Another Sky-DIY Question

In article , TheScullster writes

Try this link

In message , TheScullster managed to combine nouns and verbs in a pleasing form to communicate the following;

Only the BBC (and perhaps some of the many millions of home shopping channels) broadcast un-encrypted so you will miss out on ITV, C4 and C5 so you will need a card of some sort in the digibox and the card your friend has will expire when he stops handing over money to Murdoch. Getting the kit installed by Sky for free will require you signing up for a minimum of 12 months on one of their channel packages and that will cost you over £200!

All is not lost however as Sky, spooked by the success of Freeview have launched a similar service based on their satellite platform, read all about it here.

That said, for £150 you will get a new digibox installed rather than your friends old kit so really the deciding factor is how much you will be charged to have your friendly local installer install and align your dish.

Cheers,

Andy

Fitting & aligning a dish isn't difficult. There are calculations to work out which angles of tilt and azimuth (try Google) to pick up Astra. Once you are pointing in more or less the right direction, you CAN use internal metering (depending on receiver model) or buy a cheap "strength meter". Try Maplins, about £10 ISTR.

You do need a clear line-of-site to the satellite's position in the sky. If you can't see it, you won't get a picture!

In article , Andrew Sinclair writes

That.. seems to contradict what U have writ below?.

Well I've found it OK;)

Nope. It can be done DIY but be prepared for some fiddling around, can take up most of a Saturday morning.

However the average DIY'er will easily make a better certainly neater job than the Sky cowboy!...

"Andrew Chesters" wrote | You do need a clear line-of-site to the satellite's position in the sky. | If you can't see it, you won't get a picture!

And don't waste your time with binoculars peering at the clouds looking for the satellite :-)

It's not very big and it's a l-o-n-g way away

Owain

I got one of these from maplins a few years ago, came with a compass too I think :o)

True, but dont the dishes have an offset focus or something so the dish isnt pointing directly at the satellite (I have seen some installations where you would think the signal is blocked by a wall but the angle isnt quite what you would expect and it works fine)

And it's about another 3 months before the sun is more or less in the same place in the sky as the satellite constellation . I took the October opportunity to confirm that where I could neatly and unobtrusively fit a dish would actually be able to see the birds.

But if you have a small telescope and look at the right time you can see them.

But should still function as a FTV card (for ITV1 Ch4 and five), though I'm not sure how Sky will react to the change of "ownership" of a) the kit b) the card.

You need to get the initial point direction reasonably close, but after that a cheap meter will do or the stuff built into the Rx how ever seeing that on the TV screen whilst up a ladder brings another set of problems. There is plenty of stuff on the web on How To...

On Tue, 4 Jan 2005 08:34:50 -0000, "TheScullster" squeezed out the following:

Spend £80 on a decent Freeview digibox. Better still, spend £200k or less on a digibox with twin tuners and HDD.

At a tangent, do Sky boxes (I deal with 'normal' satellite as a day job) receive non-Sky channels? If it will handle it, a dual LNB would allow reception of Hotbird and a huge choice on non-encrypted European TV. Why you might want to watch it though....

In article , Colin Irvine writes

Well he could do that but quite frankly I reckon Satellite is the way to go for digital services both TV and Radio for fixed home use.

However its still the ignominy of the "sky dish" thats holding it back;(

Sort of. You can program in frequencies, polarisation, symbol rate, etc. channel by channel, but it's very laborious and no program guide.

I've found that the better solution is simply to buy a DVB receiver. The program guides can be picked up and scanning is automatic.

In message , Dave Liquorice writes

Aha, I never knew there was a signal meter built into my digibox (a happy half hour spent Googling and playing with the thing has taught me loads this afternoon - Dad! Can we have Fox Kids on now...)

big snip

Dunno, but the instruction manual / Set up menu does have 'extra channels' wherein one inputs frequncy, polarisation, language and lots of other info ... I dimly remeber thinking;- "Must try that out" ... but, never got round to it.

Seems likely, provided they're within the boresight of the dish,

Quite ,,, :)

snip

I've gorra ask! What's the 'right time'? Dark enough to see while the 'bird' is illuminated by Sol?

In article , Brian Sharrock writes

Perhaps you are like me, married to someone who comes from the other side of the channel, may be learning a language, may just be interested 'cos their there;) or you might like some of the excellent radio services like Swiss or Berlin or Paris Jazz, and around 4 other 5 classic music stations that haven't forgotten what sound quality is about:)

Alt.satellite.tv.europe is worth a post or two:))

Yes, I was going to say this.

I think 200k is overkill....

"Dave Liquorice" wrote | > If you can't see it, you won't get a picture! | And it's about another 3 months before the sun is more or | less in the same place in the sky as the satellite constellation . | I took the October opportunity ...

If you are of an astronomical persuasion a reminder closer to the time when this next happens might be of interest here and in ukdtv

Owain

On 4 Jan 2005 20:03:41 GMT, "Bob Eager" squeezed out the following:

Damn - you're right! UKP200, OTHO - best extra UKP120 I ever spent.