Digital TV

[Chris J W]

Er - if Freesat comes from the Sky satellite, why do I regularly tune to Astra 28 to recieve the multitude of channels that I am able to get with my cheepo Maplins dish & satellite receiver.

 

Because it's the same satellite. It's not really THE Sky Satellite - they just transmit from it. There's also hundred of other foreign channels, shop radio channels, and a whole plethora of other stuff.

[cotswoldsman]

Freesat comes with loads of extra channels Zone Horror. CBS Drama, CBS Action, CBS Reality, Movies for Men (Not porno) and quite a few others.

With modern satelites buildings trees etc are not to much of a problem.

[nb Innisfree]

Er - if Freesat comes from the Sky satellite, why do I regularly tune to Astra 28 to recieve the multitude of channels that I am able to get with my cheepo Maplins dish & satellite receiver.

 

Incidentally, when I'm ready to moor up of an evening, a quick look at my handy compass tells me in which direction Astra 28 can be found, so that I can avoid trees etc. The real trick is to set up the dish (after mooring up, stupid) using one of those satellite finders with the row of lights and a buzzer, which makes setting up the work of less than a minute and a complete doddle! The dish is fixed to a B & Q aluminium pole about a foot long, which fits into a 'loft' socket, screwed to the top of the boat and also from B & Q. Sorted!

 

You are quite restricted in your mooring choice then? If you wait until you've moored up before looking for satellite and then find it is not in line of sight what do you do? cast off and repeat the whole process? We often moor up where there is no line of sight to a satellite and our sat finder complete with buzzer and row of lights can't do the impossible what do we do? well the first thing after mooring we erect our telescopic pole with aerial on the end and turn to face strongest signal with built in signal strength meter, takes about 30 sec total, much quicker than messing about with a dish. I reckon we get a signal from terrestrial far more than satellite.

 

Check your facts before posting.

 

 

Freesat comes with loads of extra channels Zone Horror. CBS Drama, CBS Action, CBS Reality, Movies for Men (Not porno) and quite a few others.

With modern satelites buildings trees etc are not to much of a problem.

 

How does that work then? if we are behind trees or buildings there is no signal, period.

[Chris J W]

That's a bit harsh.

 

It's a matter of practice setting up a dish in a new place as much as is it setting up an aerial and re-tuning as required.

 

The only real downside of dishes on the cut is, IHMO, there's a lot more chance of having a tree or building smack in the way. At least with a terrestrial aerial you stand more chance of getting a signal due to reflections.

[Robbo]

Even better is that we are in a Special Conservation Zone, and the Town Council have said they will not allow any satellite dishes to be fitted to the frontages of any house. My next door neighbour has already been told by the local fitter that there is no-where else he can have a dish, so he might have to do without any TV. We were lucky as there was 4' of back garden wall I could get a dish on!!

 

You can get Satellite Dishes, that are not dishes but more like pipes, which should be acceptable.

 

 

http://www.threedoubleyou.com/glassdish.htm

 

Edit to seen this, which as it isn't a dish should be able to go on the front...

 

Edited December 4, 2009 by Robbo

[Graham Davis]

Robbo,

seen those, but next door is a high 3 story Victorian house, and the only way they can get on to the roof is with a scaffolding tower, which they have to pay a licence for (!!) and neither Sky nor the local independent are willing to pay for it either. (There is a good view if you Google Map, Short Bridge St, Llanidloes). He is now thinking of appealing to WAG about the Special Conservation Area ruling, because it is stupid.

 

We already have 20 odd houses in the street with dishes, without permission!! (greased palms??)

[Chris J W]

Blimey - I bet the Cable Companies must love your area, then!

[Graham Davis]

Cable.....you must be joking!!!!

I know 2 people who still haven't got mains electric, and broadband is a dream to lots of people.

[simonk]

So they'll let you put a huge multi-element aerial poking out the top of your house but not a small dish? Massive old ones look quite bad but one barely notices the modern ones.

 

Anyway, went for a 19" toshiba with DVD in the end. It doesn't have a separate 12V dc power pack but I wouldn't run it from DC anyway as we're 24V. I'm pretty sure that even trying to get freeview here will be a waste of time, but someone gave me an old amstrad sky receiver so I'll try and get a dish from ebay to see if that works without a card. A bit of research tells me that you can't get Channel 4 or Five with 'Freesat from Sky' but you do with Freesat (BBC/ITV). Confusing isn't it?

[cotswoldsman]

How does that work then? if we are behind trees or buildings there is no signal, period.

 

Sorry you wrong, maybe you need to upgrade your satellite dish, will accept that if you are moored within a few feet of building might be difficult but trees should make no difference with decent dish.

[Graham Davis]

Simon, you can get Channel 4 and 5 with FreeSat. SWMBO occasionally watches Neighbours on it.

[homer2911]

You are quite restricted in your mooring choice then? If you wait until you've moored up before looking for satellite and then find it is not in line of sight what do you do? cast off and repeat the whole process? We often moor up where there is no line of sight to a satellite and our sat finder complete with buzzer and row of lights can't do the impossible what do we do? well the first thing after mooring we erect our telescopic pole with aerial on the end and turn to face strongest signal with built in signal strength meter, takes about 30 sec total, much quicker than messing about with a dish. I reckon we get a signal from terrestrial far more than satellite.

 

Check your facts before posting.

