly marked - if you go back to the antenna set-up you will see a signal strength and quality meter (very useful for fine tuning once you have your first picture).

Now select a weak satellite (1º west select BBC world or DK4 which are pre stored) go back to the antenna installation now fine adjust and that's it - every satellite will now be where it should be - try Turksat 42 east or try PAS3 (43 west).

What is a CAM ?

CAM stands for Conditional Access Module. (see dictionary) It is digital equivalent to an analogue decoder. Its function is to restrict access to various channel bouquets - the broadcaster supplies a card to allow you access to their stations! - the usual restrictions being placed on where you live.

The major standard of CAMs are Irdeto, ViAccess Conax and Mediaguard (Astoncrypt emulates Mediaguard), The Irdeto CAM has been adopted by Canal Digital Holland, DF1 Germany, Telepiu & Stream in Italy, Greek Hellas, Multichoice South Africa and Arabic Showtime. Not to mention many others far from Europe.

Sky's Digibox uses a News Datacom in house system (NDS called Videoguard) these are integral to the Digibox and only available buy buying a digibox, HISAT ® can supply and fit Sky digital in a 50 mile radius of Bristol.

Rarely if ever is a CAM on its own enough to give you access to a station, most likely you'll need a card too.