Please help!!

tialimo

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Hi all,

We are moving abroad next month and have bought the ubiquitous campervan and
loaded it with a generator and our pc along with other, less important items
clothes, food and such sundry items.

Our point of destination is Bulgaria but we intend to drive around the
European continent for a while first. With this in mind, we would very much
like to be able to watch Satellite tv and have access to the internet on our
travels, especially all BBC and ITV channels (for her Coronation street and my Formula one and rally broadcasts...not to mention the Simpsons)
Could you please help answer a few questions for us. I am not sure if I am
able to get a receiver card for my pc which will do the job, if so, that
would be our preferred idea. If not, what reciever do we need, do I need a
3m dish to receive signals in Bulgaria (If so, a smaller dish will have to
suffice temporarily for mobile purposes but which one...what software..what hardware...arrgghh!).

In short, the more I read on the subject of mobile internet and satellite
receivers, the more confused and befuddled I become. Time to call in the
experts!

Obviously, price is the major factor in any decision we reach and we would
welcome any and all advice on the subject.

I look forward to hearing your suggestions as soon as possible. But PLEASE..no 'geek speak'. I'm a simple soul after all.

Best regards

Timo and Alison

01302 ****** tialimoAThotmail.com
 

rolfw

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Hi Timo/Alison, firstly have removed your phone number from the post, whilst our members in general are wonderful people, the occasional visitor may not be and could abuse the posting of a phone number.

2 way internet by satellite is incredibly expensive, requires special equipment which is not suited to frequent moving and requires a spectrum analyser to set up.

You may be able to use your mobile with GPRS and an infrared or cable link to your PC though.

You will only be able to receive the BBC channels with a satellite PC card, as the ITV channels are still encrypted and require a Sky Digibox and freesat viewing card.

As you progress towards Bulgaria, the dish required will get bigger and bigger, and once there probably a 2.4 to 3m dish will be required, unfortunately, the nearest reports I can find are for NW Greece.

Using a PC card though, there is the possibility of quite a lot more TV than that offered by BSkyB. :)
 

Analoguesat

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You will be looking at 3.5m dish for Astar 2D in most of Bulgaria. - However many of the building in the country sport massive dishes, so you probably wont have too many problems getting one ;) Ive got some photos somewhere of big dishes disfiguring the nice wooden buildings around Nessebar :D
 

tialimo

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Hi Folks,
Yes, that's pretty much in line with what I've managed to glean so far. I do have an old Sky digibox lurking in a cupboard somewhere, could this be used with the pc, somehow? The original viewing card is with it but it's not been used since we went to cable three years ago. Which pci card is the preffered choice for european viewing?
The fact is, despite being reasonably computer literate, I'm simply used to pressing a button and telly programmes and internet access magically happening, so you may all have to do a bit of patronising and head patting on me on this bemusing subject of mobile internet and TV!!
 

rolfw

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Berkshire
The best value PCI Satellite card is almost certainly the Skystar2, you do need a 1Ghz PC or better to use it properly though.

If the card in your Sky receiver does not have a yellow house on it, then it is of no use now, but you can get a Freesat card from Sky for £20 or so. :
 

BGonaSTICK

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The excellent Skystar2 should do you proud for both TV and 1-way satellite Internet (assuming you can get a mobile phone link alongside to request URLs), and if you have room then the digibox with a new card will supplement it well for ITV/Ch4/Ch5 etc.

The digibox doesn't like to 'play' with either the SS2 or the PC, so it's two stones to kill one bird I'm afraid.

Right, now that's sorted what's the biggest dish (and, maybe more importantly groundstand) you can strap onto the roof?!?!?!

An 80cm will get you a good range of channels, but a 1m will keep you in touch with Blighty TV for a lot longer as you dissappear over the horizon...

The Triax TD88 88cm dish could be a good bet, as it has a folding LNB arm for easy compact storage. The Triax TD110 doesn't have this feature.

Buy a decent LNB, like the Invacom 0.3db for around £25.

:D
 
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