UK Sat in Spain

[Stigofthedump]

Anyone know how to get free sat channels in spain costa blanca. I know UK sky is illegal but everyone does have it also I heard ofa servics called Mesh that works by bouncing signals of other buildings. Its big business over there and expensive. Any ideas around being ripped off by spanish mafia expats.

First how do I get started with receiver and card suitable for use. Next I guess is dish size. I think Benidorm standard spanish is small

[satelliteman]

Many channels are free to air on Astra 28.2e.

Dish size for your region around 2m to 2.4m

This dish size will receive 2d UK beam signals, BBC, ITV & Ch4.

[Stigofthedump]

Cheers but as I thought a 2m+ dish would cost me 1300+euros so Ive been quoted plus receiver with subscription makes it expensive.

[satelliteman]

For free to air channels you won't require subscription.

Equipment required: a standard fta satellite receiver and a 2m+ dish.

[dandnsmith]

Originally Posted by Stigofthedump

I heard ofa servics called Mesh that works by bouncing signals of other buildings. Its big business over there and expensive. Any ideas around being ripped off by spanish mafia expats.

I think you're talking about a system which is a local re-broadcast system. There are quite a few of their aerials around the areas I know.
I've no idea about cost, but nearly all the suppliers talk install costs of several hundred euros, plus monthly subscriptions.

I've done a satdish install of an 80cm dish, and currently have (amongst others) 5 english language news stations (including the BBCNews) and some radio stations from Astra1. I'm going to try for Astra2 next time I go out, but without much hope of getting anything except the southern beams - which doesn't include the UK main channels on Astra2D.

[deewee]

Originally Posted by Stigofthedump

Anyone know how to get free sat channels in spain costa blanca. I know UK sky is illegal but everyone does have it also I heard ofa servics called Mesh that works by bouncing signals of other buildings. Its big business over there and expensive. Any ideas around being ripped off by spanish mafia expats.

First how do I get started with receiver and card suitable for use. Next I guess is dish size. I think Benidorm standard spanish is small

There was a time when you could pick up the 'mesh' re-broadcast signals quite easily with virtually any(non $ky) satellite receiver. However most companies seem to be running encrypted services now (MDC in Moraira/Albir, Swiss cable in Javea) so you would need to subscribe to their services unless you can crack conax encryption!

Get an 80cm dish, tm2200 diseqc motor, something like a TM 5400CI+ sat receiver and you will be amazed at what you can pick up by moving the dish to 30W, 1W, 13E, 19.2E and 28.2E. There are also a couple of sites where you can download decryption s/w for the technomate. This will allow to 'check out' the encrypted channels - then you are free 'to buy cards if you wish'!! I will not quote the sites but google comes up with them.

Read this and other forums (fora?) and you will soon get a good idea of what is available.

Currently I can 'test' the subscription channels from polsat - mainly BBC entertainment, lifestyle etc, also BBC Prime, and although they are in Polish you can change the audio to native english language. Its a similar situation on other satellites such as Premiere movie channels which normally have an audio track in english. You can also pick up eurosport 1 & 2, and some Discovery channels. The list goes on and on - but I wont!

Point your 80cm dish at 28.2E and you can pick up loads of UK fta channels - but not BBC/ITV!! However you can get BBC news, Parliament, Sky news, Russia today, France 24, plus all the BBC interactive streams - useful for the olympics, also QVC, many more shopping channels, Horse& Country, True Movies, WIne TV.

You will not pick up a good signal for BBC/ITV without a 2.4m dish and even then friends tell me that BBC2 is 'iffy' later in the day. This is all because of the Astra 2D footprint which is meant to focus mainly around the UK. In general all the 'freesat' (BBC/ITV) channels are broadcast on Astra 2D, and the other channels tend to be transmitted on other beams which have a wider coverage across Europe. (Its a bit vague and non specific, but you get my drift)

It's all there and all free!