What size satellite dish?

[StuartO]

It used to be the case that dish size would determine how far South and East you could get British TV channels, but now that the footprint of the satellite signal has shrunk, so you can't get them as far away anyway, does size matter any more?

 

Likewise in order to use a dish in far away places, skew angle adjustment was important at the margins too - but is that option less relevant now?

 

You may have an 85cm dish but if you were starting again would you choose something smaller, or maybe go for a dome system, with a better protected but smaller dish inside?

 

And if you are touring outside the footprint, which Astra channels do you watch?

[Mike88]

Dish size is now even more important and skew is now a must when it wasn't previously assuming that is you want to use the dish for UK TV beyond the middle of France.

[Guest Had Enough]

You now need a very big dish to get the usual channels in southern Spain. But it really depends on what you want to watch. My latest 'van has an 85 cm dish but my last one was a dome and even in Morocco the relatively small dish in the dome allowed me to find news programmes on other satellites. I'm really only interested in news and current affairs so I never have a problem.

 

Hotbird and Astra 1 are what I usually use if I'm out of the Astra 2 footprint.

 

As for dome or dish, a dome can be used in all weathers including high wind but a larger dish will obviously pull in programmes from much farther south.

 

You must decide which is the more important feature I suppose.

[bolero boy]

stuart, if you are a sky subscriber you can easily pick up the sports and movies on a small dish even in spain as they are transmitted on the pan european beam.

 

its the home type bbc/itv channels that are on the tight uk beam and are difficult to pick up beyond toulouse on a 85cm dish/

[PJay]

We have a 40cm Dome. We can get enough channels even in Spain for the news, and FI which is our main reason for a Tv in the van. We can always get the F1 on the German channel , does not matter about the language As has been said before, a dome is not affected by the wind, but you do need to position your van , to get the satellite Some sites in Spain now have plug in Tv, so worth carrying a long cable.

PJay

[Mike88]

PJay - 2015-02-09 6:51 PM

 

We have a 40cm Dome. We can get enough channels even in Spain for the news, and FI which is our main reason for a Tv in the van. We can always get the F1 on the German channel , does not matter about the language As has been said before, a dome is not affected by the wind, but you do need to position your van , to get the satellite Some sites in Spain now have plug in Tv, so worth carrying a long cable.

PJay

 

It would be useful to have a list of sites in Spain with piped UK TV. I only know of 3 in Bendorm (Villasol, Torretta and El Raco, 1 in Guardamar (Marjal) and a couple of others such as Torre Del Mar where they have Spanish TV only.

[StuartO]

Mike88 - 2015-02-09 5:24 PM

 

Dish size is now even more important and skew is now a must when it wasn't previously assuming that is you want to use the dish for UK TV beyond the middle of France.

 

But with a restricted satellite footprint, as I understood it even a bigger dish (and skew adjustment) wouldn;t get you much more range for the UK domestic channels - so you might get an extra 50 - 100 miles of range on the edge of the footprint but not much more. Is that not correct?

[Mike88]

In Benidorm 3 months ago the guy next to me was getting most UK channels except BBC1 on a skewed 85cms dish but he had to tune it in manually. As mentioned earlier those with subscription Sky channels were also able to receive Sports and Movies on the Pan European beam.

[StuartO]

Benidorm is about 350 miles South of Toulouse, so that's probably fairly exceptional range for the restricted footprint signals.

 

Anyone know how far east you can pick up UK domestic signals?

[Mike88]

http://www.satandpcguy.com/Site/uk_english_satellite_tv_costa_blanca_spain.php

 

You will see from the above site that there are certain areas on the Costa Blanca that can still receive UK TV on smaller satellite dishes and as stated previously I have seen this happen in Benidorm. But in other parts of Spain even far further North far larger dishes are required. There are reception hot spots and the Valencia region is one of them.

[bolero boy]

Bennicassim this autumn.......1.2m dish....No uk home channels......1.3m dish ALL home channels.

 

a pretty definitive measure, I'd say.

we were easily able to get our sky sports and movies package on a Camos flat sat (equivalent to around 55cm dish, but it was skewed correctly).

 

we now have a Teleco 85cm dish so should be better for the uk stuff a bit further into France.

