sorry had this in wrong spot

hope this is the Techies corner this time

Guys we have sat dish with foxtel LNB and 2 cables.... previous had the standard analogue box for sat tv like most travellers have

want to use a foxtel standard box which we have at home and connect to the dish and to tv in the caravan

has anybody had a go at doing this and what results getting the signal

much appreciated if any one knows the ins and out

ozzimax

I've often thought about this and have spoken to a Foxtel technician (Used to be Austar in Tassie) . He even offered to sell me a Foxtel dish. I didn't take it up because I'm a free camper and you need 240 volt for the Foxtel box. But I was assured by the technician it would work. He even had a set up in his Van doing the Annual Shows throughout Tasmania, selling Austar subscriptions, so I've even seen it working. I don't know if there is anything special about the dish or any dish will do. All you have to do is point it in the right direction.

thanks ken at least someone knows it works

just need the Knowhow for finding sat direction  in the bush

I use a gen so 240 not a problem

hope somebody has all the information

ozzmax

Hi ozziemax;

                  You will not have a problem useing a second hand foxtell/austar dish for your television useing the Vast receiver. The vast set up uses the same sattilight as foxtell, so all good there. The hard part is finding the sattilight in the first place and after a few ? trial and errors you will become a old hand at setting up your dish, not as hard as it seems, but practice makes perfect.

Just incase you do not know, there are now on the market 12 Volt Vast recievers and of course there are also 12 Volt televisions, so no need for that pesky generator. 

Just google 'sattilight set up for vast television' and there is plenty of imformation on what coordinants to set the dish up for what area / town you are staying in.

Ozzimax,

We have been doing what you want to do for a long time now.
We run the foxtel box on an inverter(300W PSW)

We have a digital satfinder to correctly aim the dish and lock on to the satellite
you can get them here: www.satplus.com.au look for the SF3239 about $140. one of these will make it easy to find the correct satellite as there are quite a lot of them up there.

I have attached a pdf of the aiming points for most towns in Australia but be aware the elevation angles given in this table are all 3 degrees high so subtract 3 to get the correct angle.

A magnetic compass to find north will be a great help also.

aiming can take a bit of practice so do some setting up at home before you hit the road.

any other questions come to mind just ask

frank

thanks for the info

actually the dish is the one I have used for about 10 years still good

just added the foxtel LNB which was given to me when foxtel was set up at home

we had a second set top box for games room that I want to use with the van its standard not IQ

dont want to buy another digital set top box if can use the foxtel one

just not sure of the sat positioning for foxtel have the Optus C1 sat set-up guide book

all information is a help thanks

ozzimax

Thanks Frank

its reassuring to know it works

get all sorts of y you cant by foxtel sales etc. such as they change the sat position every week

sounds good till you ask how they move the dish on my house roof to receive signal every week

I have used sat for about 10 years have no problem setting up the dish as long as have the co-odinantes

have old optus C1 book which have most co-ordinates

all I did was change out the LNB to a foxtel one which has two cables one picture and one for sound

frank

love to have a chat on the phone where are you at the moment travelling or home like me

we Live in Perth

ozzimax11@bigpond.com if you send me a number via email will give you a call

thanks again ozzimax

that $140 sat finder would simplify things

am I correct in assuming that foxtel uses the C1 satalite

Thanks Frank for all the info

noted the the co-odinates in your attachment are a lot different from the old

ones I used with the vast set top box I had but that was analogue

have done I hope an attachment of my ones you can see the difference

would I take a foxtel box away from home lol my lips are sealed

would still like a phone chat fingers get sore typing

ozzimax

Ozzimax, as others have done I've been using the system you propose for a couple of years now with the IQ box with 85 cm dish and can always get a signal.

Practice is the essence, which you have probably learnt from previous satellite experience. 

Presuming you still have an account with the provider who owns the box I would encourage you to set up at home and have a few practice runs. The neighbours may think you've gone slightly off your rocker but I wouldn't let that phase you.

I carry the location sheets with me but don't use them since downloading 'WikiCamps' on my smart phone for about $5. Up until then I found the location data sheets great.

This very smart app. not only gives appraisels on campsites but has the 'satellite finder' application which points to the satellite and beeps but also gives Azimuth, LND and Elevation for the location in which you are standing.

I've just arrived home after a couple of weeks and one of the sites I was at I was amazed that a very small 'window' of sky could be seen through the tree canopy and had perfect strength and quality of signal.

Go for it ozzimax and good luck!

Keith.

Wikicamps is a great little app for your smart phone or tablet , so easy to find Sat signels and of course free camps as well....There also an app you can get on your smart phone solely for satalite dishes if that what you need...