spinningk Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 We are motorhoming in Portugal and cannot get TV reception. Can anyone give us some advice please? We have a 65cm Maxview dish and digibox. Reception was fine down to southern France, but nothing in Spain nor Portugal on Astra 2. We can tune in Astra 1 but digibox cannot connect. Any suggestions? My husband is nearly in tears!!! Please note - we only have occassional access to the internet so please be patient with us as any answers required may take some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 We were in Portugal in January and had no problem with TV reception although we ddn't get BBC ITV. We tuned our box onto the South Beam. If it is a Sky Box then you need to go into the services menu on your remote, press 4, then press 0 then 1 then select and then 2 - Default transponder and change the frequency to 12129 and save the settings and then press the backup button to get you back to the start. I am sure that if you have a problem doing this then another UK motorhomer will help, you only have to ask and I know that other forum members will be on here giving assistance. We have a Maxview Semitronic and had no problems getting Sky New, BBC News and a few other stations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 What do you mean by your digibox cannot connect to Astra1? Do you mean that you do not have a digibox that will connect to Astra 1 because its a skybox. If it isn't a Skybox then you should receive Astra1 and Hotbird but there are very few programmes that are watchable on these satellites. If you can't get these on a free to air box then something must be wrong. As for Astra2 you will only get a few programmes in Portugal and certainly not BBC/ITV even on south beam. There's a very informative site here which gives further information on South beam: http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/skymain.htm#south If the TV is that important - and it is in the winter abroad - then you could always look around for a campsite where they have a TV connection on the pitch. That is what I would do. There's a limit on how many times you can play scrabble! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 Because my Husband has a Sky Sports Subscription we were able to get lots of Channels on our Sky Digibox, we would usually use a Generic DigiBox but as we were going to Portugal for a few weeks we took the Sky box as well. The only way anyone is going to get BBC/ITV is using a 1m+ dish which is what our campsite neighbours did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenny Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 You should be ok with astra 2 as long as it is not a sky box, with a sky box you have to change freq as above also the sky box will say no sig when you are tuned in (wierd but true) You should get most channells except bbc and itv on astra 2. When you tune it in try to have it on sky news as this gives out a strong signal. I am in sicily at the moment and have the maxview 65cm with a dreambox reciever and this picks up more channels than my skybox but there is a lad along from me with a 85cm alden dish with a maxview reciever and he only gets half the channels I get so it might be the reciever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankkia Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 With aq 65cm dish you will struggle in Portugal but you should be able to receive the southern transponders which will give you quite a lot of programmes but not BBC or ITV. What you will need to do though is optimise the reception by altering the skew of the LNB. If the LNB is set up for the UK (with cable at approx 7 o'clock) - undo the screws holding it in place by a couple of turns and then rotate the LNB slightly to about 8 o'clock. This compensates for your movement around the curvature of the earth. If you are trying to set up your dish using a compass you will need to remember that you are a few degrees further west than you were at home. In London for example Astra 2 at 28 deg east would be at compass setting 152 deg. In Lisbon which is a further 9 degrees west your compass setting would be 143 degrees. It is possible to set up a Sky box to receive Astra1 but as has been said before there is little on there for monoglots as they are mainly German stations. You may however be able to get Arabsat which has a good few stations broadcasting in English with Arabic subtitles ( the best ones are MBC2. 4 and Action + Press tv for news). The Arabsat you want is at 26 degrees (just next to Astra 2 and slightly up). For settings see www.lyngsat.com under BADR4 and 6. If you are unsure how to set up your sky box for other satelites ask around the brits near you - there are plenty of folk who have been doing it for a while and I am sure you will find a willing volunteer who will show you how to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 slightly off subject. Re sky box. Do you have to have a current subscription card, to use as a digi-box? The reason I ask, is We have just cancelled our Sky, (have had to go to cable, for the broadband connection) and have two sky box, one of which is sky plus, Would they be usfull for use on continent? PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankkia Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 You can use a sky box without a subscription but you will only get the free to air channels (All BBC, ITV) but at the mo you need a card for 5. But you can get a card from Sky for £20 which will get you 5 as well. Applies to the Sky + box too. Note: On the continent you will get all of the free to air channels in much of northern Europe but the box will be limited to the southern transponders in much of Spain and Portugal (unless you have a very big dish). This leaves you with Sky and BBC news channels and radio 2 and 4. but you can run the red button on BBC news to get the interactive channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Frankkia - 2010-02-21 1:01 AM You can use a sky box without a subscription but you will only get the free to air channels (All BBC, ITV) but at the mo you need a card for 5. But you can get a card from Sky for £20 which will get you 5 as well. Applies to the Sky + box too. Five is available through add channels/other channels. No card needed anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Read this as it just may help you out, good viewing http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=15206&posts=14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenny Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Will say this again you can get most channels in portugal except bbc itv with a 65cm maxview dish. From piniche up(above Lisbon) you can get itv I have been there the last 2 winters and had no problem all along the algarve you have all these people with 85cm oysters and all they can get is sky news and no matter what you say they do not beleave you untill you show them we even had bbc on xmas day for 2hrs at quarteria 2 years ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankkia Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Kenny - I believe you! We use an 85cm Oyster and by rotating the LNB as above we get BBC and ITV in many places in Portugal including some on the Algarve. The problem arrises with the package of programmes you want to watch. Most of the BBC / ITV is from Astra 2D which has a limited footprint - You can even lose it in N/E Germany If you don't reset the LNB. There are other channels which can also disappear in Portugal which are those on the northern transponders of Astra 2A and B e.g. Eurosport. Again you can extend the area in which you receive those channels by rotating the LNB correctly. Dishes which do not have the ability to rotate the LNB will always be at a disadvantage compared to those which can be more accurately aligned with the signal. But as weather and the shape of the footprint and for that matter the time of day can effect signal strength there will always be some odd things happen. I have seen 2 'vans within feet of each other with identical equipment where one has had a perfect signal and another struggles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 One problem that I experienced when we had a wind up Maxview Atiel was that when wound up the arm holding the LMB had seized up a little thereby not allowing the LMB to drop right down, took me ages to work that one out. Worth keeping an eye on that bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinningk Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 Thanks very much to all those who made contact. Yes, we do have a Sky digibox. We have tried south beam on 12129 and several other numbers without success. We have also tried altering the skew on the LNB. We have not been able to get any reception whatsoever with anything we have tried up to now - receipt of any programmes would be good!! Advice from fellow campers is a 1.2m dish or a freeview box tuned to Astra 1. We shall keep trying and thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 You don't need a freeview box you need a free to air box which you can buy in a Portugese supermarket. On Astra 1 you won't get much more in English than a few news programmes and MTV Germany although Sky news is very good. These boxes are cheap and should cost less than £40. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackcat1 Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 Hi, can anyone help with a similar type of problem. We subscribe to sky hd. We have put in the lnb code for portugal but the box keeps saying it will not work whilst 2 recordings are in progress? Any suggestions appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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