FreeSat in Med

Nick_H

Nick_H

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I've been using a sky receiver up till now, but I can't continue that, so I bought a cheapo Grundig freesat receiver as I don't need many channels, but I can hardly get any now. I have BBC world news, but not much else.

I have a charter starting in a couple of weeks, and they like to be able to watch CNN and Eurosport, which I think are free, and I know the signal reaches us because we used to have them. Am I doing something wrong? The Grundig doesn't have a slot for a "free to view" card, do I need one?
 
Not a clue really !

We have both running 'up the road from you ' from the same dish.

Generally our Freesat produces better quality (Humax) than our Sky system --- this is particularly true on ITV channels ...

Consequently I'm guessing that the problem lies somewhere in your box as you dont need a FreeSat card for 'free services'

--- people who know what they are talking about may now interject!!
 
Nick_H said:
I've been using a sky receiver up till now, but I can't continue that, so I bought a cheapo Grundig freesat receiver as I don't need many channels, but I can hardly get any now. I have BBC world news, but not much else.

I have a charter starting in a couple of weeks, and they like to be able to watch CNN and Eurosport, which I think are free, and I know the signal reaches us because we used to have them. Am I doing something wrong? The Grundig doesn't have a slot for a "free to view" card, do I need one?
Click to expand...

Nick, I dont understand sat TV at all but as you know I have same size dish as you and same location. I have a basic sky box (£140 iirc) and initially got virtually nothing. Then I found out I need to buy a card, so I bought a £29.99 (one off fee) freeview Sky card and now get CNN and various other channels

While on this subject, Fairline asked me today to buy two sat boxes for the new boat. They suggested I buy HD (but not sky plus; I don't want to record anything). I don't want a monthly Sky subscription so will just buy Freeview Sky cards again. Is there such a thing as HD freeview? I mean, if I'm only going to buy freeview cards and watch freeview channels do I need an HD box? And will I get any disadvantage if I buy an HD box?
 
jfm said:
Nick, I dont understand sat TV at all but as you know I have same size dish as you and same location. I have a basic sky box (£140 iirc) and initially got virtually nothing. Then I found out I need to buy a card, so I bought a £29.99 (one off fee) freeview Sky card and now get CNN and various other channels

While on this subject, Fairline asked me today to buy two sat boxes for the new boat. They suggested I buy HD (but not sky plus; I don't want to record anything). I don't want a monthly Sky subscription so will just buy Freeview Sky cards again. Is there such a thing as HD freeview? I mean, if I'm only going to buy freeview cards and watch freeview channels do I need an HD box? And will I get any disadvantage if I buy an HD box?
Click to expand...

- Sky Box needs card (even Freesat)
- Freesat (proprietary) offerings do not need card
- Sky HD you have to pay for
- Freesat includes Free HD
- The Humax hard disk box ( Madam's not mine!) is HD ..

make sense???
 
jfm said:
Nick, I dont understand sat TV at all but as you know I have same size dish as you and same location. I have a basic sky box (£140 iirc) and initially got virtually nothing. Then I found out I need to buy a card, so I bought a £29.99 (one off fee) freeview Sky card and now get CNN and various other channels
Click to expand...

Doing a bit of research on the internet, it looks like a lot of Freesat channels are broadcast on Astra 2D, which has a smaller coverage area than Astra 2A used by Sky. The coverage map shows nothing over SoF for Astra 2D. This may explain the difference, so it seems I have to get hold of a sky box and a free-to-air card.

edit: hmm, reading EME's response again, that can't be right, as he gets Freesat including ITV ... Anyway, I have an old Sky box somewhere, so i'll buy a free to view card and try that, unless anyone has a better idea
 
Last edited:
Nick_H said:
Doing a bit of research on the internet, it looks like a lot of Freesat channels are broadcast on Astra 2D, which has a smaller coverage area than Astra 2A used by Sky. The coverage map shows nothing over SoF for Astra 2D. This may explain the difference, so it seems I have to get hold of a sky box and a free-to-air card.
Click to expand...


No ... .. we have both off one aerial. Our Humax (Freeview system) is better than our Sky system. Astra is different .. it's actually a satellite name .

