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Simon Waters wrote:
Can't say I've seen anything like that in my area, although when I moved to my currant place we fitted a digital aerial (well, one for digital TV) and put in new cabling.Rob Beard wrote:As they say, if it's working then don't fix it.We are getting a lot of interference from other devices we didn't see or didn't notice with analogue.Mostly from some idle youth who has nothing better to do all day than drive around our village on a moped.But several different mechanical motors (moped, neighbours lawn mower etc), and passing aircraft will all destroy the signal.I assume this is in part iffy cabling, but be interested to compare other people's experiences.
As I'm thinking Freesat might be better when the time comes for the current set up to change.Possibly. A standard definition Freesat box costs about £45 to £50 but then you need a dish too which might be about another £30. I'd suggest using an independent satellite installer (or do it yourself if you don't mind heights :-). You can also use an old Sky Digibox (which can often be picked up on Freecycle) but you'd possibly need to get a viewing card which IIRC are about £20 from Sky (it's a Freesat from Sky card).
It is also possible to get a standard digital Satellite receiver which will pick up the Free To Air channels (which Freesat uses) although I believe you don't get the Freesat electronic programme guide.
When we had our current dish fitted we found we couldn't get a signal on the correct satellite because of some trees which were blocking the satellite although I believe it is possible to move the dish to the front of the house on a mast to get the signal (just haven't bothered yet as we don't have a satellite receiver of any kind).
There are far too many joints, and I believe the amplifier is still connected below the antenna. But we have a hill between us and Honiton, so although it isn't far I'm guessing we get a good bounced signal of any low flying aircraft (Exeter Airport isn't far either - although we aren't on the regular approaches fortunately).Maybe replacing the cable might make some difference. When we reinstalled our aerials we used the high quality satellite grade cable with foam insert (which Sky and Virgin use). Cost us about £30 for a roll. One place I could recommend is Satellite Super Store (http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/) who mainly deal in Satellite stuff but also do sell the quality cable.
With regards to Satellite, you may want to check out these nice Linux based Satellite receivers here: http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/magicreceivers.htm
I see they now do one for about £120 which is pretty reasonable considering when I last looked about a year ago they were going on about £400.
Rob -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html