# Satellite Receivers



## Kontiki (Nov 13, 2012)

Is there a 12 volt HD satellite receiver that can receive all the satellites? I have a HD receiver that only seems to have the option to use Astra 28E. I had the idea of using my old Comag box from my suitcase system for when we are unable to pick the UK satellites but connected it all up & it isn't working properly. Had this problem before where it would turn on it standby mode & wouldn't turn on. I have opened it up in the past & messed about with it & it would work again. Where I have fitted it makes it difficult to get at so maybe it's time to replace it.

Had a look on ebay but can't find any cheap receivers, should have bought one from Lidl/Aldi when I saw them for around £30. Screwfix also has a HD system for under £40 HD Complete Satellite Kit | Screwfix.com but it is 204 volt:mad2:


----------



## Mick H (Nov 13, 2012)

*12v Satellite Receiver*

Hi, Have a look at a recent posting on this subject, currently shown on page 2 of this section of the forum.

If you want a really good 12 volt multi satellite receiver, I provided a link to a company that has several models on their website. I was certainly pleased with the one that I bought from them.


----------



## Deleted member 26362 (Nov 13, 2012)

Kontiki said:


> Is there a 12 volt HD satellite receiver that can receive all the satellites? I have a HD receiver that only seems to have the option to use Astra 28E. I had the idea of using my old Comag box from my suitcase system for when we are unable to pick the UK satellites but connected it all up & it isn't working properly. Had this problem before where it would turn on it standby mode & wouldn't turn on. I have opened it up in the past & messed about with it & it would work again. Where I have fitted it makes it difficult to get at so maybe it's time to replace it.
> 
> Had a look on ebay but can't find any cheap receivers, should have bought one from Lidl/Aldi when I saw them for around £30. Screwfix also has a HD system for under £40 HD Complete Satellite Kit | Screwfix.com but it is 204 volt:mad2:



I just bought a Comag from Maplin £35.  They tend not to have them on the shelf, they'd rather sell you a more expensive one.  Works perfectly with the Oyster dish that came with my van.

Dai


----------



## Go wild (Nov 13, 2012)

Try a company called Philex


----------



## Kontiki (Nov 14, 2012)

Getting confused  spoke to a guy in Maplins & from what I understand is that FTA (free to air) are available from other satellites as well as astra 28. The manual I have mentions about tuning in FTA channels but doesn't give much info. I can easily lock onto any satellite from the Camos control box, so I might try to see if I can tune in any programs from astra 19/hotbird etc.. .

Had a look in Comet & they had a Sagem HD freesat Comet SAGEMCOM DSI 86 HD : Questions, Answers, How To, FAQs, Tips, Advice, Answers, Buying Guide it was under £50 but nobody seemed to know if it would receive anything from other satellites or just astra 28, so I don't know if I would be any better off than I am with the Grundig box I have.

They did have some of the Comag boxes at Maplins but these are not HD & are being discontinued.


----------



## AuldTam (Nov 14, 2012)

Dreambox 500s boxes work off 12volt and are the same size as a good book...you can update it through a null modem cable to PC and store up to 10,000 channels and as many sats as you want...I use one for 13e, 19.e and 28.e with a portable caravan sat dish...I also have an old Technomate but that needs 230v.

They are both Linux boxes...support for those models is dwindling though but they can be bought cheap secondhand.


----------



## Mick H (Nov 14, 2012)

*12v Satellite Receiver*

Anyone buying a multi satellite receiver is getting into "Satellite Enthusiast" territory, so operating one of these is a bit more complex than an ordinary receiver, but well worth the effort if you are serious about receiving broadcasts from other satellites. Lots of free to air broadcasts on satellites other than Astra 2.

The various models of Dreamboxes are excellent receivers, but extremely pricey compared with some others.           

Sat-Shop.co.uk - Sat-Shop.co.uk Online Satellite and Electronics Store from Lavatronics

Worth looking at, in particular, are the Eagle boxes, especially the Eagle mini. They are both 12v, using a transformer when in normal use, but ok in a motorhome on the 12v supply.


