The Sky Gnome was a device from
British Sky Broadcasting
Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers a ...
launched under their
Sky Digital brand. It allowed users to listen to radio channels and digital television from their Sky
digibox
The Digibox is a device marketed by Sky UK in the UK and Ireland to enable home users to receive digital satellite television broadcasts (satellite receiver) from the Astra satellites at 28.2° east. An Internet service was also available ...
from around the house.
History
The Sky Gnome was released in September 2005 and was available until mid-2007 with a retail price of £75. Although Sky no longer markets the 'Gnome', it is still possible to use existing units. Until recent times, the website was available to use, but now it shows the message: "I'm Gone",
as well as the manufacturer's website (though that is covered with a simple domain holding page).
The Gnome had many advantages compared to a
DAB receiver: It provided more stations than a DAB radio, and the broadcasts were almost all of higher audio quality on satellite than via DAB. It worked anywhere in the UK that has a satellite installation compared to DAB which does not have universal coverage.
A major disadvantage, however, was the device was not strictly a radio device and instead was effectively an external speaker - meaning it was not possible for one person to use the Sky TV service and another to listen to a different radio station.
Technical information
The Sky Gnome used a 433 MHz digital communication link to communicate information to and from the Digibox, the
wide FM modulated audio was sent on one of four channels: 863.4 MHz, 863.8 MHz, 864.2 MHz, or 864.6 MHz.
The Sky Gnome sender box connected to the main Digibox using the
RS-232
In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such as a compu ...
, audio out and RF2 connections.
RS-232 is used to obtain information about the Sky box, such as current channel and time, while the RF2 connection is used for transmitting remote control inputs from the Gnome to the digibox.
The Sky Gnome was compatible with the Sky and Sky+ Digiboxes. When used in a non-Sky satellite receiver, it was possible to listen to the radio channels, it was possible to change the channels of the receiver from the Sky Gnome.
References
External links
Sky's goodbye message to Gnome
Radio technology
Television networks in the United Kingdom
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