Removal of Sky Satellite Dish

[Hypster]

I've moved into a house with a Sky dish on the wall. I am not a Sky customer.

Does anyone know if the cable from the dish, which enters the house, carries any electrical current?

I'm wondering if I can just cut the cable and remove the dish by unbolting it from the wall.

[AJC5001]

I've moved into a house with a Sky dish on the wall. I am not a Sky customer.

Does anyone know if the cable from the dish, which enters the house, carries any electrical current?

I'm wondering if I can just cut the cable and remove the dish by unbolting it from the wall.

Yes, it does carry an electrical current - it's how the signal reaches the TV
It doesn't carry a 'mains' current, it's the same as a coax cable from a TV aerial, so you can cut it off if that's what you want.

However, you don't need to be a Sky customer to use a satellite dish - I'm not. I use my LG 65" smart TV that comes with a satellite socket and built-in Freesat. Alternately you could get a set-top Freesat box, either with or without a hard disk to record programs, or even with built-in WiFi so you can get iPlayer etc.

Adrian

[Redmires]

Same here. We use an old Sky dish for Freesat TV. The area is not great for normal TV and the dish provides far better reception than the TV aerial.

[Gerry557]

Yes you could chop it off but personally I would keep it. You might find another use for it later as seen uptrend.

[tjh290633]

I have switched to Sky Glass, so my dish is now redundant. It looks probable that in a few years the satellite service will be discontinued in favour of Sky Stream. I still have two Sky boxes in case anyone wants to revert.

There is no electrical connection to the dish until a satellite receiver is connected to it.

TJH

[mutantpoodle]

am I understanding this tread correctly??

with no Sky contracts etc
you can use a sky satellite dish instead of a regular roof aerial for normal TV reception?

[Redmires]

am I understanding this tread correctly??

with no Sky contracts etc
you can use a sky satellite dish instead of a regular roof aerial for normal TV reception?

That's correct. You just need a freesat box (humax etc) and/or a freesat TV

https://www.freesat.co.uk/

[DrFfybes]

am I understanding this tread correctly??

with no Sky contracts etc
you can use a sky satellite dish instead of a regular roof aerial for normal TV reception?

Yes and no.

Since the analogue switch off 20 years ago, there are 2 choices for 'normal' telly...
Freeview via a normal style aerial and the old co-ax cable and input.
Freesat via a satellite dish.

I haven't looked at a new telly for ages, but when I did many of them had 2 inputs, one for freview aerial and one for a freesat dish. This suggests that they have a built in tuner for both inputs so don't need a separate box.

The satellite input is a different connector to the aerial one and AIUI connecting a dish to an aerial input will not work, and vice versa.

Paul

[kiloran]

am I understanding this tread correctly??

with no Sky contracts etc
you can use a sky satellite dish instead of a regular roof aerial for normal TV reception?

That's correct. You just need a freesat box (humax etc) and/or a freesat TV

https://www.freesat.co.uk/

I think mutantpoodle's reference to "regular roof aerial for normal TV reception" may be referring to terrestrial TV such as Freeview.
If your TV gets its signal from an aerial like this https://www.aceonline.co.uk/antiference ... 6996-p.asp, that is terrestrial TV such as Freeview and a satellite dish absolutely cannot be used as an alternative.

But, yes, a Freesat set-top box can be connected to a Sky dish and works very well indeed.

--kiloran

[mc2fool]

This thread seems to say that you can use a Sky box to view their free-to-air channels without a Sky subscription. Dunno how different that'd be from what a freesat box would get you....

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky/Using- ... -p/4091924

[Tedx]

I've read from various sources that satellite tv (Sky, Freesat etc) may be diminishing as the satellites age and more investment is put into streaming boxes (cheaper than satellite launches I guess).

Sky recently paid off a large number of it's installers (but that could be because there aren't many more houses that need a dish fitted)

[richfool]

What about getting rid of rusty old relic dishes, no longer in use inherited from previous owners? Can one ask Sky to come and remove them, or pay someone to do it?

[Tedx]

I doubt Sky will come and do it. A number of years ago I paid my friendly window cleaner to do it. He's retired now and the new one doesnt use ladders.

