Decoders for Spain?

[steve.robocop.barry]

I am getting conflicting information about what decoders can be used in Spain. I was under the impression that you can't use FreeSat, that we are well outside the foot print, but I have seen web sites saying you can.

My dish is pointed at 28.2 East and I used to use a very old Sky box but am presently using a FortecStar FS4200. The trouble with this is a) is difficult to configure the channels in a simple fashion and b) the EPG is useless.

I want to buy a decent decoder (possibly two) and a better LMB (more sensitive, I have a 1.5 dish but we still loose some channels in the evening even after the transpoder shifting that has recently gone on)

Can anybody tell me what decoders WILL work down here in Mallorca?

 

[woborny]

Most decoders will work, including Freesat ones, where you are. Sky Pace 2600 are known for their Spain friendly sensitive tuners.

And yes, even Freesat receivers will work, and download all the programme data into its EPG, HOWEVER it still may not be able to receive the frequencies for the channel you want channels! (ie seperate Freesat and Sky EPGs signals with channels received). In fact I think the Freesat EPG is on a very nice and "expat friendly" signal.

However, you may be limted with the channels you can receive due to your location, dish size, and as you say, quality of LNB (How do inverto ultra blacks perform down there?)

But then, the dish HAS to be big enough to actually receive the signals for the LNB and receiver to function...if your dish is not big enough to actually receive the signals, then doing anything may be pointless and not produce the results you want.

 

[Analoguesat]

No point you buying a Freesat decoder - many of the channels that operate on Freesat are transmitted off the restricted beam on Astra 2D. If you cant get Astra 2D due to your dish size then the epg will populate but the channels will be missing - all the BBC ITV C4 & C5 channels for starters

 

[Huevos]

I was under the impression that you can't use FreeSat, that we are well outside the foot print,

Not that it matters with your dish size but a Freesat box requires a bigger dish than a Sky box. A Sky box will happily work on a 60cm dish whereas a Freesat box needs 80cm so it can access the EPG from EB1.

Is the dish an offset 1.5? If yes switching to a Black Ultra LNB should get you the weak channels for a few more hours per day.

 

[steve.robocop.barry]

To answer Huevos, the dish is off-set, it is 1.4 x 1.2 parabolic but I can't tell what the LMB is because they were paper labels and they have faded in the sun.

With regard to the dish being big enough yes we receive all the channels on the Fortec box, as we did with the VERY old Sky box, but we get some drop out in the evenings and the EPG on it is hopeless. It may be that it can not recieve which ever frequency the EPG is on from Astra.

Does anybody have any experience of the Pace 2600 and will it work with a Black Ultra LMB (Is the Black Ultra the same as the "inverto ultra blacks" suggested by Woborny?)

 

[RichardinSpain]

I had a Pace 2600 but sadly it died last month..It was a excellent box (reception wise)> i now am using a old Amstrad and a dreambox 500. which are good but not as good as the pace. If you can get your hands on one , i don't think you could get a better box (tuner wise). Obviously the pace is old now and may be worth looking into getting a HD box so you could receive the likes of Ch4/5 on transponders that you wouldnt be able to get on the Pace..Hope this helps

 

[Huevos]

If you can get your hands on one , i don't think you could get a better box (tuner wise).

Tuner in the Vu+ is miles better than a Pace 2600, as is the Triax sr110.