Will my Satellite Receiver work Overseas?

[Hadventure]

I live in the UK and love my Humax satellite reciever.

My question is can I take this overseas with me (to Australia) and will it function to pick up Australian satellite channels if I connect it to an Australian satellite dish?

I entirely understand that I will not receive British TV out there - but can I use my receiver to watch Australian TV?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Analoguesat]

Is it a Freesat box or a geenric Humax box?

 

[Hadventure]

Hello Its the FreeSat+ HDR 1100S - Thanks

 

[Terryl]

Hello Its the FreeSat+ HDR 1100S - Thanks

Here is a listing of free TV in the Australian market.

https://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/Australia.html

 

[Hadventure]

Thanks Terryl - so I should hopefully be able to pick that up using this Humax box right? Or will it be somehow locked to FreeSat UK?

 

[rolfw]

When setting up the box, you'll need to put the Humax into non-Freesat mode, not sure how many box features will be unavailable though, probably not the full EPG.

 

[ozumo]

It will work in non-Freesat mode for free-to-air channels that are DVB-S/DVB-S2 QPSK/8PSK. However looking at the list Terryl posted a lot of them are 'multistream' which won't work on your Humax.

I'd sell the Humax here and try to find out what receivers and dish setups the locals in Australia are using.

 

[moonbase]

It will work in non-Freesat mode for free-to-air channels that are DVB-S/DVB-S2 QPSK/8PSK. However looking at the list Terryl posted a lot of them are 'multistream' which won't work on your Humax.

I'd sell the Humax here and try to find out what receivers and dish setups the locals in Australia are using.

Any general satellite receiver such as an old Technomate 5402 (M3) or any E2 receivers will pick up Australian TV. If you want to get the multistream channels then any multistream capable receiver that can handle the modulation will be OK. However, there is a decent amount of free to view stuff that is not multistream.

The most commonly used satellites are 152.0E, 156.0E (Foxtel) and 160.0E. There is plenty of Channel 7 and Channel 9 stuff free to air, with some UK programming on it.
Reception of 160.0E is variable and dish size is dependent if you are on the East or West side of Australia.

If you plan to install a dish yourself you need to take note of the unique polarity skew for the Optus satellites. However, any competent installer should be aware of this.
Another point to note is that most of the Australian satellite frequencies in Ku-Band are high band and the most common LNB's are restricted frequency range with a single L.O.
You might need to edit the L.O. in your Humax receiver if you use one of the single L.O. LNBF's. Universal LNBF's are available though in which case no editing to the L.O. in the receiver.

 

[Fisty McB]

A few other things to note...

* Access to television broadcasts in Australia is generally done either via terrestrial broadcasts (called "Freeview", same as UK) or for pay-TV via Foxtel via a mixture of cable & satellite. Other than Foxtel, satellite TV reception is generally limited to those wanting to watch ethnic or religious programming (with odd exceptions) and those in areas where no terrestrial TV signal is available.

* To serve those areas where no (reliable) terrestrial TV coverage exists, there is a satellite delivered system called VAST (Viewer Access Satellite Television). It's a free-to-view system which is restricted to a few special receivers and uses Irdeto CA. While the ABC & SBS programming on VAST is available to anyone in Australia, commercial broadcasts are restricted depending on postcode/region. Your Humax Freesat receiver won't be compatible with VAST.

* The vast majority of domestic Ku Band satellite dishes in Australia will be pointing at 156E which is home to both Foxtel & VAST, with only a few FTA broadcasts available at that position. To add to what @moonbase mentioned, 152E, 160E & 166E are other locations where English language Ku Band material can be received - in the far north of Queensland & Northern Territory reception from beams aimed at Indonesia & Papua New Guinea may be possible while Canal + also provide a French-language aimed service at 180E (essentially it's an "overspill" service from transmissions primarily aimed at New Caledonia that is offered to Australian based Francophones in central & eastern states).

* The ABC, SBS (both at 160E) and the Nine Network (166E) use satellites to distribute material to their transmitters & their regional affiliates - however they use 16APSK with a high FEC which means that a high SNR is required for reliable reception as well as the use of multistream transmission. From reading elsewhere, a minimum dish size of 1.8 metres is required for general "reliable" reception, unlikely to be worth it unless you're really in outback Australia and want "direct" metropolitan programming or you wish to view out-of-state broadcasts.

Overall, you may as well leave the Hummy in the UK IMO.

 

[7mdish]

Just for my knowledge: what about feed in Australia? And what about C band?
Could you please add a deep description as you made for common channels? Thanks.

 

[Hadventure]

Wow - thanks a million for the really detailed information. We are heading to almost far North Queensland (Townsville).

I'll have a good think about leaving it here then and buying a local receiver.