BBC , Channel 4, ITV, for free ?????

[fishtalk]

Hi there... I'm living in Barcelona and have been using Astra 19.2 and Hot bird 13° which are recently getting pretty usless, as the majority of the chanels are now coded...
Just fell on an news item about Astra 2D 28.2°E and see that most of the usual English chanels ie. BBC I 2 3 ITV chanel 4 are not coded...BUT its marked "Bouquet Sky Digital" Maybe I'm dreaming but does this mean that if I move my Parabol to 28.2 I'll be able to see all the English stuff for free ???? (I dont belive it)
Lastly, if this IS so, do I move my (13°E) parabol to the left or right to pick up Astra 2D.
Thanks

 

[Lazarus]

Yes, those Channels are Free To Air.

How big is your Dish? In general, fairly large dishes are required to get 2D, but Barcelona is relatively lucky in that respect and you might be able to use your existing one.

If your dish is suitable, use this calculator _http://www.satsig.net/ssazelm.htm to find out where to point it.

Between 80cm and a little over a metre should be the ball park size dependent upon exact location.

 

[fishtalk]

Yes, those Channels are Free To Air.

How big is your Dish? In general, fairly large dishes are required to get 2D, but Barcelona is relatively lucky in that respect and you might be able to use your existing one.

If your dish is suitable, use this calculator _http://www.satsig.net/ssazelm.htm to find out where to point it.

Between 80cm and a little over a metre should be the ball park size dependent upon exact location.

Ok thanks for the info....... Tried "satsig" seems comlicated cos I don't have the Latiude.... Just Astra 2D 28.2E.
Tried Dishpointer and Got this

Longitude: 2.1614° Name: 28.2E Astra 2A, 2B, 2D
Distance: 38159km Elevation: 35.3°
Azimuth (true): 143.5° LNB Skew -19°
Azimuth (magn.): 143.7°

Does this seem right ?
I just point my parabol at 143° on the compass
I suppose the elevation means the angle that it points up into the sky.
and the Skew is the LNB twisted clockwise to 19°

My Parabol antena is about 80CM....
thanks again

 

[fishtalk]

Thanks Tivu for replying so quickly.
Tried sat sig... seems to be a bit comlipcated as I dont have the Latitude, so I went to Dish pointer and got Astra 2D 28.2°
Elevation 35.30 ( I suppose this means the angle it should be pointed at the sky)
Azimuth 143.7°(.3 magnetic)
LBN skew 19° ( this clockwise, no?) PS. my Parabol is about 80CM and is on the roof with just the sea in front.

 

[Robbo]

If you are on Hotbird now, move the dish so it points more left by about 15 degrees, and a bit lower. You will come accross 19.2E and 23.5E on the way.

 

[Lazarus]

Thanks Tivu for replying so quickly.
Tried sat sig... seems to be a bit comlipcated as I dont have the Latitude, so I went to Dish pointer and got Astra 2D 28.2°
Elevation 35.30 ( I suppose this means the angle it should be pointed at the sky)
Azimuth 143.7°(.3 magnetic)
LBN skew 19° ( this clockwise, no?) PS. my Parabol is about 80CM and is on the roof with just the sea in front.

Yes, those results are valid. 80cm is at the lower end of what people report is ok, so you'll need to be precise with your alignment. You'll easily get all the other UK FTA channels from Astra 2A, 2B and Eurobird 1 with it, though. Any problems with 2D, you might need to get a slightly bigger (but not massive!) dish.

 

[fishtalk]

Right.... One last question.
When using on of those little meter things for finding a Sat.
I know it has to be conected between the parabol and the Sat reciever.... BUT does the sat reciver have to be tuned to the Sat in question ie. Astra 2D ? or does it just have to be conected and "on"
For the moment the only two Sat's I have "tuned" are Hotbird 13° and Astra 19.2°
Many thanks

 

[Lazarus]

It just needs power.

Once you've got a squawk on a new Satellite position that you hope is 28E, then add a new "Satellite" to your receiver and scan - unless you've already got pre-stored one you can use? Even if you have, it'll be way out of date, so would need editing or blind scanning anyway.

