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UK Satellite TV F.A.Q

Here, you'll find answers to some common questions about satellite TV in the UK.

This page contains answers to general questions - for help on Freesat or Sky, try these links:

Installing and connecting a satellite dish

If you're fairly 'handy', you can save yourself the cost of getting a satellite dish installed, and do-it-yourself.

You can buy yourself a kit for less than £100 that comes with an 80cm satellite dish, digital TV receiver, and LNB - this will allow you to get the basic free-to-air channels with no subscription and no recurring fees. or, you can just buy the dish and connect to a Sky Digital or Freesat box. Take a look at maplin.co.uk for kits and dishes

To get Sky or Freesat channels, you'll need to point a suitably-sized dish towards the Astra group of satellites positioned at 28.2º East above the Equator. From the UK, this will be a compass heading somewhere between 139 and 147 degrees (i.e. South- East) at an elevation of between 18 and 26 degrees.
Once in position, you need to run satellite co-ax cable from the LNB on the dish to your receiver. Cable and connectors are available from maplin.co.uk
Then, connect the output of your satellite receiver to your TV, typically with a SCART lead

If you need more help, ask in our forum.

Two boxes from one dish

There are some situations where a user may want to have two satellite receivers connected to one dish. Commonly, this is so you can have one receiver in one room, and one in another, or if you have a Sky Digital box and also want a Freesat box.

There are a number of ways to achieve this, but they all involve complications.

For a start, it's important to understand that a satellite receiver needs to take control of the LNB (the bit that sticks out from the dish), so that it can tune to the right frequency and polarity.

Two boxes can't control the LNB at the same time, so you either need a switch box, or better still, to have a multi-LNB, with a separate cable running from the dish LNB to each receiver. Here are some notes on the subject:

Multiple feeds: Ideally, to connect multiple boxes to one dish, you'll want to have a "Multi LNB" on your dish. Commonly, these can support 4 different feeds from one dish (for four tuners), or you can get an Octo LNB that supports 8 feeds. With a multi-LNB, you run one feed per tuner from the LNB to the receiver. Note that Sky+ and Sky+ HD need two feeds from the LNB, as the boxes have two tuners.

Switch boxes: In some situations, you may find that the Maplin 2-way satellite switch (pictured here) may be of use.

Loopthrough: Some boxes, such as one or two of the Freesat boxes, have "loopthrough RF IN/Out sockets, to allow connection of a dish feed to a second box. There are some issues with this solution though - A satellite receiver needs to take control of the LNB (the bit of the dish that does the work), and it's not possible for two receivers to control one dish LNB at the same time - one or other will have to control the voltage to the LNB, and the LNB polarity.

If you need more help on this subject, best to ask for help in our satellite TV forum

Satellite dish in conservation areas?

There are a number of places where it's not practical or possible to have a satellite dish installed - one of the common ones being if you're in a conservation area.

In this section, we look at some of the possible options available to you if you're not able to have a standard dish installed on your property's wall:

Dish location: If you're not allowed to have a dish attached to your wall, there are some other options - perhaps you're able to attach a dish to a balcony, or attach a dish to a pole in the garden, or a fence? If in doubt, perhaps contact a local dish installer (from Yellow Pages) and see if they can find a way to install a dish for you.
Dish camouflage: You may find this site of interest.
Indoor dish: In most cases, this is not an option - as you need to have unobstructed line-of-site to Sky's orbiting satellites at 28.2 degrees East. In some cases, you can point a dish out of a window to get a signal - Thanks to Duncan Hill for the following: "I have used an indoor dish, no more than 40cm and got perfect reception from Astra 2 (Sky/BBC), Astra 1, Hotbird and Hispasat. Even with curtains in the way. The only problems are on very rainy days. Locations tested: London and Brighton.". Also, see this page at Satcure
Loft dish: Very little chance of success. Signals do not travel well through slate or tile. If you have a loft window, or are prepared to replace some of your tiles either with thin perspex or microwave-transparent tiles, then there's a change of getting a signal

If you're not able to get a dish installed where you live, you could consider other options such as Freeview, Cable or TV-over-Internet. See our Digital TV Options page for more.

If you're able to get a satellite system installed elsewhere and you have Broadband, you could also consider watching satellite on a PC over the Internet, using Slingbox

Communal satellite dishes

Both Sky Digital and Freesat receivers can work with communal satellite dishes.

Typically, a standard satellite dish can support up to four feeds. To do this, the dish is equipped with what's called a multi-LNB (the box at the end of the arm). See our One Dish, two boxes FAQ for more on this.

Note: Sky+ and Sky+HD boxes have two tuners, so require two feeds from a dish, not one.