SKY HD in the Motorhome in Spain (1 Viewer)

N&K

Free Member
May 26, 2008
220
42
Berkshire
Funster No
2,836
MH
Swift Sundance 630L
Exp
5
Hi
We are think about heading to the south of Spain during winter. With the dark cold early nights we are thinking about having some TV available in the Motohome....never had a tv in there yet. I have had a look through the 'TV & SATELLITE' forum but cant see any mention of HD on the move.

We would like to take our Sky HD box from home (might as well use our subscription), I believe a bigger dish is required for southern spain, can someone recommend which hardware we will require?

Maybe?:
Link Removed

and this HD LNB for the twin cable into the back of the HD box?
Link Removed

Cheers

N&K :thumb:
 

Pikey Pete

Free Member
May 25, 2008
1,481
1,143
o
Funster No
2,818
MH
o
Exp
0
Hi
We are think about heading to the south of Spain during winter. With the dark cold early nights we are thinking about having some TV available in the Motohome....never had a tv in there yet. I have had a look through the 'TV & SATELLITE' forum but cant see any mention of HD on the move.

We would like to take our Sky HD box from home (might as well use our subscription), I believe a bigger dish is required for southern spain, can someone recommend which hardware we will require?

Maybe?:
Link Removed

and this HD LNB for the twin cable into the back of the HD box?
Link Removed

Cheers

N&K :thumb:

Okay here goes.
1 You will need a minimum 1.5m dish if you want to recieve all the channels in most of Spain.
2 You only need a Dual LNB for Sky plus, it is not required for HD
3 You will need a HD ready TV if you want to watch HD as it should be seen.
4 The HD is fed to the TV via a HDMI cable, not via the Ariel or Scart lead.

So you will get your HD channels on a standard system but not in 1080p format and probably not at all with a 90cm dish.:Sad:
Other than that just take the box and card and all should be well:thumb:
Pete
 
OP
OP
N

N&K

Free Member
May 26, 2008
220
42
Berkshire
Funster No
2,836
MH
Swift Sundance 630L
Exp
5
Okay here goes.
1 You will need a minimum 1.5m dish if you want to recieve all the channels in most of Spain.
2 You only need a Dual LNB for Sky plus, it is not required for HD
3 You will need a HD ready TV if you want to watch HD as it should be seen.
4 The HD is fed to the TV via a HDMI cable, not via the Ariel or Scart lead.

Thanks Pete

I didnt realise number 2, makes sense though, I'll get a dual so I can SKY+ as well.
Was in Comet the other day they have some nice small HD tv's with HDMI so looking good. Thanks for the quick reply ::bigsmile:

Cheer N&K

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Satandpcguy

Funster
Jun 18, 2008
683
395
Gandia, Valencia, Spain
Funster No
2,936
MH
Don't own one yet
Exp
None
with an 80cm dish you will get 50 - 85% of the channels you should get.
you will not get bbc, itv,c4 on anything less than 1.35m dishes in the south of spain.
some channels do drop in and out during the afternoons
a sky HD box has Sky+, so yes two cable feeds will be required if you want to do all the recording functions.
 

madbluemad

Banned
Jan 26, 2008
3,327
239
spain
Funster No
1,335
MH
just looking
Exp
since 1980
Thanks Pete

I didnt realise number 2, makes sense though, I'll get a dual so I can SKY+ as well.
Was in Comet the other day they have some nice small HD tv's with HDMI so looking good. Thanks for the quick reply ::bigsmile:

Cheer N&K

Have a look on we do digital web site. Iv'e just bough a 20" flat screen with built in DVD, Freeview and HD ready. Its a nice set and works a treat.

Jim :Smile:
 

Pikey Pete

Free Member
May 25, 2008
1,481
1,143
o
Funster No
2,818
MH
o
Exp
0
Further to the need for a 1.5m dish, there are other things to consider.
If you plan to take a dish that size, you will find that mounting it can create it's own problems, as we get a lot of wind in the the winter in southern Spain.
Pegging it down is not usualy successful, so a heavy concrete mounting block is the usual method.
Carrying a 1.5m dish in a motorhome is one thing but I think a heavy concrete block and a steel mounting frame is pushing it.:Eeek:
I have a 85cm Oyster on the roof and I can get some of the HD channels with that, but as I don't subscribe to HD, only the freebies such as Channel 4 HD.
BBC and ITV normal channels are out of the question on anything less than a 1.5m dish. ( as previously stated )
At the site I winter on, there are plenty of people in permanant residence who have the big dish and I rent a connection off my neighbour.
Works for me:thumb:
Pete

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
OP
OP
N

N&K

Free Member
May 26, 2008
220
42
Berkshire
Funster No
2,836
MH
Swift Sundance 630L
Exp
5
DiSEqC?

Thanks for all the replies, very useful.

Can I ask what you guys use for tuning and do you use a DiSEqC motor, or is manual good enough, providing you can secure the dish well enough as mentioned by apxc15/Pete?

