Any idea if a Sky dish will fit in this?

CCOVICH

Hi all.

Living in an apartment complex where of course it is forbidden to lash a dish onto the walls or the balcony. Came accross this yoke when browsing some of the threads here

Digicube Hidden Satellite Dish

2 questions:

Could I hide a dish capable of picking up Sky Digital (with a Sky subscription obviously) in it, or use the dish supplied to pick up Sky?

If not Sky, will this thing house a dish that will allow me to receive FTV or FTA channels via the dish supplied?

Your help appreciated. Sorry if this question has been asked before-couldn't find it.

jayo99

I'd say it would all depend on what sort of coverage area you are in..

If a sky minidish would work in your area then I would reckon this device would too

Mossy Monk

coverage area?
Sky will work anywhere that is capable of receiving a signal (Ireland, UK, Parts of Europe)

the question that needs to be asked is have you someplace to put the dish that can see the satellite

CCOVICH

Mossy-I have a SE facing balcony that I could stick this Digicube thingy on.

Sparky

you should be ok then, the only thing is if it moves a slight bit even a cm your signal can go, unless its unidirectional

Zaphod

You seem to have misunderstood what the Digicube is. Essentially it's a flat-panel antenna, with surrounding plastic to make it look like a 'cube'. So you can't put a dish into it.

The Digicube itself should have sufficient gain to be able to receive Sky channels in conjunction with a digibox. That being said, while it's a slick solution, it's pretty bloody expensive for what it does. You might consider some of the cheaper alternatives first:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=224642

Hagar

There is also another disguised dish available. It looks like a globe style garden light. I can't remember the details but look up ""wotsat" archives. I'm sure it's in there.

bigpaddy2004

I have seen it all now! What will they ever come up with next???

CCOVICH

Zaphod wrote:

You seem to have misunderstood what the Digicube is. Essentially it's a flat-panel antenna, with surrounding plastic to make it look like a 'cube'. So you can't put a dish into it.

The Digicube itself should have sufficient gain to be able to receive Sky channels in conjunction with a digibox. That being said, while it's a slick solution, it's pretty bloody expensive for what it does. You might consider some of the cheaper alternatives first:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=224642

Cheers, that's great to know. I agree that the Digicube is expensive, but it beats the crappy cable service we have at the moment. The clear dish is intersting, I'm not sure if the Digiglobe will 'fit in' with rest of the balcony.

So if I get a Sky subscription, they are not going to care what kind of dish I have? i.e. they won't insist I use their equipment?

Thanks to everyone for their input so far.

secret_squirrel

Mossy Monk wrote:

coverage area?
Sky will work anywhere that is capable of receiving a signal (Ireland, UK, Parts of Europe)

Size of dish is an issue - surely. The closer to the edge of the astra footprint the bigger the dish needed I thought.

Mossy Monk

yes, thats true
which is why i put in

anywhere that is capable of receiving a signal

secret_squirrel

I thought the implied question was that does this thing have a big enough dish size to recieve sky? Looking at the specs its smaller than the standard mini-dish size.

Thought the standard sky dish was 60cm?

Sponge Bob

a minidish in London is 40cm while in Dublin it is 60cm ...ish.

a 'replacement' device for a 40cm minidish may not work in Dublin.....I note that teh original poster is bollixed because the balcony is explicitly excluded on the non non list where older apartment T&Cs did allow you to put a dish on the balcony .

The 'Cube' 'Pipe' and 'Globe' dish substitutes would probably replace a 40cm UK minidish . Check whether there is a direct substitute for bigger minidishes .

secret_squirrel

Sponge Bob wrote:

.I note that teh original poster is bollixed because the balcony is explicitly excluded on the non non list where older apartment T&Cs did allow you to put a dish on the balcony .

I would guess it depends on how specific the T&C's are - he might be if it says satellite recieving antenna, might not be if it specifically says satellite dish.
Op I would check what the equivalent dish size of that cube is. ie a 40cm square might only be equivalent to a 30cm dish or a 60cm dish - depends on the technology inside it I guess.

Zaphod

I had a look at the cubsat.com site and it's not a flat panel antenna, but a customised elliptical dish with a standard MTI universal LNBF. Considering that it's solid, it should outperform a mesh Minidish of equivalent size. I haven't seen Minidish gain numbers quoted anywhere to compare with.
http://www.cubsat.com/cubsattnt.htm

Manufacturers suggest the Cubsat 50 for footprints with EIRP of 52dBW or higher, which is OK for Astra 2 at 28E although perhaps on the margins for poor weather on west coast.
http://www.cubsat.com/couv.htm

mjackson

I was browsing the web and came across an interesting website where you can search for what size dish you need so if anyones struggling to find the right dish size give it a try its well worth it sky cards. Also if you already know wht dish size you have you can contribute to the site and help other people.

Hope this helps