The only deal to go for is the one that isn't advertised...and that's the one where you buy your box outright. The usual price is around £288 for a brand new box (secondhand boxes are available from around £40). Once you own a box you need to connect it, select the appropriate menu screen that shows the box details: serial number etc., and there are quite a few etc's! Then you ring the number, shown on another menu screen, or $ky if you are subscribing. You then give your name, address and digibox details from screen and they send a card to the UK address. When you have the card you then need to telephone again to have the card authorised.(If you were subscribing with the subsidy you would have the box connected to the telephone system which allows the card to be authorised automatically - the installer uses the 'secret' installers menu to do this. 

Even if you aren't subscribing you can do a quick authorisation of your new card. To do this you must temporarily connect the telephone line to the box - this connection can be removed from the box upon completion by using a small flat screwdriver blade to depress the tiny locking lever on the connection - take note of what it looks like before inserting it. Then, using the remote control  press 'services', 4, 0, 1, 'select'. You should now be in the secret installers menu. Now press '6' and keep following the onscreen instructions. The box will call sky and within seconds you will have your chosen package fully working. As far as I know this will not result in the Sky system expecting the box to remain connected to the telephone network. If it does you will, at some time, see a blue screen and a message with a yellow header that advises, "FOR YOUR INFORMATION your digibox is not connected to an active telephone line which may invalidate your interactive contract", but, as long as you have not received the box free with the interactive subsidy, Sky cannot insist that the telephone line be connected. (I can reliably report to you that even if a subsidised digibox is disconnected from the UK telephone network for a month, no such message is seen and the box carries on working with all of its contracted channels) Obviously all of this has to be done in the UK before you take the box elsewhere. The box will still work even if it is disconnected from the satellite for several days and probably would still do so after several weeks. But you don't want to risk it, nor do you want to ring Sky from Europe as they will KNOW you are phoning from outside the UK, and switch off your card! 

A further complication is that when the digibox is switched on it searches for signals from a specific transponder (a pre set default transponder) to let it know that it is connected to the correct satellite. If it does not find that signal a message will appear on screen indicating that no satellite signal is present. Even if you are receiving a signal from the default transponder it can take the digibox several minutes to decide that it has found the satellite! The default transponder apears on the North Beam, as does the EPG (Electronic Programme Guide)  which updates the digibox to allow selection of channels via the EPG. Without the EPG you can still select channels but you will need to manually tune each channel and store, up to 50, in the 'other channels' menu. If you live outside of the North Beam you could therefore potentially be faced with  great difficulty in even initially setting up a digibox! The first step for anyone faced with this problem is to set the digibox up manually. Using the remote, select 'Services', then 4, 4 . This takes you to the 'add channels' menu. Select a frequency that will appear as a strong signal on the South Beam, for example the BBC services at 11797 H. Simply depress the digits 1,1,7,9,7 using the remote. Then highlight  'Polarisation' and alter 'V' to 'H'. Next highlight 'Find Channels' and press 'Select' on remote. This should kick the digibox into action and you should see a familiar list of BBC radio and TV services. Highlight and 'tick' one or more of the channels, using the yellow button. These channels will now be accessible in the 'other channels' menu where you will be able to select them for listening or viewing. 'Other Channels' are usually accessed via the 'Services' menu, but if the box still has its original software you may find that 'Other Channels' are accessed via the 'TV Guide' menu. If you are unable to receive EPG updates you may need to access all or some of your channels by manually tuning, as above, and selecting them as 'Other Channels'. 

 
In theory a digibox should be available to buy for £288 but in practice, can retail from £199 - £399 and upwards depending upon make and known reliabilty - anecdotal evidence suggests that Amstrads appear to have a poor reputation for reliability, Grundigs are not too good in areas of weak signal strength. Whilst Sony, Pace and Panasonic have good reputations the 'holy grail' of digiboxes seems to be the discontinued Panasonic TU-DSB 20 and 30(due to their sensitivity in fringe reception areas). But, if you live within the footprints, any digibox will work.

