Satellite Receivers

[pcatterall]

Just considering getting a satellite receiver and dish for use in our camper and possibly even on the boat.
We would like to be able to 'tune in' from time to time to see what is going on in the world.
I understand that some receivers will only receive in the UK
Can anyone steer me in the right direction as to what I will have to look for.
In the past we have used WIFI links and our 3g dongle to get a quick snap shot of BBC news and we wonder if we could use this type of link
to extend our viewing time, I guess we would have to purchase more internet time and wonder if this can be cost effective.
Your advice ( in simple terms!!) appreciated.

 

[vyv_cox]

This site will tell you everything you need to know. http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/ The 'important notice' is well worth reading. Apparently due to the tightening of the satellite reception area it has become quite difficult to receive TV even in the south of France, whereas previously it could be seen in Italy and we have even been able to see UK news and hear Radio 2 from Greece with a small dish.

 

[coopec]

In the past we have used WIFI links and our 3g dongle to get a quick snap shot of BBC news and we wonder if we could use this type of link
to extend our viewing time, I guess we would have to purchase more internet time and wonder if this can be cost effective.
Your advice ( in simple terms!!) appreciated.

My neighbor has a satellite dish and receives TV broadcasts but this is nothing to do with the Internet. Obviously we are at cross-purposes?

 

[Bobobolinsky]

Camping receivers are good, as they are not tied to satellites like sky receivers. I have one like the maplins one. They are a little tricky to set up at first, so a good sat finder is essential. They come with a whistler and a compass but really need better. Once you are tuned in, the sats are easier to find. The drawback is the 39cm dish, so you need to be within the strong footprint areas.

 

[pcatterall]

My neighbor has a satellite dish and receives TV broadcasts but this is nothing to do with the Internet. Obviously we are at cross-purposes?

Not at cross purposes really. My question(s) were about satellite reception then I switched topic to 'TV over the net'

 

[pcatterall]

VYV you've done it again!! .... always spot on !!
Prospects of getting UK channels live using a small dish look remote. We will look to info over the net, our daily 5 minute BBC news was a useful link so we will look for a bit more broadband on our contract and live with that!!
Thanks vyv and all

 

[GrahamM376]

Sat TV reception now no good outside the UK unless you speak German. We use internet 4G dongle and watch UK TV live streaming via Filmon or if slow connection can download on iplayer to watch later via ExpatShield

 

[[3889]]

The 'important notice' is well worth reading. Apparently due to the tightening of the satellite reception area it has become quite difficult to receive TV even in the south of France, whereas previously it could be seen in Italy and we have even been able to see UK news and hear Radio 2 from Greece with a small dish.

That's a pity. We have got BBC 1 & 2 in Gib in the past with a 1m dish. If you still decide to go with satellite I would recommend a standard Sky box over a portable system. We reverted to using our home digibox after trying two different portable systems which were much harder to find the satellite with (30 seconds max with a Sky box) and you can't get some standard terrestrial channels on them.

 

[ffiill]

Any satellite receiver has the capacity to receive free to air channels of which there are about 1000 available in UK area if tuned to astra 2 et all.
A simple FTA receiver which cannot get the scrambled sky and freesat channels still gets all the UK BBC/ITV/chanel4/channel 5 etc.
Tune it to the neighbouring sat to the east and you get middle eastern channels and to the west as far as the west Indies.

Occasionally mine tunes in Nigerian TV whose transponder is along zero longitude.
Its worth remembering there are just one set of equatorial SATs about 30000 miles up reflecting ground station signals via their transponders to both n and s hemispheres.
I understand that you can access all FTA channels on any sky box -just check for how to do it on Google.
Also worth noting that quite a few receivers sold for domestic use are powered up on 12v which can avoid paying an over the odds price for a receiver.
A final thought is that if you buy into one of the ISP companies which makes BBC servers etc believe you are in UK when outside the UK
Its just as easy to access broadband via a laptop/tablet etc and watch the BBC etc on I player etc.
You can buy into specific TV based ones for a holiday at about £10 a month or you can set up a far more sophisticated one where you can choose a country of choice which you appear to be based in

 

[[3889]]

Any satellite receiver has the capacity to receive free to air channels of which there are about 1000 available in UK area if tuned to astra 2 et all.
A simple FTA receiver which cannot get the scrambled sky and freesat channels still gets all the UK BBC/ITV/chanel4/channel 5 etc.

I can't remember the details now but I'm sure(ish) we couldn't get Chs 4 and 5 because there was no slot for the sky card. Happy to be corrected on this but there was definitely some issue along these lines.