Astra fleet Sky TV reception North West Turkey

Trakya

Hello,

Firstly apologies in advance for the technical clunkiness of some of my descriptions. As will become obvious, I’m no expert when it comes to satellite TV

Having lived in Turkey for a few years now (longer than expected), I thought it high time I take the plunge and avail myself of what “sky telly” I could receive on a limited size dish.
PLEASE NOTE: although the forums state that a 3.5 – 4 mtr dish is necessary for sky reception in Turkish fringe regions THAT IS ONLY TRUE IF ALL sky (particularly the “big 5” free to air UK) channels are to be received.

In my case, I would have been delighted to obtain all channels however landlord and Local authority restrictions meant that I am limited to what is obtainable given the restrictions of dish size
So to begin

LOCATION details
Inland approximately 90km WEST of Istanbul on the European side of the bosphorous
elevation approx 600ft above sea level

Weather conditions at time of test either “Fair” slight cloud cover, good “no clouds” or blustery “strongish winds”

Equipment details
Dish… 200 X 185cm elliptical OFFSET DISH (solid Fibreglass "2nd hand" unit MORE ON THIS LATER)

LNB… SHARP Universal "single"

Sat box…. very old Panasonic DSB30 (i.e. NOT a HD capable box)

Sky card… “sky package inc. full movies package”
Astra signal strength and quality at dish 90+% & 62% respectively
Astra signal strength at box (coax attenuation over approx 20 metre run) 90% & 60% respectively

Channels received
106 Sky 1
109 Watch
110 GOLD
111 Dave
112 Living
113 living +1
114 Living 2
121 Virgin 1
122 Virgin 1+1
123 Bravo
124 Bravo +1
125 Challenge
126 Paracomedy1
127 Paracomedy +1
129 Scifi
130 scifi+1
132 Alibi
134 S4C
144 DMAX
145 DMAX+1
146 Zone reality
147 Zone Reality +1
148 Zone Thriller
149 Zone Romantica
151 E!Entertainment
152 Challenge +1
153 Bravo 2
154 DMAX+2
156 Bio
157 Film 24
160 MTV ®
164 FX
167 Info TV2
168 BBC ALBA
171 MY Channel
172 Living +2
173 Living 2+1
186 Life
188Showcase tv
189 Open Access 2
190 Open Access 3
191 BET
195 Propeller
198 BET +1
200 controversial TV
201 Paranormal
202 NTAi
203 Channel M
205 Hallmark+1
206 DMAX+1.5
212 SUMO TV
240 DiscRT+1
242 DiscoveryShed
246 UKTV Style
249 UKTV food
251 Travel Channel
252 Travel Channel+1
253 the style network
254 Home & Health
255 Home and Health +
256 Sky Arts 1
257 Sky arts 2
261 Fashion tv
265 travel & living
266 wedding TV
267 wedding tv+1
268 africa channel
269 diva tv
270 SA direct
277 diva tv+1
279 Rural TV
280 Horse & country
301 Sky premier
302 Sky Premier +1
309 sky MDN greats
311 sky screen 1
317 TCM
318 ? not broadcasting at time checked
319 zone horror
320 zone horror +1
321 true movies
322 true movies 2
323 movies 4 men
325 movies for men 2
326 movies 4 men 2+1
327 movies 24
328 movies 24+1
329 not broadcasting at time checked
331 world movies
333 nigeria movies
341 simply movies
324 shorts tv
350 MTVone
351 MTVone+1
352 MTV Base
353 MTV Hits
354 MTV dance
355 MTVTwo
356 VH1
357 VH1 Classics
258 TMF
360 4 Music
362 Smashhits
363 Magic
365 Chart show
366 The Vault
367 Flava
368 Kerrang
369 OMusicTV
370 StarzTV
372 Bliss
374 Skuzz
376 Flaunt
378 Rockworld TV
382 NME TV
383 Clubland TV
401 Skysports 1 (not a subscriber but receiving the “upgrade to receive banner”)
402 as per 401
403 as per 401
Other sky sports indicating “no signal being received” including sky sports news channel
406 MUTV “Upgrade to receive info”
410 Eurosport UK
413 Motors TV
417 ESPN America “upgrade banner”
419 extreme sport
421 Chelsea TV “upgrade banner”
432 Racing UK “upgrade banner”
434 Liverpool FC “upgrade banner”
435 Arsenal TV
442 ESPN classic
446 Realmadrid TV
501 Sky news inc full multichannel “red button info”
502 Bloomberg
503 BBC News
504 BBC Parliament
505 CNBC
506 CNN
507 S4C2
508 Euronews
509 Fox news
510 CCTV-9
512 russia today
513 france 24
514 Al Jazeerah eng
515 press tv
516 NHK world tv
520 Discovery
521 Discovery +1
522 Disc.Knowledge
523 disc.turbo
524 disc.science
525 animal planet
526 nat geo
527 natgeo +1
528 natgeo wild
529 history
530 history +1
531 military
532 Eden
533 Eden +1
535 animalplanet +1
537 Yesterday
538 yesterday+1
549 disc.sci+1
551 investigation
554 crime+1
557 disc.know+1
580 god channel
(Other religious channels 581, 582, 583, 585, 586, 587, 588, 590, 591, 592, 593, 594, 595)
601 Cartoon network
(Other kids tv channels 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 608, 615, 616, 617, 618, 619, 620, 623, 624, 625, 626, 627, 629, 630)
640 QVC
(Other shopping channels 641, 642, 643, 644, 645, 646, 647, 648, 649, 650, 651, 652, 653, 654, 655, 656, 657,658, 659, 660, 661, 662, 663, 664, 665, 666, 667, 668,671,672,674,675,677,682, 684)
700 Sky box office “PPV”
701 ?? (banner up but film in progress so unknown)
702 as 701
703 as 701
704 preview received
705 thru 725 “NO signal”
726 as 701
727 as 704
728-730 as 701
731 as 704
732-734 as 701
735 as 704
736-741 as 705
742 as 701
743 as 704
744 as 705
745 as 701
746 as 705
754 as 704
755-757 as 701
758 as704
759-761 as 701
708 B4U
Other foreign language channels checked (but not completely, sorry I came down with bollywooditis at channel 817)
781, 782, 783, 784, 785, 786, 787, 788, 789, 790, 791, 792, 793, 795, 796, 797, 798, 800, 801, 802, 803, 804, 805, 806, 807, 808, 809, 810, 811, 813, 814, 815, 816, 817...

