Sky Q dish with west facing back garden?

Galwayhurl

Hi there.

I believe s Sky dish has to face southeast?

We're moving into a new build terraced house that has a west facing back garden. Is it possible at all to have a Sky satellite dish?

It can't go on the front obviously and there is no chimney. Is there any way around this?

(We looked at Sky Stream but the fact that there's limited recording, 30 second delay (bad for live matches) and you can't get ITV are real downsides for us).

Thanks.

Atlantic Dawn

Yes it can be fitted on a pole mount at the end of the garden wall facing SE, it does need line of sight to satellite so trees or other houses potentially could cause issues, here's one...

https://www.satworld.ie/18-stand-off-wall-bracket.html

Is there any other homes in the area that may already have a dish in place, that would give a good idea of what solutions work. This website is useful to get a line of site as to where will be suitable, if you put in the address and look for 28.2E Astra that will be where it should face.

https://www.dishpointer.com/

Galwayhurl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121384523#Comment_121384523

Hey AD,

Thanks for that. Not sure if there would be line of sight from the end of the back garden. We haven't got keys yet. We're getting them next Friday. And as it's a new build, I'm not sure what others on the street have done/are doing for tv.

I see that Virgin Media are now ONLY offering streaming tv (instead of the 360 box). I wonder if their recording methods will be as limited as Sky's? On the Virgin Media website it says that the recording is to the cloud. Just wondering if it will be reliant on the relevant player for the channel in question.

I really don't know what to do. Looks like I'll be limited to streaming with one or the other. One advantage that Virgin streaming has is that it has ITV apparently. So there's that.

swoofer

If you get a good installer they can fix a dish at rear of property peeping over roofline and hardly visible from front.

icdg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121384892#Comment_121384892

VM has ITV3&4, but not UTV or ITV2, and yes there are limitations on recording with all of the new streaming services. You might be able to persuade VM to give you TV360 though if you’re in a cabled area.

You can’t record ITV (or any manually tuned channel) on Sky satellite either, mind you - if that is mission critical for you , you need Freesat / free to air satellite.

Storm 10

I have two Sky dishes in my back garden both have no line of sight with a Satellite they are going through my garden shed, wall and houses picture quality on all Sky channels is perfect including the signal for Sky.

muffinhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121390949#Comment_121390949

Are you sure there is no line of site? It is much steeper than you'd imagine.

Gerry Wicklow

The square marks the location of Astra 28E satellite constellation relative to the Sun at the time/date shown.

Storm 10

They are both pointing straight ahead as I look at them I checked both with a Satellite finder when I fitted them other than that I cant say anymore but they are there for a good number of years and never an issue except for one LNB.

TAFKAlawhec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121390949#Comment_121390949

@muffinhead has pointed this out graphically, but just to add my own €0.02, almost all satellite dishes sold & used in Ireland - including Sky's own oval shaped dishes** - are "offset" dishes - they appear to look lower in the sky than they actually are. IIRC the standard Sky Zone 1 & Zone 2 dishes have an offset of 20 degrees*** (i.e. they're actually looking 20 degrees higher than what they seem to look like), while most other "universal" satellite dishes tend to have an offset of approx. 25 degrees, sometimes less sometimes more depending on the manufacturer. A scale on the dish usually indicates the "real" elevation angle of the dish in use.

When using a dish to receive a satellite that is quite close to the eastern or western horizon, the offset dish will appear to be looking down on the ground - in some extreme cases the elevation bracket on the dish can only go so low that to solve this you have to turn the satellite dish upside down! In this case, the dish will instead be actually looking at an angle point lower than what it appears to be looking at!

The Ku Band frequencies used by Sky & most satellite operators in Europe is in literal need of line-of-sight for reception, it takes very little to attenuate their radio waves - try covering the front of the LNB with your hand, a damp tea towel or a complete newspaper and even the strongest signals will be killed - it has no chance going through slate tiles or brick walls.

** Strictly speaking all offset dishes are oval shaped, but they are often slightly taller than wider whereas the classic Sky black perforated dishes are wider than they are taller, and thus ideally need their own special LNBs to "see" the shape of their dish properly. The classic satellite dish is a parabolic shape that is circular and doesn't have an elevation offset, but these are rarely seen outside of very large dish set ups used either in professional use or for reception of C-Band satellite signals that is rare in Europe outside of Russia & high-level enthusiast use. You can also get flattened dishes that look like a rectangular box, but these are not cheap, are not as efficient as a parabolic or offset dish and are mostly used to help get around planning, deed or landlord restrictions concerning the use of a standard satellite dish.

*** 20 degrees was likely chosen by Sky as the elevation angle for the Astra 2 satellites ranges in the British & Irish Isles from around 17 degrees at the north of the Shetland Islands to nearly 27 degrees at the southern tip of Jersey in the English Channel, helping make the dish "look" like it's looking out to the horizon or just a few degrees above it. Incidentally in Ireland, the elevation lies between approx 19-22 degrees depending on location, so again they'll "appear" to be looking at the local horizon. Having the dish appear to look at right angles from the ground makes it easier to be fitted very close to a south-east facing wall, where practical.

ted1

they can put in on the house and aim it east over the roof line