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Apologies! On March 3rd, Royal Mail managed to lose an entire sack of parcels that were intended for our customers. Due to the volume of mail, we were unable to determine which orders were lost, which meant that we had to wait for the complaints to roll in. Admittedly this is not a good way to do business but this problem had never occurred previously in the fourteen years we've been trading as "SatCure", nor in the ten years before that, so we were unprepared. We apologise to customers who were inconvenienced and hope that those who (we suspect) have not yet got around to letting us know will now do so, in order that we can finalise the claim with Royal Mail. In case you haven't spotted it yet, Danielle Nagler, Head of BBC HD, BBC Vision, has an interesting "blog" here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/danielle_nagler/ About 5,000 households in the Meridian TV region have had problems with losing channels after re-tuning their televisions as part of the digital switchover. People with digital equipment, such as Freeview boxes, in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, east Dorset and West Sussex had to re-tune on Wednesday when Rowridge transmissions were changed to different UHF channels. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7965639.stm The Meridian TV region is set to switch to digital in 2012 but, as part of the preparations for switchover, a reorganisation of the channels happened on Wednesday 25 March 2009 ahead of the official date. Multiplexes changed UHF channel as follows:- More here: http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/when_do_i_switch/meridian/rowridge Do you live in Co. Clare? RTE switched on the Mullaghanish DTT transmitter on March 5th. Only CH 21 was activated initially but this is causing interference with any Sky Digiboxes whose RF output is set to that channel. Channels 21, 24, 25 and 28 have been allocated from Mullaghanish so avoid using any of those for piping your signal round the house. Sky has called on the government and regulators to open up Virgin Media's infrastructure to competitors, claiming it will speed roll-out of high speed broadband services. In its response to Lord Carter's interim Digital Britain Report, Sky said it was "increasingly anomalous" that the cable network is closed to competition while BT's infrastructure is not. Sky's lobbying to the Digital Britain Review has been published here. Meridian TV region The Meridian TV region is set to switch to digital in 2012 but as part of the preparations for switchover a reorganisation of the airwaves will happen in the Meridian TV region on Wednesday 25 March 2009 ahead of the official date. Multiplexes will change UHF channel as follows:- More here: http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/when_do_i_switch/meridian/rowridge http://www.theonion.com/content/video/sony_releases_new_stupid_piece_of Warning: movie containing offensive language! Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing in hope that your company may be able to assist us, recently I have started a armature (sic) radio club in my area for young children and adults alike. we are running our course and meetings on a voluntary basis, to date we are almost up and running but require one cranked poll (sic) to hold a very light weight antenna, at present this club does not charge subs or fees until a later date, due to this most of out (sic) equipment is on loan or kindly donated. the reason I am contacting your company is in hope that you would consider donating a 12 inch cranked cranked pole of the largest size you do, we would also be great full if this was a used poll. In return we would be more than happy to pass on your details and or leaflets to our members for future sale of antenna fixing hardware kind regards Rob Styles Actually, I hate begging messages like this from "good causes". However, as a special concession, I am putting the message here as a free advert where it will be read by tens of thousands of people. If any caring person has something to donate, they can get in touch direct with this club. I also hate the plastic begging bags that are shoved through my letter box twice a week. Just how many "old clothes" do they think I get through? I'm still wearing shirts that I bought 5 years ago! Anyway, thanks for the free bin liners. And if anyone wants to contribute to my retirement fund, please buy an eBook. Argos Value LPDV205B I have just installed one of these boxes for someone and it seems to work OK, except that when it goes to standby, it doesn't pass the RF signal through. This would mean that any equipment following it in the aerial chain, would not get a signal. It also has a very bright blue LED shining out of a front slot when in standby, which illuminates the ceiling in a darkened room. If used in a bedroom, you may need some tape across the slot. Andy F. Tech Savy Slovakia, with Eric Wiltsher One of the first impressions, totally incorrect, of central European countries such as Slovakia is that they are years behind Western Europe. That couldn't be any further from the truth, if people tried. To understand the flaws and, by default, the benefits of technology in Slovakia, you need to look back at how technology developed in Western Europe. Many will know that in 1973 the first mobile phone call was made from BT Labs. However, it took decades before a mobile network was built in Slovakia. That means that whilst the UK was an early adopter of the mobile, much of the network was a bolt on, connected to a bolt on, connected to a bolt on. The same applied to Internet connectivity. The UK Internet system was, for a long time, based on copper wire and then fibre was bolted on - to more copper wire - not something that lends itself to high speed Internet connectivity. In Slovakia, which, in real terms, started really to adopt technology in the last 10 years nationwide, mobiles work (from the same suppliers as you have in the UK) at the top of mountains and way into the caves, which are major tourist attractions in the High Tatras. Mobile Internet is fast becoming a norm and, if you need to, you can walk into most mobile operators and get hooked up as quickly as you can