[StuartO]

So there is now only marginal benefit from having a larger (eg 85 cm) dish compared to a smaller one in a dome and if you are starting from scratch you might as well have the advantages of a dome and settle for the smaller dish that goes with it. Once you are South of the Dordogne or East into Germany, you won't be able to get UK domestic channels anyway, but you will get Sky News and CNN.

 

Or will a smaller dish in a dome fail to pick up the Sky subscription channels you would otherwise still be able to receive using an 85cm dish in Southern Spain?

[Guest Had Enough]

StuartO - 2015-02-10 12:49 PM

 

So there is now only marginal benefit from having a larger (eg 85 cm) dish compared to a smaller one in a dome and if you are starting from scratch you might as well have the advantages of a dome and settle for the smaller dish that goes with it. Once you are South of the Dordogne or East into Germany, you won't be able to get UK domestic channels anyway, but you will get Sky News and CNN.

 

Or will a smaller dish in a dome fail to pick up the Sky subscription channels you would otherwise still be able to receive using an 85cm dish in Southern Spain?

 

Not quite. There will always be an advantage in having a much bigger dish. They are quite small in domes as you know. You'll be able to pick up Astra 2 much farther south and get other satellites when you're on the fringe of their footprints.

 

Bigger is always better but only you can judge whether being able to use the dome in bad weather is more important that stronger reception.

 

For me it would be a difficult decision. In the past I've had two domes and liked them. I now have an Oyster 85 cm set-up, which I've not yet used outside the U.K., but we're going to Portugal shortly so I'll be monitoring how long I can pick up Astra 2 as we go south.

 

I've only got this set-up as it came with my second-hand MH. Starting from scratch I may well have plumped for another dome.

 

[kevina]

With my 68cm freestanding dish I was, just, able to get all freesat channels at Duilhac sous Peyrepertuse which is 25 miles northwest of Perpignan. This was last autumn, I think it was on about 60% strength and quality. Not a peep 20 miles further south.

 

Currently skiing at Vars le Claux, 20 miles east of Gap, and have 100% signal; so should be able to get freesat virtually to Nice.

 

From what I've read this just about matches an 85cm dish, I think I must be able to aim a bit accurately than an auto system. I've got some patience and have become quite good at it.

 

As we spend a lot of time in these areas it is worth having a reasonably large dish; a dome would not work.

 

Kev

[bolero boy]

based on my own experience this autumn, the pan euro beam (for sky premium channels) can be picked up as easily with a small dish, 55cm, in Valencia as with a 60cm in the uk.

 

the larger dishes will give you more range within France for the uk home channels.

[Frankkia]

It would appear that Astra 2G has just reached it's final orbital position of 28.34 degrees so expect it to go live very soon as testing has already been done.

 

That means that reception for some more channels will likely disappear from the south and east of Europe.

 

Now depending on what you want to receive I would still say bigger is better and auto skew AND a receiver which will allow you easily to switch between satellites. If your intention is to spend a lot of time in Spain / Portugal or east of say Dusseldorf then you are going to struggle with the normal UK domestic offerings. As has been pointed out there are some anomalies with a lobe in the UK spot beam which passes through the Valencia region.

 

With a larger more versatile dish and receiver (like the Oyster twin auto skew with own receiver) you can:

 

1) Receive the signals a bit further away.

2) When you are outside the footprint you can swap to another satellite to get entertainment / films and news. For the Iberian peninsular Arabsat (BADR at 26.2 degrees) Is receivable with news, action programmes, and sport in English. Astra 1 at 19 degrees can be used to get Sky news and BBc World News.

 

If you are prepared to spend a lot of cash and also prepared to have to go chasing after codes on the internet it is possible to buy a programmable sat receiver and point it at a satellite which is used by the broadcasters to deliver content to the local ground based transmitters. These are protected by codes which change every so often when you would have to go chasing round the internet to see if anyone has hacked the new codes.

 

It all depends on just how far you want to go to get tv. It would be cheaper to pay for a Sky subscription and at least receive the channels on the "pan European" beam which will include Sport, Movies and News BUT NOT BBC ITV Ch4 / 5.

[StuartO]

Thank you Frankkia, useful. But wouldnt you be able to receive the alterative satellites and stations you mention using a dome aerial anyway once you are outside the UK footprint? That;s the point I thin I'm trying to make, that apart from 50-100 miles of so of extra coverage of the UK signal footprint, a larger dish doesn't give you much that a smalldish won't do any longer.

