Radio 4 via sky dish

[phylisbide]

I have been told that if we install a Sky dish with a card that we can receive BBC radio4 in France. We don't want television - just a decent signal for Radio 4 for occasional use -  which even on the 'international ' radio is hard to listen to. Is a dish the answer? Would we need any other gismos to make it work? Is there another way to get Radio 4 - any ideas welcome. Thanks Phylis

[Pierre ZFP]

Forget 'Sky'

An ordinary little satellite dish and digital decoder is all you need.  No cards, no subscriptions to anybody point the dish at 28.2 deg East and off you go. You may need a TV for the initial setup but after that just an audio amp is needed.

Have a look in the brico sheds for the 'Camping' sets which come in a neat little case all for around 50 euros, mount them anywhere (not necessary to be up high on your roof.

Since you are on the net why don't listen to R4 on't Web?

[Martin963]

As Pierre says,   Sky does NOT equal satellite.

The "digital decoder" you need is a "terminal numerique"  free to air (it'll say on the box "pour les chaines gratuities").   It should have a DVB-S label somewhere.    It's important to distinguish between a box that is "numerique" (which you want) and the older "analogique" boxes which won't get you Radio 4.

You also need une parabole,   une tete universelle,   some sat cable,   and two F connectors,  as well as a bracket to attach the dish to the wall.    Often you can get the box and dish and LNB (the tete) all in one deal,  but the bracket is nearly always separate.    Oh,   and some good bolts for the bracket.

The advantage of a Sky or "freesat" box is that they set themselves up for Radio 4 and track any changes in the transmission parameters.    But it's a minor advantage if all you really want is the one programme.   In fact you'll have the choice of almost all British radio,  along with the mainstream TV channels,   even on a bog standard French free to air box.

As Pierre says,   most boxes have audio outputs (called phono sockets) which allow you to link them to a hifi which normally uses less power than a TV and has better sound quality.

Please post again if anything is not clear.

As to the internet option,   it's a possibility if you have a good connection,   but our ADSL in France is not reliable enough.   Constant hiccups and buffering.   Satellite is simpe once it's set up and works apart from in diluvian rain storms (about twice a year on average,   for about ten minutes outage a time).

[phylisbide]

Hello - thanks for your inputs.

We are online in the uk  but not in France.

We have an old digital sky dish and digital box. We also have a spare tv and a viewing card which is active and a hi fi system.  We were told that the sky dish would give us radio in France. We shall presumably need cabling /scart /connectors - will these be available at a brico? Is this so,mething we can set up ourselves or do we need an expert?  We might need an idiot's guide...pb

 

[Jay]

You can set up your sat. here in France just as it is in the UK and get all the same programmes, both radio and TV. From what you have said I suspect it would be best if you got somebody to install the dish for you. All the bits you require are available here.

[Clarkkent]

[quote user="phylisbide"]

Hello - thanks for your inputs.

We are online in the uk  but not in France.

We have an old digital sky dish and digital box. We also have a spare tv and a viewing card which is active and a hi fi system.  We were told that the sky dish would give us radio in France. We shall presumably need cabling /scart /connectors - will these be available at a brico? Is this so,mething we can set up ourselves or do we need an expert?  We might need an idiot's guide...pb

 

[/quote]

If you possess the appropriate skills, doing it youself is quite feasible. However, it would be a good idea to get a satellite signal meter. Try here http://www.cardman.co.uk/signal.html