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The first is an IOMega USB hard drive to backup the complete content of 2 PCs to ensure that even if there are any disasters while we are away they is no loss of data. That is currently running like crazy as the data from my desktop is being transferred across.

The second is slightly more fun. Last year we took a TV on holiday so we didn’t miss FC Barcelona’s summer matches, as well as to provide something to do on those inevitable rainy days when we’ve also finished our entire holiday reading library. The TV didn’t last the holiday (I seem to remember it decided to stop working during Barcelona-Bayern Munich) and so was consigned to the scrap heap then and there. This year we apply a technological solution to the problem with the purchase of a WinTV Nova-T digital terrestrial TV stick – in other words a digital TV tuner on a USB stick for the laptop.

It is provided with a mini-aerial which worked surprisingly well and we’ll be able to connect it to a rooftop aerial anyway, so reception should be good. With a bit of luck it’s fair better than last year’s TV…

Does it work?

Of course it does! It took a few hours, but I managed to install the dish with no problem and although I’m not subscribing to Sky I have an expired car that lets me watch all the free channels – that’s BBC, ITV, Channels 4 and 5, Sky News…

So how did I know where to aim the dish?

Have you heard of Google? One of the most useful sites was this one. Simply select the satellite you’re aiming for (in my case Astra 2D) and drag the map until you find your location then zoom in for real precision. There are three figures you’ll need to note; Elevation, Azimuth and Polarization.

1. Use a compass to find the approximate direction of the satellite and find a suitable mounting point for your dish – it needs to be clear of any obstacles.
2. Attach the wall bracket and install the dish. Adjust the elevation to the figure you noted earlier – there should be a scale on the dish mounting bracket but leave the azimuth adjustment loose enough to be able to swing the dish gently left to right.
3. Attach the cable to the LNB and mount it on the dish. Connect the other end of the coax cable to the digibox (I’m assuming you’ve already connected this to the mains and TV).
4. Switch on! You’ll probably get a message from the digibox that there is no satellite signal – if you can, find the menu that allows you to measure signal strength.
5. By slowly moving the dish left to right (or right to left) millimetre by millimetre find the position where the signal strength is maximum. Tighten the bracket so it can’t move.
6. Loosen the elevation and fine tune the position so that the signal strength is maximised, then tighten.
7. You’ll probably be able to pick up the strongest channels now, but we need to do some fine tuning to make sure we get the weaker broadcasts too; loosen the LNB and rotate it slowly. The signal quality should change, but if you get it to around 50 percent or more that’s it! Tighten the LNB adjustment.
8. You’re finished – except for routing the cabling to tidy it up etc – the hard work is done.

Let me know how you get on with these instructions and get in contact if you need anything clarified, but I think they should work just fine.

What I’m talking about is the so called universal remote control. You know when you’ve got a separate zapper for the TV, the video, the DVD, the digital box and potentially a few other devices too, you’re sat on the sofa relaxing, want to switch from this channel to that, adjust the volume or stop the film you’re watching and listen to a CD instead. Seems easy – except you can never find the right remote. So what a great device the universal remote contol should be, one remote to control everything.

But when you try and set it up you find that it’s anything but universal. I did manage to get it to talk to the video and the DVD player. But the TV? No. And the digital box? No. And I couldn’t do much with the devices it did talk to except switch them off, and what use is that?

I’m sure that if you have the right devices and the right universal remote control then everything works perfectly. But if you go for non-standard equipment like me, just don’t bother. It’s a bit like Esperanto, a nice idea but completely impractical – my advice is to chain your existing remotes to to the sofa instead.