Call the new "Satellite" something like "UK" or "28E" as there are four birds at the same nominal position (ok one is at 28.5E, not 28.2E - but with an 80cm dish the receiver will see them all as one). 2D is the weakest part of that cluster, so on first try you may well get loads of stuff from the other three birds but not much from that one. Still, at least it tells you you are getting very close.

 

[fishtalk]

me again.... just read on some site that with a single LBN and a circula parabol
(didn't know there were other shapes) thet there was no need to worry about Skew... is this true... Also that barcelona is hot spot for 2D
Have just found a unused ( they moved) 1.30cm dish with an ALPS unversal LBN
Dose this sound good ?

 

[Lazarus]

Sounds very good indeed!

But do try the 80cm first - If it works 24/7 then why use a bigger Dish with narrower Beamwidth that requires more careful alignment?

As for Skew, the 28E position has several degrees of reverse skew applied thus diminishing the amount of local skew you need. This helps with BSkyB dishes which use a different LNB arrangement to a normal dish!

But you still need some skew - easy enough task anyway. Don't calculate it - just twiddle until perfect!

 

[Lazarus]

Sounds very good indeed!

But do try the 80cm first - If it works 24/7 then why use a bigger Dish with narrower Beamwidth that requires more careful alignment?

As for Skew, the 28E position has several degrees of reverse skew applied thus diminishing the amount of local skew you need. This helps with BSkyB dishes which use a different LNB arrangement to a normal dish!

But you still need some skew - easy enough task anyway. Don't calculate it - just twiddle until perfect!

 

[fishtalk]

Ok Tivu thanks for your help... I'll probably be beck asking questions once I 'phyically' try to find 2D

 

[Lazarus]

Looking forward to hearing how you get on.

 

[ko003]

I picked all the channels up with a 66cm dish when I was traveling through Barcelona so you should be ok you just need to play around a bit

 

[Lazarus]

That's impressive - how fast were you going?


I'll get my coat ....................

 

[Huevos]

with a single LBN and a circula parabol (didn't know there were other shapes) thet there was no need to worry about Skew... is this true.

It means circular polarised LNB, used when receiving a circular polarised signal. Signals from Astra 2, and pretty much all European Ku band satellites are linear polarised, not circular, and therefore require the LNB to be correctly skewed for optimal reception.

 

[PaulR]

It means circular polarised LNB, used when receiving a circular polarised signal.

Hmmm, possibly, you're certainly correct.

My interpretation is that it means a circular shaped dish (parabol) - that is a centre feed dish which needs a different LNB to an off-set dish. The off-set dish being oval in shape.

 

[Huevos]

My interpretation is that it means a circular shaped dish (parabol) - that is a centre feed dish which needs a different LNB to an off-set dish. The off-set dish being oval in shape.

Prime focus dishes need a different feedhorn (not a different LN because the f/d ratio is different. It just so happens that the feedhorn is an integrated part in the case of cheap domestic LNBs. Whether the dish is offset or not is irrelevant to the LNB. Anyway an offset dish is always circular to the LNB; Put your eye where the LNB is clamped and you will see a perfectly circular dish.

Anyway linear signals such as those transmitted from Astra 2 require a correctly skewed LNB for optimal reception no matter what type of dish is being used.

 

[PaulR]

Prime focus dishes need a different feedhorn (not a different LN because the f/d ratio is different. It just so happens that the feedhorn is an integrated part in the case of cheap domestic LNBs. Whether the dish is offset or not is irrelevant to the LNB. Anyway an offset dish is always circular to the LNB; Put your eye where the LNB is clamped and you will see a perfectly circular dish.

All absolutely true but most of it would be lost on a layman.

I was trying to put myself in their place. As far as I would be concerned if I had to change my LNBF for an LNB plus separate feedhorn then that's an LNB change.

Similarly just looking at a dish, one is round and the other oval . and yes, I do know about rectangular and plate dishes - but the average punter doesn't.