| Ever wondered what the viewers in the rest of | | | | FEC 5/6. Don't worry about the last two, even if |
| Europe are watching? With so many people from | | | | you have to enter it manually into the receiver its |
| European countries like Poland, Romania, the | | | | not difficult and most receivers have automatic |
| Czech Republic and others on the move | | | | tuning. |
| throughout the continent, satellite TV is an ideal | | | | Choose a suitable south facing wall, using a |
| way to keep in touch with your home country | | | | compass, ensure there is no obstruction in the |
| news, entertainment and sport. Satellite TV is also | | | | direction of your satellite. To take the above |
| a fantastic tool if you are trying to learn a new | | | | example of 19 degrees. Face South, turn to the |
| language? | | | | Left until your compass reads 19. Follow the |
| Satellite TV here in the UK is booming business | | | | instructions for mounting the dish on the wall, take |
| and no longer do its citizens just think of Sky TV | | | | your time, use at least 10mm wall plugs, drilled |
| whose rather expensive services have been | | | | into the middle of the brick not into the mortar, |
| without much competition for a long time, but | | | | remember that when the wind blows, the dish will |
| now think of TV from all of Europe and the | | | | behave like a large sail and so must be very |
| Middle East. Above our heads are over 55 | | | | secure. Use the ladder sensibly, get someone to |
| satellites orbiting at about 36000 kilometres and at | | | | "foot" it at the base and never work alone in case |
| least 20 of them can be received with quite | | | | of accident. To ease installation a fixed dish should |
| modest domestic receivers. Even a motorised | | | | have its mounting pole as near vertical as possible. |
| satellite dish and receiver is now an affordable | | | | After having securely fitted the dish to the wall, |
| option. | | | | connect up the LNB and receiver using good |
| Have a look in your area, at the new satellite | | | | quality satellite cable, inserting at the dish end, a |
| dishes appearing all over the place and pointing in | | | | meter, to enable exact positioning. These can be |
| different directions to the usual small sky dish. | | | | purchased very cheaply on eBay, or a more |
| More and more pubs are opting to show live | | | | sophisticated model hired from the larger satellite |
| sports for their clients entertainment including | | | | shops. All that is left to do is to roughly align the |
| football and boxing. | | | | 19 degree angle and the elevation or latitude |
| Installing one is not as difficult as it may seem, | | | | which is the angle of the dish to the vertical or to |
| the choice of equipment depends on what you | | | | the ground respectively and is shown on the scale |
| hope to receive. A good size dish to receive the | | | | marked on the dish mounting bracket. This angle |
| common European channels would be 80cm. If | | | | can be found for your geographical location on a |
| you are new to satellite TV you might want a | | | | website or on Google maps. Slowly rotate the |
| motorized dish to maximize the number of | | | | dish from this starting point until you have a signal |
| countries and channels you can receive. Those | | | | indicated by a beep, then peak the signal by |
| who have had foreign satellite before may opt | | | | smaller movements sideways and up or down. |
| for equipment which can receive only a few | | | | Voila you are done! |
| different satellites from their countries of interest, | | | | Most modern receivers can be set to auto tune |
| so a fixed dish with two or more LNBs ( signal | | | | at this point and you may save the most used |
| pickups ) might be a better option. A motorized | | | | channels into a list of "favourites" to avoid having |
| dish will take time to turn from one satellite to | | | | an enormous list of channels to deal with. The |
| another, so channel hoppers will have to be | | | | Astra satellites at 19 degrees broadcast over |
| patient! | | | | 1200 channels currently! The instructions for |
| Having decided on your dish, how do you get it | | | | aligning a motorised dish are more complex since |
| set up to receive the channels you want. The | | | | the dish has to follow the arc in the sky which |
| family will not be impressed if all you can see is a | | | | the satellites make as they orbit the Earth. The |
| Brazilian Soap Opera! First you need some | | | | motor is angled to achieve this arc and the dish |
| information, which can be obtained either on the | | | | mount angle will be shown in the motor installation |
| internet at or in a magazine called "What Satellite" | | | | guide. Provided you have done the initial pole |
| you may have to order it, not many newsagents | | | | mounting perfectly vertical, once the first satellite |
| have it on show, although my local Meadowhall | | | | is found and the dish firmly tightened up, a |
| WHSmiths does have it every month. In the blue | | | | system known as USALS (Universal Satellite |
| section marked "channel check" all the | | | | Automatic Location System) can now be |
| broadcasting satellites are listed with their | | | | activated to find all the available satellites in the |
| transponders (just a term for transmitters) their | | | | arc. |
| frequencies and other tuning information and most | | | | I hope I've whetted your appetite for new |
| important their receiving angle. For example TVP | | | | viewing experiences, TV can indeed be a window |
| a Polish main channel, is found at 19 degrees East, | | | | on the world. Happy Viewing. |
| on frequency 10.862 GHz Symbol Rate 22000 and | | | | |