Can anybody reccomend a portable dish system. I want to take my sky box with me on holiday. I have looked on ebay and some systems you get tripod, sky dish cables, quad lnb and sat finder for £45..... are these any good
Well this is an interesting question, the replacement satellite for Astra2D is due for launch in the next few weeks, to take over from Astra1N which has been taking care of business untill Astra2F is in position.
What does all this mean, well we don't know yet for sure, it could be that Astra2F puts down an ultra tight Spot Beam onto UK, which would not be good news for folks wanting to watch Coranation Street down on the Cote d Azur.
Anyway OP you may wan't to think about ditching the Sky+ Box for your French travels, a better solution is the Humax Foxsat PVR much better for using outside of the UK, unless you really need those Sky pay channels.
Hi Jason.
For camping use I would go for a Solid Aluminium Dish, not one of the Sky Mesh type dish's.
As for LNB, don't bother with a Quad, you only need a Twin for Sky+ or Single for std Sky box.
For UK use DIsh size of 55cm Ofset type, but not the Sky elliptical type. for the ultimate satellite dish get Acron Sweety or better still an Attisat FL500 Flat plate antenna.
Add to that a Tripod o mount the dish and sat meter, the Digisat Pro is a good meter, also an angle finder analogue cheaply or better still the igaging angle cube a very god digital item.
And lastly a compas or PointeSat another handy bit of kit.
If you are not sure that you have line of sight to the satellite, down load the Dish Pointer ap, although at £14 a waste of money IMHO, as there are other ways of establishing if line of sight is a problem.
Hi - I bought my kit seperately I got 54cm Folding arm dish from Netgadgets on Ebay, and bought an easyfind receiver and LNB from Rockdale also on ebay, I already had the tripod.
I would highly recommend the easyfind set up, it has made life so much easier, my only other advice would be to buy the best that you can afford - you get what you pay for
Andy, any opinion(s) on this system, would be much appreciated. Ta.
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
I spoke to a sky man and he says that if i take my veiwing card out of my home box and take my old sky + box i will be able to watch the channels a get other than movies ans sport. Step one ok. Next he told me that buying a portable dish wouldnt be worth the money as it would take me ages to find sat. Does others agree with there experiance.
It is true you can take your other sky+box and use it as you would at home, providing your card has been used with it before. If you don't take your card you can still watch all of the Freeview channels.
I have used my 60 cm dish at the Bay of roses in Spain. I have to admit that when I first tried to find the satelite it took me ages, and I gave up. When I got home I set it up and looked at my home dish to see the Direction It only took about 3 minutes to do it.
When I go away now I look on dishpointer.com to get all of the angles I need and it is easy from there providing you have a compass.
Have a look at this website it is full of information and if you have any questions just email him.
http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/
http://www.dishpointer.com/
If the link doesn't work copy and paste it into your browser
Les
------------- The worst day fishing is better than the best day working
Jason I have been taking our Sky Box [SkyHD+ box now] with us caravanning for at least 6 years.
I use an old oval Sky Dish which I mount on an old Camera tripod. You need a good long cable so you can move the dish to obtain a clear sight of the satellite.
I have a cheap 99p compass and a Satfinder purchased from B&Q. It usually takes no more than 5 minutes to get a signal/picture then the tripod is fastened down to make sure it cannot move.
Les+June gave this site which has loads of info that you can print up for when you move to different locations in the UK & abroad.
http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/
We have been all over in the UK and abroad - France Netherlands, Germany, Austria.
Just using the above equipment we have never failed to get a picture. I do a compass check before pitching to make sure there will be no signal interferance.
You do not need to buy expensive kit to use your Sky box.