Sky in Egypt???????

sharmites

I'm trying to find out if I can receive Sky Sports or other sports channels in English in Sharm el Sheikh. I saw there are some peeps out there receiving in Cairo and Alex but what about a little further south? All help appreciated.

Old Satellite

First questions would be how much space do you have and how much are you prepared to invest.

There are possibilities but it will not be easy, and the question would also be why, within your region many of the normal sports programs are also copied on Arabsat 26.0 east and Nilesat 7.0 west which are much simpler to recieve what are you missing exactly? or looking to recieve specifically.

in addition the Thaicom 2/3 also carry several of the live matches etc on C band satellite


regards

Old Satellite

Coca-Cooper

I would guess something like a 2.7m dish would be needed for programs on Astra 2A/B.

Astra 2D would be out of the question as "up here" in Cyprus a 3.7m dish is the preferred dish size (2.7m being the absolute minimum).

sharmites

Thanks Old satellite

It's simple really, up until the start of Euro 2004 I had access to Supersport 3 from S. Africa and since then it has apparantly stopped broadcasting on Nilesat. This was my main Premiership, Champion's League, FA Cup and internationals channel, also being the only one I get in English. Art Sports 1,2,3 and 4 are OK but last year missed a lot of the games that I wanted, Showtime is OK for the rugby but again if Sky have it it seems that Showtime don't. I run a sports bar so if I can get the channels that I need then the possibility to invest is there. What do you think??? If I could get Supersport back that would also remedy the problem!!

Old Satellite

Ok now i understand your Why,

The 12110 H transponder on Astra 2 b south includes Sky sports 1,2,3 , and the Transponder footprint (the area of signal Coverage) extends to the northern part of the Med with a 1.2 mtr dish. However your location in Egypt is not so simple. You are I would estimate approx 1500 Km outside of the normal coverage area.

However there are good reports from several areas of Egypt mainly Cairo of the reception of Astra 2b with 2.4 3.0mtr and this includes several Astra 2b northern beam transponders as well on the same dish.

I would estimate for your location a solid high quality 3.7 mtr would be a safe option and a 3.1 mtr may also prove to be suitable. please ensure that all the equipment is high quality feed horn/ LNB and that the installation is to a very high quality level.

Do not forget also how you will registar for your card - UK only

Please note that you will not recieve Astra 2 D channels from this dish.


regards

Old Satellite

wakos97

Euro2004 runs on Al-Jazeera sports on nilesat (arabic commentary)
also you can get many games on Hotbird (no english commentary though)

sharmites

Thanks guys, gives me something to look into. regarding card registering, can I just buy a card and box from the UK, bring it over and assuming the dish is big enough receive the channels? All sounds too simple until you discover that having a 3 m dish is probably illegal in Egypt!!!

PoloMint

If you buy the card and box in the UK it is a very good idea to register the card while you are still in the UK, rather than taking to it Egypt where you risk missing the registration signal because of a weak signal. If you don’t plan on installing the setup in the UK then if you know someone with Sky you could just hook the box to their dish and register it, as long as all the channels you pay for become available it will be ok to disconnect it again.

Then in Egypt when you have the dish set up, yes all you need to do is connect the box, but rather than watch all the channels, watch all the channels that you can receive. For example there will be very little chance of receiving Astra2D there, so that means no BBC & ITV and some of the north beam channels may be difficult to receive even on a dish that size.

Also what box are you thinking of getting? Some are much better for weak signals (like the Pace 2600 and Amstrad 400) than others (like the Panasonic 50 which should be avoided)

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wxo

The biggest (legal) dish here in Egypt is 2.4 and is not adequate. I have one and an HD box and cannot get anything other than the astra 2 A and B south beams. It's still worth the money as I cannot take anymore showtime or orbit. As for your question on pairing the card etc - definitely do it in the UK. Getting a card or receiver into this country is VERY DIFFICULT. They have a weird suspicion of anything electronic. If you get your card and box here and then find that something doesnt work it is virtually impossible to get a new one via mail/fedex/dhl. It will most definitely get stuck in customes. (I speak from experience.) I don't want to come off totally negative. There are a few others that report getting some of the Astra2 B north beam as well as S1. I'm going to consult with another installer hopefully with better results. Zero possibility of Astra 2 D. Best of luck to you!

afrowoman

WXO which programmes do you receive with your setup?

wxo

Well there are many on the Astra2 A and B South beams. Many more on Astra2 A and B North, however. If you are familiar with Lyngsat it helps a lot. Unfortunately you almost have to become an expert on the subject of satellite television to do sky in Egypt because other than the message boards you're pretty much on your own to figure things out. To answer your question, I personally get Astra2 A and B South beams only. Visit http://www.lyngsat.com/astra2a.html If it says "2A South" in the far right then you would be able to receive it for sure here in Cairo with a 2.4 meter dish properly aligned. For the Astra2 B South stations go to this link http://www.lyngsat.com/astra2b.html Again if it says "2B South" on the far right then you would be able to receive it. Good luck!

Robbiewright

I have a box in Egypt and have done so for around 9 years now, I first set it up in Dahab with a 3.1 meter mesh dish, I then moved to Cairo and after about a year I changed to a 2.4 meter solid prime focus dish and got the same if not slightly better, so you should be O.K in Sharm with a 2.4 but you will be pushing the friendship and it will have to be spot on as fat as pointing it goes.. As for getting the box into Egypt, it will have to be hand carried in and hope customs don't find it, if they do you will have to pay duty on it .just tell them is a free to air receiver and it shouldn't be too steep if at all, If they find out it can record then that's a whole diffrent kettle of fish. Don't get it sent in by FexEx or what ever as you might not get it and customs will charge you an arm and a leg and will take a very long time to sort out if at all. The biggest dish you are allowed here is 2.4 meters or you might be able to find some 2nd hand bigger mesh ones but as I said, I got more with a smaller solid one. If you find a bigger solid dish can you let me know as I want one too.

Cheers, Robbie.

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