Hello all.

We are moving to the Gungahlin area very shortly. We have just bought an NEC HD plasma tv and box (and having read your Canberra forum, looks like that was a bit silly!) Is the reception in this area ok?

We would like to get satelite TV but know nothing about it. Do you have the dish installed as a one of cost and then free satelite? We'd like to get European and UK TV if we could.

Can anyone enlighten me on how we do that and what the costs are? We're absolute beginners to this. Thank you, Suzanne

Gungahlin should have no problems (hopefully) for local digital TV.

For satellite, what you would need is at least a C-Band and/or Ku-Band dish (depending on what channels you want to watch). Lyngsat (http://www.lyngsat.com) has information on what satellites are avalible for Australia (note that some C-Band (the 4 digit frequency numbers) and some Ku-Band (5 digit frequency numbers) are not avalible in the ACT due to the location we are in).

http://www.vetrun.com is a good place to help try and find FTA satellite signals.

Europe and UK TV is hard to get in Australia due to (unless it is broadcasted on a satellite that can be viewed) the location of the satellites compared to Australia and the beams (ie. transmissions) being directed usually to the UK and Europe.

Also, you most likely would need a positioner and maybe more than one LNB (low noise block) on the dish depending on what satellites you want to pick up.

Kaz Electronics (who have a rep. on this forum (Gadget)) deals with satellite installations and I suggest that you contact them to try and organise what you need.

So, visit www.lyngsat.com, www.vetrun.com and contact Kaz Electronics.

BTW. With the right size Ku band dish, you can pick up ABC feeds off Optus B1 (which I can't due to my dish being a bit too small (65cm) for Optus B1).

RE: Satellite TV:
You be looking at Foxtel pay TV as they are the only worthwhile service available. They provide the dish and decoder. Their channel line-up includes UK TV.

I believe Gungahlin has Transact cabling so you would have access to BBC World and Deutsche Welle and I think they also carry Foxtel (I could be wrong).

As for FTA satellite, you would need a 2.5 metre dish with an uninterupted view to the west. As far as I am aware most of the services you would get are from a number of Asian countries around the region. Australia is too far away to get European and US channels directly so the only European channels are DW, BBC World and TV5 (French).

Thanks so much for such informed and speedy replies - that is very helpful

Suzanne

try this for transact but as far as i know underground phone/power suburbs like gungahlin cannot get transacts full service
http://www.transact.com.au/forhome/suburb_search.asp

your best be is looking at a larger dish and the apropriate lnb

mddawson is right abotu the 2.5m dish tho you need to be able to see the sky roughly nor west and 28° elevation * i do this every day and live in gungahlin *

I'm in Belconnen and am looking at sat. for Imparja TV (Optus Aurora on C1 - http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/aurora.html)

But who sells the dish and receivers in Canberra ? Stuffed if I can find anyone who sells the gear here. I'll probably end up getting it from Sydney on my next road trip. Apparantly no-one does dishes in the mail due to fragility.

We do

cool i might visit that shop of urs one day
just don't expect an adult to walk in.
(i'm still 13 boo hoo sad years can't drink can't drive can't do anything)

Gungahlin reception is fine. Just about everywhere has line-of-sight from roof to Black Mountain.
There's plenty of TransACT access covers, suggesting that the fibre is just centimetres underground, but as yet no services. (You can get long-distance phone and that's it.)
The TransACT bundle is good value, especially since you can add channels without getting loads of rubbish you don't want.

Even TransACT is new to me..... I have a lot to learn.