Default Transponder & Sky Card activation overseas

[rolfw]

It's pretty common knowledge on the forum how to activate a Sky digital card and is mention in hundreds of posts here, simply requires access to the installer menu and a connection to a phone line if in the UK, or one of the overseas digidialers which are also mentioned in several posts if you are overseas.

 

[Czechrite]

..once activated freesat cards work in any box but they can only be activated in the box they were issued to by SKY.

So, if I buy a free SKY card from eBay, it should work in my IllusionSat M3 receiver? (Or by "any box" you mean any skysat box)?

Thx

 

[wod]

it will only work in sky digiboxes

you can use it in any reciever via the dragon cam method and remember to put it back into a sky reciever to keep getting the update signals

 

[djsmitch]

You can activate the card yourself, without 'phoning Sky, by using the engineer's menu. Your box must be connected to a telephone line.

On the remote press "Services" > 4 > 0 > 1 > "Select" This brings up a new menu. Press "New Installation" and follow the instructions. Your card will be activated in a few minutes.

is this the Sky Engineers activate cards manual or is there more then that in it

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

i live in the canary isles and the only freq we can use out here 12207v

We use 11739V here in Gran Canaria.

 

[dallasboyes]

If at all possible.

How do I get it. I am very new to forums never used them before.

dallasboyes

PS I am in tenerife south

 

[Nick -D-vB]

Hi all,

I have just picked up an old PACE 2500B from a boot-fair for £3 8)

It didn't have a card in it but luckily I have a few from when my sister used to subscribe.


The newest card was sent to her in summer 2003 (after she cancelled!)

It was a standard replacement card but was never activated / paired (still attached to the letter)

I just tried it and it says "This card is not Authorised" 8(


Her old card just says "Call to upgrade Subscription"

But the letter says it should have stopped working anyway?


I also have an yee-oldy light blue "Sky Digital )" card but I guess this is an ice scraper now???


Is there any way to wake these cards up through the engineer's menu,

without subscribing / ringing sky, and preferably without connecting the phone line?

I just want to get channel 4 & five etc working again?


Any help would be appreciated,

Cheers,
Nick

 

[rolfw]

If it's never been activated, then it is unlikely that you will be able to wake it up, although I seem to remember that at the time with the new issue cards, simply putting the card in the box would activate it.

You can perhaps try the new installation routine in the installers menu, but it will need to be connected to the phone line for it to work.

 

[Nick -D-vB]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I have read that if you see a "Call to Subscribe" message the card has not been "killed" and should still be updating?

I've heard it can take 72 hours to update, how long should it normally take?

Are the EMMs cumulative, or are you just waiting for the serial number to be addressed in a rotation?


My problem it that I want to use my DVB-S cards and have to keep unplugging the Sky box,

I've given it ~4 hours so far but I'm trying to work out if it is starting from scratch each time I unplug the sat feed?

I realise that the card has not been used for a long time so would that mean it takes longer?

You can perhaps try the new installation routine in the installers menu, but it will need to be connected to the phone line for it to work.

If I try this, and the cards aren't dead already, is there any chance they would kill them over the phoneline?

Is my sister going to get a knock at the door if I do this? lol


If I ring Sky and say something like:

"I know I don't subscribe now but if you wake the old card up so I can get five etc I might subscribe again soon,

otherwise I'm off to get a Freeview box"

...would they go for that or just try and flog me a new Freesat from sky card ??? lol

 

[rolfw]

The replacement cards were designed to activate automatically in a specific box and whilst it is worth trying to activate it, it is unlikely to succeed. You are probably flogging a dead horse.

Using new installation will almost certainly not work and even if it did flag up on the Sky computer, it probably is no longer on their active list, so probably will not be brought to any human attention.

As a small aside, Channel 4 is FTA on non-Sky receivers, so it is only Five and Sky 3 that is to be gained by using a card.

