SKY Wideband LNB - EL021

Mazzboy74

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Greetings....
I've just moved to a new house and have noticed that the digital signal is not great (can't seem to pick up some FreeView channels and some of the ones that work seem to break up every now and again) so figured this would be an ideal opportunity to look into FreeSat. I have however noticed that the previous occupants had installed a SKY dish (dark grey oval) fitted with a SKY Wideband LNB, model EL021 with 2 cables currently connected to it. So, my question is - Can I use the existing dish setup to pick up FreeSat channels? I've done some research on the net and have come across varied opinions. If the answer is no, could you please let me know what I would need to replace\fit in order to pick up FreeSat channels?
Many Thanks in advance for any of your useful responses
M
 
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rolfw

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Hi, the new generation of Freesat boxes will work with Wideband LNBs, so should be easy to plug and play, only issue may be that you need to swap the two cables round if it doesn't tune first time. If it's an older box then you swap the sky Wideband LNB out for a quad.

Why not do a bit of investigation as to why the terrestrial aerial doesn't work? Check with your new neighbours whether they get all channels and look at what aerials they have and where they point. You can also check which transmitter you are receiving from and see if it carries the full Freeview package. If you have more than one TV point, chack to see if you have a distribution amplifier in the loft or a masthead amplifier (is there a little box on the aerial mast) and then check how it's powered, as a dying 12v power supply may still work, but provide very scrappy signal.

Here's a map of West Midlands transmitters, including local infill sites. BBC West Midlands The Red F icons are the main transmitters.

A service cal from a good local aerial installer (not one of the nationals), will be probably be cheaper than a Freesat box.
 
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Mazzboy74

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Hi rolfw.
Thank you for your response, it's very much appreciated!
I've managed to figure out why my Freeview reception wasn't great, there seems to be 2 digital aerials fitted on this house. The kids bedroom has the aerial output for the newer of the 2 digital aerials and this one seems to pick up the usual HD channels and all-round good signal, the aerial output in the living room is obviously the older of the 2 aerials, hence the bad reception.
I can only assume that the previous occupants didn't bother with fitting the living room with the new aerial output and went straight to fitting the Sky dish. I've followed the cables from the Sky dish and they lead directly to the area where the TV is.
My next mission is to get into the loft so I can follow the cables and see how easy it will be to tap the feed from the newer digital aerial to the cable in the living room.
Failing that, I will look again at the FreeSat option - Don't know why but I've always been fascinated by Satellite TV. I just don't know enough about the benefits of going to FreeSat vs FreeView, are there more channels? Is the picture/sound quality any better etc....?
Thanks
 

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There is no such thing as a digital aerial. A newer model perhaps than the earlier specific groups (wideband or with LTE filtering), but even the old yagis will still pick up DVB-T2 if they are the correct band and on the correct polarity..
 

ozumo

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There are a few more channels on satellite, though not all of them are on Freesat, and not all Freeview channels are on Freesat, though this is mostly radio stations. I always found satellite to have better image quality, in particular on SD channels.
 

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Hi Channel Hopper,
Thanks for your reply! As you can tell I'm an absolute rookie when it comes to things such as TV aerials / satellites etc (which is why I'm relying on useful folks such as yourselves for advice!) You are probably correct, there are 2 aerials of some sort on the roof so one of them is the newer spec which is why the signal quality and loss of all HD channels is so different to the 2 aerial sockets in the house. I've tested this with the same FreeView receiver.
Thanks ozumo too for your reply!
FreeSat is something I'm still very keen to explore however it's not on the top of my priority list at the moment. Saying that, I stumbled on a few other threads and videos on YouTube about Astra and HotBird FTA channels - Now I'm really confused.....Is this worth investing in?
 

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There's very little in English. I'll be watching the German channels on 19.2e for the excellent winter sports coverage... if they're allowed to happen. A Freesat box can access these channels, but the dish will need to be moved.
 

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Thanks again for your reply!
If the dish needs to be moved for Astra/HotBird, will I lose the usual FreeSat channels then? Will I also need an additional or different LNB?
 

ozumo

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Yes you will lose the Freesat channels. As long as the receiver supports wideband LNBs you can use the same LNB - some of the current Freesat boxes do but you'd have to use the non-Freesat mode. Most generic FTA satellite receivers would need a 'legacy' universal LNB, a Freesat box would work with this kind also.

A second LNB could be mounted alongside a universal LNB for 19.2e, leaving the dish where it is, and then use a DiSEqC switch to switch between them. I do not know if the current Freesat boxes support this though. However this would allow you to receive both Freesat and 19.2e, though signals from 19.2e would be weaker than if if the dish was pointing directly at the satellite.
 

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There's very little in English. I'll be watching the German channels on 19.2e for the excellent winter sports coverage... if they're allowed to happen. A Freesat box can access these channels, but the dish will need to be moved.


Eh ?

There is lots in English, plenty of news channels, most of the Asian channels will be speaking the lingo, a number of German channels have second audio settings, and if you have a dish that can receive 1W you get the bible bashing stuff from the US.
 

ozumo

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Eh ?

There is lots in English, plenty of news channels, most of the Asian channels will be speaking the lingo, a number of German channels have second audio settings, and if you have a dish that can receive 1W you get the bible bashing stuff from the US.

Very little in English worth watching then. I rarely find anything on the German channels with an actual English soundtrack, even if the audio options appear to offer it. MTV is often English with German subtitles if Geordie Shore is your thing. ZDF Kultur had a fair bit but that channel disappeared years ago.
 

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All points noted guys - Didn't mean for this thread to go slightly off topic!
I'll see how far I get with the FreeView cabling, failing that I'll look at sourcing a FreeSat receiver that is WideBand LNB compatible. If I get bored with FreeSat I'll look into the 19.2e option too.
Thanks again guys for all your input!
 

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19 east is definitely worth getting for Sport 1 (lots of PDC Darts on there albeit with German commentary, use in combination with this link: https://www.dartn.de/TV-Termine ) and of course Eurosport 1 for free. Usually German national football team games are on there FTA.

Again, further apologies if this has drifted further off topic.
 

Mazzboy74

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Hi jno,
Thanks for your reply - I might just invest in 19e too at a later date, for now though, I'll start with the upgrade from poor freeview signal to freesat which should give me some HD channels.
 
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