 

 

Excuse me? Who rattled your cage then? The point of having a compass to hand (before you moor - der!)is that if you see a likely mooring spot where east of south is obstructed by trees, but there is a bend ahead that will make east of south in line with the canal and therefore not obsrtucted by trees, then you carry on beyond the turn. If you weren't so offensive I might challenge you to set up your telescopic aerial quicker than I can set up my dish.

[nb Innisfree]

Sorry you wrong, maybe you need to upgrade your satellite dish, will accept that if you are moored within a few feet of building might be difficult but trees should make no difference with decent dish.

 

Upgrade to what? we have a new dish and receiver from Aldi, are they any different.

[nb Innisfree]

Excuse me? Who rattled your cage then? The point of having a compass to hand (before you moor - der!)is that if you see a likely mooring spot where east of south is obstructed by trees, but there is a bend ahead that will make east of south in line with the canal and therefore not obsrtucted by trees, then you carry on beyond the turn. If you weren't so offensive I might challenge you to set up your telescopic aerial quicker than I can set up my dish.

 

You did calling me stupid?

 

edited to add: How do you use compass while on boat? metal hull will distort reading, you need to be several feet away from boat.

Edited December 5, 2009 by nb Innisfree

[luctor et emergo]

Or maybe forget about the bl**^Y google box..... and enjoy the evening

 

 

[homer2911]

You did calling me stupid?

 

edited to add: How do you use compass while on boat? metal hull will distort reading, you need to be several feet away from boat.

 

My apologies, the phrase ‘before mooring up, stupid' was not aimed at you. I wrongly assumed that you would recognise it as an inoffensive literary device, echoing the ‘it’s the economy, stupid’ used by Bill Clinton in his 1992 campaign against George H W Bush.

 

 

 

As for using a compass on a narrowboat, I can only assure you that it does work on my cruiser stern, enabling me to judge with some accuracy where to moor up with the best chance of setting up my satellite dish and getting a good signal. Maybe the tiller position on my boat is far enough away from the bulk of the metal comprising the hull to enable a compass to read fairly accurately.

[nb Innisfree]

My apologies, the phrase ‘before mooring up, stupid' was not aimed at you. I wrongly assumed that you would recognise it as an inoffensive literary device, echoing the ‘it’s the economy, stupid’ used by Bill Clinton in his 1992 campaign against George H W Bush.

 

 

 

As for using a compass on a narrowboat, I can only assure you that it does work on my cruiser stern, enabling me to judge with some accuracy where to moor up with the best chance of setting up my satellite dish and getting a good signal. Maybe the tiller position on my boat is far enough away from the bulk of the metal comprising the hull to enable a compass to read fairly accurately.

 

Apologies accepted, it's not always the case that the written word is less ambivalent

 

As our dish is nearly always mounted at the front (magnetic base) it's difficult to escape a steel mass without going ashore, I must try it on our cruiser deck.

 

We have been very pleased with our Aldi setup and it has proved to be a good addition to our Freeview. The only problem is the inability of our Humax PVR to record Freesat, not realising when we bought it that it doesn't have this function.

[cotswoldsman]

Upgrade to what? we have a new dish and receiver from Aldi, are they any different.

 

I am not an expert but when I bought yt freesat I was not pleased and an expert person came and told me the dish I had from Maplin was ok but not the best he told me to get one of those wire mesh type kinda egg shaped and I did and now every thing is picture perfect and it does not seem to worry about trees and buildings but as I said before no use if you are slap bang next to a building but a house the other side of the towpath in direct line does not effect receiving a signal.

[Keeping Up]

edited to add: How do you use compass while on boat? metal hull will distort reading, you need to be several feet away from boat.

That's one reason I developed the Satellite Sundial.

 

And in answer to some other points; it doesn't matter how good your dish is, if you're behind a tree you won't get a satellite signal. But the angle of the satellite above the horizon will often mean the signal can clear the trees that are on the opposite side of the cut, if they aren't too tall.

[Guest]

That's one reason I developed the Satellite Sundial.

 

Like all the best ideas - simples...

 

Lot cheaper than those electronic jiggery pockery things than the Sky guys use too,

[larkshall]

What I want to know is if Freeview HD is futureware, will existint stuff on sale work with the HD signal etc?

 

Even Sony and B @ O stuff comes with freeview. I have no intention of buying now and again in 6 months or so, or it will be something else to sling over the side.

[dor]

As far as I am aware, all the Freeview set-to boxes and integral tuners will not receive HD signals. They are still arguing about the standard. It's going to be very disappointing to all the people who have had to buy a digital box here in the NW and then find out they need another one next year when HD starts.

 

Most freesat boxes now include HD, but there are some, particularly the cheap suitcase kits, that don't process HD.

[Chris J W]

For the sake of the minimal number of HD channels currently planned, I wouldn't worry too much.

[jelunga]

A nice simple answer to the problem. Is there a similar device to use at night?

 

Keith

 

That's one reason I developed the Satellite Sundial.

 

And in answer to some other points; it doesn't matter how good your dish is, if you're behind a tree you won't get a satellite signal. But the angle of the satellite above the horizon will often mean the signal can clear the trees that are on the opposite side of the cut, if they aren't too tall.

[Keeping Up]

A nice simple answer to the problem. Is there a similar device to use at night?

 

Keith

No there isn't. The moon's movement is too complex for such a simple solution. The Excel spreadsheet behind the sundial is 70 columns by 30 rows, and no doubt if you knew the moon's timings you could devise a spreadsheet to calculate the angles, but that's beyond my limited abilities.