New set up

[Clint M]

Hello Newbie here, I need some advise please. I currently have Sky Plus, but am getting frustrated with the lack of foreign channels available. So I have bought an 80cm dish with a Nikkai Dual focus monoblock lnb, the chap at Maplin assured me this would be ok for both the Astra and the Hotbird satelites. I don't want to mess with the Sky box, so I would like to know what sort of receiver I would need for the Astra and Hotbird Satellites, I also have a spare Grundig GUSAT02HDEX reciever, is this any good for the 2 satellites I want to get? 'm not looking to spend a fortune on a reciever, just something basic and easy to use.
I am located about 6 miles out of Guildford Surrey

 

[Lazarus]

Well the Monoblock will do what you want, but not on your Sky Dish.

Apart from the LNB mounting being different, you will need a dish of around 80cm (The size a Monoblock works most efficiently with) aligned either to Hotbird or to Astra 1.

Astra 1 is at 19.2E, and is not the Astra used for BSkyB. The latter(Astra 2A,B, D and Eorubird1) is at 28.2/28.5E

I don't think the Gufsat can cope with anything other than 28E, so you'd need a generic FTA Receiver. Cheapies available from B&Q, Lidl, Screwfix etc. Better selection available from Forum Sponsors.

 

[rolfw]

As Tivú says, the Grundig isn't ideal for the job, get yourself a standard satellite receiver, our supporting advertisers have excellent ranges of hobby receivers. An 80cm with 6 degreee monobloc LNB will as Maplin chap says, get you Astra 19.2E and Hotbird 13E.