Few basic questions im wondering about.......

FranknFurter

Hi,

Just a quick question........
I saw this for €148.49 and was wondering if anyone here could answer a cpl of questions,
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=A06FH&doy=24m2&source=15
im new to this FTA stuff (only used NTL digi till now)..........

Im wondering how difficult / expensive it would be to set, im a wheelchair user so would have to pay somone prolly to hang an align the dish, am I right?

Is it a good deal an what can I expect channel-wise?

I live in a ground floor apartment, would it *have* to be on the roof, or would it be ok at about 12foot height?

Thnx for any info,:)

B

nopz

[mod edit]

Please dont discuss hacking here [/mod edit]

Tony

do you hvae a clear view from your apartment to where the sun is at approx 11am?

FranknFurter

There is a 6foot wall and im right on the corner of an apartment complex so the side of my place looks straight out towards liffey valley shopping center, will check for the sun in the morning

Whats the benefit of updating the box nopz? Is it worth doing?
An does the fact that the box itself dosent take a card a problem?

b

byte

What nopz suggests is illegal and cannot be discussed here.

Zaphod

FranknFurter wrote:

There is a 6foot wall and im right on the corner of an apartment complex so the side of my place looks straight out towards liffey valley shopping center, will check for the sun in the morning

Taking Dublin as an example, as the Sun moves from east to west, it will pass by the position of Astra2D (where the bulk of the free-to-air english language channels are) at 10am. At this time of the year, the Sun's elevation (position above the horizon - 19.6 deg) almost matches that of Astra2D (21.5 deg), so if you have a clear view of the sun (and don't blind yourself in the process!) at 10am, the dish will be fine.

It really doesn't matter the slightest if it's on the ground or up on the roof, as long as you have a clear line of sight.

FranknFurter wrote:

An does the fact that the box itself dosent take a card a problem?

It's only a problem if you want to watch channels that are encrypted.

Blaster99

If you consider that Sky Digital costs about €220 in the first year including subscription, equipment, and installation, you'd be mad to pay €150 for an FTA system plus installation. After the year is up you own the equipment and you can cancel the subscription and you'll have a perfectly functioning FTA system. Assuming you're interested in English stations, of course.

watty

The Sky Digital Box updates its self. It can also be used, but not very easily and not very well to get Astra@19E and Hotbird@13E as well as the Sky channels @28E on a single 80cm dish with 3 LNBs.

FranknFurter

So Id be better off just going with Sky?
Does the dish need to be motorised or would it have to be repositioned often?

(sorry for all the queations, complete idiot here when it comes to sat stuffs)

b

Blaster99

It depends on what you want. If you want the normal English speaking channels, then you want Astra 2, which is where Sky and the UK terrestrials plus a bunch of other stations live. The easiest way to get Sky is to pay Sky to do it all for you as above. The dish does not need to be realigned. If you want to be able to point to other or many satellites to view exciting stuff like English speaking programmes dubbed in German or other various European languages, then you need a different setup with a bigger motorized dish, and an FTA receiver.