Satellite TV Update

[alcanadakid]

It would be a 1.2 dish as measurements go by width not height.

In Alcanada we have a 1.5m dish and can get all channels except BBC4. Best reception for BBC 1 is either BBC South or BBC Oxford. For BBC2 it is BBC2 Northern Ireland.

 

[JMD40]

For info, anyone still not finding a sensibly priced option. I can arrange excellent reliable and prompt service to restore your programmes with the larger dish at 800 euros including fitting. If you want a community dish, for about 8 neighbours, its about 1000 euros.
There are still people out there quoting 1500 euros!

 

[San Miguel]

Sat. Dish

I have sent you a PM.

With best wishes,
San Miguel

 

[YLD43]

Hey, San Miguel, could you please forward to me the people you used to restore your TV programs,

Thank you
YLD43

 

[glentobay]

We seem to receive our Sky subscription channels and 106 Sky 1. We noted that the BBC and ITV channels are no longer available here in PP. Not sure what is meant by the terms "European beam" or the "spot beam"? Our apartment is on a middle floor in a mixed community - should we be looking to our community to vote on taking any kind of action? If so - what can be done?

 

[Deanscroft]

The UK spot beam is tightly focused on the UK whereas the European beam covers all of western Europe. All BBC, ITV, Ch4 and Ch5 transmissions are now on the UK beam which is why you now generally need a bigger dish to receive them. The Sky subscription channels are on the European beam so can still be received on the smaller dishes.
As this only affects UK TV it is usually not considered to be a Community issue unless you are lucky enough to live in a Community that is all Brits.

 

[glentobay]

Our present Sky dish is located in a communal roof area. Would the required new larger dish to ensure receiving BBC etc. be suitable for roof mounting?

 

[Deanscroft]

Larger dishes (above 1.5m dia) should be floor mounted unless the location is well sheltered from the wind. You will need to have a concrete base constructed to bolt it down to. Ideally this should be around 1m square and at least 200mm thick.

 

[Neilberns]

Hi help!
I've got a large dish on my villa but I have lost the channels what do I do?
Had all the channels before.
Someone said I need to just move it a little towards the salta little.? Es correcto

 

[pollensa]

We seem to receive our Sky subscription channels and 106 Sky 1. We noted that the BBC and ITV channels are no longer available here in PP. Not sure what is meant by the terms "European beam" or the "spot beam"? Our apartment is on a middle floor in a mixed community - should we be looking to our community to vote on taking any kind of action? If so - what can be done?

Our community of 24 is mixed & our community administrator is organising Confort to replace a couple of the smaller dishes some of us share with one larger one & the cost will be split between those who want to be connected (so far about 10 of us!). So it may be worth contacting your administrator & asking. A couple of weeks ago they were about to be doing the concrete bit. Am not sure where it's up to at the moment.

 

[Deanscroft]

To Neilberns
How large is large? If it is 1.5m dia and you have clear line of sight at a 45 degree angle from the centre of the dish up to the sky then you should still get most channels. It could probably just need fine tuning. This is not something you can do yourself as it needs a fancy bit of kit (1000€ worth) to do it properly. Confort or Infinity will do this for you for about 30€. Also check the cable - is it continuous without joints? Remake the connections in case they have got moisture in. If in doubt replace the cable first as this is the cheapest option. Might not work but worth a try.

 

[Deanscroft]

Now here is an alternative to the massive satellite dish if anyone cares to risk it. There is a satellite called intelsat 907 which is positioned at 27.5 west and has a coverage across the whole of Europe, Africa and the middle east. It can be received with a 1m dish in Spain. Included amongst the hundreds of foreign language channels broadcast from Intelsat 907 are all the BBC tv and radio channels plus ITV1 and Ch4. It is meant to be used as a back up for `the trade´should the main Astra satellite fail and the channels are therefore encoded. To receive it you need to realign your dish and buy a HD receiver that accepts a pin rather than a card (around 200€). Because it is not meant for public use the pin is changed regularly but hey this is the age of the hacker and not long after the codes are changed the new ones get posted on the internet.

 

[Nick]

We arrived yesterday and, with eager(?) anticipation, I inserted my UK Sky TV card into my Sky box and yippee as of the moment we still get every channel apart from channel 4 but oddly we get channel 4 plus one, bizarre?! Another odd thing is that live pause and recording seem to work now which shouldn't happen?

We have huge two metre dishes on the roof of our apartments and we are near the Flora Apartments.

 

[Millipet]

Like many others, when we arrived at our apartment recently, we found we had no UK TV except SKy News and a couple of the Film channels
However, following our AGM and speaking to other owners, we have, in the space of 2 weeks, had a new larger (1.7m) dish installed, resulting in perfection reception UK TV to all English owners in our block. The work was completed with the minimum of fuss by a firm called Infinity, a name which has been mentioned on this site previously.
They were totally efficient and helpful in all communications (English speaking). For anyone who is interested, their email address is: info@infinitysatellites.com and tel. no. (0034) 971 695720

 

[Nick]

So, proof then that size really does matter!

 

[supamac]

Must agree with miilipet, we had very minimal TV early March but contacted Infinity on a Monday, surveyed on a Wednesday and installed on a Friday (yes, I know I sound like Craig David's '7 days') but they were excellent! They certainly went the extra mile - apart from the dish there was the possibility of needing a new bracket and a new LNB. However, when they installed, no need for a new bracket (just moved it a smidge for even better reception), and no need for a new LNB so we were just charged for the basic. I appreciate any supplier who doesn't sell you what you don't need! 7 of us in our building split €620 between us - all very happy. Would highly recommend Infinity and their marvellous Scottish admin lady, Mary, and her band of engineers who, as millipet says, were all English speaking and what's more were very pleasant to deal with. Can't speak highly enough of the Infinity team who have managed to successfully combine great value with great customer service!

 

[lollipop]

The 1.7 m Infinity dish is actually 1.5 because of the way they state the measurement. These may not be completely reliable in bad weather. Would be interesting to get updates as time goes by.

 

[supamac]

Words of encouragement and support are always appreciated!

 

[debz1]

Must agree with miilipet, we had very minimal TV early March but contacted Infinity on a Monday, surveyed on a Wednesday and installed on a Friday (yes, I know I sound like Craig David's '7 days') but they were excellent! They certainly went the extra mile - apart from the dish there was the possibility of needing a new bracket and a new LNB. However, when they installed, no need for a new bracket (just moved it a smidge for even better reception), and no need for a new LNB so we were just charged for the basic. I appreciate any supplier who doesn't sell you what you don't need! 7 of us in our building split €620 between us - all very happy. Would highly recommend Infinity and their marvellous Scottish admin lady, Mary, and her band of engineers who, as millipet says, were all English speaking and what's more were very pleasant to deal with. Can't speak highly enough of the Infinity team who have managed to successfully combine great value with great customer service!

Suse thanks for getting it sorted, I can watch Corrie again!!

After all your efforts I hope you and Ade managed to 'chill on Sunday'

 

[supamac]

We did Debs - thanks! Though as you know, Mr M has a PhD (Nobel prize awaited) in chilling so needs no encouragement!!