----------



## Kontiki (Nov 15, 2012)

Not so much "Satellite enthusiast" just a case of losing nearly all the programs when we get down the south of Spain, there are a few programs in English on the other satellites.

Eagle mini looks like it might be ok.
Just looked & it seems to be mains voltage.


----------



## oldish hippy (Nov 15, 2012)

just by bigger dish and fit to cycle rack footprint of the Astra 2 satellite for Sky, BBC etc


----------



## Kontiki (Nov 15, 2012)

No cycle rack, don't need one as we have a big garage. Don't see the point of having another dish as we have a Camos dome on the roof. Dish is plenty big enough to receive all the other satellites so not too bothered about not getting Astra 28.8, just need to have a receiver to watch them.


----------



## Mick H (Nov 16, 2012)

*12v Satellite Receivers*

The Eagle Mini satellite receiver is 12 VOLT, and comes complete with a 12v transformer, for normal use.
 I used an earlier version of the Eagle box  in my motorhome for several years, and was very happy with it, but technology moves on, and I recently replaced it with a Amico mini, which is packed with features, and wasn't that expensive.


----------



## Kontiki (Nov 16, 2012)

Looked at the specs & it only mentioned mains voltage, couldn't find a picture of the back to see the connections either so assumed it was only mains.
Had a read of some of the reviews & most seemed to be that it was a good receiver.

Might give them a call next week if I can't get all the satellites on my Grundig box, I see that if you join the forum you get £5 voucher for use in their shop. They do have them on their ebay shop same price but free p&p.


----------



## Deleted member 967 (Nov 16, 2012)

I found this post on the El Portus forum.  Looks like we may not get any UK tv by satellite in Spain soon no matter what size dish you have.


Many of you will have noticed that since March 2012 the television reception suddenly got a lot better in fact at the moment you don't even need a large dish to get all channels even in poor weather conditions.   Great eh?   Well it would be if it was going to last but it isn't. 



> Prior to March 2012 we were receiving out TV from the Astra 2D satellite which had a narrow beam hence the difficulty in reception at Portus but the satellite got damaged by a solar storm and it was also reaching its sell by date having been launched in 2000.    UK TV channels were therefore in March switched to the Astra 1N satellite with a much larger beam so we are all happy at the moment.
> 
> On the 28th September 2012 the new satellite Astra 2F was launched which is to replace the old Astra 2D and this satellite has a very narrow beam focused on the UK so when it comes into service (which could be any time soon) the strong signal will disappear overnight and whether we will still be able to receive the UK TV stations will remain to be seen.    It is thought that at best our larger dishes will still be able to receive TV and the worst case is no TV at all.
> 
> Astra 2F is currently temporarily parked at 43.5 degrees East and is being tested.  When testing is complete it will be moved to its operational position of 28.2 East and then we will have to keep our fingers crossed.



So if you are about to buy a new dish WAIT until the switch over occurs as you could be wasting your Euros.



> UPDATE 05/11/12 - Astra 2F - "Astra 2F" is still testing at the 43.5 degrees east satellite position, testing has been extensive and one would expect that this testing will not continue for too much longer but because of this continued testing and the time that it would take Astra 2F to move from 43.5 degrees east to 28.2 degrees east it is very unlikely that Astra 2F will be at the 28.2 degrees east satellite position by the target date of the 15th of November, it is already known that Astra 2F's launch was delayed by one week and my suspicion now is that the 15th of November target date that I was given was most probably the pre launch/pre launch delay target date, taking all of these factors into account would now suggest that we should be looking at a date somewhere around the 22nd of November with nothing of any significance regarding the moving of channels likely to happen until at the earliest the end of November or early December



We are touring Spain at present (now at Mar Menor) and satellite TV is varying from solid to nothing at all even in the same location with an Oyster 85cm dish.

John


----------



## Kontiki (Nov 18, 2012)

I am happy if I can get the UK radio down in Spain, don't mind using some of the other satellites such as Hotbird, Astra 19 etc..
Had a play with the box we have (grundig gufsat01hd) it seems that you can select FTA channels but couldn't figure out how to get it to pick up the correct satellite. I think you have to input the data for each satellite channel. Will start to look for getting a new receiver which will automatically tune in all the channels.


----------