Looks like Im gonna have to clench my buttocks and go up there myself.....

[Redmires]

This thread seems to say that you can use a Sky box to view their free-to-air channels without a Sky subscription. Dunno how different that'd be from what a freesat box would get you....

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky/Using- ... -p/4091924

The question was ... Am I understanding this tread correctly?? with no Sky contracts etc you can use a sky satellite dish instead of a regular roof aerial for normal TV reception?

I would say that the question is about using a sky dish (not 'sky box') to get free to air channels, or 'normal TV'

[the0ni0nking]

I doubt Sky will come and do it. A number of years ago I paid my friendly window cleaner to do it. He's retired now and the new one doesnt use ladders.

Looks like Im gonna have to clench my buttocks and go up there myself.....

Correct - they do not.

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-Glass- ... stallation.

I still have one of the useless PoS on my house wall but thank-fully due to its location, I don't have to view it/see it every day so my annoyance is somewhat mitigated.

As an aside, the old dishes we used to have for the internet in Spain (before we got fibre), they were (the supplier which wasn't Sky I might add) obligated to remove them. It's annoying as many people don't get them to do this so you could see houses with loads of rusty old dishes where perhaps they've changed supplier and new supplier sticks up another dish and old supplier doesn't bother to remove theirs.

When I spoke to the supplier of our old dish, I told them it looked like some of the fixings on the pole which you'd used to attach it to the wall look like they'd come loose so the pole could fall and injure someone quite easily. They removed it within 48 hours.

[pochisoldi]

am I understanding this tread correctly??

with no Sky contracts etc
you can use a sky satellite dish instead of a regular roof aerial for normal TV reception?

That's correct. You just need a freesat box (humax etc) and/or a freesat TV

https://www.freesat.co.uk/

You can use an old Sky box (Sky+ boxes wont record, but can be used for live tv), but you end up having a load of inaccessible channels to skip through.
Sky boxes don't allow you to delete channels from the program guide, and only allow for a limited number of "favourite" channels.

Deleting channels is a trick I use with Freeview to delete the telesales channels (QVC etc), the pointless +1 channels that only broadcast for a couple of hours in the early morning, and channels that I never watch.

[mc2fool]

This thread seems to say that you can use a Sky box to view their free-to-air channels without a Sky subscription. Dunno how different that'd be from what a freesat box would get you....

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky/Using- ... -p/4091924

The question was ... Am I understanding this tread correctly?? with no Sky contracts etc you can use a sky satellite dish instead of a regular roof aerial for normal TV reception?

I would say that the question is about using a sky dish (not 'sky box') to get free to air channels, or 'normal TV'

A sky dish alone doesn't get you anything. Some of the responses have included the suggestion to get a Freesat box and use it (and the dish) to view free-to-air channels, and I am pointing out that (apparently, according to the thread I linked to) the OP could also get a Sky box (e.g. off of eBay) and view their free-to-air channels, also with no Sky contract.

So, I would say that the question is about if the poster can use a sky dish to get free to air channels with no Sky contracts, and the answer appears to be, yes, by adding either a Freesat box or a Sky box.

[jfgw]

If you have a fairly modern TV, it may well have an input for a satellite dish, and plugging the lead from an old Sky dish into it may well give you access to Freesat.

If the previous owner had a SkyQ box, however, you would need to replace the LNB with a conventional one. These are cheap and easy to fit but you need to get to the dish.


Julian F. G. W.

[kempiejon]

you would need to replace the LNB with a conventional one.

https://www.google.com/search?q=LNB&sou ... e&ie=UTF-8

[pochisoldi]

Going back to the original "removal" bit.
Unless the dish was an eyesore, I would leave it "as is".
Chopping the cables off whilst leaving the dish in place is a bad idea as it turns a working but unused item into something which is unusable.

Given that your average Sky installer would drill a hole through the wall and then leave you with a pair of connectors on a cable hanging from the wall, I would fit a box on the wall with two F connectors, cut the cable back and terminate it inside the box.
That way if the dish isn't being used, you don't have a cable dangling on the floor, and if there is a change of mind/equipment (for example buying a TV which happens to have a sat input), you can buy/fabricate a patch lead between the outlet on the wall and the telly.