The card only can be obtained from Sky for £20 one off.

That's not totally true. Any viewing card inherited from an
ex subscriber will usually work as a FTV card as long as it
has the yellow house logo, and it wasn't deactivated by Sky
for non-payment etc.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

On Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:43:52 +0100, Graham. wrote:

The card only can be obtained from Sky for £20 one off.

That's not totally true.

Have you misread "The card only can be..." as "The card can only be..."?

Any viewing card inherited from an ex subscriber will usually work as a
FTV card as long as it has the yellow house logo, and it wasn't
deactivated by Sky for non-payment etc.

Tis true but the last time I looked on fleabay yellow house cards would
regulary go for more than £20 and you have no real guarantee that it
hasn't or isn't about to be deactivated.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote:

On Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:01:58 +0100, Dave wrote:


A dish, feed and wall mounted socket was supplied to us by mistake. All
it looks like I need is a satellite decoder box, am I right


A DSAT box of some sort, be that a Sky Digibox, a Freesat box or a generic
FTA box. A cable with F type connectors at each end to link the wall
socket to the DSAT box. A fully wired SCART cable to link the box to the
TV, so you can use RGB not baseband video and a TV (or monitor capable of
displaying standard TV frame and line rates) of course. B-)

I have got all that, except the cables, but they are available locally.

Thanks

Dave

On Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:13:05 +0100 someone who may be Dave
wrote this:-

I have got all that, except the cables, but they are available locally.

The only thing to add is to use water-resistant connectors for
outside. Either rubber boots of self-amalgamating tape.

You may, optionally, want to get a signal strength meter, like
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=48325. The
positioning of a dish has to be fairly precise and a meter helps get
the ideal alignment.

The other thing to consider is whether you want a dual feed.
Recorders need two feeds if they are to record two things at once,
or record one thing while you watch another. As you haven't put up
anything yet I suggest you consider getting a twin LNB, for example
http://www.sateuropa.co.uk/product_overview.asp?id=1501&catid=12&subcat=50
which is connected via two cables to two sockets. There are then two
flying leads between the sockets and receiver. There is a fashion
not to fit sockets, it is claimed this gives a better signal though
I suspect it is more to do with saving cost. Provided they are
fitted properly sockets are fine.

Recorders are fairly expensive, but useful. They can occasionally be
picked up one from the likes of Lidl for more sensible prices



--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:51:49 +0100, David Hansen wrote:

The only thing to add is to use water-resistant connectors for
outside. Either rubber boots of self-amalgamating tape.

Yep slipped my mind, automatic to use self-amalgamating tape on any
permenant connection outside. IMHO boots never seal properly. I've taken
(cut) SA tape off conections that have been outside for many years and you
wouldn't know it.

You may, optionally, want to get a signal strength meter, like
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=48325.

Does that one beep? I find that the variable tone is much easier to use
when perched on top of a ladder than something you have to look at fairly
closely to see the small changes on a meter as you do the last final
adjustments.

Sky boxen have a built it signal/strength quality meter but that does
required you to be able to see the TV and they are pretty slugged as well
but it can be done that way.

The other thing to consider is whether you want a dual feed.

Good point, a twin LNB as a minimum but if you even have thoughts of
recording and having a set in another room then a quad is a better bet.
Fully cable it up into the house even if the unused cables just get coiled
up somewhere. Running cables through walls and being up ladders is the
hard bit, do it all in one go.

There is a fashion not to fit sockets, it is claimed this gives a better
signal though I suspect it is more to do with saving cost.

In the case of Sky installers saving time is probably more important.
Terminating a cable to a face plate and fitting a surface mount box would
add 5 to 10mins and when you have 1/2 a dozen installs to do in a day and
travel time between 'em you don't want to be messing about doing a neat
job and certainly no time for hiding cables in walls or cutting out for
back boxes and flush sockets...

There is a bit of loss associated with every joint you have so keeping
them to a minimum is sensible but a home run from LNB to a face plate and
single lenght of cable (per connection) from there to the box shouldn't be
a problem. Always use good quality satellite rated cable though not yer
average UHF down lead. Quality cable is *much* more important.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 09:45:03 +0100 (BST) someone who may be "Dave
Liquorice" wrote this:-

You may, optionally, want to get a signal strength meter, like
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=48325.

Does that one beep?

It doesn't beep, but rather it gives a tone which varies according
to the signal strength. Far easier to listen to than watch a needle.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

David Hansen wrote:

On Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:13:05 +0100 someone who may be Dave
wrote this:-


I have got all that, except the cables, but they are available locally.


The only thing to add is to use water-resistant connectors for
outside. Either rubber boots of self-amalgamating tape.

The dish and installation were provided by the company that rents out
the house that the dish is bolted to, next door. The cables are attached
to my house to get to the house on the other side which is also rented.
I wrote about the legality of this dish over hanging my property earlier
this year, but I have not yet pressed my message home

You may, optionally, want to get a signal strength meter, like
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=48325. The
positioning of a dish has to be fairly precise and a meter helps get
the ideal alignment.

No need, the installing comp did all that for me :-)

The other thing to consider is whether you want a dual feed.
Recorders need two feeds if they are to record two things at once,
or record one thing while you watch another. As you haven't put up
anything yet I suggest you consider getting a twin LNB, for example
http://www.sateuropa.co.uk/product_overview.asp?id=1501&catid=12&subcat=50
which is connected via two cables to two sockets.

We have one feed to a socket that has 2 sat outputs on the front of it,
so I'll have to look at that later.

There are then two
flying leads between the sockets and receiver. There is a fashion
not to fit sockets, it is claimed this gives a better signal though
I suspect it is more to do with saving cost. Provided they are
fitted properly sockets are fine.

Recorders are fairly expensive, but useful. They can occasionally be
picked up one from the likes of Lidl for more sensible prices

Many thanks for your input. Sky are due this Thursday.

Dave

On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:20:17 +0100 someone who may be Dave
wrote this:-

We have one feed to a socket that has 2 sat outputs on the front of it,
so I'll have to look at that later.

Unlike television and radio signals, satellite feeds cannot be
split. Well, they can be split physically but they will then not
work properly. Splitting them upsets the control signals which are
sent to the dish (or the multiswitch in a larger system). At best
one of the receivers will only be able to get roughly a quarter of
the available stations. Hopefully if you take the socket apart you
will find that the cable just goes to one of the outputs.

The way to connect two receivers is to connect the socket to the
first receiver and then use the output connector from that to
connect to the input of the second receiver. Only one will work at
one time, but both will get all the channels.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

David Hansen wrote:
On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:20:17 +0100 someone who may be Dave
wrote this:-


We have one feed to a socket that has 2 sat outputs on the front of it,
so I'll have to look at that later.


Unlike television and radio signals, satellite feeds cannot be
split. Well, they can be split physically but they will then not
work properly. Splitting them upsets the control signals which are
sent to the dish (or the multiswitch in a larger system). At best
one of the receivers will only be able to get roughly a quarter of
the available stations. Hopefully if you take the socket apart you
will find that the cable just goes to one of the outputs.

The way to connect two receivers is to connect the socket to the
first receiver and then use the output connector from that to
connect to the input of the second receiver. Only one will work at
one time, but both will get all the channels.

Thanks for that bit of info, I think I can now get by when the receiver
arrives.

Dave