Hi i am new to this forum and would like to ask advice regarding receiving SKY digital in spain costa blanca- gandia area in the mountains.
I have SKY digital in the UK and pay monthly subscription and own the equipment which is a GRUNDIG SKY DIGIBOX with SKY VIWING CARD,i am currebtly living in the uk now but will be moving to spain in the next 2-3 months.
The property i am buying has a SATELLITE DISH installed i think 1 metre in size but the owners are taking their digibox with them they are german so receive german channels ect and spanish presumably,so my question is this-can i take my SKY DIGIBOX and will it work or will i have to buy a spanish digibox to receive UK TV like BBC1/2/3/4 ITV 1/2/3/4 ect ect and also DISCOVERY and MUSIC CHANNELS like VH1/MTV?,what is the best way basically to receive satellite channels?,any and all advice relating to this question gratefully appreciated.
By the way i contacted SKY here in the uk and they said it could not be done?

regards

paris

a 1m dish wont do poo.

you need at least a 1.5 or 1.8m dish (beach??? ) in the costa blanca - and your box will be fine.

look at the local rag - it might be cheaper / easier to get a full system installed and then swap the boxes over and sell the "new" (ftv (free to view) box) ???

No Sky won't let you do it ...... officially.

However if you move to Spain, take your digibox and card, have the dish re aligned and continue to pay your d/d to sky via a UK bank account all will work well.
SKY don't have a licence to transmit in Iberia so they can't condone it. But what they don't know doesn't hurt them

Alternatively you can go here, and they don't care where you live!

http://www.simplydigital.co.uk/

Edit: Sorry ... you will need at least a 1.5 meter dish, and the further south you go the bigger the dish you will need.

This map gives a good indication of the size of dish required in various areas of Spain. It takes into account various hot spots and side lobes which other footprint maps fail to do but it also depends on the make and model of Sky digibox and the noise figure and quality of the LNB.

The best of the Grundigs for fringe reception was the ageing 310/2. Other models of this make were not so good. It may pay you to by a Pace DS430N before coming to Spain and getting your card paired with it before you leave the UK. Pairing is only required for premium film and sports channels so if you don't subscribe to these you do not need to match the box and card.

Thanks for your helpful reply!

Thanks for very helpful reply seems like a 1.8 metre dish is what is needed!

Thanks for the helpful reply all of you have been so helpful!

ouch I'm going to need a 2 meter dish! Not sure what the neighbors will think of that on the wall of the building! For that very reason were leaning towards a villa rather than a flat.

Speaking of such, does anyone know of anyone offering dish installation in Madrid, I'd prefer someone who deals with sky and can tune it properly.

thanks in advance Rob

Hi Rob,here is a link to the (satellite area map) map of spain which tells you of the correct size dish required.
http://www.geocities.com/alpmaps/iberia.htm

Hope this help.

Regards

Paris

good god I need a 2 meter dish, don't think that will fit on a balcony!!!!!!!!

Actually were looking at a villa (row house) and will put a dish on the roof. I'm going to try and get away with a smaller one and buy a good digi box, one that is designed for weak signals.

Hi back,from what most people are telling me and from what i have seen a 1.8 metre dish is about right obviously 2.0 meters would suffice,i suppose bigger is better?,good luck let me know how you get on?
PS make sure you ask that it is permissable to put up a large dish with the town hall or whoever you need to ask as i am sure they have some law regarding this issue,they have on almost everything else,you don't want to put it up then be fined for not getting permission and then have to remove it! l

paris

This company claims to be able to supply a free to air satellite receiver with an enhanced tuner which will receive BBC and ITV etc in much of Spain on a 73 cm dish.

I don't know of anyone who has such an installation but if you are restricted on dish size it may be worth a call.

Thanks Beachcomber thats very useful i will check out the links cheers!

paris

ps what a helpful friendly site thanks everyone!

As far as I am aware, the BBC and ITV networks only use Astra sat as their broadcasting satellite, which as you know is owned by Sky , the reason you require such a large dish is due to the geo orbital position of the sky satellites. which are positioned to give the maximum signal to the UK, no amount of electronic trickery is going to provide an adequate signal from a small dish if used in Southern Spain, The size of dish is critical in pulling in as much of the signal as possible and directing it to the LNB, I accept that LNBs have improved but we still have a long way to go before you can get the system advertised on your link. Spend your money if you want to risk it, but I bet you get nothing back if it fails to provide the promises made.