in the UK - you can do all of that speaking in English. As many will note, from the images, satellite receivers can be purchased in budget-price stores and, when connected to a 90cm antenna, with DiSEqC, the options to view numerous channels are simple. So what is there available to someone living in Slovakia? Starting with satellite, there are many free-to-air channels including Sky News, above, and, left, BBC World which carries the must-see Top Gear, CNN, CNBC and CCTV9. The latter is in English and all the channels are free-to-air. I.P. TV & Radio If your day needs to start with a dose of Wogan (if you are one of the Togs) your average mobile connection will make it easy. However, if you are on holiday, you will find the better resorts all offer free Internet (yes I said free) in rooms and many offer free wi-fi connectivity to guests. If your preference is Chris Moyles, then the same rules apply. In fact, now that the BBC will use Skype for live interviews, I have sat in a hotel and been interviewed and the outcome was perfect. I found it funny that there has been a big debate about I.P.TV in the UK, recently, with all sorts of arguments taking place. I have spent some time with the project Leader of an IPTV service. Now the results are clear for all to see. I use a Motorola device, that is connected to a 4-port router, which is, in turn, connected to a work-station desktop PC and wi-fi for the laptops. And, with all those devices running, the IP TV just works - no delays, pixilation or dropout. I would say patience is required, at the beginning, as it takes about 90 seconds for the set top box to boot-up from a cold start. However, once that is done, it offers the normal things such as programme reminders and record options. In my case it also offers much of the content in dual-language. Quite simply, when I select a channel, it shows me the language options: push Yellow and I get English. I could set the default to English, but we (my Slovak partner and I) often watch locally made content in Slovak. Where the swap comes is during productions that are made or originate in English. A good example being sport. Many international sporting events are carried in English plus another language. In the same way as a Digibox, there are many things on offer with the Motorola IP service. It offers the user - in addition to TV - On Demand Video, Games and a reasonable Internet service. It is no surprise that the pre-set home page of the Internet browser is the operator, Slovanet. I confess, here, to being a Ludite. Even though Sky gave me a keyboard, in the early days of digital satellite, I could never really get on with it, preferring a real PC to work on. The same applies here but some nice features of the handset are that cursor keys of the laptop are replaced by cursor keys on the handset. Pictured above: Discovery, Eurosport, Galxie Sport and Sir Tom Jones on VH1 Working through some of the other features: you have parental controls, software updates, and language options; we have our box graphics set on English. The onboard programme guide is very easy to use and carries channel Logos to make it very easy for the user. From the guide you can add programmes from various channels into the MyTV section by pressing the blue button on the handset, rather like you would on a Digibox. Overall a bit of a winner really. Now Terrestrial Services. Where the UK has fallen behind - I have divided views on this subject - is local commercial TV. Sure, you had Solent and Manchester, but Slovakia has dozens of them. Nearly all major towns/cities have a TV channel. In the case of Poprad - yes you guessed - it is TV Poprad. Now, I have been known to watch the news, but anything else, forget it. I can best describe them as being like the old Channel One cable service in the UK, but they really do think they are doing a great job for the community, let me ponder that for a while. TV Poprad offers little more than a regular news service, updated roughly once a day. They love their sport, especially the Ice Hockey. Slovakia has a number of analogue and digital national channels. The state services, three, are STV1, 2, 3. The 24-hour digital news channel in TA3. There is a range of state run, paid for by a TV licence, radio stations with my favourite being RadioFM and the best commercial station, by far, is Viva. So be it mobile, mobile internet, satellite, Internet, Internet TV, Digital Terrestrial, Slovakia has it all and it has it NOW! Tech Savy SK, YES! Former BBC and commercial radio presenter Eric Wiltsher now lives in Slovakia. One of his projects is HTTV, High Tatras TV. This can be found at www.hightatras.tv When I carelessly trod on my earphone cord and broke the clip, I set off on a search for a replacement. I was horrified to discover that they can't be bought separately! Until now. We've ordered a batch from China and they should be in stock within a week or two. Add one to your order and keep it as a spare! 21mm long. We've also got these clips. They are intended to suspend a name card from your lapel but they have many other uses. The plastic strap folds and clips to itself so you could fold it over a cord and hang birthday cards from it. How about using them to suspend towels from your hired beach parasol? 55mm from clip end to loop. 92mm end to end. Jaw opens 6mm. For several years, various companies have been preying on Sky Users and exhorting them to take out insurance. Mostly this insurance is legitimate but mostly it's more expensive than the insurance offered by Sky itself through Guardian Royal. The "scam" part comes about because these companies pass themselves off as being Sky or being affiliated to Sky. Only Guardian Royal Insurance is affiliated to Sky. There's an interesting blog about it here, beginning in 2007:- http://russ.michaels.me.uk/index.cfm/2007/3/2/SKY-customers-beware-of-scammers As with any insurance, it's up to you to decide whether it's good value for money. Take careful note of what is covered and how many days you'll have to wait before the problem gets fixed. Most of you have the ability to disconnect and connect a Digibox so it makes sense to buy a cheap, used spare and keep it in case of problems. Connect it every 6 months so it can get firmware updates. You