Improvement for the reception of UK Sky channels in Spain

Since the ‘emptying out of Astra 2B’

Of notable channels, since last week the reception on these below has improved considerably. In Costa Blanca South & Costa Calida generally a 1.9 dish would have been required for these – now as on 1N, in many locations a 1.10 metre dish is sufficient.

National Geographic HD, Comedy Central HD, Eden HD, Nickelodeon UK HD, Eurosport 2, Sky Movies Modern Greats HD, Movies Drama & Romance HD, Movies Sci Fi & Horror HD, Movies Comedy HD, Dave UK HD, Watch HD, Animal Planet HD, MTV UK HD

Looks like Sky are still moving channels around and clearing Astra 2B. So far 15 transponders from mainly 2B (and some 2A) to Astra 1N – 13 to 1N & 2 transponders from 2B North to 2A North.

There are 7 more transponders still to move, 3 of which are on the 2B North beam – anything on the North beams moving across to Astra 1N will improve reception for those in the Costas. At a later stage these are likely to move across from 1N to 2E or 2F, both of which we can receive presently with a 1.1 – 1.4 metre dish in most locations.

so we were thinking we would lose them and need huge dishes and in reality to opposite is true?

stronger signal and smaller dishes

for now anyway

You are right, whilst on 1N all good for most of Spain - however likely to go to 2E / 2F later - o.k if you are in Costa Blanca / Costa Calida - but plenty of other areas, such as Costa del Sol - that may struggle with this in the future.

If Sky put the programming on 2E / 2F on the pan european beams, then still a good chance of reception, but if on spot beam - areas which cannot get the 5's now, expect similar.

 Hi all, on this wonderful sunny afternoon on the Costa Blanca.

I don't know much about TV's and reception, just enough to plug in my freesat box and let it do it's thing.  I took out my SKY BOX as I was having so much trouble with it and having to re-boot it all the time.

I put in a Golden Interstar box and asked it to find the channels and it found the channels on Sat.1 (I think) This gives me most of the channels including BBC3 AND BBC4 which I wanted.

My question is, if I re-tune to use the Astra 2F sat. will I lose BBC3 AND BBC4, or can I retain these.  Also I don't get true movies, which I would like. 

Also I am going back to the UK in February and wondered if it may be a good idea to bring back the HUMAX 500GB box, as I have read lots of good report on this box, but if I only have one lead to put into it, can I still record the channel I am watching.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards Joan

any help would

Any 

 Sky boxes can be troublesome as when denied power, reset to UK settings = 'no signal' message, then you need to go into installers menu to alter default transponder settings

Golden Interstar box is fine - if unsure if you are getting everything, just run a 'blind scan' as this ignores the frequency tables in the receiver and takes a sweep of the sky - you can delete the unwanted channels afterwards. True movies should come in on a bind scan - you are probably just missing the transponder in your receiver.

You can record on many non Freesat boxes (just FTA) look for the USB PVR - as you can plug in a USB memory stick or external hard drive to record / pause live TV / playback.  Cheaper than the Humax.

Humax is a well built piece of equipment but is over 3 years old, the Echostar has more functionality & the Manhattan is newer and cheaper (though 320gb).  One nagging doubt I have is regarding the freesat boxes is they do require the 'freesat datastream' signal for the boxes fire up - presently we can get this, but if this changes it could well stop a freesat branded receiver from booting up - not an issue you would have with a free to air (designed to work worldwide).

Ultimately if you want the 7 day program guide and free to air only, the freesat option (as long as you are aware of the potential epg issue) are a good option, in terms of simplicity to use.  Free to air wise, there are other receivers which have more functionality (linux receivers) which you can playback downloaded music, video etc files, watch youtube, google maps and other streaming services - these are not as straightforward as the Freesat, but offer a lot more functionality for your money?

 Hi,

Thanks for your helpful reply.  Can you explain what 'free to air'  is and how does it differ from freesat.  I thought we could only use freesat boxes here in Spain, that's why I was looking at a Humax box.  Your recommendations would be appreciated.

Regards

Joan