THE SATELLITE SUPERSTORE.
We comments on the "interesting" letter,
There are a number of issues to address as a result of this
experience. Let us first explain that we were contacted by this
non-local mail order company who we would like to stress ARE a
reputable company and were very willing to pay us to sort out
the mess. Unfortunately they had commissioned a local North East
company (who have a large advert in the magazines) to install
the system and this company made a complete dogs breakfast of
the whole installation. Whether this was malice or complete
ignorance and lack of ability is uncertain. Let us tell explain
what our engineer found when he arrived at the customers house.
1. The Sky digital dish should have been fixed to the mount
by 4 bolts. It was loose due to being held by one bolt and a bent
nail!
2. The other end of the signal cable had no F connector fitted and
was not plugged into the Digibox.
3. The motorised dish was going east when west was pressed on the
remote due to the polarity being the wrong way round.
4. The motorised dish was not picking up any satellites, as it was
not tracking the arc. When it should have been pointing at 1 degree
west (i.e. in the Apex position) it was pointing at 10 degrees east.
This means it was out by a mile!
5. The motor cable should have had a reasonable rating. (e.g. 5 amps)
They had used the thin BT indoor telephone cable!
Anyway our engineer sorted all of the faults and both the Sky digi
and the analogue motorised system were working within one and
half-hours.
The customer was however still left with a number of problems.
We were not aware of the fact that a Humax digital had to be connected.
(Indeed the mail order company had not asked us to set up a Humax)
This is why we plan to return. The mail order company has now asked
us to program it and install it.
The biggest problem is the wall mount. On The Motorised Satellite
Video Volume 3 we show a commercially made wall mount made of light
weight thin materials with provision for only three coach bolts.
One to the left, one to the right and one to the bottom.
(Vision mounts use 10) we also show on the video where the mount
has sheered in the wind since it was part of an insurance job last
year. We have been asked to sort out two insurance claims from people
who have used this type of mount and then had it break in high winds.
Now let us examine why we recommended a Manhattan and not a Humax.
You probably know from looking at other pages on this site that we
sell and have a very high regard for the Humax receivers. The fact
is that the Humax makes an ideal addition to an EXISTING analogue
motorised system. The disadvantage however is that two remotes have
to be used. One to move the dish on the existing system and then one
to select the channel on the Humax. If you are starting fresh why
buy this inconvenience? Better to buy a fully integrated all in the
one box, all on the one remote, reliable, easy to use Manhattan
analogue digital motorised receiver.
Even though we were able to get everything working for this customer,
what was he left with? A wall mount, which could come down in high
winds, a universal fit small dish motor, poor wiring, and an obsolete
analogue motorised receiver with a separate digital and two remote
controls.
We really don't buy "the man in the pub story." A more likely scenario
is that price was his only consideration. Did he "save" £100.00?
Perhaps he paid £500 instead of £600? What really happened was
that instead of saving £100 he wasted £500! Quite frankly the Humax
is a good machine but the rest was junk.
Update 02/02/05 Check out the fantastic Manhattan 550.
