Will BBC Satellite Channels Disappear

Tech, TV, Mobile, Internet and Geek Corner
81
are you getting your channels from freesat or sky?

82
Mmhh we had lost all the channels at similar time to you BM, then we got them back and now channel 5 is permanently out and we lost HD a while ago - BUT ts is only in one of the 3 tvs that receive satellite so not sure what that means. Of course I was also wondering if it wasn't actually because my sons' friends have taken to playing basket ball against the wall that satellite is on...

Its an easy enough job to try to alter the lnb if it is in an easy to reach position, you are patient and you are near to the tv to either pop in or have someone call out to you. Ours is up a tall ladder and far away from the tv so as I have a number of other teething issues with other bits and bobs I will get the communications installers who put the system in to check up on it (and then bill the basket ball playing kids' parents .)

We are 40km south west of Basel

Edit getting channels from freesat

83
Thanks for that. Very helpful.

It's a 90cm dish which is the biggest we can have without having to apply for planning permission from the commune.

I'll give the left /right option a go when the boy gets home for lunch so that he can watch the signal strength for me.

To be honest I don't really care about the HD channels as long as I can get the standard ones.

Thanks, as a complete wuss up a ladder I would never have attempted going up there in the dark anyway, I think it makes it a bit hard to see what you're doing.

Fantastic. So when are you coming over with your ladder?

It is easily accessible on the front if the house and near to the TV.

So in the absence of anything better to do ( except for a huge pile of ironing) I've been through a few of the channels and looked at the signal quality.

Numbers are channel, strength 1, quality 1 , strength 2, quality 2

BBC 1. 90. 35. 90 55

BBC 2 90. 25-30. 90. 50

ITV. 90. 35-40. 90. 55

Ch 4. 99. 45. 90. 60

Ch 5. 100. 65. 90. 60

Sky 1. 100. 80. 80. 60

Dave. 100. 80. 80. 55

BBC 1 HD. 0. 0. 90. 65

BBC 2 HD. 90. 40. 90. 65. ( input 1 was either zero or high but fluctuated constantly)

It's amazing what you find when channel hopping during the day. Did you know that channel 4 is showing Hawaii 5 O in the mornings at the moment.

We use Sky.

84
Actually I would happily come to do it as I always used to do it in the old house but at the moment am confined to bed/sofa with labyrinthitis and can hardly walk to the bathroom let alone totter up a ladder ..

85
Ooh labrynthitis is horrible. Stay in bed, let yourself be pampered and get well soon.

86
It's the dreadful new version though, isn't it?

87
Dunno. I didn't stick around long enough to find out.

88
I have a satellite strength meter and a legitimate $ly HD box/card, plus a Dreambox 800hd.

On this topic definitely there has been a move to a more concentrated beam which means BBC channels tend to drop out in poor weather. It started with C5 channels a while ago.

I replaced the LNB for a slightly better quality LNB which helped a little. (It was more stable in poor weather.)

Recently the $ly HD box has been giving some very weird results on signal strength (I checked the LNB it's okay and consistent.)

Tuner 1 is 40% odd 20% quality and tuner 2 is 90+% and 80% quality. There is a huge difference between the x2 tuners.

I know there's capacitor/tuner performance issues on certain $ly HD boxes and replacement of the box power supply or a newer box model has helped. I'm thinking the box is on the way out as I don't experience the same on the Dreambox.

Anyone have any experience of this?

89
Yupp, I've had power supplies go on two Sky HD boxes, and sent them both (the power supply, not the box) to a company in the UK that replaced all the caps. Cost about 35 quid each, IIRC, and yes, they were both displaying the sort of symptoms you describe.

BTW I don't know if you realise it, but type "$ly" makes you look a bit of a tit

Edit: mis-typed, I don't think it was as much as 35 quid.

90
I have a freesat hd box and my tuners read the same, one on nothing the other on more or less full, its just depends on what station the other tuner is looking at, unfortuantly with freesat I can tell it to swap to see what its pointing at

my sat finder is also giving high figures but you'll need to get the actual channel info and reprogram your finder to give you the proper strengths for the hd channels, not all the channels have been moved over to the new sat yet so they still read really high (and we still get them, eg the horror channel) but bbc1 forget after 7pm

91
You should be able to force it, by recording the one that's got a good signal, then changing channels to a bad one.

92

tried that, didn't care, the freesat boxies are a bit pants if I'm honest

93
Not sure if its already been mentioned but UTV (ITV from Northern Ireland) and BBC Scotland are working fine for me also in the evenings and even with HD most of the time.

94
very odd indeed, the bbc (not hd) signal went back up to 40% lastnight, still no HD at all but at least the other channels are back.

I suspect freesat are having a 'play'

95
BBC 1 was fine last night but BBC 2 was still pants.

96
I find ITV Channel Islands (!) to be even stronger than UTV. For me it's the last to drop out in a storm.

97
I've done a bit more reading on the subject it appears we are right on the edge of the main throw.

Currently I have a elliptical 75 x 80cm dish with x4 LNBs. I will need to recentre it from the current setting ton 23.2E.

So we're looking in general at 90cm preferably 1.1m for a guaranteed solid signal on BBC HD channels.

To be honest I knew I'd have to do something when they moved the C5 block a while back.

Here's the approximate dish size map.

98
This is interesting Astra 2E dish size feedback. Mainly in DE, but a few other spots. Again we're talking 90-120cm

http://www.constantinmedia.com/sat/D...-spotbeam.html

99
trying to find the 2E is proving very difficult

100
Although I would probably wait until Astra 2G is up and running before changing out the dish.

http://www.spacenews.com/article/sat...d-for-shipment

It's about to launch, last swop out of the old satellites in 28.2E

The more I read the more I see IF you can get C5 now as I do then up the dish size x2 "rungs" 80>100, 100>120 and so on and you should be okay. Even in poor weather.

There are x2 dead spots rings one somewhere mid-germany in an arch extending across Europe. Then pretty much you're in the lands of 2m + dishes. They are shown in the link below in Red.

http://www.the-lighthouse.se/eng/sat...e/astra2e.html

This site gives several tips you can try before upgrading (such as switch out the LNB and clean the dish, which I already have!)

http://www.skyinmadrid.com/pages/improve.html