“Grumble” channels 900->
Mixed results, a fair few free “dial-a-tart” shows came up, however for channels below ~930ish the box kept freezing, which I am led to understand is a symptom exhibited by the panny box in the event of a weak signal.
As with the sport, I don’t have “premium content package access” for this type of disgraceful filth!!!111!! (after all it’s free ont’internet innit). However it appeared that some were available (some “18movies”? previews were there) and some not.
Radio channels
Mixed bag of results, will provide comprehensive list at “an later date”

SUMMARY
Although I’ve not exhaustively checked it appears (subject to any of the site satellite guru’s confirmation of my conclusion) that ONLY the south beam of astra 2a, 2b and 2c are “see-able” with a “medium” sized dish in north western Turkey
Astra 2D transponders were not checked for signal strength but, as indicated above; essentially none of the BBC “terrestrial” channels ITV, channel 4 or channel 5 (and variants thereof) output, was picked up by the box. “no satellite signal detected” As such it seems fair to say that the north beams content and 2D are effectively not available at this dish size in this location.
In conclusion it is possible to receive SOME sky channels on a ~ 2 metre dish as far east as Istanbul.

Points of order.
1 I had previously checked channel availability (using the panny box) with friends smaller sized dishes (160cm P.F.) and their own LNB before plunging into the big dish purchase
On their dishes results were mixed. One friends dish pulled in quite a few (but not all) of the above channels however on another friends dish (160cm) only Sky news came in intermittently (both those dishes were motorised and I suspect that the 2nd dish motor alignment was out of whack.

2 EPG only ~24 hours look ahead

3 2nd hand dishes
New dishes in Turkey (as anywhere else) get expensive quickly as the dish size increases. I was quoted $500+ for a new 2 metre prime focus dish from a couple of sellers. As such IT PAYS TO SHOP AROUND! look on local Ebay type or location relevant expat websites, ALSO ask for alternative options from local sellers particularly from those satellite installers who service hotels, bars and such like (how to find them? Ask the hotels and bars for contact info). They occasionally come into possession of large dishes removed from sites that they are overhauling and are more than happy to resell to individuals. My dish cost $300 with the new LNB thrown in. Including installation (new coax run, fresh lick o’paint and installation on an existing concrete plinth) it worked out less than the cost of a “brand spanking” 2mtr dish. (he also had a 2nd hand 4mtr dish that he was offering for a princely $600, tempted was I and sorely so). Better yet, many such satellite shops have access to operational/installed dishes of a variety of sizes, so it may be possible to arrange to bring your digibox and “try before you buy” with a variety of dish sizes to determine what dish size “works locally”.