You're confusing channels and service. Freesat is the name of a service .. which is what I thought we were discussing. "Free Satellite Channels" exist on a number of different systems.


I shall Mrs EME on in a minute as she is an expert in this area ( aerial erection) :D

What are we trying to achieve?? :confused:
 
DavidJ said:
If you only want eurosport and CNN then they can be had on the satellite "hotbird" which gives a very strong signal in the Med. Your Grundig box may not tune to hotbird so it may mean a cheapo box from Maplins and a slight twist of your dish.
Click to expand...


Thanks DavidJ. Yep, they were the only two channels mentioned so if I can provide those then i'm in the clear. Could you give me an idiots guide as to what I need to buy, or even better a make and model. Preferably a slimline version if poss, so it will fit in existing gap. Do I need any kind of card with it?
 
'Freesat' - the service only has CNN not Eurosport .. and all your favourite (NOT Sky) UK free channels.
'Hotbird' (Eutelsat) - the service, has both but I know nothing about it.

Sorry -- I confused.
 
EME said:
- Sky Box needs card (even Freesat)
- Freesat (proprietary) offerings do not need card
- Sky HD you have to pay for
- Freesat includes Free HD
- The Humax hard disk box ( Madam's not mine!) is HD ..

make sense???
Click to expand...

I think that makes sense. I hate this subject. OK, so I don't want any kind of monthly £40 sky package or anything. Therefore I should buy proprietary HD boxes (not Sky boxes) like Humax, then I will be able to watch whatever free-to-air channels exist from time to time, some of which will be HD and others low def. Right?

On my KVH sat dish controller, I can tell it to point towards Astra, Hotbird, or whatever. Do all these sats have some free-to-air? In which case, if I get bored of one sat's repertoire of free channels, I can just point the dish at another satellite and see what that one has to offer, right? Are you saying the Humax box will happily receive whatever free channels the sat dish picks up from whatever sat it is pointing at?
 
EME said:
We have both running 'up the road from you ' from the same dish.

Generally our Freesat produces better quality (Humax) than our Sky system --- this is particularly true on ITV channels ...

Consequently I'm guessing that the problem lies somewhere in your box as you dont need a FreeSat card for 'free services'

--- people who know what they are talking about may now interject!!
Click to expand...

It seems that with Sky boxes and maybe others they have to have a card in them to work on the free channels. However an out of date card is fine. We have many folk up here on Freegle etc asking for old Sky cards to put in Sky boxes for free channels. Sky will sell you a free card for £25;)
 
rtchina said:
It's not the freesat box, it is the dish size. For most of the French Med coast you need a 1.2 mtr dish.
Click to expand...

It may be a mix of the two. Freesat is on Astra 2D, so you need a big dish, Sky is on 2A, so you don't need such a big dish. This may explain why I could get lots of sky channels, but can't get many Freesat, as my dish is only 37cm.?
 
OK, can I put the cat amongst the pigeons a bit!
Free Sat or free to air can be picked up using a digi box or a sky box, Sky box pick up on Astra 2D, how do I know? I have one!
I pick up sky tv or hotbird(****) Out in Greece I have a 90cm dish, I get BBC CNN, bbc sport through the red button, ie F1, Bikes, ITV football, CH4, is got through the (other channels button) using new numbers, I have the numbers.
Eurosport you will not get anymore on Sky, it is pay to view, You now NEED a new white Sky card, the Blue one was turned off earliear this year, as stated previously 25 squid, easy to get from Sky, easy to activate, if you are in the Med, you WILL need to activate the card if you have an old Sky box. HD does NOT work out in Greece, dont know about Spain.
If anyone needs the numbers to get ITV on a Skybox, ask!
 
Nick_H said:
Thanks DavidJ. Yep, they were the only two channels mentioned so if I can provide those then i'm in the clear. Could you give me an idiots guide as to what I need to buy, or even better a make and model. Preferably a slimline version if poss, so it will fit in existing gap. Do I need any kind of card with it?
Click to expand...

In Spain I use a cheapo receiver that I got from Lidl for Hotbird (luckerly in North Med Spain I can also pick up Freesat with a medium size antenna)
Something like this should work for you
http://www.falconsat.co.uk/products/Echolink-777-Fta-Receiver.html
 
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