Frequently Asked Questions about Satellite TV

Please don't ask me about hacking pay-TV: I won't reply to emails about that.

This page is not maintained, as I no longer play with this stuff. Sorry for any broken links!

Please read before emailing. I get the same questions every time!

FAQs:

Sky Digital Questions
Can I get pay-TV for free?
What's the cheapest way to get foreign satellite TV?
Can I get foreign TV channels with my Sky Digibox?
Can I get TV from ForeignCountry where I live?

Sky Digital Questions

I don't have Sky Digital, so I can't answer your questions. All I can do is point you at some recent links posted to alt.satellite.tv.europe by Jomtien:

	Digibox problem?	A reboot solves 90% of these.
	Sky Digital FAQ	http://tinyurl.com/8vef5
	How to get UK TV overseas	http://tinyurl.com/6p73

Can I get pay-TV for free?

Not easily, and not legally, so don't ask (I mean it!)... Also, be very suspicious of giving your credit card number to dodgy web traders offering all-singing, all-dancing wonder cards.

Please don't email me to ask how to hack Sky etc. I will not reply to such emails.

What's the cheapest way to get foreign satellite TV?

The best way to get started is to buy yourself an old Sky ANALOG receiver and a 60cm or 80cm dish. OK so Analog hasn't got a long-term future outside Germany, and the channel line-up is limited, but for £20 who cares? It'll teach you what's involved, since digital is the same only with more complicated receivers.

You should be able to find an old Sky Analog receiver for about £20 in your local paper or at a car boot sale. Your local TV shop may have one that's been traded in. Or you can find new analog receivers very cheaply on the web.

Install the dish yourself and give it a go! The only specialist items you'll need are CT100 satellite cable (ordinary TV coax will NOT work), plus two F-TYPE cable connectors, and some big wall-plugs to secure the dish. So 35 all-in should cover it. Ross Lockley has put up some hints here. He also has a large website covering analog satellite TV here.

Can I get foreign TV channels with my Sky Digibox?

Yes and no....

Yes, there are a few non-English channels broadcast from 28E. For the latest list, go to the 28E page on Lyngsat and scroll down past all the boring Sky transponders.

Key Terminology: "28E" refers to the orbital slot occupied Sky Digital's Astra 2 satellite fleet, positioned high above the equator at 28 degrees of longitude East of Greenwich. Other slots commonly used are 19E (Astra 1 fleet) and 13E (Hotbird fleet). If you're planning to receive foreign broadcasts, you will need to know what orbital slot they're on! More on this later.
To access such a channel, use the "Other Channels" menu buried somewhere on your Sky box menu. Don't ask me how to use it, as I don't have a Sky box! Some very useful information on the Sky Digibox is available from Martin Pickering's excellent SatCure web site. Links to selected pages below:
- Sky Digital Satellite Receiver FAQ
- Can I receive foreign programmes with a Sky Digibox?
Many people feel that Sky boxes are just too fiddly to use with non-Sky channels (especially if you wish to receive non-Sky satellites too). The Sky Digibox has limited technical capabilities (only symbol rates 22000 and 27500; only stores 50 foreign channels; can't drive a DiSeqC autoswitch for automatic switching to a second dish facing a different orbital slot). In many ways, for reception of foreign channels, you'd be better off with a non-Sky receiver (something like a Humax, an Echostar AD3000, or a Nokia MediaMaster DVB9XXX box). You'll need a larger dish too, typically a 60cm or 80cm dish with a universal LNB.

Can I get TV from ForeignCountry where I live?

It depends! Some points to bear in mind...

If you have a Sky Digibox, it may not cut the mustard. See above.
You'll probably need to buy a digital receiver and a dish (maybe a large dish). This will not be subsidised (you pay up-front, not monthly). Cost approx 250 to 500+, depending on requirements; on how much installation and configuration work you do yourself; and on whether you buy new from a shop or secondhand from EBay.
If you want to pick up very distant or weak satellites, you'll need a big dish. This is especially true for C-band, so most people stick to Ku-band.
Before you buy anything, you need to know which channel(s) you wish to receive from which satellite(s). Please don't ask me: I can't help you decide! You'll get comprehensive, up-to-date information if you spend some quality time going through the links in the Satellites and Frequencies section of my main Satellite web page. If you look deeply enough, you will answers to questions like these:-
- Which satellite(s) are broadcasting the channels I want to see?
- Can I see satellite X from here, or does the curvature of the earth get in the way?
- What size dish do I need to get satellite X clearly from my house?
- Is channel XYZ encrypted on that satellite? If so, is XYZ also available Free To Air on a different satellite?
If this all seems like too much work, then you should go and talk to a professional specialist satellite shop (not someone who just sells Sky digital). These people answer such questions for a living; I don't!
Be sure to check whether the channels you want are free-to-air (FTA) or encrypted. Obviously it's best to stick to FTA if you can. Sometimes you can find copies of the same channel listed both as FTA and in encrypted form, often on different satellites (the excellent BBC World news and documentary channel is a good example).

To decode encrypted channels, you'd need to buy a decryption module known as a CAM. There are several different incompatible CAM standards for different broadcasters, and some cheaper receivers (known as "FTA only") can't use CAMs at all. After buying a CAM, you would need to maintain a subscription to the encrypted channel so that you receive a viewing card to place in the CAM in order to decode the transmission. Subscribing to foreign pay-channels can be difficult (some broadcasters don't officially support "out of area" subscribers for copyright reasons), but your local satellite dealer may be able to help.

Don't be tempted to buy a pirate viewing card, as these are not only illegal, but also highly unreliable by their very nature - and you'll have no warranty when it stops working, usually after one month at most. Better not to risk your money.
Be aware that satellite channels come and go all the time. Channels can disappear, or become encrypted without warning. The most expensive receiver will be of no use to you if the channels you want have vanished. Occasionally, what happens is that a broadcaster changes their transmission parameters, so that the channels are still there but you just can't see them. In such cases though, it's usually straightforward to update your receiver's channel list to bring the channels back.
For the ultimate choice of channels, you need a large motorised dish to receive channels from several different satellites. It's best not to use motorised dishes with Sky Digiboxes! But within Europe, a multi-focus dish with three LNBs set for 28E, 19E and 13E will pick up many hundreds of channels, which is enough for most people.

I hope these notes have given you some flavour of what's involved in receiving foreign satellite TV. I don't want to dissuade you from dipping into the world of TV (and satellite radio) from outside your own country: it can be fascinating to plug the bits together and just see what's out there (a bit likeshort-wave radio only with pictures). Just be aware that it can be quite a time consuming hobby. There are thousands of channels available in Europe, and just setting up and maintaining your receiver's channel list can be a major task. There again, if you know exactly what channels you wish to receive, there's no reason why you can't just keep it simple and avoid the temptation to max up your channel list!

- August 2002.