I Miss Sky Digital

[bkk_mike]

Ignoring the issue of getting a receiver and a viewing card (I know people in Oz, so I should be able to sort that myself), how feasible is it to get Foxtel digital in Thailand. (For those who don't know - it seems to ba an Aussie clone of Sky Digital)

As I understand it, the satellite is at 156East (i.e. basically due north of Sydney).

I know the beam is pointing in the wrong direction, but the satellite would be within line of sight of Thailand, which "might" mean all I would need is a bigger dish to compensate for being outside the directional beam.

Anybody have an idea how large we'd be talking.

[melus]

Check out the Dream package at this sight:

http://www.jsat.tv/packages.html

It might be what you're looking for in the way of channels. You need an 8-foot dish. The satellite is at 146.0 E.

[waldwolf]

bkk_mike - I'd first try to find a satellite installation technician who has access to a "Satellite Signal Strength Meter". He should be able to determine if the signal strength in your area is sufficient to provide viewable reception. Signal strength will vary depending on what transmission frequency (e.g. Ku band) the satellite uses.

Also, bear in mind satellite reception is also suseptable to various weather conditions(e.g. rain), so a weak signal will more likely cause signal "drop-out".

Antenna size is basically related to broadcast (wavelength) frequency. Lower frequencies use larger antennas, while higher frequencies use smaller antennas.

good luck

[ZOVOX]

I've been looking for a satellite packege for some time. 'Jsat' (mentioned above) claim they can pickup the satellites pas10 and pas 8, which ranges from 68.5E to 170E, with a 8.5ft dish. The satellite you want is in this range, so they should be able to help you. However, PSI (www.psisat.com) only go upto 134E, so i'm not sure how good the signal you would get at 156E - i would go for a bigger dish !!

[lopburi3]

As you want to receive a signal broadcast on a dedicated Oz transponder and this same bird has other transponders to East Asia I would think you will need an antenna stretching to Oz (and even then the East Asia transponders will probably block any reception).

[Richard-BKK]

In English

http://satellite.information.in.th

Lots of information...

With kind regards,

Richard

[astral]

Unless the beam for Foxtel covers Thailand you will not receive anything.

[bkk_mike]

Unless the beam for Foxtel covers Thailand you will not receive anything.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The dish is merely a reflecting surface to bounce radio waves onto the LNB. - the larger the dish, the better it is at receiving a weak signal. Dish size has nothing to do with frequency, just signal strength...

Witness the following where, despite it being nowhere near the footprint, you can get Astra 2d in Cyprus with a 4.2m dish. (BBC1) - the Sky channels are on a different footprint where you'd "only" need a 1.5 or 3m dish depending on which channels you're after.

http://www.skycards.uk.net/astracoverage.html

I can't find the same information for Foxtel (yet), but looking at the globe, We're about twice as far from Perth as Ankara is from London, so we might be talking about something like a 20m dish, which I don't think I'd be able to persuade my wife would be a good idea.

I admit, that if the same satellite has broadcasts aimed at SE Asia, bits of the satellite itself might be in the way of the foxtel signal, preventing it being in line of sight). - Other than that, it should just be an issue of making the dish big enough to compensate for the weak signal strength. But I'm sure the neighbours would complain if I build my own Jodrell bank in the garden...

Based on the dish sizes for Astra in Cyprus, it's probably a non-starter...

[udon]

I could bring that one from Parkes, if you like!

[monty]

Receiving sattelite signals out of their footprint is a little bit hit and miss...

When they design the antenna on the sattelite to beam down towards the intended footprint the result is not always what they desired! Antenna's beaming down anything but a pure circular cone are a bit of black magic , even for the most seasoned designers...

This means there always will be some "leakage" to area's out of the intended footprint. This leakage might be big in a northerly direction, but non existent to an easterly direction.

This gives the hit and miss results, you might get no signal 100 miles to the west of the footprint but get good signal 2000 miles east of the footprint.

As BKK_Mike points out, parts of the sattelite itself can block signals to one direction, but help them reflect to another (unintended) direction...

And indeed, the smaller the leakage, the bigger dish required to pick the signal up.

We are about 1200 miles out of the footprint of Dream TV (Fillipines) but can get perfect signal strength with a 6 foot dish (the solid Ku-band type, mesh dishes don't reflect Ku-band very well)

So you'll just have to find somebody with the biggest dish you can find, and then peruade hime to go hunting for your foxtel signals...

Monty