Freesat Reception in Spain

[Deanscroft]

I live in Mallorca which is right on the edge of the 2D reception. Using a 1.4m dish and Panasonic Tu-DSB30 Sky Digibox I can receive Sky Freesat signals most of the time but suffer 'breakup' in the evenings particularly in summer. Having just learned of the new BBC/ITV Freesat service I am wondering if changing to this will be of any advantage. My questions are:-
Will I be able to receive the new service here and will it be stronger or weaker than the Sky service?
Can I use my existing Dish and receiver or do I need to buy a new 'box'?
If I can use my existing digibox how do I retune it.

Many thanks in advance for any help.

Deanscroft

 

[rolfw]

They will be no different I'm afraid, in fact some may get worse as they move over to 2D, see the FAQ

 

[sparkyinspain]

Hello all,

I live in murcia, southwest Spain, and have had my sattelite tv for about 1 year now (1.45mt prime focus dish, don't know make, an invacom SNF-031 lnb, and a pace 440dsn stb) and all works well, except that I can't recieve any of the astra 2d horizontal transponders i.e. no bbc2, 3 or 4. or the 2b north beam transponders, wich means that I don't get the full 7 day epg, only the next 6 hours programming.

The reason for this post is that I intend to upgrade to the humax freesat pvr when they become available. I know that I will need to upgrade the lnb to a twin or quad as 2 feeds are required, but will the upgrade of lnb and stb improve my reception.

From what I've read on this and other forums it seems that the invacom QDf-031 is highly recomended for fringe area recption, but what do you guys(and girls) think?

 

[dxsat]

The quad QDF-031 is markedly better than the single you are using.
The dish will be a Famaval 1.4 m prime focus (also know as Portugese)
You should have the Invacom ADF 031 feedhorn as well.
You should find the Humax performs very much better than the Pace you are using. ( The Foxsat HD certainly does)
(someone ought to be able to test the new box next week)
Both recent Pace boxes 440 and 445 are poor choices for Spain.

 

[sparkyinspain]

Thanks for your quick and informative reply snap.

I can now go ahead with the planned upgrade with confidence, and I will watch for reports of the Foxsat+ here in Spain

 

[eejay]

I doubt if you'll get any of the horizontal channels on 2D.

 

[sparkyinspain]

I've now upgraded the lnb to the invacom QDf-031, and now get the astra 2D horizontal tps. from about 10:00 am until early the following morning (after my bedtime, so not sure exactly what time).
But I've noticed that there's a lot of picture break up between 4:00 pm and 5:00pm, and after that everything is OK again. Not a problem just wondering if there is a reason for this.
Overall though I'm very happy now, thanks for your help and advice.
I'll pick up a foxsat HDR next time I'm in the UK and let you know the results.

 

[sunandwine]

I live in Murcia humax perfect bbc2 till late
1.9 prime focus invacom quad
I think a dish upgraid would be a far better investmant for your self

 

[buckshee]

I´m with Sunshineandwine on that one. I changed over to the 1.9M dish 2 years ago, and its hassle free. (Also in the Murcia region)O-zzz