I've seen a Pace digibox working in Northern Italy, close to the Mediterranean border with France, and watched ITV -  with a solid elliptical dish, probably no bigger than 600mm x 800mm.

Secondhand digiboxes are now trickling on to the market from £40 - £200 or so, depending on make and condition. Be careful, the box could be faulty, stolen or still subject to a 12 month discount agreement. Owning a DIGIBOX overseas is not illegal. Of course there is still the small matter of obtaining a card for the digibox...Unlike cards for analogue boxes the cards for digiboxes are not interchangeable. If you insert the wrong card into a digibox a message onscreen tells you that you have the wrong card. However, any authorised card can be used in any digibox to obtain reception of Channel 4 and 5.

I'm really not trying to make the installation sound difficult but you should also be aware that alignment of the satellite dish is VERY critical. Unlike analogue, where you can actually see a picture on your television screen as you move the dish, digital receivers need several seconds (or minutes!) to show anything on the screen. After making each minute adjustment to the dish you will need to wait to see if this has had any effect on the signal. The digibox does have its own signal strength meter ('Services', 4, 6) but this is only detecting the default transponder signal. This menu page 'times out' after a few minutes and needs to be reset.. You would need an almost inexhaustible amount of patience, or extreme luck, to find the 28.2° satellite used by Sky. Even with a satellite finding meter it can take a while to locate the correct satellite (there are more than 40 satellites to choose from!) so you will probably need an engineer to align the dish anyway. The 'skew angle' (rotational) of the LNB is also VERY critical. A European satellite installer, who may be unfamiliar with the subtle nuances of Sky at 28.2°, may take quite a while to set up a Sky digibox. Sky used to have an analogue signal at 28.2° to enable their own installers to set up the dish more easily but this signal is no longer present.

Click here for complete list of Free TV & Radio channels available at 28.2 East (Sky Digital)

Living in Southern France? Click here

There was a very useful article about Sky/BBC reception for Expats in Europe in the JUNE 2001 issue of WHAT SATELLITE magazine. 

Pages 54 & 55 discuss reception patterns for all 6 satellites and the relevant transponders. Pages 56 -58 describe the tortuous route to obtaining the box and the all important card.  The article finishes.."think of it all as your own protest action at the somewhat ludicrous rules that govern TV distribution in Europe today."

A Sky digibox can be used for limited reception of other digital satellites...

If you buy a digibox that has never received any signals (and consequent software downloads) from 28.2° you may find that 'Other Channels' are accessed by pressing 'TV Guide', followed by '8'. Within 24 hours of being connected to Sky at 28.2° the software will be overwritten and 'Other Channels' will be accessed via 'Services', followed by '6'. If you unplug the digibox, or experience a power cut, the digibox will not restore itself to the channel to which you were previously tuned. In fact, if you are connected to 19.2° East the TV screen display will state, "No satellite signal is being received". Simply select 'Other Channels', then, for example, 'Radio Caroline'. If this does not work you will need to begin again and go through the complete tuning procedure for Radio Caroline as per the tuning parameters

Sky will tell you that you must always keep their box connected to 28.2°. This is true as it enables you to receive the software updates. In practice I have known digiboxes to be disconnected for several weeks and still function perfectly when reconnected to Sky at 28.2°. If you don't intend to use the digibox for Sky at 28.2° there is absolutely no reason why the digibox should not remain permanently connected to Astra at 19.2°. If you live in a conservation area, apartment, or have any other difficulty with positioning of dish, remember - Satellite dishes do NOT need to be mounted high on walls or chimneys (see picture above). If you have a south facing window you may be able to achieve satisfactory reception with a dish mounted indoors. For full information visit  CAROLINE DIGITAL SATELLITE RECEPTION IN UK/EUROPE

Happy viewing...

....and this site was only supposed to be for selling my vinyl record collection! 

"SO DON'T FORGET TO LOOK AT THE BLOODY RECORD SALE!"