To be honest I might go for an 80cm or 1m dish and take a gamble on which channels I receive the further south we go in Spain, due to logistical reasons and also securing it when its erected. There seems to be a good choice of tripods for this size dish.

cheers.
 

Pikey Pete

Free Member
May 25, 2008
1,481
1,143
o
Funster No
2,818
MH
o
Exp
0
Thanks for all the replies, very useful.

Can I ask what you guys use for tuning and do you use a DiSEqC motor, or is manual good enough, providing you can secure the dish well enough as mentioned by apxc15/Pete?

To be honest I might go for an 80cm or 1m dish and take a gamble on which channels I receive the further south we go in Spain, due to logistical reasons and also securing it when its erected. There seems to be a good choice of tripods for this size dish.

cheers.

I use a Hama SAT-Levelmeter, or rather I did until I got a motorised dish bolted to the roof. I bought it in Mediamart at a cost of 12 euros, and it does the job nicely.
Pete
 
OP
OP
N

N&K

Free Member
May 26, 2008
220
42
Berkshire
Funster No
2,836
MH
Swift Sundance 630L
Exp
5
Sat Finder

Thanks again everyone.

I found this site which is useful, How to use the SatCure Satellite Finder Signal Meter the feature to put in the address and shows the direction of the dish according to satellite you selected is interesting. Could be useful for campsites.
I have ordered a 1.1m dish, tripod and dual LNB for SKY+. I'll report back when it all arrives. The dish is an Link Removed exchanged a few emails with this ebay shop and they did a good deal.
Cheers
N&K

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
OP
OP
N

N&K

Free Member
May 26, 2008
220
42
Berkshire
Funster No
2,836
MH
Swift Sundance 630L
Exp
5
Dish Alignment & Magnetic Variation in Europe

Hi

The 1.1 dish, tripod and double LNB were delivered on time. After setting them up getting a picture was no problem using the signal finder and a cheap digital compass from ebay. I also bought a 43cm standard sky dish for UK use from ebay £12 with LNB, bargain.

The direction for Sky Digital was 151-152 degress on the digital compass (180 - 28.2). I was reading about magnetic variation and apparently on the East Coast of Spain I will need to allow for a couple of degrees.

Link Removed
Link Removed
Link Removed
Link Removed
This site says :-
"Although the orbital position of the satellite is 28.2 degrees East of South, the actual compass bearing will be slightly different. To work out the correct compass bearing you will need to know the magnetic variation of the continent you are on. The variation needed for the UK is about 5 degrees, this will mean for the United Kingdom you will need to align your dish to a compass bearing of about 23 degrees east of south "

For my postcode the Link Removed says about 3 degrees. The digital compass I bought has inbuilt distortion measurements, so I am not sure if it had already compensated as I aligned on my existing SKY HD dish and it said 151 degrees as well.

Not sure if I will even notice this few degrees when aligning the dish on my camping tripod, but its all useful knowledge. Anyway...all interesting stuff, but thanks for the help, I am now up and running.

N&K
 

keith

Free Member
Aug 25, 2007
3,421
1,864
Ecclefechan
Funster No
168
MH
Autocruise Starseeker
Exp
Caravaning since 1974 - Motorhoming since 2003
Hi

The 1.1 dish, tripod and double LNB were delivered on time. After setting them up getting a picture was no problem using the signal finder and a cheap digital compass from ebay. I also bought a 43cm standard sky dish for UK use from ebay £12 with LNB, bargain.

The direction for Sky Digital was 151-152 degress on the digital compass (180 - 28.2). I was reading about magnetic variation and apparently on the East Coast of Spain I will need to allow for a couple of degrees.

Link Removed
Link Removed
Link Removed
Link Removed
This site says :-
"Although the orbital position of the satellite is 28.2 degrees East of South, the actual compass bearing will be slightly different. To work out the correct compass bearing you will need to know the magnetic variation of the continent you are on. The variation needed for the UK is about 5 degrees, this will mean for the United Kingdom you will need to align your dish to a compass bearing of about 23 degrees east of south "

For my postcode the Link Removed says about 3 degrees. The digital compass I bought has inbuilt distortion measurements, so I am not sure if it had already compensated as I aligned on my existing SKY HD dish and it said 151 degrees as well.

Not sure if I will even notice this few degrees when aligning the dish on my camping tripod, but its all useful knowledge. Anyway...all interesting stuff, but thanks for the help, I am now up and running.

N&K

You may find THIS SITE useful. I use it all the time to get my Camos crabkup tuned in
 
OP
OP
N

N&K

Free Member
May 26, 2008
220
42
Berkshire
Funster No
2,836
MH
Swift Sundance 630L
Exp
5
Dishpointer

Thanks for the link, the site is useful , i posted this link on a previous thread on this post but thanks again, its a handy site :thumb:
N&K

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Funsters who are viewing this thread

Back
Top