Attaching a sky box to an apartment

weeslip

I've recently moved into my own apartment and the builders have wired it up for a sky feed from SKY Conway ( local sky reseller). Grand, couple of stations fro 15 euros a month. However, i would like to get sky digital + and for technical reasons this is not possible.

So , i am wondering what the situation is with regard to attaching a sky box to my apartment. Do i actually own any of the exterior or could i stick it under my balcony, or on the roof. Any suggestions or feedback welcome.

Cheers,
Eain

beller b

Depends on the complex you live in. Most new apt blocks have a ban on dishes etc, even washing lines in extreem cases. Where are you living? Who is your property management company? .. depending on the location of your apt you may get away with locating the dish low down on a balcony out of view. It need a clear view of the south east sky..This way would also make it easier to run the second cable required for skt+

weeslip

living in aikens village sandyford, no idea about the management company yet, the balcony is south facing so i might try that out, are all sky dishs the same size?

beller b

For Sky Digital I think 80cm is fine. Get any installer with a meter & a dish on your balcony & he will be able to judge where you can get away with placing it.

weeslip

i'll give it a lash and see how i go, thanks for the info.

reamonn

Your solicitor will be able to tell you what you can and can't do - won;t charge you extra if you used the mfor the purchase.

If you own an apt you will likely own it under a long lease subject to conditions. Not putting a satellite dish on the outside is often a condition because it is a condition of the builders planning and because it looks bad for selling apartments (this affects you in the future).

It is highly unlikely you own the outside structure. THe usual position is that you own the internal face of the internal walls.

You possible do not own the balcony but rather have a licence to use it subject to conditions. Oftentimes these exclude satellite dishes and other stuff. However, practical reality is builder / mgt co. is unlikely to enforce it unless it looks bad or someone complains.

watty

I'd bet most of the Sky Conway channels are FTA via TV aerial or Satellite? Have you a list.

It is possible to have a shared dish receiving four satellites and feeding a pair of cables (or two pair for sencon point) for Sky+/ SkyHD or whatever to each of 500 apartments. Per user works out chearper than individual installs.

loyatemu

i know this is getting technical, but if its possible to have one cable feeding the same signal to 500 apartments, why can one signal not feed the 2 tuners in a Sky+ box. Why do you need a quad LNB with 2 cables?

Tony

beller b wrote:

For Sky Digital I think 80cm is fine. Get any installer with a meter & a dish on your balcony & he will be able to judge where you can get away with placing it.

80cm is overkill, a 60cm triax or a sky minidish will work fine.

Tony

loyatemu wrote:

i know this is getting technical, but if its possible to have one cable feeding the same signal to 500 apartments, why can one signal not feed the 2 tuners in a Sky+ box. Why do you need a quad LNB with 2 cables?

Beacuse each receiver needs to be able to select four different signal configurations available from the lnb , hor and vert polarisation as well as low and high band.

watty

An apartment distribution syste uses specialist components and Quattro LNB for each satellite. The Quattro has each of the 4 possibilities.

The at the final distribution point at least four feeds go to a box that "simulates" a regular LNB for each output.