pacificsymphony

Reposted From The France Section

Bonjour everyone,
I'm new to the site, well the France section, I have been a member before but for other countries.
Anyway, after a few years back in the UK, I'm now living on Cote D'Azur extremely close to the Italian border and I have a question regarding UK tv or Freesat.
Before you all groan and direct me to previous threads, I'll add a few details.
I'm a professionally qualified engineer, albiet not in this field, so I understand technical stuff.
We're moving into a long term rental and the chap who owns it is Italian. he has a Sky Italia box but is taking his card back home with him.
I've done a bit of research and Sky Italia uses the Eutelsat Hot Bird 13B at 13.0°E.
This is a communal dish so cannot be moved.
Are there any decoders/packages I can get to view UK tv (I know Freesat is probably a no-no since it's Astra channel 28.0°E).

merci à toute

The Guy

UK TV is not available on Hotbird.

Well apart from BBC World News - which is about the only UK TV channel you will get on Hotbird.

And maybe BBC Entertainment - as part of a subscription to one of the providers on Hotbird.

Cyfrowy Polsat
Sky Italia
Bis TV
Nova
Orange Polska
Cyfra +
Al Jazeera Sport
are the pay tv packages available on Hotbird. No UK TV packages on Hotbird.

UK TV, especailly BBC and ITV etc, are only the satellites at 28.2-28.5 - the ones used by Freesat and Sky UK boxes.

ononno

I can confirm what The Guy says, since my satellite dish is aimed to Hotbird. (used to have Sky bought as a present, total waste of time to me)
In Southern Italy (Bay of Naples) where would I have to point the dish to in order to get UK TV?
Thanks to anyone who can answer that.
ciao for now,
'o nonno

Patty

ononno - our dish is pointed to Astra 28.2 SE and I get all the English channels.
Mind you - as I know absolutely nothing about technology I dont know if its easier cos we're right up North - maybe down in Naples it would be a bit more difficult to get reception ? I'm sure Duffer will know

The Guy

As I pointed out "UK TV, especailly BBC and ITV etc, are only the satellites at 28.2-28.5 - the ones used by Freesat and Sky UK boxes."

ononno

Thank you Patty and The Guy. That is just the info I needed.
So, I'll have a go at pointing my titchy dish at Astra 28.2 SE and see what I can pick up. And then if that doesn't work I may well have to get a bigger dish. I am quite confident that the satellite receiver box I have is a good one - it's one I bought when Sky wanted theirs back.
ciao for now,
'o nonno

pacificsymphony

Thanks The Guy for the info, I'd read up some forums and decided to buy a (decent sized) dish and get it pointed at 28.2E. the missus is bringing a Freesat box with her from the Uk :-)

duffer

I would wait a couple of months before investing in a large dish if I were you. I reckon your dish is around 80cm but you are likely to need something at least double the size, if not triple in Naples. The reason for the wait is because the UK channels have just been transferred to the Astra 1N satellite temporarily before moving again permanently to the new Astra 2E/F/G due to be launched around September. My guess is that things will be in place by Xmas.

ononno

Thank you very much for that useful info duffer. I'm in no rush. A brother who is very good on technology is visiting me in October, I can bend his ear.
ciao for now,
'o nonno

Patty

Does that mean that from Sept to Xmas we wont have our normal TV ? and then at Xmas will we be able to adjust our dishes to get the new one ? Its all very confusing

duffer

Hi Patty, if you are receiving it now then keep your fingers crossed that you can continue to view the UK channels when the channels are transferred to the new satellites.

Those who couldn't view the UK channels before will most probably remain outside of the satellite footprint even with the new satellites.

Jon-Bxl

Hi Just so that I understand properly - from +/- 2013 people living on the border with Italy (say Menton - where I guess Pacificsymphony lives near too) will need

1. A dish of at least 160cm
2. To repoint it in another direction.
3. In fact anyone anywhere abroad will need to change dish size/orientation

Shame that the old dishes wont work and the new system will send out a weaker signal! (Meaning doubling the diameter = 4x the area of the dish). Doesn't sound like progress to me - but I am not techie qualified.

Does anyone know if the (excellent) Humax free sat box will still work or will you have to upgrade that as well, please?

Thanks in advance

Jon

duffer

Responses in red

ononno

Just heard a 'whooosh' sound as it all went over my head. Think I'll wait for no. 3 broth's visit to sort it. But thanks for a comprehensive explanation.
ciao for now,
'o nonno

Jon-Bxl

Thanks for the explanations.... wow the fact that we may need to change dishes will be a problem..... but at least the orientation and the hardware at the TV end wont need a change....

Thanks again
Jon