28.2 South beam channels?

[hallii]

Just back from Spain and Portugal, my new Camos crank up planar (flat) satellite worked well.

 

I use a FTA receiver and,of course, lost the North Beam as I went south. I get just the BBC and other news channels.

 

If I buy a Sky Box (and card, none subscription) what could I expect to receive on the South Beam 28.2?

 

H

[arthur49]

Try this site

 

http://www.lyngsat.com/europe.html

 

From memory South Beam transmits on Astra A and B

 

Arthur

[arthur49]

Sorry meant to say Astra 2A and Astra 2B......

[John J Thompson]

arthur49 - 2011-04-16 9:19 PM

 

Sorry meant to say Astra 2A and Astra 2B......

 

We have an 85cm Oyster and Sky Box. At present near Cartegena in Southern Spain.

 

No BBC (other than on the news channel ) or Channel 4 output

 

5 is fine. ITV we can get by tuning in under Other Channels. (ITV South and Meridian)

 

Some other channels can take up to 10 minutes to come on from the time they are selected. ie Discovery History for one.

 

In the main we have a good selection of channels

[hallii]

Thanks John, do you have a subscription or just a viewing card?

 

H

[derek500]

Have you tried adding the C4 channels on the 2a north beam? 12480, V, 27500, 2/3.

 

I get them OK on my 65cm crankup in Valencia.

 

C4 HD is now FTA on Eurobird, so anyone with a Freesat/Sky/generic HD box can get it almost anywhere.

[derek500]

hallii - 2011-04-16 9:25 PM

 

Just back from Spain and Portugal, my new Camos crank up planar (flat) satellite worked well.

 

I use a FTA receiver and,of course, lost the North Beam as I went south. I get just the BBC and other news channels.

 

If I buy a Sky Box (and card, none subscription) what could I expect to receive on the South Beam 28.2?

 

H

 

By the 'north beam' I assume you're referring to Astra 2d? There are north and south beams on both 2a and 2b that are receivable in a much larger area than 2d.

[hallii]

derek500 - 2011-04-17 1:25 PM

 

Have you tried adding the C4 channels on the 2a north beam? 12480, V, 27500, 2/3.

 

I get them OK on my 65cm crankup in Valencia.

 

C4 HD is now FTA on Eurobird, so anyone with a Freesat/Sky/generic HD box can get it almost anywhere.

 

Thanks Derek, I will add that one to my llist.

H

[hallii]

By the 'north beam' I assume you're referring to Astra 2d? There are north and south beams on both 2a and 2b that are receivable in a much larger area than 2d.

 

Yes, the 2d North beam, it seems that's the one with all the BBC and ITV channels on?

 

That's why I asked the question, does Sky use encryted channels on any beam that carry BBC and ITV, that can be received in southern Spain? (Using a a dish smaller than 3 metres!)

 

H

[derek500]

hallii - 2011-04-17 5:55 PM

 

By the 'north beam' I assume you're referring to Astra 2d? There are north and south beams on both 2a and 2b that are receivable in a much larger area than 2d.

 

Yes, the 2d North beam, it seems that's the one with all the BBC and ITV channels on?

 

That's why I asked the question, does Sky use encryted channels on any beam that carry BBC and ITV, that can be received in southern Spain? (Using a a dish smaller than 3 metres!)

 

H

 

2d doesn't have separate north and south beams like 2a and 2b. It's aimed at the UK.

 

If you had a Sky box, with card and no sub, the only BBC benefits are the News channel and all the red button streams (often good for sports events).

 

There are a couple of ITV1 regions on 2b south, C5 and its sister channels on 2a south and C4 on 2a north (north beam not to be confused with 2d where the majority of UK channels broadcast from, but often erroneously called the 'north beam').

[hallii]

Quote) 2d doesn't have separate north and south beams like 2a and 2b. It's aimed at the UK.

 

If you had a Sky box, with card and no sub, the only BBC benefits are the News channel and all the red button streams (often good for sports events).

 

There are a couple of ITV1 regions on 2b south, C5 and its sister channels on 2a south and C4 on 2a north (north beam not to be confused with 2d where the majority of UK channels broadcast from, but often erroneously called the 'north beam').

