Using existing sky dish with a different satellite

Alzone

Hello,

House came with an existing Sky dish but we don't have a subscription. I was wondering if I can just realligne the dish to point to a different satellite (Astra 19.2). Or is there some sort of lock to the dish that will not allow this new setup?

Thanks.

pauly58

When we cancelled our Sky subscription we left the dish where it was & now get the free to air channels. You can point your dish to another satellite. we have an old dish that we moved to 19.2 to watch the Moto GP on Servus.

If you have a smart TV then you can watch the free to air on your TV.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058273540/using-existing-sky-dish-with-a-different-satellite

All TV broadcast sats over Europe transmit in the same frequency range, 10.7-12.75 GHz, Sky LNBs cover this frequency range without issue.

You could also attach a Freesat or FTA receiver to receive the UK channels in its current position.

TAFKAlawhec

In my experience with a Sky Zone 2 dish (the one which is installed in the vast amount of cases in Ireland), the dish & its equipment is ultimately set up for reception of 28E in Ireland & the UK. However it can be set up for a few other satellite positions - it can be used for 19E quite reliably, it can also be directed at 13E & 9E though some stations won't have a lot of protection against rain fade (transponders with 8PSK modulation & an FEC of 3/4 or 5/6 are notably vulnerable, though they're not all the same).

One thing with these dishes however is that because of their unusual wide-oval shape, they need a specially designed LNB to get the correct focus of the dish face. An ordinary Ku-Band "universal" LNB will not properly see the dish face in comparison, wither missing out the left & right sides, seeing over the top & bottom (seeing background noise instead), or both. Having said that, it seems that OEM LNBs for the dish are no longer being manufactured (or are at least only being manufactured in small amounts) - any "new" Sky LNBs other than the wideband or hybrid versions for Sky Q I'm seeing being sent out are universal LNBs with an adapter for use on mk4 dishes**. It's not ideal but given the Astra 2 satellites at 28E bang out plenty of power over Ireland (even more so for stations on the spot beams) it's not usually an issue in this case.

Another thing to take into account is the the purposely designed LNBs for Sky dishes can only be skewed to a small extent. The Astra 2 satellites have a skew offest for their European beams meaning that the coax cable hangs down more pointed to the ground that what would usually be the case, and this means that the skew settings for 19E & 13E can be properly set but going much more away than this starts seeing a problem where the skew cannot be properly set and you're left with a "best effort" skew setting.

Nevertheless, it can be used away from the positions I've already mentioned - I've been able to use the dish for reception as far east as 52E (and even 53E in the past, though not these days - that requires a much bigger dish than a Sky Zone 2 for reception in Ireland) and also as far west as 5W in the past (not sure about the current satellite now in place). 42E is another option for Turkish television though reception issues are similar to 13E in my experience. Other options at least for "dry" condition reception would include 45E, 23.5E (should be good in all weathers if aligned correctly, though there isn't much FTA on it), 16E, 5E & 1W (some channels only).

To be honest, if you're looking to just pick up stations on 19E, then a relatively easy thing to do would be to fixed an offset LNB next to the present LNB on the Sky dish. A stationery dish can receive multiple satellite positions other than the one it is focused on by having an LNB set to the side (and a little higher or lower) off the prime/main focused LNB at the end of the dish arm, albeit with a lower signal strength (the more you move away from the main LNB, the weaker it becomes). In my experience, up +/- 10 degrees from the main LNB is usually okay for satellites at a position that pump out plenty of juice as long as the LNB can fit in. If it was a new dish install using a Sky Zone 2 dish, I'd put the "foucs" on 19E and set up an offset LNB for 28E, but if the dish is already fixed at 28E and there's no need to move it, putting in an offset LNB for 19E should be fine for most weathers. All you need is a bracket that can hold the offset LNB(s) in position as well as a Diseqc switch so that most satellite receivers can decide which LNB to use to receive a particular channel (for receivers with multiple inputs for recording one channel while watching another, you'll need one Diseqc switch per cable/input, along with using LNB that have the appropriate number of outputs (at least two)). Note that this won't run on Sky or most Freesat receivers, but pretty much any FTA receiver manufactured in the last two decades will have at least Diseqc 1.0 capability. Haven't got much time to go over more than this, but either myself or someone else I'm sure could fill you in more later if you're interested.

Hopefully the above gives you a bit of info without trying to be too overwhelming.

** Pretty much all Sky dishes installed since around 2009 are of the mk4 variety. These use a bracket for holding the LNB that 'snaps' down on the LNB arm where the LNB can be removed by unscrewing the collar surrounding it - however such Sky LNBs have a throat diameter of approx 37mm as opposed to 40mm for standard universal LNBs, so for using a universal LNB you'll need a LNB holder designed for 40mm LNBs - they're usually not too difficult to find in most local satellite shop websites or eBay. Earlier Sky dishes (mk3, mk2 & original) used a spigot on the LNB that was designed to slot into the LNB arm of the dish, and such NOS LNBs & adapters are getting difficult to find. The Sky Q LNB is designed for mk4 dishes only, where a subscriber upgraded to Sky Q but had a non-mk4 dish, the installer replaces the dish.

myfavouritedish5

Your friend is the satellite coverage maps,they generally put hotbird (13e) as stronger than astra 1 (19e).

The uk/ireland beam of astra 2(28e,sky/freesat) being the baseline at 55 ish dbw being catchable on a pre 2009 45cm minidish (zone 1).

Now all zone 1 dishes are 50cm so in theory you should be able to get most sats that require that size (astra 1 sneaks in at 50 dbw, and hotbird comfortably comes in at 52dbw).

bearing in mind lyngsat maps shows 50 dbw = 50cm

50+ dbw = less than 50cm dish required

but in reality you want to go bigger rather than smaller just to be sure.

TAFKAlawhec

"Your friend is the satellite coverage maps,they generally put hotbird (13e) as stronger than astra 1 (19e)."

Satellite provider footprints are a good baseline, but they are not flawless. They can over or underestimate real-world signal levels. In my experience as well as a fair few others across Ireland & the UK, the Hot Bird signals here tend to be a little bit weaker than the Astra 1 signals - especially concerning signals at 13E that are on transponders that are 8PSK & 5/6 FEC.

Personally where I'm located (County Tyrone), while a 60cm would be okay for 19E, for 13E I'd recommend an 80cm dish to give enough rain fade margin the vast majority of the time, especially on the more touchy transponders.