Dish size used in south Spain for freesat (1 Viewer)

[Douglas]

Hi, I have a 60cm dish and I am trying to get freesat on the south Spanish coast with out much luck. has any one managed to get reception with a dish of this size?

Doug...

 

[steles]

Hi do you mean freesat or free to air sat
Re tune to astra 19 and you will get lots of foriegn stations and all the english broadcast news channels nothing else with 60 dish, you need at least 1.2M
Where are you
Steles

 

[Douglas]

Hi do you mean freesat or free to air sat
Re tune to astra 19 and you will get lots of foriegn stations and all the english broadcast news channels nothing else with 60 dish, you need at least 1.2M
Where are you
Steles

Freesat, the one with the UK free tv and we are in Algaciras at the moment

Doug...

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[stagman]

Freesat, the one with the UK free tv and we are in Algaciras at the moment

Doug...

Try and get Astra 1 first , it should be a strong signal .Once you get this just drop a few degrees slowly keeping watch on your signal meter and turn gently towards 28 deg se. The next strong signal you get should be Astra 2 . If not then stick to 1 .Sorry best I can do at the moment:thumb:

 

[Satandpcguy]

Remember that Freesat is just a EPG, and although the Freesat EPG is available over europe on an 60cm dish quite easily (its on Eurobird 1 - a noice pan european beam), but you will not get many "decent" free channels on a 60cm dish in southern spain.

For the main BBC and ITV channels you will need a MUCH bigger dish - costablanca area at least a 1.8m dish, further south a 1.4m dish may just do.

60cm will not get you much - some of the Eurobird 1 channels, and the Astra 2a and 2b south beam channels - BBC News, Sky News, lots of shopping and text channels - infact using a freesat box and a 60cm dish i dare say out of the 144 channels available on the freesat EPG you would be lucky to get 40 channels!

 

[evans88]

Get "True Movies" up on your menu screen then try to find the satellite. I can get this on a 66cms dish in Benidorm which is about the worst place in Spain for reception. It just might work on a 60cms dish. Otherwise its down to finding a signal on Astra 1 for a few news and many foreign channels and the Hotbird satellite that is assuming your sat box is capable of searching for these satellites.

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[Douglas]

Thanks for the info guy's

Doug...

 

[lebesset]

so what english channels are broadcast digitally on astra 1 @19.2 ?
unfortunately my wife only speaks english

 

[Satandpcguy]

"true movies" can just about be got on a 60cm dish , but will also require some LNB skew action to ensure all is received well, and depends on what receiver you are using - some really do not like weak signals like some old sky sonys!
or try "bbc news" (a nice strong signal with no lnb tweaking required!), get that then fine tune for TM..
(rough guide - at the moment aim the dish to where the sun is at about 11am - 1130am....)

(i think a 66cm dish is the same as a 60 cm dish - dishes are normally measured using the reflector size, and not the extra few cm around the rim. hence confusion around here in spain about 1.8s and 1.9s...reflector size vs reflector and rim, yet manufacturers documents are 1.8)

Yes you can use your freesat box on other satellites - just pop it into nonfreesat mode and manually scan frequencies - you will need to know the frequencies from for the channels on other satellites tho...so lyngsat.com.

sky news, bbc world, cnn, God channel, travel channel (Link Removed)
thats about all english language channels on astra 19.

there are a few arabic MBC, Fox Series, etc available on Badr / Arabsat at 26 east - many programmes in English, but with hard coded arabic subtitles - do a search for "MBC guide" and check out their programmes.

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[Douglas]

Yes you can use your freesat box on other satellites - just pop it into nonfreesat mode and manually scan frequencies

I dont have a freesat box, I have a Pixx plus box, its German and I used to use it on Hispesat?

Doug

 

[Satandpcguy]

OK, my apologies. When, in your original post, you said you were trying to get Freesat (and said you wanted Freesat and not free to air channels in post3 in answer to the question in post 2!), I therefore assumed you had a Freesat receiver.

Freesat is the brand name for satellite receivers that are able to receive the Freesat EPG.
(Just like Sky boxes only receive the Sky Guide EPG). Freesat receivers use the Freesat EPG to receieve free to air channels. Thats all Freesat is...the name of the EPG and software inside Freesat boxes.

If you have a non Freesat receiver then you will not be able to receive Freesat, but you will be able to receive the free to air channels, that are also available for free on Freesat receivers and Sky receivers.

In that case select Astra 2 / EB1 on your receiver, look for frequency 11954 h, align the dish for reception on that frequency, then fine tune using frequency 11642v 27.5 2/3. But as I said you WILL NOT get BBC or ITV channels on your size dish in South Spain.

 

[old-mo]

"Satandpcguy,,,, Just out of curiosity can you tell me this,, when we were at camping marjal last Easter,, I had a 80cm dish and was fiddling about with my uk sky box with card and could get little or nothing from any satellites..

A guy called Didgey Dave came and put correct numbers in my sky box (I did not realise you had to change) but with his meter thingy could not get a signal or picture,, anyway it turns out my LNB was naff, Perhaps cos I dropped it in France.. oh:

As he was hooked up to his mates huge aerial/dish he lent me an ordinary English mesh dish exactly the same as we have at home,, he tweekd about for a few minuets and low and behold we had most programmes that our UK card permitted,, he did say about 9pm we will start to loose or the picture will break up and it did..

I`m still baffled..

Marjal does have satelitte for all normal ITV 1&2 and BBC 1 & 2. so we were able to watch Corrie, East E, etc.

Thanks

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[Satandpcguy]

When a sky box is first booted up, it looks for specific information on a set frequency to enable it to ensure it ahs the correct channels list, and some EPG programme data.

This frequency, 11778, is on the "north" beams, which even on a big 2,4m dish, in certain areas of spain, on certian sky boxes, especially in the afternoons, is not available. The box therefore just shows "searching for listings" and then "no signal being received".

So to enable the box get enough information fom the satellites to boot up, you change the "default transponder frequency" to any other that can be received - ideally a south beam one. This is because every frequency carried limited EPG data, and the sky box can use this to enable a successful boot.

Putting in the frequency does not gain extra channels, does not prolong reception times of channels, it just helps the box boot up.

see Default Transponder Frequency Settings for Sky Costa Blanca Spain 12129 12.129 11778 11.778
for more information

You do not have to do this process in the UK, or France for examplle as the 11778 frequency is strong, but in south Med areas you will need to do this to help your box boot up.



BBC and ITV are transmitted from Astra 2d, whos tight beam is focused on the UK. Reception of this in South Spain requries bigger dishes. Even on big 2,4m dishes, due to the differing strengths of the signals, not all channels will be available 24/7. Unless you are in north spain / barcelona you will / should not be able to receive BBC1 and 2 on an 80cm dish, the signals are just too weak (i am in Valencia and canmnot get BBC1 on my 80cm dish - so it is unlikly further south!)

see
http://www.satandpcguy.com/Site/satellite_dishes_costa_blanca_spain.php
where there is a link to a map which gives indications of dish sizes required for Astra 2d reception.

However, as UK TV (ie Sky) is transmitted from 4 satellites, each of these satellites have varying strengths, hence why Sky News and BBC News you can receive on an 60 cm dish over most or europe, as they are on a satellite with a pan european beam. And many of the Sky Pay TV chanels are available on a 80cm dish across most of Europe (excluding Disney Chanenls and Sky Sports Acitve)