 

[dallasboyes]

In your details you say you live near a BBC rebroadcast aerial how did yiu access it


if using card registered in uk just ring and reactivate
if you need a card ...order a freeview card to uk addy then activate when you got the card from your mates house back in uk ...they will take any uk bank account for d.d[/quote]

 

[Nick -D-vB]

Hi rolfw, thanks for getting back to me.

The replacement cards were designed to activate automatically in a specific box and whilst it is worth trying to activate it, it is unlikely to succeed. You are probably flogging a dead horse..

So short of ringing Sky and performing the Jedi mind trick on the operator all the old cards are pretty much useless???

Using new installation will almost certainly not work and even if it did flag up on the Sky computer, it probably is no longer on their active list, so probably will not be brought to any human attention..

Out of desperation I ran a new installation call-back on all of the cards, but as you guessed it didn’t work. I haven’t had a knock at the door yet, but I’ve got my tin-foil hat on just in case... lol

A mate has lent me a card from his spare box, it isn’t pared to my receiver but that’s not a problem. It did take about 8 hours to start working though???

In your experience, if I run this sky card with my DVB-S cards, using Trex or Phoenix CAMs with no EMM support, how long before the card dies again, and will it take 8 hours+ in the sky box to wake it up each time???

As a small aside, Channel 4 is FTA on non-Sky receivers, so it is only Five and Sky 3 that is to be gained by using a card.

I added the FreeSat channel 4 feed but it would be nice to have it in the EPG and have +1 etc. Lets hope five goes FTA soon then I won’t have to mess about with Sky cards at all.

Also, I have heard rumours that Sky Italia NDS has just been hacked, if that’s true we are probably all going to get a re-issue before to long anyway?

Cheers,
Nick

 

[darin73]

hi, first big thanks to the people who do this!

i got a sky card as for use in a second room, but i'm trying to use it here in Tver, Russia (2nd room ;)

i activated it in my parents sky box in scotland.
i brought the the card here to russia (2hours from moscow)
i have a 1.5 meter dish on top of 9 story apartment building.
i have an Arion af-8500mfi reciever box.

i thought i could slide the activated card in the slot after the "sputnik master" adjusts the satilite to coridinates for astra 2e satilite i got the off the internet : Elevation: 24.9° & Azimuth (magn.): 179.1°

but now i see the "slot" in the box is fake! its is only 3-4mm deep!
below is a thicker opening about 8-10mm..i dont understand how i could get the sky card in??

however, after reading many of the posts, i fear my sky card can only be used in the box(sky) in which it was acitvated???

any, help would be VERY appreciated as i am dying to hear some english here in russia! ;-)

 

[Topper]

Welcome to the forum darin73

Firstly you must understand that Sky use NDS encryption also known as videoguard, unless as you correctly state you have a sky stb, or a Diablo/Trex cam loaded with the correct firmware, or an emulator which can read a sky card such as cccam (normally run on a dreambox) then your stb will not be able to decrypt whatever your card was supposed to allow you to receive assuming your stb could actually physically accept the card. I would concentrate first on actually receiving a signal as although the theoretical footprint appears to indicate you will get some channels using your 1.5mtr the reality on the ground is often different. Before looking at encryption further and possibly spending more money I suggest you try to get reception of Astra 2/ Eurobird and take it further from there.

 

[darin73]

alright m8, i've just been reading up on some of the tech abbreviations, only to get more abbreviatons in the definitons! but i AM learning!!

soo..i've been going through the menu in my STB (set-top b0x ;) and removed the hotbird and sirus satilites, and added the astra28e with hightlighting the 11778 trnsponder, (i've seen this in other posts soo i thought i'd select that one).

the signal bar keeps flashing between 9-10%, while the dish position is actually aimed at 'Raduga' sputnik, which was in the "ballpark" of elevation and azimuth according to some satfinder website which use google map. it was with in a few degrees sooo..i am hoping it (9-10% signal) would improve with a re-positon which i have scheduled for wednesday.

