[ILUG] Satellite reception

[Michael Watterson]

Mikhail Ramendik wrote:
> On Sunday 03 August 2008 10:24, Michael Watterson wrote:
>
>   
>> The credit card sized card or phone Sim (fitted in a creditcard sized
>> holder) with chip and various pads is ISO7880? Anyway a simple device
>> will let you connect serial port to such a card. 
>>     
>
> Thanks! My PC actually has a serial port so this should be easy. But which 
> reader devices are supported on Linux? And where should I look for a Linux 
> SoftCAM?
>
>   
Google
I only have FTA satellite TV on PC and a Basic Sky package on SkyDigibox 
for Discovery, NatGeo etc.
> (But my biggest and most urgent question is still what DVB-S cards available 
> in Ireland are supported by Linux drivers.)
>   
Not in Irish shops. You need Mail Order.
I only got the very old card with built in TV out and MPEG2 decoder 
working, but the old Nova DVB-s (not current Hauppauge Nova range) also  
known  as  Technotrend or Technisat  PCI  Basic DVBs is supposed to 
work. It is obsolete really as people want to buy/sell the DVBs2 cards now.

 
>   
>> SoftCAM is quite legal if used with legitimate viewing card for only the
>> pay channels you subscribed to. 
>>     
>
> If I have cards for two channels/packages, do I have to have two readers or 
> snap cards in/out?
>
>   
Either is possible. Per package, not per channel.
> Also - a complete noob question indeed - how do I buy these cards for 
> satellites other than Sky, i.e. Hotbird?
>
>   
Almost no-one will sell a package to Ireland. Due to the pressure of 
Sports & TV rights holders the Europe Without Frontiers is broken into 
separate countries by the Pay TV operators. Their contract with their 
suppliers means they may only sell to a specific country address (Swiss 
is different, they will sell card to people anywhere, but only if they 
have Swiss passport. They are not EU). You need to get someone in the 
country the desired package is for to take out a subscription (there are 
people that specialise in this, but that is legally greyer).  You  then  
legally  by EU law may use the legitimate viewing card anywhere. The 
problem is only between the package vendor and the Rights Holders.

You need to make sure that you can well receive the package, For example 
some satellites have more than one beam and the desired beam is not 
visible in Ireland (Sirius 5E, Turksat 42E, 23.5E, 26E, Thor 1W etc all 
have channels received in Ireland an others that are impossible). A 65cm 
dish is simply too small for reliable reception (esp in West of Ireland) 
of Hotbird as beams are on Mainland Europe. You will lose important 
channels in rain. There are several satellites at the 13E Hotbird 
position with different beams and powers, so some channels are OK even 
on a 45cm dish in rain.  In Waterford in SE, Europe Mainland beams are 
much stronger.

Don't confuse Sky Pay TV with TV from 28.2. BBC, ITV and many others may 
be received on a Sky digibox. Some free channels are actually blocked on 
an Irish Subscription. There are actually 3 Geographic regions with 
different Sky Packages:
Sky Ireland: Some UK channels is blocked, both FTA (BBC3, BBC4, ITV etc 
and encrypted such as Five). Includes RTE1,2, TV3 & TG4
Sky  UK Mainland: All UK channels, all FTA OK. But no RTE,TV3 or TG4
Sky UK N.I.: Same as main UK, but RTE1, RTE2 with selected programs 
blanked, Most of TG4 and no TV3.
Unless you speak no english it would be very strange to not want the 
FREE unencrypted U.K. TV on 28.2E.

"Hotbird" has French, Polish, Italian pay tv packs. The largest is the 
Sky Italia. You need an Italian Sky Digibox. About 44 languages on 
Hotbird, but mostly Polish & Italian  for  PayTV  packages.
Sirius 5E has Russian/Ukrainian free TV and some Pay TV.
Thor 1W has Scandinavian PayTV and Baltic/East European. You can't get 
most of the Balitc channels, wrong beam.

Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian TV is nearly impossible in Ireland. Yet 
many Turkish & Greek channels are possible. Click on "footprint" in 
lyngsat to see why.

See www.lyngsat.com  Europe and Atlantic
About 22 satellites can be received well in Ireland on a 1.1m dish.  
But  many  have  beams (channels/pay TV packages)  not  visible at all  
in Ireland on any  size  dish. 42E to 50W arc.  Some channels possible 
in England or Scotland can't be received in Galway. About 5,500 FTA TV 
and 3,500 FTA radio.

Spanish Pay TV is mostly on 30W. Very strong signal here.
19E  & 23.5  Mostly  German
26E Mostly North Africa/Middle East/Nile /Arabic. Some  channels  
strong  here.
39E Greek
42E Turkish
5W French
12W to 50W (except 30W), various transatlantic feeds. You only see the 
Europe  beam, not the reverse USA Beam.
For African, US, South American you need C Band. Min a 3.7m dish and not 
much these days, most encrypted.



-- 
Mike