GeckoSat Satellite TV system
Submitted: Monday, Jan 19, 2004 at 16:40
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Ty
I was glad to see the GeckoSat featuring in ExplorOz. My husband and I have been through the frustration and expense of trying to get the right TV set-up for local TV wherever we travelled. We had heard that there were
Satellite TV systems, but dismissed them as a possibility for some time after a friend of ours had tried putting a system together by buying his own bits and pieces and failed to ever get a picture.
Recently however frustration got the better of us as we weren't doing much better with the "Dome" aerial.
We found three
Satellite TV system available which claimed various advantages. What we liked about these was the "almanac" or list of sites around Australia giving the information for pointing the Satellite Dish. The systems we looked at were Abrolga, GeckoSat, and Campersat.
Anyway we finally settled on the GeckoSat, which was not only the lowest priced, but gave the same performance as the other two. Additionally unlimited phone support was offered if required. The special installation instructions prepared and supplied by the GeckoSat people was so easy to follow that only one quick help call was required. One further call was made to GeckoSat who helped with the enabling of the Optus Smart Card.
In no time we were able to tune in the Optus Satellite and get up and going with seven perfectly clear digital TV channels and sixteen digital Radio stations.
Now when we relocate it takes less time to set-up the Satellite system than it did before to set-up and point a regular Aerial.
Hope this helps those considering
Satellite TV."
Reply By: Kev - (Cairns,QLD) - Monday, Jan 19, 2004 at 21:28
Monday, Jan 19, 2004 at 21:28
Sounds like a perticular company plugging there products to me, spoken like a true sales rep !
Kev.
AnswerID:
43569
Reply By: Member - Eric- Monday, Jan 19, 2004 at 21:47
Monday, Jan 19, 2004 at 21:47
whats the size of this dish ? and cost ? can it be used to access internet ?
Venus Bay
AnswerID:
43578
Follow Up By: Ty - Tuesday, Jan 20, 2004 at 17:07
Tuesday, Jan 20, 2004 at 17:07
The size of the dish is about 65cm. Not sure what the cost was now but know it was the best value at the time. If you are interested in internet maybe contact Optus or one of the suppliers, Geckosat, Abrolga or Campersat.
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Reply By: Groove - Monday, Jan 19, 2004 at 23:19
Monday, Jan 19, 2004 at 23:19
I have put my own system together and although your friend was unsuccesful it really is not all that difficult. I have seen the abrolga system up close and it uses off the shelf equipment, nothing special about it at all (not a critisism). The main advantage of the "ready made" system over a buying the bits and pieces yourself is the instructions that come with it.
The parts that make up the abrolga system could be purchased from any satelite
shop for about $500. The abrolga system costs over $1000, I dont know about the others. My system uses exactly the same box abrolga sells, the box is now available for $270, (
check www.hotchip.com.au its the UEC reciever). Compas $15, sat finder $45, 85cm dish with lnb $85 cable and contectors $20, AURORA SATELLITE SUBSCRIPTION CARD $99 and a pole to sit your dish on.
The only tricky part about this is pointing the dish at the right spot in the sky, the ready made system have good instructions for doing this, however all the info is on the net.
Forums such as
http://www.austech.info/forums contain all the information you will ever need to set these things up. Once you have done it once you will see just how easy it is. In recent months the satelite used for these transmisions in Australia was replaced with a brand new one call C1 (it replaced B3). The siganl from this satelite is much stronger than B3 making it even easier than before to find.
One of the selling points of the ready made systems is the almanac you mentioned. The data in this is generated from software freeliy available on the net or from www.lyngsat.com. Tell the site what bird you are looking for, in this case optus C1, click on the map of Australia and bingo instant direction and angle. When you buy a ready made system eg Abrolga, you are paying over $500 for a set of instructions, yes and support I guess but it really is a very simple thing to do.
Cheers
AnswerID:
43599