 

Now we are getting there :-) So as I see it there is no advantage in using a Sky box, my existing FTA box works well enough. I am now aware that my channel lists (pre-programmed) are a bit out of date, I will do some manual entries, the full scan takes to long!

 

H

 

 

[JamesFrance]

We have a sailing boat in the marina at Sant Carles de la Ràpita by the mouth of the river Ebro. We have a forum there where this is discussed regularly.

 

With a standard size dish the reception of Astra at 28.2° is too weak to get a proper signal, but you can get Astra 1 at 19.2°. That applies for nearly all the Spanish Med coast.

 

Unfortunately the regular UK channels are not available on that one but you can get Sky news, BBC World service, France24 (in English) and a lot of dodgy German channels. It is the same for all receivers, for example we get that on our camping satellite setup from Lidl which costs about 80€.

 

The only way to get BBC 1, ITV etc. is to use a larger dish as 50cm is not enough.

 

http://www.brymar.co.uk/info/Astra/astra.html

[JamesFrance]

derek500 - 2011-04-17 9:31 PM

 

 

 

If you had a Sky box, with card and no sub, the only BBC benefits are the News channel and all the red button streams (often good for sports events).

 

There are a couple of ITV1 regions on 2b south, C5 and its sister channels on 2a south and C4 on 2a north (north beam not to be confused with 2d where the majority of UK channels broadcast from, but often erroneously called the 'north beam').

 

We have a Sky receiver in our house in southern France.

 

When we first came here we had a £20 UK Sky card which gave us all the usual UK channels. About 3 years ago most of these channels stopped being encrypted and we no longer need a card of any sort to receive them. We do not get the Sky paid channels or HD, but we get the red button, so I can follow the Grand Prix practice sessions.

 

The only channel we lost when the card ran out was channel 5 which for some reason kept it"s encryption.

 

This would be the same in Spain.

[derek500]

JamesFrance - 2011-04-18 11:18 AMThe only channel we lost when the card ran out was channel 5 which for some reason kept it"s encryption.

 

There's a free to air version on Astra 2d, which doesn't need a viewing card. It can be viewed by 'add channels'/other channels.

[JamesFrance]

Thanks for that, it must have become unencrypted later than the others, I hadn't checked it for some time. Maybe it has some decent programs now, I can't say we missed it.

[derek500]

JamesFrance - 2011-04-18 11:04 AM

The only way to get BBC 1, ITV etc. is to use a larger dish as 50cm is not enough.

 

 

Sorry, but you're missing the point of this thread entirely. If you are out of range of the UK focussed Astra 2d, (which is available through most of France on a 40cm dish), and you have a Sky box with a viewing card, you can receive a lot more.

 

A couple of ITV1 regions are on the south beam of Astra 2b, C4, E4 and More 4 are on the north beam of 2a and Five, Five* and Five US are on the south beam of 2a.

 

All are these are available in a much wider area than the 'free' 2d transmissions that are picked up by a FTA box or Sky box without a card..

 

 

 

 

[JamesFrance]

I think you are wrong there, look at the footprint of all the Astra 2 South on 28.2. You need a larger dish on the Spanish coast.

[derek500]

JamesFrance - 2011-04-18 6:22 PM

 

I think you are wrong there, look at the footprint of all the Astra 2 South on 28.2. You need a larger dish on the Spanish coast.

 

I don't need to look at a footprint. I have a 35cm Lidl plastic dish picking it up fine here in Valencia.

 

Perhaps you should have a look!! Here you go.

 

http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/astra2b_south.html

 

....and here's the 2a south beam.

 

http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/astra2a_south.html

[JamesFrance]

That is interesting, it shows much stronger signals than the maps I have seen before. I wonder if they have increased the power somehow. Our boat tv gave up last year and we didn't bother to replace it, so I can't give it another try. We watch anything we need to on the internet using the marina wifi.

[derek500]

JamesFrance - 2011-04-18 8:15 PM

 

That is interesting, it shows much stronger signals than the maps I have seen before. I wonder if they have increased the power somehow. Our boat tv gave up last year and we didn't bother to replace it, so I

can't give it another try. We watch anything we need to on the internet using the marina wifi.

 

They haven't changed. The south beams for 2a and 2b have been the same since they launched in 1998 and 2000 respectively.

 

Don't forget the UK channels at 28.2/28.5 come from six different beams on four separate satellites.