question- if i have even 9-10% does that mean i am accessing the astra satilite which caries sky?

question- reading wikipedia (sory) about what NDS and STB are, (stil dont know what nds stands for??)..but anyway NDS aka videoguard, aka encryption,, is meant to be protection of viewing services, and part of protection is the card is 'married' to a box..Q-how do i get a divorce!?!? =)

question- and finally, (4 now;)..having never met oddly i trust ur advice..do u think IF i get the signal imporvement from astra showing on my arion stb, AND..IF i cant get a divorce, THEN..Q-should i have the 2nd sky box in my parents room (which was the box i did the activation in), shipped to me in russia?
however, f.y.i. to get ur best advice, that box had first the 2nd sky card activated in it, (1st card is in sky+ box in living room), soo really my card is for sky in a 3rd room. q-soo is the 2nd box paired with two cards 2nd & 3rd, therefore if my parents ship that box and get a new one there extra card wont work in new box??

i think if i get the box i activated it in, & i have signal it would work.. but ofcourse i dont have UK land-line. my folks w'ld be happy to send it, and they could get another from sky, but with maybe a new card for themselves??

i ask because i think i can get signal, but i cant get the card into this box, even if i could get a 'divorce' ...

hope thats not too much!?!? ;-)

obviously, PLEASE feel free to ask me any questions to help u make ur best judgement, which is very much appreciated.
cheers,darin

 

[dxsat]

Have a look at the signal quality meter, which is underneath the signal strength meter you have, if no bar visible you do not have Astra 2. Sounds like you have no signal at all. How did you point the dish? With a meter or sat beeper? A signal display will often show 0 to 10% signal strength even when not pointed at a satellite.
You are probably too far out to get the services you're looking for. I can't find any reports of people receiving Astra 2 in the Moscow region.
First thing is to establish if there is any service where you live.

 

[Topper]

Well as I have already stated you need to get a signal first, 9-10% means nothing, a lot of stb's give that kind of signal reading pointing at a brick wall. The rest at the moment is immaterial until you have directed the dish to receive the signal from 28.2 East.
I suggest you tune your stb to one of the Eurobird FTA frequencies then having established a channel do a full scan and we will take it from there.

 

[darin73]

hey teacher,, leave those kids alone!

thanx, u guys are funny, and i really appreciate the help!

there are two bars on the screen and you're right (snap) the top on bar is 9-10% but the bottom bar is blank. ps..have a stupid grim at the 9-10% pointing at a brick wall!

but anyway i am an electrician of many years, i did the grunt work of running the co-ax cables (1 for tv & 1 for www) and mounted the dish. the sputnik master had some type of box that had a needle and made a whistling sound as he did the directing of the satilite dish. which is actually pointed at a satilite for "raduga" internet service.

i was going to have him(sputink master) come last wednesday to instal a seperate dish for astra, but i have decided to wait for sky box, so i can see reception bars. i think i will have this done mid november.

but maybe a second dish would not be necessary if u can answer this question,..do you know if there is www provider using the astra satilite?

also Q about the box..of course i dont have uk phone line here behind the iron curtain...i have read many posts, and i wonder about the card not working due to lack of "updates"???

well, going to try euro bird,,,i think i had that one, maybe you know, is it the satilite that carries sirrus?? for 100% sure i know i had that with good signal strength and clear picture,, i just wasnt a big fan of the 100 arab s_x chanels!

 

[darin73]

ps..i typed i had "sirrus", but now i know it was "sirius" i had with good signal, and the www provider was called Satgate..cheers

 

[darin73]

i think i can save alot of bother if u know the answer to this..what satellite does sky transmit? because i've been looking at the astra web site and the "footprints" or areas of coverage of 2a, 2b, 2c & 2d astra satellites..and if sky is on 2d i dont have a chance according to the map of 'footprint'..maybe if sky transmits on north beam of 2a or 2b, or maybe my best chance would be south beam of 2c..???cheers