I am about to set a Satellite Dish on the roof here in Lausanne and was wondering how many heads should i install in order to catch French, Swiss and Italiank/UK SKY channels:
I was told just two heads are enough:
1 for hotbird to catch Italian/English/Swiss channels
1 for TSAT (or Atlantic Bird) to catch French channels ... with these 2 satellite, i just need to buy a decoder but there is no monthly subscription.
what is your experience on that?
Other than that, two heads would only give you two feeds from the same satellite.
there are brackets to allow 2 sat signals on a single dish but the angle range is limited
And you won’t get SKY without some sort of subscription fee. Even Freeview needs a one off payment, I think.
I think you may be confusing the Freesat service offered by BBC and ITV which is free with Sky’s Freesat service. Here are direct quotes from Sky’s FAQ sheet:
I already have Sky digital satellite equipment - what else do I need?
All you need to gain access to the free channels available on the digital satellite platform is a Freesat from Sky viewing card, which costs just £25.
Do I have to subscribe to Sky Digital to get Freesat from Sky?
No, you only have to pay a one-off fee of £175† and you will receive over 240 free-to-air digital satellite TV channels and all the equipment is yours to keep.
†For security reasons Viewing Cards may be inactivated from time to time. In this situation, if you wish to continue to receive all the encrypted Free to View channels, you will have to purchase a new viewing card at our then applicable standard charge. The BBC/ITV service is also available through Sky HD boxes too. Again direct quote from freesat.co.uk website:
Because freesat uses the same dish and satellites as Sky, all you need to do is connect a freesat set-top box to your dish, and away you go, with over 180 TV and radio subscription-free channels .
Whether you can pick up this Freesat service outside the UK is another question.
If you have a sky box thats not ancient you receive freesat from sky without a card, no need to pay anything!
You "may not" get C5 without a card though - depends on the box. i have 2 boxes, an old and newer box, 1 gets C5 with a card, 1 without.
bbc/itv dont offer freesat - they have freeview which is in turn broadcast by other channels as freesat
thats right, any box will receive freesat, it doesn't have to be a sky box. The proper box will give you a proper programme guide in addition. Otherwise, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five are all available without any charge and via any box.
what about french channels for free?
which satellite?
That’s good to know guys, thanks. I didn’t realise that Freesat could be picked up without paying Sky for the card. Mind you, I’d need a newer box as ours is pretty old now, but it’s useful to know these things.
What boxes could you use in place of Sky’s to get Freesat over here?
freesat is free, you don't need any cards, nothing - we have it ffs don't be paying sky anything for it, its nothing to do with them at all.
ETA we just bought the cheapest box from interdiscount and it works with freesat no issues at all, inc the program guide, also bought the cheapest box from jumbo for the spare room and again worked no issues at all. You can but freesat boxies on-line from place like ebay for not very much money at all
astra1 or astra1 or other?
it looks there are no french channles *TF1, TF2* on those sat above..
only on atlantic sat...
You can get DuoLNBs dishes to received from 2 x different beam directions. This effect has been exploited for many years to receive signals from two satellites at once with a single dish, and two LNBs have been most commonly arranged on a dish in this way for reception of Astra 19.2°E and the Hot Bird satellites at 13° east, primarily for the abundance of TV channels from 19.2° east, and some additional channels (especially adult channels) from 13° east.
Reference for those non-believers:
14+ years, we brought it with us from the UK when we moved here. I wouldn’t dare take the card out unless there’s no alternative. If I screw up my husband’s Sky subscription I’d be looking at a divorce probably.
I’m just asking because at the moment our Sky sub goes via his parents’ house in the UK, but as they’ve both just passed away we may need to look for alternatives. I know there are ways to bypass the UK address thing, but it may take a while so the freesat service might be needed if, for some reason, we can’t set up a new alternative.
Try searching your channels on Kingofsat.net
Sort for unencrypted channels. I see TF1 and M6 HD on Eutelsat 9A. At 9 degrees east, it would fit on your dish along with a hotbird 13 degrees. Don't know about TF2 though...
ok then it needs the card to work. if the box ever dies please do not buy a replacement on ebay. i have been stung twice and they both arrived dead/ with faults.
either buy from someone here or my recommendation avforums.com - you need to register for the site though
No, we never buy that sort of stuff online from anyone, ebay or otherwise. Books and CDs yes, but other stuff we always get from a store where we can look at the product ourselves and ask questions about it.
Although this part would cost very little, you cannot buy it, and it is not in Sky's interests to make it available.
Anyone who has bought a working, second-hand, Sky box has been fortunate.