Why are Sky minidishes oval shaped? - Sky

Meltdown · 01-06-2004, 07:41

Is it just an attempt to make them blend into the surroundings better, or is there a more technical reason?

Alex Oughton · 01-06-2004, 08:10

It's just so that they look slightly more aesthetically pleasing.

On the technical side of things, this shape dish does mean that you have to have the right type of LNB, to match the dish shape. There's no reason why you can't use an ordinary circular dish, though.

Meltdown · 01-06-2004, 10:23

OK, thx

jimmy7bellies · 01-06-2004, 10:31

Why do they have loads of litle holes in as well? They never used to did they?

philip24 · 01-06-2004, 10:33

It lets the rain through. Less wind resistance. Cheaper maybe. Birds don't like holes, thus crap much less often on the LNB.

Blofeld · 01-06-2004, 11:10

Our old Sky analogue dish had no holes (on of the big black ones back in the early days) and we had to get loads of new LNB's cos of birds runing them. It had no holes If I remeber right. Every 3 or 4 months there would be a man up the ladder, or leaning our of our bathroom window, just to fix it.

We live in a moderatly windy area, but thew place where our Minidish is going (well I presume its going there anyway, a south East facing wall) is usually sheltered as our back garden acts as a wind tunnel. If it has to go on the front of the house (slithly more south east facing) then it would mean even less wind still, but in direct sunlight!

Aaken · 01-06-2004, 11:26

The minidish needs to be wider because that is what governs the lateral acceptance angle. As Sats are approximately 3 degrees apart around the Clarke Belt there is a large risk of adjacent Sats breaking in to the desired channel. Anything less than 50cm wide will only just reject the next Sat. These dimensions are a function of the wavelengths in use so no amount of redesign of the dish or LNB can improve it.

norfolkgenie · 01-06-2004, 12:17

Maybe its because they are worried that little aliens in tiny spaceships will try to populate the planet so they designed them to look like little ufos so the little tiny aliens would think its overcrowded enough and not want to stay.

On a more serious note I like my satellite dish it is small and attractive to look at compared to the big one that I had with my analogue box.

TheBoingoBandit · 01-06-2004, 13:16

On a boring sidenote, the dishes used in Scotland and the North of England while still oval shaped are larger.

You sometimes see the larger oval dishes down south though.

Aaken · 02-06-2004, 00:46

I installed mine on an 80cm looking at 19.2E then added a 13E and a 28.4E. All 3 give good signals even in bad weather.

Big is beautiful - as they say

NoEntry2k · 02-06-2004, 09:25

My large old black analogue dish had little holes in it just like the new digital dishes.

Ragnarok · 02-06-2004, 09:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaken

The minidish needs to be wider because that is what governs the lateral acceptance angle. As Sats are approximately 3 degrees apart around the Clarke Belt there is a large risk of adjacent Sats breaking in to the desired channel. Anything less than 50cm wide will only just reject the next Sat. These dimensions are a function of the wavelengths in use so no amount of redesign of the dish or LNB can improve it.

Spot on, sky got hit in the analogue days when eutelsat @ 16°East bumped up their power and alot of people who's dishes wern't aligned correctly got noises interfeing with certial channels.

even though their shouldn't be any satellites close or strong enough to cause problems it was wise to go with the shorter wider dish this time round.

bananas · 02-06-2004, 10:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaken
The minidish needs to be wider because that is what governs the lateral acceptance angle. As Sats are approximately 3 degrees apart around the Clarke Belt there is a large risk of adjacent Sats breaking in to the desired channel. Anything less than 50cm wide will only just reject the next Sat. These dimensions are a function of the wavelengths in use so no amount of redesign of the dish or LNB can improve it.

In laymans terms:
Basically by being that particular shape they focus more accurately on a single point so there is less interference from nearby satellites. They are wider at the sides because nearby satellites are to each side (not above or below, as they all sit side-by-side in a line in the clarke belt). Hence interference from above or below is less important.

They are more difficult to line up though. These recent small dishes have much less accurate focus so it is more important now to be this shape than it was with the old Sky dishes.

01-06-2004, 07:41	#1
Meltdown Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: France (expat) Services: French TV (truly dreadful) & Sky+, 8Mbps broadband Posts: 234	Why are Sky minidishes oval shaped? Is it just an attempt to make them blend into the surroundings better, or is there a more technical reason?

01-06-2004, 08:10	#2
Alex Oughton Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: West London, CryP TX Services: Sky+ HD, Virgin Broadband (50mb), Mac, Windows, Linux, Meerkat Posts: 6,428	It's just so that they look slightly more aesthetically pleasing. On the technical side of things, this shape dish does mean that you have to have the right type of LNB, to match the dish shape. There's no reason why you can't use an ordinary circular dish, though.

01-06-2004, 10:23	#3
Meltdown Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: France (expat) Services: French TV (truly dreadful) & Sky+, 8Mbps broadband Posts: 234	OK, thx

01-06-2004, 10:31	#4
jimmy7bellies Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 5,761	Why do they have loads of litle holes in as well? They never used to did they?

01-06-2004, 10:33	#5
philip24 Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 3,530	It lets the rain through. Less wind resistance. Cheaper maybe. Birds don't like holes, thus crap much less often on the LNB.

01-06-2004, 11:10	#6
Blofeld Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Schottland Services: Virgin XL, Xbox 360 Posts: 3,453	Our old Sky analogue dish had no holes (on of the big black ones back in the early days) and we had to get loads of new LNB's cos of birds runing them. It had no holes If I remeber right. Every 3 or 4 months there would be a man up the ladder, or leaning our of our bathroom window, just to fix it. We live in a moderatly windy area, but thew place where our Minidish is going (well I presume its going there anyway, a south East facing wall) is usually sheltered as our back garden acts as a wind tunnel. If it has to go on the front of the house (slithly more south east facing) then it would mean even less wind still, but in direct sunlight!

01-06-2004, 11:26	#7
Aaken Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Bonn Services: With a smile. Posts: 696	The minidish needs to be wider because that is what governs the lateral acceptance angle. As Sats are approximately 3 degrees apart around the Clarke Belt there is a large risk of adjacent Sats breaking in to the desired channel. Anything less than 50cm wide will only just reject the next Sat. These dimensions are a function of the wavelengths in use so no amount of redesign of the dish or LNB can improve it.

01-06-2004, 12:17	#8
norfolkgenie Forum Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: UK Posts: 507	Maybe its because they are worried that little aliens in tiny spaceships will try to populate the planet so they designed them to look like little ufos so the little tiny aliens would think its overcrowded enough and not want to stay. On a more serious note I like my satellite dish it is small and attractive to look at compared to the big one that I had with my analogue box.

01-06-2004, 13:16	#9
TheBoingoBandit Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: London Posts: 1,125	On a boring sidenote, the dishes used in Scotland and the North of England while still oval shaped are larger. You sometimes see the larger oval dishes down south though.

02-06-2004, 00:46	#10
Aaken Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Bonn Services: With a smile. Posts: 696	I installed mine on an 80cm looking at 19.2E then added a 13E and a 28.4E. All 3 give good signals even in bad weather. Big is beautiful - as they say

02-06-2004, 09:25	#11
NoEntry2k Forum Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: South East London, UK Services: Sky+ (multiroom), Sky Broadband, Freeview Posts: 5,586	My large old black analogue dish had little holes in it just like the new digital dishes.