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Free UK satellite TV in Germany

How to get free UK (English language) Satellite TV services outside of UK

What you need

Digital Satellite Receiver

None of the channels referred to in this Wiki are encrypted (scrambled) so do not need any additional equipment, special hardware, a subscriber card or subscription.

If you want enhanced services such as a detailed programme guide (EPG - see below) then you can also get "Freesat" receivers - normally ONLY available in from UK suppliers - standard Freesat receivers begin under £80, HD receivers under £120 and HD PVRs under £280. Sponsored by ITV and BBC these are tailored to the UK Free satellite services, but are only officially available new in UK stores or from authorized mail-order sources such as Argos. Retailers in the UK are only supposed to sell to UK residents, but it is difficult for them to check. Mail order stores will normally only ship to UK addresses but Falconsat are alleged to ship into Europe for a small charge. There is also a "Freesat from Sky" receiver exclusive to Sky TV - pretty much the same channels are available on this receiver which is essentially the same "Digibox" used for Sky subscription services including a subscription card which is included in the purchase price. As Sky prefer to provide and install (at a UK address) their service this is less easy to obtain to use abroad. There are no on-going subscription charges for Freesat or Freesat from Sky. The HD service from ITV ("ITV-HD") is ONLY available on the Freesat service with a suitable Freesat HD receiver or PVR.

Do not confuse "Freesat" or "Freesat from Sky" from the UK "Freeview" service providing a similar channel line-up but which is a terrestrial system which cannot be used outside the UK.

Satellite Dish

A suitably sized satellite dish with LNB (signal receptor on the end of the arm - the dish actually reflects the incoming signal and focusses it onto the LNB which then sends it down the cable to the receiver)- size is VERY important - see the Satcure website for a realistic idea of dish sizes needed across Europe. Having a larger dish is never a problem, and may improve reception or reliability in bad weather. Sky "minidishes" used in the UK are too small to be used in most of Europe. A PVR normally needs a "dual" LNB with two outputs and will need a twin cable to feed the dual inputs on a PVR (to permit simultaneous watching of one channel while recording another). If it is only possible to lay a single cable in your home then this is not a big problem, but will prevent you from having the advantage of being able to record one channel while simultaneously watching a different one or will not allow the recording of two programmes at the same time. You may consider to use a quad LNB (4 outputs) in case you want to add further receivers later. Do not confuse a "quad" LNB with a "quattro" LNB which looks similar but is not suitable for satellite reception without additional equipment.

It may also possible to add a SECOND LNB onto a dish to receive a second satellite such as Astra1 which broadcasts the German channels. This complicates the set-up (as it requires a relay switch to switch between satellite sources) and is MUCH more difficult to install/align, so should really only be installed by a professional. Sky Digibox receivers cannot be used for non-UK channels but both "normal" Digital Satellite Receivers and the "Freesat" receivers support the switching required to automatically switch between the different satellite sources (although with Freesat it's a bit of a cludge and not recommended). It's often better to forget the switch, connect two cables (one for each LNB) and use 2 different receivers for the different services.

Other Essential Equipment

Complete Packages

You can get off-the-shelf hardware packages which contain pretty much all of the above or get one made up by a local store.

Installation

If you don't know what you are doing then don't try to install yourself - you will waste time and maybe money. The dish must be properly assembled with the LNB mounted correctly and must be stable (think "high winds") when installed. The cable needs routing correctly, cutting to the correct length and connectors properly put on each end. Outdoor connections may need to be waterproofed. Once connected and working the receiver will need tuning. The cheaper the receiver the more complicated and time consuming this may be, especially if you don't understand the technology, but essentially at setup time the receiver is instructed to scan all satellite frequencies to seek out available channels. Once that is done you need time and patience to sort and exclude channels you may not be interested in, or to arrange them in a convenient order.

Pointing (aligning) the satellite dish

The satellite dish needs to have a clear view of the sky (no trees or buildings in the way of the satellite view) and be precisely aligned. Enter your location and the satellite ("28.2E Astra 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D") into dishpointer.com to get a feel for direction and if anything might be in the way. In general the direction of the satellite is just to the east of south, roughly the direction the sun shines from late in the morning (although this depends on your location and the time of year!) Actual alignment to the satellite signal must be very precise - for reliable reception the dish must be aligned to within fractions of a millimetre and if you attempt to do it without specialised alignment (signal strength) equipment may require a lot of patience. Important alignment factors are dish direction (azimuth), angle to the ground (elevation) and LNB skew (rotation of the LNB in the holder). Most satellite receivers have some sort of signal strength set-up meter in their menu structure, but this is only a guide as firstly they can be very inaccurate and secondly it's difficult to know if you are aligning to the correct satellite from the many out there.

Tuning in

Sky Digiboxes need no tuning in - if the dish is correctly aligned and connected the channels will simply appear after switch on and have fixed channel numbers - a list of all Sky channels and numbers can be found here - remember that although all Sky channels will be listed on a Sky system only a subset are freely available without a card (broadly those shown in the Freesat listing following). Freesat is similar, except you need to give a (UK) postcode in during setup to the correct channels for that UK region are selected. A list of all Freesat channels can be found here. Cheaper receivers may require a channel "scan" to find all the channels and will certainly find many more channels than are actually viewable (many will be scrambled) so you later need to sort and arrange the channels into the ones you are particularly interested in. If you are using a Sky "Digibox", even for free channels then scanningis not required as the Digibox loads a pre-defined channel list when first switched on. Should they be needed this list of Frequencies on Astra 2A/2B/2C/2D can be used for any manual programming

The Electronic Program Guide (EPG)

The EPG is an on-screen display of up-and-coming programmes and times. Normal satellite receivers do NOT support a full EPG for English channels as the English EPG services do not conform to recognised standards so are only available on Sky or Freesat based systems - on a "normal" receiver you can only see details about the current and next programme. If you want to get a full (7-day) programme guide you need to buy Freesat or Sky equipment. Note that many PVRs require a comprehensive programme guide to plan future recordings. As this is missing from standard receivers you should consider a Freesat PVR

What TV channels can I expect to receive with this set up?

Costs

Useful Links