A quad TV/FM/Sat + Sat2 outlet plate in my flat, is there hope?

[notsure]

Hello,
I live in a block of flats. There is a 1m communal sat dish with quad LNB that goes into some kind of distribution box and thats as far as my knowledge goes! My flat has on the wall a quad TV/FM/Sat + Sat2 outlet plate.I am presuming that the sat feed is live.
I'm going to borrow my brothers Sky+ box at the weekend and hook it up to the plate to see if it is live. Before I do this I need to know that the SAT and SAT2 feed, could they both go into the SKY+ box to give me dual feed so I can record/watch like a normal dish?
I asked the people running the flats if the sat feed was live and they didn't know. But the RF feed of the plate is live so I am presuming/hoping that the Sat feed from the dish is live as well.
Thanks

 

[satelliteman]

Welcome to the forum.

Post moved to the appropriate section

The quad plate may deliver a dual satellite feed but without trying a receiver, you won't really know. If you can't wait until then, unscrew the plate and if you see two cables, your home and dry. The two sat feeds feed the sky receiver IF input. In some cases quad plates have been installed where only one feed is present.

Good luck.

 

[notsure]

Thanks for the quick response. I've just opened up the plate and at the bottom of the plate there is two grey cables, that appear to be co-axial that go into the dome on the back of the plate. Looking at the 2 sat feeds on the top of the plate they are directly connected into the dome on the back and I don't know if the cables going into the bottom of the dome are feeding the sat feeds. Would it be easier to explain if I posted a picture?

 

[notsure]

added jpg of plate.

 

[satelliteman]

Yes that's it; twin feed. One feed diplexed and other straight through.

Should work fine.

 

[notsure]

Thank you. Thats good news.

 

[satelliteman]

In some cases the second cable can go to a bedroom socket to relay the satellite RF [once connected to the RF2 of receiver], normally marked as sat2/return. It's rare but I suppose I should point it out. Do you have a socket in another room?

 

[notsure]

No just the lounge. Not bothered about Sat in the bedroom so will use both feeds for the Sky + box. Also before I saw your reply I had been onto Sky and they put me onto their installers for the Newquay area. Told them the SAT & SAT2 feed plate and communal dish and they said it should be live as well. So no need for dish installation and planning permission.

Got my brother lined up for the weekend with his Sky+ box to test out.

I'll let everyone know how it goes at the weekend but its all looking good.

Thanks

 

[notsure]

Result. Both Sat feeds working and tested using my Brother's Sky HD + box. Tested live pause, record etc all working. So good to go.

I have attached a picture, ignore the Xmas decorations

Thanks for all the help and advice.

Whoops... Almost forgot ordered Sky this afternoon, engineer coming between Xmas and New Year. To have a decent PVR again I can't wait. Its been 5 years since I have had Sky, as I went over to the dark side back in London with Virgin. But thats another story...

Merry Xmas everyone and I'll post some more pics in the New Year once my Home Cinema setup is complete.

Toby

 

[satelliteman]

Nice result.

 

[ramesh.sarda]

nice post, gave me a some idea about the daunting "sat1 sat2 radio tv" socket in my new flat.

Can I connect a freesat receiver to this socket for input and then connect my tv to freesat to receive channels?

 

[Robbo]

As per the previous answers to the OP's question,yes, if the feed is working OK. The dish setup needed for Sky and Freesat is identical.