[Guest Had Enough]

StuartO - 2015-02-11 9:09 AM

 

Thank you Frankkia, useful. But wouldnt you be able to receive the alterative satellites and stations you mention using a dome aerial anyway once you are outside the UK footprint? That;s the point I thin I'm trying to make, that apart from 50-100 miles of so of extra coverage of the UK signal footprint, a larger dish doesn't give you much that a smalldish won't do any longer.

 

Well, there's the crunch of course. Being able to get a signal up to another hundred miles away may well be the most important factor for some. And it doesn't just apply to UK Astra 2 programmes. It will apply to getting Astra 1 in Morocco for instance or Hotbird on the fringe of that satellite.

 

So a large dish can, in certain circumstances do much more than a dome can. It can receive the channel that you want, whereas a dome will be a useless piece of kit tying up space on your roof.

 

You seem to be trying to convince yourself and others that buying a dome is the only thing to do. It may well be right for you, and given the choice it may be what I'd do. But thousands of people prefer a larger dish and they're not stupid. They buy a dish because for them the ability to get the stations that they want is more important than having to wind it down very occasionally because of gale force winds.

 

Did you read what Kevina said above?

 

'As we spend a lot of time in these areas it is worth having a reasonably large dish; a dome would not work.'

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Frankkia]

The move to using "Spot beams" will continue for the other satellite positions as bandwidth gets tighter. There are a lot of satellites up there and the owners are constantly juggling the frequenies they use so as to avoid cross talk between adjacent "birds" broadcasting to similar regions.

 

We get our programming from the Astra 2 position at 28.2 to 28.5 degrees. The BADR group, I mentioned above, is broadcasting similar frequencies from the 26 degree position but the antennas are pointing at the middle east. Like Astra 2 it does spread out from the area to which it is aimed and can be received in Spain / Portugal with a good dish.

 

The largest dish built into a dome is 40 cm. An Oyster goes up to 85 cm. The auto skew also helps.

 

Many other dish providers (dome or normal unenclosed) have controllers which only allow a fixed number of pre programmed satellite positions (even quite expensive rigs) whereas the Oyster (with the receiver) can have all of the positions so you can jump to any satellite receivable where you happen to be. With an Oyster I was able to receive the Arabsat "Spot Beam" up to the French Spanish border and the "Wide Beam" up to Rouen. A 40 cm dish would have struggled in southern Spain.

[StuartO]

Had Enough - 2015-02-11 10:28 AM

 

StuartO - 2015-02-11 9:09 AM

 

Thank you Frankkia, useful. But wouldnt you be able to receive the alterative satellites and stations you mention using a dome aerial anyway once you are outside the UK footprint? That;s the point I thin I'm trying to make, that apart from 50-100 miles of so of extra coverage of the UK signal footprint, a larger dish doesn't give you much that a smalldish won't do any longer.

 

Well, there's the crunch of course. Being able to get a signal up to another hundred miles away may well be the most important factor for some. And it doesn't just apply to UK Astra 2 programmes. It will apply to getting Astra 1 in Morocco for instance or Hotbird on the fringe of that satellite.

 

So a large dish can, in certain circumstances do much more than a dome can. It can receive the channel that you want, whereas a dome will be a useless piece of kit tying up space on your roof.

 

You seem to be trying to convince yourself and others that buying a dome is the only thing to do. It may well be right for you, and given the choice it may be what I'd do. But thousands of people prefer a larger dish and they're not stupid. They buy a dish because for them the ability to get the stations that they want is more important than having to wind it down very occasionally because of gale force winds.

 

Did you read what Kevina said above?

 

'As we spend a lot of time in these areas it is worth having a reasonably large dish; a dome would not work.'

 

No. I'm not really very techie about satellite TV but it occured to me that the advantages of a bigger dish had perhaps diinished now that reduced footprints limit reception anyway, so for purposes upgrading or for choosing what to buy for my next MH if it doesn;t have a system installed, would a larger dish be important for me, as it might have been?

 

Having read all the posts in this thread I understand that it might still help some MH users to have one, for example if they spend time in the marginal reception areas, but those who don't have that special requirement, it still seems to me that the advantages of a bigger dish have diimished since the footprint shrunk and therefore the relative merits of a dome system have increased, that's all. And that means for lots of users it might therefore be worth thinking about a dome instead of a bigger, but more exposed, dish.

