Hi Rob,
The Lemon is a great buy and made in Germany which is usually a good thing in terms of quality. They do have even cheaper receivers than the 07 CI, the 01 CI starts at around 129 euro's (139 euro's with RF modulator) here in Holland. I don't know if the Lemon's lower signal strength/quality on the graphic bars actually means anything in real terms.
I have always avoided using the Canal Digitaal receivers here due to the
sky like limitations of the equipment. I use an Aston CAM with an official Canal Digitaal card to decrypt the Dutch FTV stuff (a lot of which is English with subtitles). If i were you i would go and speak to the administrator about the legallity of not allowing you to access the control room, keep it friendly though. Its about time Canal Digit(a)al/Canal+ got its act together and offered the same programming throughout Europe, making full use of DSat such as multiple language sound tracks etc. I am sure they would make wads of cash if they did this. As it now stands its just not worth the subscription fee for the megre offering here in Holland.
I am indeed from Scottish stock, my father being from Stranraer which is where we lived for a while when I was a wee lad. Gall btw isn't my full name, just the first part of it, the other part is acher. cjgall is just a user id I use when the id I really want is already taken.
All the best, chris