Freesat in Norway

D

daveginorge

Member
My Satellite Setup
Freesat Humax HDR
My Location
Porsgrunn - South Norway
Hi all

I have just started into the idea of recieving UK tv in Norway and as a starting point I used the existing 60cm dish which was on the house when we moved in.

I am sure I have found the correct satelite as the freesat system confirms the postcode and gives me 90% signal strength and 100% signal quality and we get lots of channels eg true movies zone horror, but as you may have guessed the main channels BBC & ITV are missing, I worked out as I need the astra 2d for those and I have also found out by reading loads over the web that the 60 cm dish is never going to produce the desired results.

I found a reporrt on the astra2d site from a guy a few miles from me.
Receiving all channels on 2D, weakest transponders are TP45 (BBC1-2-3-4) and TP54 (ITV3). They appear at around 15.00 GMT and are stable and clear, even in rain, until well after midnight.
Click to expand...
He is using
Dish: Gibertini 1.5 offset with Gibertini C120 Feedhorn
LNB: Invacom C120. 0.3db
Click to expand...

Now trust me the description of the equipment means nothing to me, my wife (norwegian hooked on eastenders) is concerned that he loses the important channels earlier in the day.

My real questions
1. Would a 150 cm dish be OK, what would be the benifit of going to a 180 cm, we have a huge garden so we can site the dish away from the house, and that brings me to the second question,
2. how long can the feed cables be from the lnb and what is good cable to use.
3. Are all dishes the same or are there Fiat Polski's and Rolls Royces in the dish world, what is a good choice of manufacturer.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Dave.
 
Welcome to the forum daveginorge

OK well as you are a newbie I will give a brief explanation. There are four satellites co-located at 28.2 deg E well 3 actually and Eurobird is at 28.5 deg E but for dish purposes they can be treated as the same as they are in a geostationary orbit approx 36km in space. They transmit their information in the form of beams, (imagine a torch beam) on to different parts of the earth. There are different beams for the four satellites and different beams for each satellite in some cases. The programs you want to catch are on Astra 2D and that is a focussed beam on the UK. Thus outside of that footprint as it is referred to, in order to receive transmissions you require a greater diameter dish. In your case therefore we are dealing with 'fringe reception' and even though someone near you may be receiving intermittant signals, you may be OK as often with fringe reception side lobes appear and are unpredictable and a few KM can make an enormous difference. Equally you may get a 1.8mtr and be even more disappointed than he is.

So to avoid problems and marital strife, I suggest you go for the largest 1 piece dish you can afford (if you read the forum you will see many bad reports about the petalised dishes hence one piece)

You need to use the best cable i.e. WF125 or CT125 the reason being you mention a long run. If it is less than 50 mtrs you will be fine.

The crux of any installation is in taking time to tune the lnb back and forth in the holder and adjusting skew of the lnb and dish position to optimise signal reception.

The difference between 1.5mtr and 1.8 mtr dish as regards signal reception is mathematically an increase of 42%

since pie R sq for 1.5 mtr = approx 7 sqmtr
the same for 1.8mtr = approx 10 sqmtr
difference is 3 sqmtr

3/7 x 100 = 42% increase over the original 1.5mtr

hope this helps.
 
Further to what Topper has suggested, have a look for something like the Andrews / Channel Master 1.8m dish, it is a fibre dish, very sturdy and produces great results when combined with the dedicated feedhorn and a high quality LNB.

They are however more difficult to align than a small dish and some sort of meter is really required.:)
 
Thanks for the replies. I get a tempeture swing from below -20 to over +30 well this year we got to -18 and around a meter of snow, I have the idea to place the dish up on a rock pedestal (to avoid the snow covering the lower portion of the dish). I'm sure the dish is going to act like a huge sail, do these things come with sufficient mounts or should I purchase stronger equipment?
 
Did you get your system sorted. I have recently bought and installed a channel master 1.8m in Tonsberg and have all the Astra 2d transponders working either all day or after 5pm except ITV3.

For me my old Maximum twin LNB is producing much greater results than the matched feedhorn/Invacom Quad but Satellite superstore are sending me a free replacement to test if the invacom was dodgy.

Believe I can get 100% reception with some more tweaking.

Cost of the dish and feedhorn delivered and imported to Norway was about £1200. Plus another £120 for 4.5 pole and enough cement to secure into the ground.
 
I have had the project on hold for the last few months, planning the dish site was one of my concern to my wife. I have been recommended a Gilbertini 1.8m by a local company who will arrange all the delivery from the UK and tyhe price is lower than I am able to get by going direct, maybe they have a deal with their supplier. I will let you know how I get on but it will be at least another 6 weeks.

Where did you get the 4.5 " pole from?

Dave
 
I got my pole from Proff Partner, its on their system as 114.7mm.

Do Gibertini do a 1.8m? I've only seen the 1.5m advertised.

Also, while you are waiting for your installation are you aware of Uknova.com ? Great UK terrestial file sharing community. Eastenders etc normally posted within an hour of airing.

Good luck with it all anyway
 
According to the guy that tried to install my dish, you need to apply for a special permit from the police/government for any dish over 120cm in Norway. This doesn't surprise me in the slightest..........

I have my setup in Fredrikstad with a standard 70-80cm dish and, although I am locked onto Astra 2D, can only get Skynews and a load of German stuff. I don't know if a different box would help, I'm currently using a Strong 8700, but there is no mention of any other UK channels in the EPG.
I would have thought that if I can lock onto the satellite, and get skynews, I'd be able to see the rest, at least in the EPG........
 
jozmaz said:
According to the guy that tried to install my dish, you need to apply for a special permit from the police/government for any dish over 120cm in Norway. This doesn't surprise me in the slightest..........

I have my setup in Fredrikstad with a standard 70-80cm dish and, although I am locked onto Astra 2D, can only get Skynews and a load of German stuff. I don't know if a different box would help, I'm currently using a Strong 8700, but there is no mention of any other UK channels in the EPG.
I would have thought that if I can lock onto the satellite, and get skynews, I'd be able to see the rest, at least in the EPG........
Click to expand...




Errm, if you are getting Sky News and a load of German stuff, then you aren't locked on to Astra 2D at all, but to Astra 1 at 19.2E !!

That also explains why you have no UK Channels in your EPG ......... The Sky News you are getting is the International Version (Same as UK version, but no UK or RoI Adverts).
 
Ahha, is that so.........
The installer bloke had a digital box thingy that he supposedly dialed up Astra 2D in. I think I'll have to call him back and have another fiddle. I spent 2 whole summers up there myself and I can't be bothered anymore - I'd rather leave it to the so called professionals............
 
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