What type of Satellite receiver should I get?

[BigTim]

Hi Folks

With help from this forum I am now, slowly, getting my head around Satellite matters for caravanning. We don't have satellite TV at home so this is VERY NEW to me.

I have now got Maxview 66E dish and tripod set (bought recently from another caravanner and cable

Omnisat satellite finder and compass

TV and Scart Lead

All I now need is the satellite receiver.

I am hoping to use our satellite system in the UK and on the Continent (as far south as it can receive a signal with this size of dish)hopefully southern France, northern Spain and northern Italy.

I realise that Freesat is only intended for the UK and so do not plan to get a Freesat box.

If my understanding is correct the 2 other options are a Free-to-air box or a 2nd hand sky box (with/without a Sky card).

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the 2 boxes?

Are Sky boxes locked to one satellite only - can they be altered?

Does anyone have recommendations for brands/models for either type of receiver?

Are the boxes easy to use, ie, would I struggle with a 2nd hand one which if it came without any instructions?

Am I right thinking that I cannot get some UK channels without a Sky Box and viewing card.

Thanks in anticipation

Tim

 

[JTQ]

Tim,

Quote: "I realise that Freesat is only intended for the UK and so do not plan to get a Freesat box."

You can make exactly the same statement for any UK program transmissions be it Sky or on "free-to-air", and by dismissing FreeSat you take away possibly the best option. The "normal UK programs" all come from the same satellite cluster.

FreeSat gives you a very good EPG, electronic program guide [as does Sky] but "free-to-air" does not. We find the EPG invaluable when away from home and access to knowing what will be on that day and other days.

Your 66 cm dish will get you a picture in most weather conditions down to southern France, I have not tried it further down. Occasionally heavy rain and thunder clouds can interfere with the signal at that latitude.

 

[MobileMatty1]

I too have been reading up on this after I acquired a sky box after a colleague upgraded to sky+. All I need to complete the system is a dish (was looking at zone1 as I don't plan to leave these shores)

I found an excellent source of information at http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/

HTH

MM

 

[JTQ]

Tim,

Quote: "I realise that Freesat is only intended for the UK and so do not plan to get a Freesat box."

You can make exactly the same statement for any UK program transmissions be it Sky or on "free-to-air", and by dismissing FreeSat you take away possibly the best option. The "normal UK programs" all come from the same satellite cluster.

FreeSat gives you a very good EPG, electronic program guide [as does Sky] but "free-to-air" does not. We find the EPG invaluable when away from home and access to knowing what will be on that day and other days.

Your 66 cm dish will get you a picture in most weather conditions down to southern France, I have not tried it further down. Occasionally heavy rain and thunder clouds can interfere with the signal at that latitude.

If I was on a tight budget looking for excellent value I would go for the "B Grade" Grundig box on offer fro Maplins.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=261705
The FreeSat one I have is a Humax; their HD one can be got for

 

[Sproket]

Hi Matty

I have just bought a pace 2600 of E-bay for

 

[WatsonJohnG]

You can get Sky digiboxes for about

 

[Woody3]

It's a pity there isn't a deja-news for this forum the number of times these questions arise!

A Sky box, in theory, should receive any FTA stations without a card, but in practice it often does not. Apart from the advertising stations, the main stations it will not get without a crad are the siblings of five, most of the +1 varieties, and Sky3.

Both Sky and Freesat boxes will only get the stations provided for them on the Astra2 cluster.

Most of the other FTA boxes that you can get from the likes of Maplin should, again in theory, decoded any sat that they know about - which may in practice be somewhat limited. The one thing they do not show is the EPG.

On the other hand you can buy sat boxes from the DIY sheds in Calais (etc) which will get everything under the sun. My V-tronic that I bought at Leroy-Merlin for _56 gets all of the Astras (1&2,) Eutelsats, Hotbird, Turksat - pretty well anything that can be received with a dish in France. It has a wide of languages including English, an is a doddle to both set up and use. It has one significant advantage for caravanning: when the TV is connected by SCART (it has a modulator as well) in set-up mode it produces a tone on the sound which (loosely) increases in pitch with improving signal - so you can tune by ear!

 

[WatsonJohnG]

It's a pity there isn't a deja-news for this forum the number of times these questions arise!

A Sky box, in theory, should receive any FTA stations without a card, but in practice it often does not. Apart from the advertising stations, the main stations it will not get without a crad are the siblings of five, most of the +1 varieties, and Sky3.

Both Sky and Freesat boxes will only get the stations provided for them on the Astra2 cluster.

Most of the other FTA boxes that you can get from the likes of Maplin should, again in theory, decoded any sat that they know about - which may in practice be somewhat limited. The one thing they do not show is the EPG.

On the other hand you can buy sat boxes from the DIY sheds in Calais (etc) which will get everything under the sun. My V-tronic that I bought at Leroy-Merlin for _56 gets all of the Astras (1&2,) Eutelsats, Hotbird, Turksat - pretty well anything that can be received with a dish in France. It has a wide of languages including English, an is a doddle to both set up and use. It has one significant advantage for caravanning: when the TV is connected by SCART (it has a modulator as well) in set-up mode it produces a tone on the sound which (loosely) increases in pitch with improving signal - so you can tune by ear!

Most interesting--thanks