English TV in Spain???

[Veteran Sat Lad]

I recently had a subscription to the "telemicra" rebroadcasting service in Southern Spain (about 3 miles from Torrevjecca) which provided me with English speaking channels for my apartment.
Now that the service has been switched off, I am left without any English TV.
How could I start receiving English speaking channels again?
My apartment is 2nd floor (middle apartment so no roof terrace!) and faces approx North - NorthWest.
There is a very limited space available on the back wall but is in a "tunnel" made up of all surrounding backs of other apartments in a square format.
There is a TV aerial "hut" on the complex which appears to receive some spanish terrestrial signals and distributes these to all apartments.
The "telemicra" mesha dish aerial is also fixed to this tv hut and also distributes the signal to all apartments but is only viewed using the magic box provided by them.
Would I be best installing a suitable sized dish on the TV hut to then distribute the signal to all apartments? If so, how would I stop others watching the signals because it would be me paying for the system.
Is there another method to receive some english channels?
If I had to install a dish, what size would I need and what channels could I receive?
Would I then need subscriptions to certain providers? ie Sly?
Any help would be appreciated as my customers are now TV less and that is a major catastrophe to Brits!!!

[Robbo]

A suitably sized dish ( maybe 1.8m) with cabling to your properties would do it.

No-one else would be be able to pick it up as the signal would not be transmitted.


To distribute to a number of proeprties, you would need to use a multi-switch or similar arrangement.


There is a dish size map here for Astra 2D reception:-

Before buying sat equipment...

[Veteran Sat Lad]

It would not be practical for me to run cables directly to my apartment from the TV hut. Therefore, I would need to use the existing aerial feeds to each apartment from the hut to combine the dish signal with the terrestrial signal. I'm fairly sure this is what the telemicra system hs done.
If I were to receive Astra using a 1.8m dish, what receiver would I need? Would it be a Sly receiver or a FTA receiver? Would I then need a subscription from Sly? If so, would I be able to have a card sent to my UK address and watch in Spain if I take the card with me? Is this detectable?
Is it possible to receive Freesat from there?
Sorry for the silly questions - I just need to know the full story so I can purchase the correct equipment asap.

[dandnsmith]

Originally Posted by Veteran Sat Lad

It would not be practical for me to run cables directly to my apartment from the TV hut. Therefore, I would need to use the existing aerial feeds to each apartment from the hut to combine the dish signal with the terrestrial signal. I'm fairly sure this is what the telemicra system hs done.

Are there separate feeds to each apartment? If so it makes it a lot simpler (once you've located yours)

If I were to receive Astra using a 1.8m dish, what receiver would I need? Would it be a Sly receiver or a FTA receiver? Would I then need a subscription from Sly? If so, would I be able to have a card sent to my UK address and watch in Spain if I take the card with me? Is this detectable?

You could do it with a Sky box - then you'd need a card (one time cost for no sub, but no special sky channels) on a UK address - they wouldn't know where you're using it.
You could use a freesat receiver (to get the full epg), or any FTA receiver

Is it possible to receive Freesat from there?

Yes, it's the same satellite for sky as freesat.

Sorry for the silly questions - I just need to know the full story so I can purchase the correct equipment asap.

Yes - understood, and sympathise. Leroy Merlin have FTA receivers (amongst others), but you'd need to search the back postings for a suitable large dish if you want to source it in Spain

[Robbo]

To do what you want, it would be fairly essential that good quality satellite cable has been used already. If it is just crappy ordinary TV coax, you have no choice but to replace it with decent stuff if you want to receive English channels via satellite.

The multi switches normally have a terrestrial TV input as well as a sat input to feed both signals to each property with a single cable to each. At the property, each cable would terminate in either a diplexer or triplexer wall plate.

Each property must have a separate cable from the multiswitch running to it, i.e no combiners or terrestrial TV splitters etc to be used.

BTW, the 1.8m dish figure I said above is just an estimate. To get the actual dish size needed, consultation with a local specialist, or someone who has first hand knowledge of reception of Astra 2D in your neighbourhood is essential.

[Veteran Sat Lad]

Thank you very much for your input. I am fairly certain that each block of apartments has a feed from the tv hut (probably 6 or 9 apartments) and within each block I'm sure it is then split into the individual feeds to each apartment. I think this junction is get-at-able but without looking I can only assume that being typically Spanish built, it will be cheapy crappy coax used and not the quality you describe. I do not think it would be feasible to replace any coax as it is buried in concrete and would also mean attaching new to other people's apartments. So it looks like I may not be able to do what I was hoping to do!
Please forgive this ridiculous question, but a friend of mine has a very large garden with his house and lives approx 5 miles away from my apartment. I do not suppose it would be possible to set up a large dish in his garden and re-transmit the signal to my apartment? I suppose a smaller scale to Telemicra! Would this be possible?
Of course, any other suggestions would be welcomed!

[Pittsey]

Originally Posted by Veteran Sat Lad

Please forgive this ridiculous question, but a friend of mine has a very large garden with his house and lives approx 5 miles away from my apartment. I do not suppose it would be possible to set up a large dish in his garden and re-transmit the signal to my apartment? I suppose a smaller scale to Telemicra! Would this be possible?
Of course, any other suggestions would be welcomed!

**** knows how you'd do that! Unless you had a fibre optic network you could use. lol

You may need to consult a local sat installer.

[Robbo]

A better option would be to base a bunch of satellite receivers in the TV hut and distribute the signals over your crappy TV cable. That should work.

Each satellite receiver would receive one channel only (you choose). The whole lot could then be sent down the normal TV coax, with the appropriate frequency and channel spacing appropriate for your area. Each receiver would need to have an RF out socket.

There is a name for this type of system and there are professional versions of it. I thick its called SMATV, but not sure. With the prof' systems a dedicated 'head end' unit with multiple receiver modules is used I believe.

Edit, I am sure now, Here ya go:-
SMATV - AB Aerials

An example bit if kit- TRIAX TDH 700

You's still need a big'ol dish on the TV hut though, plus a multi-switch to feed all the sat receivers.

[Pittsey]

Originally Posted by Robbo

A better option would be to base a bunch of satellite receivers in the TV hut and distribute the signals over your crappy TV cable. That should work.

Each satellite receiver would receive one channel only (you choose). The whole lot could then be sent down the normal TV coax, with the appropriate frequency and channel spacing appropriate for your area. Each receiver would need to have an RF out socket.

There is a name for this type of system and there are professional versions of it. I thick its called SMATV, but not sure. With the prof' systems a dedicated 'head end' unit with multiple receiver modules is used I believe.

Edit, I am sure now, Here ya go:-
SMATV - AB Aerials

An example bit if kit- TRIAX TDH 700

You's still need a big'ol dish on the TV hut though, plus a multi-switch to feed all the sat receivers.

We use a similar system in Terminal 5 at Heathrow. Although no one has actually subscribed to it. Everyone has chosen the IPTV option.