Satellite TV in the Med

bobsadler

New Member
Joined
8 Apr 2010
Messages
15
Location
Shenzhen, China
www.freewebs.com
Hi,

I would like to install satellite TV before we go to the Med next year. I was planning on installing a KVH M2 system.

We'd like to be able to received broadcasts in English for news, documentaries etc.

Can anyone give me a heads up on what they're using in the Med
thumb.gif
, where you've used it (e.g. Spain through to Turkey) and how well it works.

Thanks,

Bob
 
This link will tell you everything you need to know. http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/. However, my experience is that you can receive UK TV via Astra in the south of France with an oval dish of 66 x 88. Once you move away from there you will need a far bigger one, e.g. In Mallorca probably a metre and in Portugal 1.5 metres. These are my experience of several years ago: I understand that the signal footprint has now been narrowed and it may be difficult to pick up much of a signal outside France.
 
Vyv_cox has it about right. All the UK channels are carried on the Astra 2 fleet and it is tightly focussed on the UK:

astramap1.jpg

Astra 1 satellite FTA (Free To Air) reception is easy to get in the Med. but carries mostly German language channels, although also available in English are BBC World, Al Jazeera, CNN, EuroNews, CNBC, Bloomburg and the Japanese English language news feed, NHK.
 
Last edited:
About five years ago we could receive BBC and ITV news, and amazingly, S4C, along with Radio 2, in Preveza. No longer, though.

They have progressively upgraded the technology (and the focussing) with new launches up to March of this year (Astra 2F) and another replacement planned for later this summer (Astra 2E) with even tighter beam.

In Switzerland I can still get all UK channels on an 80 cm dish but no chance in NE Italy, where I use Astra 1L on 19.2°E.

Perhaps Sky offers something on other satellites for subscribers - I've never bothered as I am well satisfied with what I can get with FTA channels as I speak German and much of the content is overall better (IMO) than any UK channels.
 
Top