[Mike88]

StuartO - 2015-02-12 8:26 AM

 

Had Enough - 2015-02-11 10:28 AM

 

StuartO - 2015-02-11 9:09 AM

 

Thank you Frankkia, useful. But wouldnt you be able to receive the alterative satellites and stations you mention using a dome aerial anyway once you are outside the UK footprint? That;s the point I thin I'm trying to make, that apart from 50-100 miles of so of extra coverage of the UK signal footprint, a larger dish doesn't give you much that a smalldish won't do any longer.

 

Well, there's the crunch of course. Being able to get a signal up to another hundred miles away may well be the most important factor for some. And it doesn't just apply to UK Astra 2 programmes. It will apply to getting Astra 1 in Morocco for instance or Hotbird on the fringe of that satellite.

 

So a large dish can, in certain circumstances do much more than a dome can. It can receive the channel that you want, whereas a dome will be a useless piece of kit tying up space on your roof.

 

You seem to be trying to convince yourself and others that buying a dome is the only thing to do. It may well be right for you, and given the choice it may be what I'd do. But thousands of people prefer a larger dish and they're not stupid. They buy a dish because for them the ability to get the stations that they want is more important than having to wind it down very occasionally because of gale force winds.

 

Did you read what Kevina said above?

 

'As we spend a lot of time in these areas it is worth having a reasonably large dish; a dome would not work.'

 

No. I'm not really very techie about satellite TV but it occured to me that the advantages of a bigger dish had perhaps diinished now that reduced footprints limit reception anyway, so for purposes upgrading or for choosing what to buy for my next MH if it doesn;t have a system installed, would a larger dish be important for me, as it might have been?

 

Having read all the posts in this thread I understand that it might still help some MH users to have one, for example if they spend time in the marginal reception areas, but those who don't have that special requirement, it still seems to me that the advantages of a bigger dish have diimished since the footprint shrunk and therefore the relative merits of a dome system have increased, that's all. And that means for lots of users it might therefore be worth thinking about a dome instead of a bigger, but more exposed, dish.

 

That might be your view but virtually every other post says the opposite. If you travel abroad a dish is by far the best option as most people tend to drive further as their motorhoming experience grows. It seems to me that you want a dome and are trying to justify your choice despite the comments to the contrary that have been received.

[StuartO]

Mike88 - 2015-02-12 8:30 AM

 

That might be your view but virtually every other post says the opposite. If you travel abroad a dish is by far the best option as most people tend to drive further as their motorhoming experience grows. It seems to me that you want a dome and are trying to justify your choice despite the comments to the contrary that have been received.

 

Well then, I suppose I'd better hang my head in shame for having a discordant (but rational?) view and being unonvinced so far by those who still think bigger is always better! :-S

[Guest Had Enough]

StuartO - 2015-02-12 9:35 AM

 

Mike88 - 2015-02-12 8:30 AM

 

That might be your view but virtually every other post says the opposite. If you travel abroad a dish is by far the best option as most people tend to drive further as their motorhoming experience grows. It seems to me that you want a dome and are trying to justify your choice despite the comments to the contrary that have been received.

 

Well then, I suppose I'd better hang my head in shame for having a discordant (but rational?) view and being unonvinced so far by those who still think bigger is always better! :-S

 

I don't know why you bothered to start this thread, unless it was for some kind of self-justification that your choice is the only correct one.

 

Your statement about yours being the 'rational' view implies that those who disagree with you and prefer a dish, are somehow irrational.

 

Your entire modus operandi appears to be that only you can make the right choice and that the thousands of people who, having researched the subject, have decided that for them, a dish is the best choice.

 

I may well choose a dome next time. When I've used my dish system over the next few years I may well decide that a dish is better, but what I won't do is constantly bang on about the choice that I make being the only sensible one.

 

I would suggest that you read all the posts once more and try to take them in properly.

 

[StuartO]

Come on HE, please don't go off into orbit unnecessarily.

 

It is perfectly possible to have two or more rational but conflicting views, so I certainly wasn't suggesting that anyone else was being irrational at all, merely that I remain unconvinced. But that's my problem rather than yours isn't it, so why are you getting upset about it?

 

If you can't see why I started this thread I can see that might be a bit of a problem for you - but that's hardly worth getting up tight about either is it?