might also consider buying a replacement LNB and cable. The whole kit can be bought for under £50 and, in my opinion, represents good "insurance" at minimal cost. This idea is especially recommended to those living outside the UK since you'll wait a long time for a Sky installer to turn up! Every week an expat emails me to ask "how quickly can you get this to me? My Sky has packed up!" The answer is to buy the spares in advance; nothing lasts forever. - a selection from this month's emails I am up to speed with piping TV around the house and feeding terrestrial aerial source into Sky Box RF IN, then taking RF Out using screened cable to a TV in another room, use of Remote magic eye, and working out which frequency to set the Sky Box output signal to to avoid clashing with the terrestrial frequencies. My question is straightforward:- (1) Do I need to plan anything differently to make sure that it all still works OK when the terrestrial analogue TV aerial is replaced by a digital freeview aerial when the digital switchover arrives? (2) I understand your method for working out which Sky Box output frequency to use to avoid a clash with the analogue frequencies. When the aerial feed becomes digital, how do I find out what frequency/frequencies the digital aerial is sending down its cable? Many thanks, Andrew. -- See http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker/main/trade/DY6+9RP/2/0 Choose the transmitter that you are using and concentrate on its rows of prediction figures. You'll see what UHF channels (N) are being used by the digital multiplexes now and in the future. The red, yellow and green bars indicate predicted signal quality, where green is good and red is no good. If your aerial system is designed for a very weak signal at present, you may need to add one or more attenuators when the transmitting power is increased towards "switchover". I am not a technical girl, and didnt have sky when I lived in UK. I retired to Greece 5 years ago and winters are cold, wet and a bit grim without UK programmes. although we get C4. not more 4 just one channel 4 programme. We have a dish and have finally got a sky box and card from UK, we cannot activate the card from Greece and have no UK address , and have no contacts in UK who do not already have a Sky card. The box and card came from a house where the tenant did a runner owing rent and dont know whether there was any outstanding debt to Sky and maybe the card has been made void, it's taken 5 years to get this far and finally get a box and card, so any suggestions welcome, don't want any Sky packages - just get a few more decent programmes. ITV1 and BBC one would be great. Thanks very much. Lee B. -- Yeia sou, Lee. You don't say whereabouts in Greece or what size dish. As you will have noted from our web site, you'll need quite a large dish to receive BBC and ITV. Note that an unused Sky card can take up to 3 days to receive its "wake up" signal via satellite. List of programmes here: http://sam-radford.me.uk/ftv.htm One thing you might consider is a VPN account: http://www.ukvpnaccounts.com This will allow you to access BBC iPlayer programmes on your computer. Alternatively, get a friend in the UK to connect a "Slingbox with built-in Freeview tuner" to his aerial and broadband router. http://www.coolsmartphone.com/article709.html http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/slingbox.html That will give you access to all Freeview programmes on your computer. Some companies are also offering this same facility but you have to pay. I can't specifically recommend any company but here's a couple of examples: http://www.remotetv.co.uk http://www.slingdirect.co.uk Hi, I sent my exchanged PSU to you yesterday by 2nd class recorded. I just wanted to say the replacement process was very easy and so far it works perfectly Many thanks Guy B. Thanks to you guys a soldering iron a bit of patience and acouple of burnt fingers, I now have a completely working and upgraded Thomson PSU. Even despite the SKY bloke flogging boxes outside my shop said you couldnt repair them only SKY could. Tee Hee got one over on them. Very many thanks, I will recommend you to others. That's it for another month, folks! Latest SatCure eBook updates Sky User Guide "Missing Manual" update 14th March. Meet other Satellite TV enthusiasts and put your questions or points of view here Need to buy wholesale stock to sell on eBay or on your web site? Thinking of starting your own business? Click on banner above. All kinds of video tapes transferred to DVD, UK's lowest prices and top quality. Experienced engineer and a personal service. Most tapes just £10 for 2:30 hours or less in quantity. I can't recommend this forum for Expats too highly. It's run and moderated by Kay who puts in a lot of hours to make sure everything runs smoothly. If you are outside the UK or thinking of emigrating then you need to look in here! Don't fancy DIY? Looking for a TV or VCR remote control? Look no further. only £18.80 inclusive from SatCure! Your advert could be here! Contact us for details. Electronic kits and gadgets. Start a new hobby! Ideal Presents. News
Demand for kits has been so high that we ran out of some capacitors because one of our suppliers let us down by taking six days to find parts which, they insisted, were already in stock. This caused delays in shipping for which we apologise.
On March 17th, Nicola was taken ill with a vomiting bug. I won't go into the gory details but it meant that Sophie was left to handle the entire ordering system by herself because everyone else just happened to be away. Again we apologise for delays in shipping orders. You'll be pleased to know that Nicola has made a full recovery.
Do you live on the south coast?
HUMOUR: New equipment from Sony:-
Monthly Whinge
South west ARC
(Address has changed and no notification of new address received so please don't ask me!)Why can't people organise a jumble sale or do something useful to earn a few pounds and buy the equipment?
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Beware the Scam!
Questions
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See http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=710521
From Will P.
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