Satellite switchover

Hi, my Sky+ box in Italy has stopped working with the satellite change,
but a friend nearby in France with a Sky+ HD box is still getting BBC etc.

Is switching to a Sk+ HD box the long-term answer to this or is a bigger
dish needed ?

TIA

Sky's transmissions are not supposed to be accessible outside the UK
and they have recently changed to a satellite with less overspill. HD
or SD has nothing to do with it. You friend in France is closer to the
official footprint and less affected than you are.

On 2014-02-13 11:13:51 +0000, BrritSki said:

Hi, my Sky+ box in Italy has stopped working with the satellite change,
but a friend nearby in France with a Sky+ HD box is still getting BBC
etc.

Is switching to a Sk+ HD box the long-term answer to this or is a
bigger dish needed ?

TIA

On 14/02/2014 00:14, Roger Wilmut wrote:

On 2014-02-13 11:13:51 +0000, BrritSki said:

Hi, my Sky+ box in Italy has stopped working with the satellite
change, but a friend nearby in France with a Sky+ HD box is still
getting BBC etc.

Is switching to a Sk+ HD box the long-term answer to this or is a
bigger dish needed ?

Sky's transmissions are not supposed to be accessible outside the UK and
they have recently changed to a satellite with less overspill. HD or SD
has nothing to do with it. You friend in France is closer to the
official footprint and less affected than you are.

Yes, I know all that although it's possibly not strictly true about the
satellite (see below). My friend in France is only a few miles away from
me, so I doubt it is just that she's closer esp. as she has a slightly
smaller dish than me but it could be due to better alignment and/or good
LNBs.
And another friend is also still getting programs and is also on an HD
system (not Sky).

So it is reasonable to suggest that HD is somehow a better bet. For
example, the FTA programs satellite has a very narrow beam, but Sky's
encrypted signal is on a satellite with a much wider beam aiui, so if
Sky had made the decision to only now transmit HD channels on that
satellite it would explain some of the results.

I doubt if that is happening and maybe Sky HAVE in fact switched to a
narrow beam satellite, but wondered if someone in the know could say yes
or no for certain.