Satellite n00b needs some advice (card and dish choice) (1 Viewer)

[wonkyd]

Re: Has anyone ever used aerialshack.com? (Satellite dish and equipment retailers)

I've had a look around, and it seems fairly hard to find people that sell dishes etc (the cards don't seem to be that hard to source). Has anyone ever used Aerial Shack? I came across them today and they seem to have a comparatively good range. They have an 80cm black mesh dish for £39.99, or an 88cm solid black dish for £54.99. Their cheapest quad-LNB is £22.99.

What about SystemSat direct? They seem to have some cheaper options, such as this 95cm solid dish for £39.18 or this 80cm one for £21.10.

Shipping seems to be ≈£13 from Aerial Shack and ≈£14 from SystemSat direct, (mainly due to my postcode :/) so there doesn't seem to be anything in it there.

• Do these prices seem reasonable?
• Have any of you ever used them Aerial Shack or SystemSat direct before?
  • Are they reliable?
• Is it really worth the extra £15 for an extra 8cm diameter (I know the surface area is increased far more than the diameter increase would suggest - I'm just doing a cost-benefit analysis basically).
• Would I need some kind of additional bracket to attach the second LNB?

I'll keep looking, but again, if anyone has any other (UK based) suggestions that'd be grand.

I've also considered maybe hunting on eBay. Other than the general stuff to watch out for on there, is there anything I might need to look for in a second-hand dish (and is it worth the trouble)?

This may sound daft but have you checked for dishes in B&Q or Homebase? Most stores sell them.

 

[Alphathon]

Re: Has anyone ever used aerialshack.com? (Satellite dish and equipment retailers)

This may sound daft but have you checked for dishes in B&Q or Homebase? Most stores sell them.

No, that doesn't sound daft at all.

I had a look on the B&Q site before but I don't think they have any dishes >60cm (in fact they only seem to have one kind of dish, available in various bundles); I don't know if it's likely to be any different in-store.

Homebase don't seem to have any dishes listed on their site… unless I'm just being stupid and can't find them. Again, this may not reflect in-store items. They do have a "2 Room Freesat Extension Kit" though (Dual-output LNB with cabling etc), so it does strike me as slightly odd that they don't have any dishes at all.

As I said, I haven't tried either of them in-store, so I may well have more more luck there. I'll have a look next time I'm in that part of town (it's kinda out of the way for me but right near the Asda superstore so it's not like I won't get out that way).

 

[Mew]

Hi Alphathon

I have bought from www.satellitesuperstore.com before and not had any issues. I think I have bought diplexing outlet sockets and a quatro LNB from them and they were delivered in a few days. I may have bought my dish from them as well (a 60 cm minidish) but I can't remember. They are probably not the cheapest but they did seem to specialize in satellite products and have a good range. They also seem to offer a technical advice line on their products which may be of use.

Mew

 

[Alphathon]

Cheers man, I'll give 'em a look. I'm a little put off by their site though. I'm not saying they aren't competent/reliable satellite providers because of a basic-looking site, I'm more concerned about their security - I'm not sure I want to be handing my credit card details over to a company that may be easily compromised. Of course that's not to say that either of those that I mentioned are any better, but if the site is significantly outdated on the front end, there's a good chance it is on the back end. If they accept PayPal I may be more open to them though (just adds another level of abstraction between them and the card).