4 not that I would dream of doing it of course!!!!!! but I imagine it might be possible to receive all of the above channels on a multiroom subscription sky box whilst the primary box (oh say a sky +) remained in the UK (in the home residence, recording favourite programs on those channels not available overseas, for viewing on return to UK). In such a hypothetical situation, I would imagine that had the “multi room box and card” not been active for a period of several months, then for the initial 24 or so hours of operation, it might appear that the card had been “PPV locked out” before the system fully reinitialised itself. At which point all of the “pay channels” that one should be getting on the card, but which had initially displayed a “to receive this channel for as little as £1 per month..” banner, might suddenly start to work….. hypothetically speaking of course!

Hope this helps.

apols for length....

Topper

Welcome tothe forum Trakya

well apart from me having fallen asleep twice reading your version of war and peace, what is your question again?
You have listed a whole long list of channels received and then ask is it possible?&%?

As regards the multiroom scenario no your stb's have to be connected to the same telephone line

War does not determine who is right, it determines who is left!

Formerly toppervte33h
whose six pack has turned into a keg

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tomthebomb1968

I dont think he was asking any questions he was saying that some info on the site may not be 100% accurate. He states

PLEASE NOTE: although the forums state that a 3.5 – 4 mtr dish is necessary for sky reception in Turkish fringe regions THAT IS ONLY TRUE IF ALL sky (particularly the “big 5” free to air UK) channels are to be received.

And he used

Equipment details
Dish… 200 X 185cm elliptical OFFSET DISH (solid Fibreglass "2nd hand" unit MORE ON THIS LATER)

LNB… SHARP Universal "single"

Sat box…. very old Panasonic DSB30 (i.e. NOT a HD capable box)

BombedOne

Great info, very interesting to compare with local reception conditions.

So far I've managed to got 5 TP's from 2B Northen beam, using 1.5m primefocus dish.

Topper

but I think it is an odd post to make, it gives the impression that forums are wrong when stating that if you want all Sky channels you need 3.5 or 4 mtr dish, when the reality is that with a 2mtr he cannot receive all the sky programs. The simple fact is that the o/p is prepared to live with a more limited range of channels and whilst interesting to some members to have a factual reception report it is hardly ground breaking news seeing as there are different beams from the collection of satellites at 28.2/5 East.

Having re-read his original post the o/p is though indicating he would like to do something with multiscreen which is not possible thus my response regarding the multiroom still appears valid to me.

War does not determine who is right, it determines who is left!

Formerly toppervte33h
whose six pack has turned into a keg

Help support this web site by making a donation
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Strathclyde

Thanks, Trakya. I for one find it really helpful to know that a reasonable % of Sky channels can be received as far East as Turkey without a mega-dish. It's a frequently asked question from expats and others interested in UK programming, and it's difficult to know what to respond, other than with the sometimes purist (but often unhelpful) info that a huge dish is required.

Trakya

it could be read like that

it could also be read as a guide on the how and what of using a multiroom card to get sky overseas, by someone who does not want to admit to breaching the contract clauses on siad multiroom card.

Ojos Azules

I have just completed my installation at my apartment using the components listed.

I have a question.

I can receive most of the channels I set out to get, with one exception.....Sky News....I think they have changed the transponder for the channel.
I have a second system using the Astra 19.0 signal. It states transponder is changing for this system, and coincidently, up until last week, I was getting Sky News during my initial 28.0 set up, and that was with a 90cm dish!!!!!
Anyone heard anything.

Analoguesat

Sky News on 28E is still on 12207V 27500 2/3 where its been for ages. It is possible there have been some beam/satellite changes at 28E as there were some changes a couple of weeks back.

On 19E its changing to a new frequency on Astra 1H - which may be more difficult to receive in Turkey as officially 1H doesnt cover that far east.

Analoguesat's message to the world Analogue forever!

Ojos Azules

Well I have made some progress with UK channels.
I can now receive ITV and C4 via the other channels set up which is fantastic, but I still have an issue with SKY news.....Help appreciated
I can get a clear SKY news channel from sometime during the night until approximately 8.45am, then the signal goes over the next 15 minutes then disappears until the same time the following day.
Any ideas how I can resolve this issue or is it just one of those things.

Analoguesat

Bigger dish

Analoguesat's message to the world Analogue forever!

Jimmy H

Interesting post, just a shame that the 'Knowalls' have to try and put you down, all this does is to discourage other less confident potential posters.

Ojos Azules

I have a question!

What's the best transponder to set the default transponder to when carrying out the initial channel search. I know 11.778 will not work, I can get a good selection from 11.642.
Anybody got any other suggestions??

Thanks

Ojos Azules

Which transponder did you line up with on your dish alignment signal?