Receiver to make use of existing satellite dish

phunkadelic

Hi, I moved into a house that has a satellite dish. I have traced the cable from it down to the sitting room. It looks a bit like coaxial, but with 2 connectors on it.

What kind of a basic box is needed to get use out of the dish?

I already have saorview through an analog aerial, but would like to get the UK channels too, preferably in HD

signal-2022-01-20-11-30-34-668.jpg

L1011

What do you want to receive and are you confident its pointing at the right satellite for that?

If you're sure enough that its pointing at 28E ("Sky" satellites, to oversimplify), and you want the free British channels, any generic FTA box will work - a Freesat+ one is probably just the easiest.

Many modern TVs have satellite tuners in them anyway.

phunkadelic

Yes I just spotted dual satellite connections at the back of my samsung tv.

So have plugged in and got 454 astra channels. Cool

Marty Bird

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118505111#Comment_118505111

Can you recommend a recordable box with internal storage and 7 day EPG?

Max H

Look at Humax boxes, we have one plumbed into our satellite dish. Get all the Freesat channels records and is HD as well.

anonanymore

https://www.richersounds.ie/p-204855-freesat-uhd4x-1000-1tb-freesat-hd-recorder-1tb-hard-drive-pvr.aspx

phunkadelic

Old thread I know, but it's about the same dual coax connection to my satellite dish. It stopped working after a year or 2 and I gave up tryong to get it working again.

Few questions:

do I need to connect both end connectors to the TV for it to work?

Is there a difference between the 2 end connections, is one of them input and the other output (lost track of what worked previously

I was messing with the cables today and got channels to tune successfully . But the connection wasn't secure and it came loose. Tried plugging back in but the copper part was bent and it no longer worked. So I tried retermimlnating the end connector. But no luck .

swoofer

You need to say make and model of the TV. The 2 cables are input, they carry the sat signal from the dish. The plugs at the end are F plugs. Here is a little video that will show you how to do it properly each and everytime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjMiCgyeFm4

phunkadelic

OK thanks, so both input, and I need both connected to get the channels?

It's a Samsung q60r, it has satellite main and satellite sub.

My understanding is sub is needed if I ant to record from a different channel from the one I am watching on satellite main.

That video is exactly the one I used to reterminate the coax cables.

swoofer

I had a look at rear and why it says sat sub I have no idea but yes with both connected you can record one channel and watch another. Connect both cables and then you should be able to find a signal meter to show if you are getting a signal or try a scan but make sure its ASTRA 28EAST. When you did cables make sure no copper bit or braid on the outside touches the inner copper core, easy to do.

phunkadelic

Yeah it seemed easy, but didn't work for me. Tuning set to Astra, which was what worked for me previously.

Are both input cables the same? Like should they be interchangeable and work in both satellite inputs on the TV?

swoofer

YES

Gerry Wicklow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121661570#Comment_121661570

Hang on a second. You say the dish stopped working 2 years ago. Did you get it repaired? If not the dish may be faulty and this whole exercise would be futile until it is checked.

swoofer

This is the bit I saw " I was messing with the cables today and got channels to tune successfully . But the connection wasn't secure and it came loose. Tried plugging back in but the copper part was bent and it no longer worked. So I tried retermimlnating the end connector. But no luck ."

Why was he connection bad, its a screw in, a piece of the inner wire may be stuck in tv sat input!!

phunkadelic

Yeah it stopped working a while back and I couldn't get it back.

But I gave it another try yesterday and somehow got it to tune. I hadn't tightened the satellite sub connection so it was a bit loose. Cable came out of the connector and wouldn't work when I retried. I noticed the copper part was too long and had bent a bit. So tried straightening it, no use. Tried shortening the copper part, no use.

So I reterminated the f connecters on it. No use

phunkadelic

Got it working eventually, had to take a few more mm off the copper part

Cheers lads

phunkadelic

Spoke too soon, I had all my astra channels and was reordering my channels and the signal dropped off again. Could well be a bit of copper stuck in the connector. Any tips on getting it out?

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121666743#Comment_121666743

Off the centre wire? As per the video it is only supposed to be about 2 mm sticking out, so it should not have had a few mm to take off. If you get a picture back, see what signal readings you have. My strongest is Film 4, and the other channels on 10714 H. There are big variations between transponders. It is useful to know your signal readings, for a Before and After comparison if you do any changes.

https://www.lyngsat.com/Astra-2E-2F-2G.html

shane b

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121666852#Comment_121666852

If the signal is dropping out check the line of sight from the dish. I had an issue with tree branches blocking my signal, more so in the summer than winter though. I had to cut back some branches and immediate improvement.

Also you only need 1 cable connected to receive the channels. The second cable is just another feed to allow you to watch a second channel but that only useful if you have a hard drive which allows you to record onto.

phunkadelic

Yeah I'm not worried about the second feed for recording so I'll concentrate on tying to get it working with one cable connected .

Do you know if you need to choose single instead of dual for Aerial type then?

shane b

Id go single as its only a single your connecting in.

Also have a read of this thread. might help later on

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058290570/dual-satellite-inputs-on-samsung-tv