Receiving UK fta TV in Italy

[InCog]

Can anyone tell me what I would need to tell an installer in Italy (location about 80 miles south of Rome) to get free to air UK channels? I've been looking at the posts on this and other forums and have worked out:

• that a 50cm dish pointed at Astra 2D 28.2E using the south beam would be enough to pick up a signal from Astra
• that I couldn't get ITV channels or C4
• that I need a UK digibox.

Is that about it? Thanks for any help for someone who is pretty clueless on this stuff...

 

[Analoguesat]

You wont get the Astra 2D channels without a great deal of difficuly & a very big dish (This is the BBC, ITV, and a whole host of other channels). Signal strength peters out rapidly as you go down Italy, and Rome is about out of range. You will also have probably have problems with the north beam channels on Astra 2A & 2B.....

If you just want the free channels than any digital receiver will be fine for you.

 

[InCog]

Thank you but I'm not clear about this. What channels could I get from a dish (quite high up at about 700m above sea level) fixed on Astra 2's south beam? What size would it need to be to receive UK TV? It seems that you're suggesting that I'm not going to get anything unless it's a very big dish...

 

[rolfw]

You height above sea level has no bearing on signal reception, line of sight to the satellite is all that's required.

For Rome you require a dish of at least 2 metres, possibly 2.4m.

 

[InCog]

Doesn't look promising then - a two metre dish on a roof isn't going to be practical. So, is it possible to pick up any UK digital TV including subscription broadcasts e.g. Sky?

 

[Analoguesat]

Go here:

http://www.flysat.com/ebird1-astra28.php

and have a wander through the frequencies - all the beams are listed over on the right.

 

[InCog]

Thanks for your help. It seems at least the BBC channels are available on Astra 2B south beam - will a small dish be enough for these?

 

[Analoguesat]

Thes 2B south beam BBC channels are ONLY interactive services - and they are off air much of the time. If you want the BBC you buy a 2-2.4m dish possibly bigger!

 

[Analoguesat]

Heres the footprint maps for 2B:

http://www.ses-astra.com/corpSite/site_en/ASTRAFleet/astra2b/index.php

A50-60cm dish will be fine for the south beam. You may well need a bigger dish for any channels on the northbeams.

 

[dave branson]

Best subscribe to Sky Italia,90% is in English,(using the lanquage selection)
Lots of sports,sky news,bbc prime and docs and films.
Channel 4 & 5 will be most likely receivable,but you will need a big dish.

 

[denis1501]

Hi m8,
If you're 80 miles south of Rome you will pick up everything (EXCEPT Astra 2D) 24 hours a day with a 1.5m offset dish and Invacom 0.3 lnb. If you let me know where exactly you are I could recommend an installer to you, I'm living an hour and a half south east of Rome myself.
regards
D.
p.s Channels 4 & 5 available 24hrs

 

[InCog]

Hi m8,
If you let me know where exactly you are I could recommend an installer to you, I'm living an hour and a half south east of Rome myself.

It's a small village, Denis, in the Abruzzi mountains - Picinisco, to be precise. That's not far from you in Sora, which I know well!

The news about the BBC interactive services being off air most of the time isn't good. I was hoping that a 50-60cms dish would be a practical solution for the Astra 2B south beam.