1.9 Metre dish performance

[cg]

lost the lot up on the Ramble De oria, but that's not surprising bearing in mind the item I have just place on the open forum about the people who fitted it

[sat]

Today June 23 wimbledon on on both BBC 1 and BBC 2 on 101 and 102.

And 4 or 5 red button streams in the 980's

[Babyboomer]

The responses were very interesting for me in UK at present, BUT it would be interesting to hear about reception of BBC and ITV via the 1.9 and smaller dishes. Do some of you still get BBC and ITV OK on satellite and on what dishes? I dont want to invest in a 1.9 dish if it doesn't work for the normal bbc and ITV programmes.

We are in El Prado and have just upgraded 12 June to a 1.9 m dish as we could not get any BBC TV or Radio or ITV and Ch4 with our smaller dish.
At first was disappointed as I could only get BBC on BBC Scotland and ITV on 977 Ch4 was fine during the day - signal improved by 9 pm and I could get most non sky channels. Now today whilst cloudy signal is better. Got BBC West on channel 101 rather than BBC London on 954. There was a solar flare at the start of June that knocked the satellite out of its normal eliptical orbit. I am told they are gradully returning it to its proper orbit. Today June 23 wimbledon on on both BBC 1 and BBC 2 on 101 and 102.

[Not_Asking_Much]

Useful information thanks sat.

I think he meant 'not clear what will happen' regarding reception of UK channels in Spain, rather than no idea what's going on. I agree with your perception of the likely delays too. (just like last time!)

Thanks especially for the Spanish satellite TV info.

[sat]

a) Do you know the implications of the upcoming August satellite changes? A sat guy I know in the UK says that 'at this time' it is not clear what will happen, eg: for Sky channels.

Don't think there is any change scheduled for August....
But Astra 2G, the third new UK TV satellite is schedule for launch between July and September.
No exact dates yet, but if it is like 2e and 2f, then it will not be operational for a few months after launch! August is very optimistic!


As for " 'at this time' it is not clear what will happen" - erm we have known for a few years what will happen...
Channels expected to move to 2G are those on currently 2A, one of the old satellites.
2A carries a fair number of Sky pay channels....
But for some, you should see an improvement in reception, as 2a has a "north beam, and that beam where I am needs a 2.4m dish.
As 2G has a UK and European beam, reception should be better....

b) Can you help with more information on Canal+ ? I heard a while ago about a company called Hispasat. Is that the same company/broadcaster? Do they have a website for more info?

Canal+ is the Spanish satellite operator - ie the Spanish version of BSkyB
It transmits from two satellites: Astra1 at 19 east and Hispasat at 30 west.
This came from the merger of two competing Spanish satellite companies, who operated on different satellites. When they merged they simply ensures users on both satellite would get the channels from the merged company. Although there is a shift to moving people to Astra...
It operates pretty much the same channels as most other pay providers do - entertainment  channels, kids channels, discovery channels, nat geo, sports and movies. Most of them are available in the programmes original language.
website is : http://www.plus.es/

[Not_Asking_Much]

Hi sat.

You have raised some interesting points. Just a couple of questions:

a) Do you know the implications of the upcoming August satellite changes? A sat guy I know in the UK says that 'at this time' it is not clear what will happen, eg: for Sky channels.

b) Can you help with more information on Canal+ ? I heard a while ago about a company called Hispasat. Is that the same company/broadcaster? Do they have a website for more info?

[sat]

For the BBC ITV C4s and Fives the problem is your dish is now too small to receive these channels on their new satellite.
If you want to watch these from the UK TV group of satellite you need a bigger dish.

If you want to watch them from an unofficial satellite, then align it to intelsat 907, get a compatible receiver, get the codes to unlock /hack the channels, and get TV until they change the code, then get the new codes, etc.. nd hope they do not shut down the service or move to better encryption...

Of pay a sky subscription and get the sky pay channels, many of which your dish will be able to receive.

Or align to another satellite and get either the free channels, or subscribe (like to canal+ the Spanish satellite tv service - which offers many "sky" channels, and with the English audio on US and UK programmes.)

[britters191]

 ;D Thanks for the info.  Can't see much point in going for Arab channels when other people seem able to find british TV.  Is this a dish size issue?

:'(

[sat]

You can align your dish to many satellites, but not many of the them have English programmes.
Perhaps the most popular one is arabsat (26 east) / nilesat (7 west) - which have a few channels which show a lot of UK and USA programmes and movies in English - albeit with Arabic subtitles.

[britters191]

Hi. :tiphat: I'm a bit new to Spain and was a bit miffed when I lost my freesat channels a while back, and have been using Filmon via my LG Smart TV ever since.  Sometimes OK, but more often horrible with freezes and complete dropouts, and BBC is so weak it's barely worth bothering (not to mention dismal programming). :'(

I do resort to movies on Spanish channels with original sound tracks, but the ad breaks are so long that it's possible to cook a small meal and start eating before the film restarts, by which time I've forgotten what it was about.

I have a 1.3m dish, still aligned to the old satellite.  Can anyone advise me as to whether or not it is worth getting the dish realigned to pick up on a different satellite and, if so, which one?  If not, any alternatives that don't involve shelling out a small fortune would be greatly appreciated (I should add that TV isn't that important, just a nice to have).  I should add that I'm in La Alfoquia with an uninterrupted line of sight to the sky over Zurgena, if that has any significance.

Thanks in anticipation,

David. ;D

[Rod]

All good for me with 1.9 dish, BBC1, ITV1 etc.

[David C]

The responses were very interesting for me in UK at present, BUT it would be interesting to hear about reception of BBC and ITV via the 1.9 and smaller dishes. Do some of you still get BBC and ITV OK on satellite and on what dishes? I dont want to invest in a 1.9 dish if it doesn't work for the normal bbc and ITV programmes.

[Karen4]

We get all the sky channels that we subscribe to, plus Channel 4, More 4, E 4 and their plus 1s, etc. For BBC and ITV we watch online.

[sat]

Remember BBC ITV C4 and Five are not "sky channels".
They are nothing to do with Sky.
And are available without a sky card or sky subscription.
And most "Sky channels" are on the European beam, unlike BBC IV etc which are on the UK, beam.
So reception of Sky channels will obviously be better than the BBC itv channels.
So do not confuse reception of BBC ITV C4s with "sky channel" reception..

[rf9rider]

So some of you are still using the smaller dish and still getting all the Sky channels?

[Karen4]

Same as Phil, no issues with our smaller dish.

[felipe]

I have never had trouble with rain or cloud with my 1.3 dish.  Same yesterday when it was raining still got all the SKY channels and loved watching the cricket.

[CT]

On the smaller dishes you could always tell when rain was approaching because the picture started to break up - actually a pretty good way of forecasting. But no problems last night in Arboleas for us. Our dish is slightly sheltered in the corner of the garden.

[mikeypen]

Thanks for both replies  :clap: , look forward to further comments from people who have these larger dishes.

[adasingleton]

Everything working fine here hear huercal overa

[CT]

Absolutely fine on all major UK channels. I normally go to BBC Scotland for BBC1 HD as it's a better picture, must be a stronger signal (Sky 977).

[mikeypen]

As last night ( Saturday ) was fairly overcast and moderate rain , wondered how the 1.9 metre dishes performed ?? , was there any break up ? , any comments appreciated.