Dish Size In Spain Please Help

[Ian_374329537]

Hi all,

This is my first post, I hope someone maybe able to help me, I am just about to head off for spain for 4 months. I will be stopping at Vilanova Park near Barcalona, Le Manga and maybe Cabapino near Malaga.

My question is what size tv dish works in these areas, being away so long I can only watch spanish tv for about a week before I am pulling my hair out. I am hoping that some of you are already out there in the areas I will be visiting and you could advise me of your findings.

Any advice you could give me would be a huge boost.

Many Thanks in advance,

Ian (Newbe)

 

[BeemerMal]

Ian.....an 80cm dish is most probably the smallest you can get away with for as far down as La Manga but further south you may need a larger dish, it all depends on what you want to watch and if you are taking a sky box or a freesat box with you.

UK channels such as BBC1, BBC2, ITV cannot be picked up much lower the Benidorm. We had an excellent covereage of these channels using a freesat box at Vilanova Park but when we moved down to Santa Pola (south of Alicanti) we lost these channels but were able to pick quite a few english speaking programmes.

The following website is a good source of info:

http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/

 

[Clubman1]

After many years of debate we have gone down the satellite route for Europe. We are off to Almeria in Feb and have purchased a 90 cm dish and all the "bits n' pieces" for the trip. We will use our own digibox from home. We have ignored satellite tv prviously when away in the v'an and relied on local tv programmes as my Chief of Staff and myself speak sufficient French and German to get by. Spanish however is another paella however. I have spent a couple of afternoons setting up the system in the garden, and other people's gardens, and from "flash" to bang can be up and running in approx 10 minutes. Biggest lesson learned so far is ensure that all the connections are more than finger tight!

 

[Ian_374329537]

Hi,

I will be using a digibox from home but will be looking to only get the free to air channels.

Could you point me in the right direction of the eqiupment name you used for this signal, I have been told that invacom for the Lnb is very good in week areas.

Great news about vilanova Park will be spending 2 months there so at least I know it is possible to get a signal there.

Please keep posting your experence as I believe this will help more and more people in the future.

Many Thanks again all,

Ian

 

[hymerman1]

Hi Ian

When at la manga look around to see if there is a one metre dish on a nearby pitch, some guys hire one and split the cost, if they have a spare connection perhaps they will let you share.

If you only need the news then a smaller dish will suffice.

 

[Ian_374329537]

Hi hymerman,

Many thanks for the advice I may go down that route, do you have experiance of a 1m dish working in le manga area.

Again if anyone is at these parks at the moment and could give some insight as to what dish sizes work and what make model im sure this will answer alot of peoples questions.

Many thanks for the posts so far.

Ian

 

[hymerman1]

Hi hymerman,

Many thanks for the advice I may go down that route, do you have experiance of a 1m dish working in le manga area.

Again if anyone is at these parks at the moment and could give some insight as to what dish sizes work and what make model im sure this will answer alot of peoples questions.

Many thanks for the posts so far.

Ian

Hi Ian

As far as i can recall the 1m dish gave all the channels.

For my part I am happy with just the news, but do take my Sky+ box loaded with films plus a stack of videos.

 

[JeffinSpain]

Hi Ian

We are currently on a brilliant campsite just inland from Malaga, and it has two 1.3mtr Sky dishes which campers can connect to for nothing, I am told that this is the size of dish that is needed for this part of Spain, we get great reception but i'm not sure it's something I would want to carry around.

Hope this helps, so hurry down, the weather's great.

Safe Journey.

Jeff.

 

[Ian_374329537]

Hi Jeff,

Great to get some real-time info this helps alot. keep your ears to the ground lets try and get as much info on this subject as we can and put this old question to bed.

Whats the name of the site your on jeff and whats the rates like.

Many Thanks for your post,

Ian

 

[JeffinSpain]

Hi Ian,

This is a link to the campsite.

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/details.asp?revid=6344
you will need to e-mail the site to get a full list of prices, we get WiFi/drinking water and it's nice and quiet.

And this is the link

www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/

a very useful website.

Regards,

Jeff.

 

[Ian_374329537]

Hi Jeff,

What a great site for dish information, just the sort of thing required to awnser all these dish size questions, also thanks for the link to your site seems very nice may well consider this one.

Many Thanks,

Ian

 

[anotherDavid]

Hi there

I have an 88cm dish, big but manageable and it gets us the BBC at Conil de la Frontera and you cant go much further south. I do have a sat finder and I think you need to be pretty well aimed to get a good enough signal down there but it can be done.

Regards

Dave

 

[Ian_374329537]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the info may I ask what your set up is I.E your make of set top box and the make of your dish and lnb.

Many Thanks again Dave.

 

[anotherDavid]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the info may I ask what your set up is I.E your make of set top box and the make of your dish and lnb.

Many Thanks again Dave.

The dish is a Triax and the LNB is a univeral 0.6db if that means anything to you. The box is an amstrad as supplied by Sky. I dont think the kit is anything special. I have found that it is sometimes necesary to tune the box to the southern beam i.e the one that does'nt carry BBC etc any more but if the northern beam is available it switches automatically. See David Sullivans website for more detail.

Hope this helps