A small setup for reception of Astra 1 and Astra 2 satellites in NL
By Hyazinth Sievering
The
Hague is a city with numerous international companies and
organisations. Members of the large expat community often struggle
with accessibility of TV programming in English, French or German.
Broadcasters like the BBC restrict the access to their content to
viewers in the country. As soon as the I-Player detects a foreign IP
address, the screen turns black. Even a VPN does not always work. The
BBC I-Player, for instance, recognises typical IP addresses of the
VPN providers.
On
Dutch cable TV there is only a very limited choice of British, German
or French channels. The only reliable access to a comprehensive list
of TV channels from neighbouring European countries is given through
the good old airwaves. The satellites Astra 1 and Astra 2 provide a
full range of TV stations from the UK and from Germany. As these
channels are broadcast Free-to-Air there is no legal issue in
accessing them. You are not breaking the law if you watch BBC and
ITV or ZDF, BR, 3SAT, ARTE and the like via satellite! The full
range of French TV is also available on Astra 1, but a smartcard is
needed. It can be officially purchased in France for 15 Euros and
provides access for four years, without any monthly subscription fees!
There
is, however, often an issue with neighbours, landlords and owners’
associations in the Netherlands. Cable TV has been around in Holland
for 30 or 40 years and the average Dutch person sees no necessity for
satellite reception. Satellite dishes in Holland are often associated
with “Northern African immigrants who are not willing to integrate in Dutch society". Even Dutch people with a foreign partner are often
reluctant to install a parabolic antenna because of such negative
associations.
Luckily
a satellite dish for the reception of the above mentioned European
channels does not have to be large and obtrusive. What do you think
of a small dish, the size of a pizza? It can be tucked away on a
balcony, terrace or under an overhanging roof.
So,
what exactly do we need and how much does it cost? To answer both
questions in one phrase: not a lot at all!
I
ordered my satellite dish from a large internet platform (the one
named after a South American river) for a mere 11,99 Euros. It has a
diameter of 40 centimetres and provides sufficient signal strength
for both Astra satellite positions at 19.2 degrees East for German
and French as well as 28.2 degrees East for UK TV.
Ideally
we want to pick up both signals which will provide us with a
comprehensive choice of channels from those three countries and even
more in several other languages.
Usually
a satellite dish (offset dish) is pointing at one satellite only.
There are ways, however, to capture the signals from satellites at
two, three or even more different positions. In our case we want to
pick up the channels from two different satellites. One standard way
is to fit two LNBs in front of the dish at a certain angle which can
be calculated according to the respective positions of the satellite.
This is usually done by means of an adjustable bracket that holds two
LNBs.
For
certain standard configurations there are so-called Monoblock LNBs.
These are just two LNBs at a certain distance in one housing. A quick
check online will reveal that there are Monoblock LNBs for 19.2/13
degrees (Astra 1/Hotbird) and for 23.5/19.2 (Astra 3/Astra 1) 4.3
degrees but unfortunately none for the combination 19.2/28.2 degrees.
Sure? Not quite.
The
distance of the two feed horns depends on the two satellite positions
in the sky AND on the distance of the LNBs to the reflector. So,
where is the variable? The answer is: the advertised LNBs are always
designed for a dish diameter of 80 centimetres. Of course the arm of
an 80 cm antenna is a lot longer than that of a 60 cm or 40 cm
reflector. In other words: a Monoblock LNB that is designed for 4.3
degrees difference on an 80 centimeter dish will receive two
satellites 8.6 degrees apart on a 40 centimeter dish! Or 9 degrees.
You won’t notice a difference because the smaller dish has a much larger
aperture.
I
will spare you the details of my calculations here, but I calculated
and tested the following:
For
the combination of “British Astra and German/French Astra” you
need the following LNBs with the respective antenna size:
Antenna diameter 60 cm: Monoblock LNB advertised as “Hotbird/Astra
6 degrees difference”. At satellite shops and online starting from
15 Euros.
Antenna diameter 40 cm: Monoblock LNB advertised as “Monoblock 4.3
degrees for Astra 23.5 and Astra 19.2” They are intended for the
Dutch and the Czech/Slovakian market and are available at satellite
shops and online for around 20 Euros.
In
the west of the Netherlands the dish should be focussed at the
“German” Astra 1 (19.2 degrees). The “British satellite” is a
lot stronger there, so it makes sense to put the weaker one in the
focus. The setup looks like this (bird’s view):
Near the Dutch border in Germany or in the eastern provinces of the
Netherlands I recommend to put 28.2 degrees in the focus as it
is the weaker one there.The setup looks like this:
I
have built and tested both scenarios. The 60 cm one I installed in
July 2018 at a friend’s house in Germany, 15 km from the Dutch
border. So far (nine months later) he has not reported any signal
drop even during bad weather.
The
smaller version sits on the roof of my apartment in The Hague and has
not shown any sign of weakness since its installation in September
2018. This small size is fine in the west of Holland (Rotterdam, The
Hague, Amsterdam etc.) which is only 200 kilometres away from the
English coastline. It is, however, definitely too small for reception
of the British channels in Germany, even in the westernmost parts of
the country!
Note:
When setting up my antenna in The Hague, I had some trouble to
get it working. I just couldn’t seem to get both satellites
working. By coincidence I discovered why. Contrary to the standard
that usually when looking at the plastic caps, the left feed horn is
the one that is number 1 or LNB A in the DiSEqC settings of the
satellite receiver, here with the Inverto Monoblock it is the other
way round. There the right horn is LNB A and the left one is LNB B.
So, you might want to check with your Monoblock by covering with your hand one feed
horn and then the other to check if reception stops. That way you will find out if the horn in the focus is receiving your signal or the other (squinting) one!
