Satellite TV

[Pete,A]

I have a free to air satellite system receiving free channels via Astra 2. The box is capable of receiving signals from a few other satellites including Hotbird. I am considering fitting a motor to my dish to point do various satellites, but is there anything worth watching on the other channels. I have seen 1 Metre dishes, whats all that about ?

[Buenchico]

There's more than one Hotbird satellite.

Here's the composite channel listing for Hotbirds 6, 7A and 8 (all at 13.0� East):
http://www.lyngsat.com/hb6.html
(Unencrypted digital channels are shown on a light cream background. See the foot of the page for other colour codes. Use the links in the yellow band, near the top of the page if you want to see separate listings for each satellite).

The size of dish required for reliable reception from any satellite depends upon that satellite's footprints on the earth's surface. Here's the footprint for Hotbird 6:
http://www.eutelsat.com/satellites/coverage/do wnlink/13ehb6ku.gif
Here's the one for Hotbird 7A:
http://www.eutelsat.com/satellites/coverage/do wnlink/13ehb7a.gif
and for Hotbird 8:
http://www.eutelsat.com/satellites/coverage/do wnlink/13ehb8.gif

A Sky minidish is too small to use for the Hotbird satellites. You'll need to replace your dish but the 'focus' of a dish is determined by the position of the LNB. It's possible to fit 2 LNBs to the same dish, in order to receive 2 different satellites. (That's far cheaper and easier than using a motorised dish). Any decent local company, specialising in satellite dish installations, should be able to tell you the size of dish you'll require in your location. Remember that planning permission is required if you have a dish size greater than 90cm (or if you have more than one dish, of any size).

Chris

[isnibs]

Hi Pete,A. I have a 1 mtre dish with 2 LNBs on it and a Discq automatic switch. I receive Hotbird and Astra 1 which gives you hundreds of channels from all over Europe, Russia and the Middle East and North Africa.
With a 1 metre dish you can have up to 3 LNBs on it which wouldn't be very good reception on some channels with a smaller dish.(I get Astra 2 on a separate mini dish)
A motorised system would be even better and I did consider it at the time.
There are quite a few English language channels, especially news.