Satellite Tv for Europe.

ok. Arty.....nice and slow.....although some of this may sound complicated, I'll try and keep it simple...

first of all, all systems need a dish (to receive the signal) a receiver box (to unscramble and convert the signal) and a RV to display the image.

as you say, many sets have the receiver built in...

to find out what you need we need to understand your viewing requirements....

firstly, where are you going (this makes a difference), what do you want to watch.....BBC/ITV etc? and are you a sky subscriber...

as you go south (say) into France, you are moving away from 'footprint' of the 'uk beam' that carries the main uk channels like the BBC etc..

this means that the further you travel, the larger the dish that's required.

dishes attached to uk homes are usually about 60cm in diameter and this size would probably receive a signal about 'halfway' down France.

to receive a signal in the south of France it would require an 85cm dish.

many folk use a stand alone dish and, with practice, are able to set it up in a few minutes, but you need to understand a bit about the satellite's location so as to understand why the dish has to be moved/pointed in a perticular direction.

there are smartphone apps that can help with pointing the dish and also physical 'signal meters' which can 'bleep' as you line up with the satellite.

systems don't need to be expensive but the cheaper the system the more input from the user (and the apps and 'finders').

as I said, many users manage well enough with simple systems. however I struggled with my manual dish and eventually gave up (possibly a duff system as I felt I knew more than enough about sat locations) and then moved to a semi manual system in our 2nd MH which worked really well.

on the next van I negotiated a large fully automatic system which is terrific, super simple to use but they are expensive....

i think that's enough for one post as I don't want to give you sat overload......

Artyboo

I would echo what BB has said above. Having for years had a portable dish on a tripod it can be very frustrating and time consuming to set up. It has been as quick as a couple of minutes to the best part of an hour!!! As BB says an 85 cms dish will cover most options for France if you wish to pick up UK  terrestrial programmes. However if you don't want BBC 1&2 and ITV etc a smaller dish might be OK if you want to take pot luck with what you receive. It's handy having a TV with a built in satellite receiver as  basically it saves on clutter in the van. There are several brands that have the feature, perhaps the best know one being Avtex. An automatic dish on the roof of the motorhome will be the easiest to live with but you are probably talking about a minimum of £1500 in terms of cost. 

David

well explained BB, I certainly learned something and cannot wait for the next episode. Cheers. 

Thank you BB, that is really helpful.

Yes, I subscribe to SKY, I am guessing I can use it remotely?

Hi Arty , I have a spare freestanding 65cm sat dish sitting in my shed ,which you could borrow and see how you get on with one before going out and buying something 

e-mail me if it's any help 

ok, is Sky different and why....?

well, yes it is and the reason is that most of its Premium channels, like the Sports and Movies are broadcast on a different Beam to the BBC/ITV as in my earlier post....

the Sky channels (mostly) are on a beam called the Pan European Beam which has a footprint that covers the majority of Western Europe and this makes it easy to pick up on a smaller dish....

so, you could be watching (say) the golf/movies in the south of France with a (say) 60cm dish.....and even well into Spain...

both beams are on the same satellite (Astra 2) but the UK beam fades away as you go south whereas the Pan Euro beam remains strong.

now, this is fine but Sky requires its own receiver/decoder and viewing card to get these programs just like at home...so, an Avtex TV can't pick up Sky with its built in tuner....

we have our 'spare' Sky+ HD box permanently installed in our van and (when I choose to......not always) I can move my viewing card into the van box and pair it there....

just to get another perspective, once you get beyond France, the dish size for the BBC etc rises exponentially, with 1.2m dishes required for (say) Valencia..and larger the more towards Portugal you go.....similarly eastwards....

so, an 85cm dish with a Sky receiver and viewing card will give you BBC/ITV etc just about all over France and Sky One, Sports, Movies etc  well into Spain....

an 85cm dish with an Avtex TV (no Sky box) will give you BBC/ITV all over France as above but no Sky capability.

hence the where, what etc....

good luck, enough for now....

great stuff Husky, getting the feel of setting up prior to a significant purchase might help a lot...and give confidence moving forward (or South)

Fantastic thanks both; as usual you are wonderbub 🤡.

Am in rainy France ATM but just might take you up on that Husky xxxxx

Which bit, Artyboo? I'm getting a bit fed up with Concarneau's weather. I'd hate to move to another wet bit.

Hi CB,

‘I am in Brittany: Locquirec. Been dull save one or two fair afternoons since we got here.