2 replies to this topic

[woody]

As I was planning to be over in France for most of the summer and didnt want to miss out on the Olympics etc, I finally decided to  invest in a portable digital satellite system using  freesat+ equipment.  I followed a link from T&T to http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/ and got some good information on dish sizes etc especially as we were heading right down to the Spanish border.

I bought a small portable mini dish for use in the UK and ginormous 80cm one for the Continent.  All was well with my Jodrell bank mk2 dish 80cm and it appeared most if not all on the site using a satellite system had similar or even larger dishes.  Tuned it in to the required satellite in an instant it was a simple as that..  In fact quicker than setting up my normal tv aerial in the van.  Got all channels and even in a ferocious thunderstorm no interruption in the signal.  Managed to record events during the day to have a quick catch up at night.  After a couple of weeks we headed to the Limousin area.  I set up my 80cm huge thing and off we go again.  All was well until a chap arrived on site with a system no bigger than a frying pan from maplins... I was amazed he picked up a signal but sure enough no problem.

Well that got me looking into matters and it does appear that things will change again in 2013 with the launch of the asta2f satellite.  This satellite is to replace the current one serving the Uk which to our benefit has a beam that covers a greater part of Europe than the broadcasters would ideally like.  The replacement will cut down on the signal beam area into Europe meaning a t best you will need a larger dish or at worst no signal..  So for those of you who have managed with frying pan dishes it may be worth checking when the new 2f is operating and replacing the current satellite before you go away to see what the situation is from expats posting on various boards about the issue.

This page seems to sum it up rather well.

http://www.satellite...o.uk/newsat.htm

[klyne]

We were able to get UK programmes with our 80cm dish as far south as Lake Trasimeno in Italy this year. In the Dordogne I even saw a Brit get an excellent picture with a 12inch dish! What's that old Chinese curse, May you live in interesting times!!!

David

[tommytli]

we got all channels on our 40cm camos as far as vipetino italy, we lost 123 and 4 south of that.