What size satellite dish do I need for France?

[Brian_374234561]

Hi
Since we started caravanning in 2007, we've had a portable satellite dish that has worked fine. It's an oval one measuring 37x41cm. Last year in France it wouldn't work and have been informed that there were some changes in France which means I need a bigger one now. Does anybody know if that is the case - it seems logical if the dish didn't work last year and it had worked in all previous trips to France - or I could have just been unlucky in trying to locate the satellite!

Thanks for any help!
Cheers
Brian

 

[traficman]

Hi Brian we travel to France and Spain every year and always used a sky dish and receiver to get English programs just like freeview.Last few years we used a 1Met dish but could not pick up any signal in Spain because Sky have reduced there footprint signal in Spain so the Brits cannot pick up there network for free.I don't know how far down in France you loose the signal

Volvo xc60 r-design,Unicorn Seville

 

[Robtel]

Yes, Sky did something with their satellites last year which altered the signal footprint and depending how far south you go in France you might need a bigger dish. Best thing to do is have a look at the satelliteforcaravans.co.uk website, there are links on there to updates for dish sizes in Europe. Good site for satellite info.

 

[JTQ]

Yes, the satellite system 28.2 East, has been changed and the beam is now very much targeted on the UK, with poorer coverage in France Spain etc.
There are various maps of the footprints for differing size dishes on the internet; in my experience they are a tad pessimistic allowing for poor weather. Here is an example, though not one I can vouch for as we missed going in 2014:

http://www.insatinternational.com/astra_footprint.php

 

[Gafferbill]

Brian........you need a 60 cms dish in Northern France and a 90 cms dish in Southern France.
The further south, east or west you go then so the dish size rises from the 60 towards the 90.
Time of day and weather also has an effect.
I have a 90 for Spanish use........but that no longer receives a signal for UK TV except for northern Spain.
Down in Spain with the 90 at the moment...........I can pick up hundreds of foreign language channels but only international news in English.

 

[Woodentop]

Can I make an overall correction here?

The satellites are, per se, nothing to do with Sky. They are owned and operated by Astra in Luxembourg and are just a delivery medium for whoever pays to use them. Sky and Freesat both use the same programmes but have different electronic programme guides. Uplinking for Sky is done by Arqiva who operate the UK terrestrial transmitter network.
There is actually a cluster of satellites at 28.2E which have different 'footprints' with only one tightly limited to the UK. Sky stations are broadcast from several different birds so if you are a Sky paying customer your reception of non 'standard five' channels should not have changed.
It was the UK broadcasters that decided that, for licencing reasons amongst others, they needed to use a much more compact footprint to aim signals at the UK and make them less available to other parts of Europe. In the process of so doing they improved the signal in Scotland which should (in theory at least) mean there is no longer a need for two different dish sizes depending where you are. This is why people who used to be able to get the five main UK channels in France are now having difficulty.
A look at www.lyngsat.com will show the footprint maps and it will be seen that viewers in the east of France and some of the Benelux countries will have not seen any change, but viewers in west France e.g the Vendee may now be having difficulties. But as another has said it is very hit and miss and under good signal conditions the actual reception area may be considerably greater than predicted.

 

[DeliDave_]

For woodentop,I havent currently got sky ,I use Freesat but if I wanted reception in southern France,what channels could I receive with a skybox and subscription,also what size dish would I need.Had alook at Lyngsat site and it went over my head Im afraid.Thank you in advance