Where in Europe can you get satallite tv?
Hi to all. We have recently returned from Belguim camping trip at Chemin de la Clusure 30, 6927, Bure (Tellin), Belgium, where our 65cm dish pulled in a strong signal for UK tv and radio. Where can you go and expect to get reliable UK tv reception from this size of dish. Before the new restricted astra 2 satallite was launched we have had decent reception down further south than Paris and all over Holland and west side of Germany. Is this still the case or have we been robbed of the luxury of reliable UK tv on the continent? What are your feelings/ comments on this - after all i can recieve European tv with ease in the UK so why shouldnt i expect to recieve UK tv in Europe?
Comments
-
We are not TV addicts, but like to watch TV for personal reasons most days. We can give it up if we want, so watching it every day should not harm us. We carry two sat dishes. A 1.35 mtr dish under the fixed double bed to get TV when we are at Lake Garda
and in Croatia. We also carry a small 54cm dish in the boot of the car for day to day use on the way out and back. This gets all the UK TV as far as Vilsburg a village near Strasburg. So far no one has caught us with two dishes!!!!0 -
There are so many variables it almost impossible to answer the question other than as I suggested above (look at the published footprint maps). We have an 85cm dish and in ideal conditions we will get a good signal about two thirds of the way down Spain,
but anywhere the topography, a tree, or some other obstruction can completely block the signal.DD is that with a Sky box?
0 -
Cheers DD, we got freesat at Salamanca and San Pere, couldn't get it at Cambril's though, but we have a sky box from way back that has a freeview in it, tried that at Cambrils and we did pick up some channels but nothing that great. That's with a 85cm dish.
0 -
as TG says, the UK home channels should be available as far as Carcassone or even further with an 85 cm dish. these will be on the UK spot beam, so bigger dish is definitely better.
there are also many channels available on the Euro South beam with even a fairly small dish as far as the Costas...
however, the vast majority of these will be Sky pay channels...so without the appropriate subscription you wont see much.
this far south, there will be (virtually) no channels from the UK beam unless dish enormous...
0 -
just an addition on skew angles....
this will have a significant bearing on how well any dish picks up signals, especially as we get to the fringes of its capabilities...
in the uk, a dish set up correctly will have its LNB rotated slightly from the vertical by between 12 and 16 degrees. this is the skew angle.
the lower numbers (12 deg) refer to the far north or east, up into Scotland. as you move south or west, the number of degrees rotaion will need to rise to stay 'in perfect tune' to 16 deg for Bristol...
as you move into europe, this will rise as you move south west through france into spain and portugal, with La Rochelle requiring 18, Barcelona 20, Valencia 22 and Malaga 28. Faro would be 30 deg....
so, this is quite a change from say 15 in the UK and could make a real difference.
some expensive dishes have an auto skew system but the vast majority dont. with a freestanding dish its quite easy to adjust skew at the time of setting up the dish on site, but for an auto roof mounted dish this is tricky.
i did manage to make a change to mine where i set up the dish at home, and then got onto the roof and turned the lnb to around 20+ deg as a test.
as its an 85 cm dish, this had no adverse effect on picking up UK signals (easy with a much smaller dish) but was beneficial in locating weak signals well into spain, with sky pay channels not an issue...
remember, for those who travel east to croatia etc, skew angles will be in mid low single digits, with lnb in almost the vertical position for Athens.
sounds awfully complicated for a bit of tv, but once you get the hang of it it will help.
best of luck....
0 -
At the other end of the scale BB it's press a button, thingy on roof does a twirl or two, nods a bit and it's either tele or a book.
...or in JVB's case........xxxxxxx....followed by a Capstan Full Strength
0 -
While in Salamanca we came across a brit who full times, we were curious as to why he had his 1m dish pointing in the opposite direction to us, so we asked. It turns out he had bought a box while in Portugal for 100 euro that will pick up UK tv ie ITV, BBC
etc. we did see it in operation so can verify that it works, something about using another satellite to bounce a beam off, you need an encryption codes for it to work. Anyone else heard of this, he says there are quite a lot of them out there bought while
in Portugal and many ex pats have them.The channels we got with freeview were not something we would usually watch but I suppose if you were desperate, challenge, pick, horse & country, yesterday,movies4men losts of news channels some shopping channels some music channels, we didn't get channel
4 but someone a few pitches along did.0 -
looks like its on Intelsat 907 at 27.5 deg West....hence pointing in the opposite direction.
the satellite is actually hosting a 'back up supply' signal and is encrypted with BISS....hence the special decoder.
more info here...
0 -
cheers TG, a possible option then as no subscription charges...
0 -
Thanks for all your responses guys. I asked the question because we have had variable results from our 65cm dish. South Belguim a few weeks ago we got great reception then it vanished in a heavy rainstorm and re-appeared when the rain stopped. Proof if you
need it that weather does affect the signal. We are hoping we will get a signal in Germany in a few weeks time. We use it for tv but alot more for radio whilst sitting in the sunshine sipping the local brew! Much nicer to listen to British tastes in music
than the European stuff and we can understand the talky bits too. Not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing.... Also had good results in Holland but as already stated by those more knowledgable than me, trees, metal obstructions, big hills etc can make
getting a signal impossible. I still think its weird that i can easily watch Euopean tv in the UK with the same dish and decoder but when i want to watch UK tv in Europe its more likely to not work or be tricky to pick up the weedy signal.0 -
Thanks for all your responses guys. I asked the question because we have had variable results from our 65cm dish. South Belguim a few weeks ago we got great reception then it vanished in a heavy rainstorm and re-appeared when the rain stopped. Proof if you
need it that weather does affect the signal. We are hoping we will get a signal in Germany in a few weeks time.I live in Germany between Wiesbaden and Frankfurt and have a 90cm dish on the roof of my house with which I can get all UK freesat channels, even in bad weather so I imagine that a 65cm dish will suffice at least in this part of the country so long as the
clouds aren't too dense.0 -
I still think its weird that i can easily watch Euopean tv in the UK with the same dish and decoder but when i want to watch UK tv in Europe its more likely to not work or be tricky to pick up the weedy signal.
the main reason is that 'euro' satellites like hotbird and astra1 dispaly a large pan euro beam which is as easy to find in the uk as it is in, say, germany.
....whereas, astra2 (the main group of 'UK' satellites) and its UK BEAM, are fixed tightly over the uk, making viewing further out (germany, south of france etc) more difficult as it will be close to the edge of the footprint.
the astra2 EURO BEAM is much wider and easily accessible all over europe on a smallish dish....however, the only sensible uk channels broadcast on this beam are the SKY premium sports and movies channels.
a sky subscriber might tell you that its easy to watch plenty of uk tv in spain, a non subscriber might tell you its virtually impossible...
0
