Question Using single-feed wall plate with a shared dish - can I boost the signal?

danmusefan

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Hi everyone.

I am new to this site so please forgive me if this question has already been asked/answered (I have trawled through this forum extensively but so far haven't found the answer to my question). Also please bear with me while I go through the background - I am including it in order to give my issue as much context and clarity as possible and to hopefully make it easier for someone to answer it, but my question itself is actually at the end of the post.

I live in a rented flat which has a single-feed satellite plate on the wall, which I have used since 2012 as a Sky subscriber with no major issues. Since 2014 I have been using Sky's 2TB box. The satellite feed in the lounge is the only one in the flat and therefore I have always run my box in single-feed mode, as when I initially became a Sky customer the engineer informed me that this was my best option as I was using a communal dish.
In March 2015, my girlfriend moved in with me (woo hoo, etc etc). Predictably, this has led to more so-called viewing clashes, and although I never really missed the dual-feed functionality when I was living on my own, it would now be useful to be able to record two programmes simultaneously, watch one live while recording another, etc - eg. make full use of the box's dual-feed capability.

I have recently tried to deal with this myself by purchasing relatively inexpensive satellite signal booster & splitter connectors from Amazon (both were non-powered), only to discover that the picture breaks up on many channels, or when certain combinations of channels are viewed/recorded, meaning that dual-feed mode can apparently not be relied upon in my case (as, to be fair, the Sky engineer suggested back in 2012).

So my question is - as I am using a communal dish, is the idea of splitting & boosting the signal in order to utilisise dual-feed mode a fruitless exercise, and one which I should give up on? Or is there a way - perhaps by puchasing a more expensive mains-powered signal booster/splitter - to achieve my goal?

Many thanks in advance, Dan.
 
Hi Dan and welcome to the forum.
One satellite feed can provide only one channel at a time.
So the Sky employee, who was a fitter not a engineer, was wrong.
Your single feed operation is the ONLY option.
Trying to use anything other than that IS a fruitless exercise.
You could try asking for a second connection, or discretely installing a separate dish.
Not much help, but that's the situation.
 
Last edited:
Hi Dan and welcome to the forum.
One satellite feed can provide only one channel at a time.
So the Sky employee, who was a fitter not a engineer, was wrong.
Your single feed operation is the ONLY option.
Trying to use anything other than that IS a fruitless exercise.
You could try asking for a second connection, or discretely installing a separate dish.
Not much help, but that's the situation.

Hi there logiciel

Thank you for your reply. It is helpful actually, as it at least confirms that I was right to wonder if I was wasting my time! I will just continue with my existing configuration for the forseeable future - at least with the comprehensive nature of On-Demand services these days, there are ways around live clashes.

To be honest I don't hold out too much hope of getting a second connection any time soon, as I did ask my landlord about this back in 2012, and although they are very accomodating on most issues that arise, they simply flatly refused to do anything about this, citing cost and impracticality. To be fair to them, the building was only constructed about 15-20 years ago, which I presume was perhaps before the use of dual-feed satellite boxes became widespread? And I guess it doesn't seem that unreasonable of the landlord to not want to upgrade the building after what is a relatively short space of time.. Although I last had that conversation with them three years ago of course, so I suppose I could ask them again.

As for installing a seperate dish, I'm afraid that is far too risky for me! As, in short, I'm pretty sure it could jeopardise my tenancy.

Anyway many thanks again for your time, and may I also take this opportunity to say what a fantastic website and range of forums you have here.. I have been having a browse and have had several other questions that I've been wondering about for a while answered already!

Cheers for now, D.
 

Hi kevkbuk

Thanks for this link, the technical ins and outs of this turn out to be quite fascinating for a nerd like me! However because I do not have any access to the dish or the building's internal cabling I'm afraid I won't be able to pursue any of the options discussed on the link. I will file the info away though in case I should need it for when we one day have our own property ;)

Thank you again, D.
 
Hi.
You're right about On Demand services, and unless you're a TV addict a single feed is OK.
I've been fine with it for years!
Satcure site is definitive and will give you some ideas but basically there's not much point.
You're very welcome and thanks for the comments!
Logi
 

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