Martin963

Well yes - harmonisation.   But then it's no good for what I believe is now known as "legacy" equipment.  The TV systems problem is a residue from M de Gaulle's (remember him?) attempts to keep Japanese imports at bay.  In those days it was expensive to make sets that could switch from one system to another - nowadays it's almost always all contained on one chip.  So choosing - and then sticking with - SECAM colour,  AM sound,  and positive picture modulation all contributed to making non-French manufactuers think twice before trying to muscle in on the French market. And it worked............ for years you were lucky to see a Sony TV in France...... Hope you find you can get round the problems  

I'm not an expert on phones - but I believe Orange will unblock your phone for you,  unfortunately at a price (I would imagine).  You would need to ring them. Some makes of mobile are easy to unblock yourself,  Nokia's for example.  Do a search - there's a thread on this forum about it.   You go to a website and feed in the serial number and make of your phone,   and up pops a code that you key in to your mobile,  which then becomes unblocked. However,  I also seem to think that the NRJ tariffs have been changed to the customer's disfavour recently - there's a recent thread about that too.   So maybe there's little point in changing.....?   We were going to go for NRJ,  but read the warnings in time.

Generally you connect the (roof) aerial with coax to the RF input on the sat box.   You then take the RF out from the sat box (in this case your RF2) back up to the attic (or wherever you are putting the amp) and connect it to the input with coax.   Then you feed the amplifier output(s) with coax to whever you have the TV's. But it doesn't always work that well, even in the UK,  particularly if the aerial signal is a bit weak.  This incoming signal may be degraded by the strong sat box output.   Judicious selection of the UHF channel used for the sat box RF output can mitigate the problem. The problem you may have is that if your sat box is UK sourced (is it a Sky box?) it may (or will for a Sky box) output a system I RF signal.   Although the PAL part of this is OK for French TV's (which switch between PAL and SECAM pretty much by themselves as a rule) the sound offset may not suit your French TV's - unless they can be switched to system I.  Most French TV's cover systems L (the French one) and B and G;  not all will work with I.   If your satbox isn't a Sky box then you may be able to adjust its RF output to suit the TV's - if it is from Uncle Ru then it will only do system I.  You've avoided this problem up to now by using the SCART lead which carries the sound separately from the picture. You can find out by testing each TV individually with the sat box using the RF o/p and a short length of coax before investing your dosh. Amps seem to be quite sensitive to lightning spikes carried on the mains,  so maybe a power filter of some sort would be a good idea.  There is no difference in terms of the amp itself between a UK sourced and a French sourced unit.  You may just run into the system problem outlined above.

And for some reason (observed by several "experts" in the past)  the LNB on the dish can be idealised for the BBC channels by twisting it a few degrees clockwise (as seen when standing in front of the dish,  ie south of it).  28 deg east already requires a small twist in this direction (skew correction) but for some reason it has been observed that the BBC channels are even further skewed than the Sky ones - maybe they never quite installed Astra 2D true when they last had the ladders up in the sky above Luxembourg [:)] Seriously though it's a small adjustment,  max 15 deg off normal....    French installers are sometimes unaware of the need for skew regulation as "their" satellites are nearer due south (ie 19 E,  13 E,  and 5W) and they can get away with not knowing about the need for skew on satellites nearer the horizon. But check the dish alignment first - as stated above your signal meter only shows the strength on the default transponder,  which isn't a BBC one.

Freeview is the name of the Digital Terrestrial TV system broadcast on UHF in the UK.  Sky Sports News is free to air on that. I assume however that you're talking about viewing it via satellite.  Referring to http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/skyuk.html it would appear that you need a Sky subscription to view this channel. However,  you should get ITV OK;  check the technical parameters on the link above. I'm not clear whether you have a Sky box or not.  If you do then ITV should be there on 103.   If you have a free-to-air box then you may need to manually scan with the ITV parameters from the site listed above. Post again if you can't get it.

The latest seems to be that the ANALOGUE Secam versions of French TV will be on Atlantic Bird 3 at 5 deg west until at least 2010.  However,  as their MAIN function is to provide a broadcast quality feed via satellite to the terrestrial transmitter network in the event of failure of the main microwave distribution,  it is likely that they will only be there on AB3 for as long as the analogue UHF (and VHF for Canal +) terrestrial network is in place,  ie they will go by 2012. In the meantime a system is being set up - rather like for ch 4 and ch 5 in the UK - where French residents will be able to apply for a card and box to allow the channels currently available on TNT (fairly similar to Freeview in the UK) to be watched via satellite in areas of France not served by the fledgling TNT UHF transmitter network.   You will need a French address to apply for the card and box,  and the transmissions will be encrypted for those oh-so-important rights people. (cf the BBC,  German & Italian public TV etc) At present France 2/3/4/5/Arte/Parliament are available free to air on AB3 in digital,  however this should be viewed as only temporary because when the sixth TNT multiplex is opened in France these free channels may become invisible to conventional digital satellites, as they will probably use a compression system which is not commercially available (Newtech I think it is) to economise on bandwidth. I'm looking forward to the card and box solution in order to be able to watch French TV digitally in the UK....

As you're setting it up yourself,  you can experiment a bit in finding which satellite provides the best balance of programmes for you.  However,  probably your best bet to start with is Atlantic Bird 3 at 5 deg west.   This provides both analogue and digital versions of French TV,  although the digital version does not carry TF1 or M6.   The services on Hotbird and Astra 1 are mainly scrambled,  including - unfortunately and unfairly - public service TV. As Anton says,  you need to be clear that you can see the menus but it sounds as though you can as you say it comes up with the message about no channels.  But you can indeed unplug your existing box from the AV socket and plug in the new one and watch in this way.  If your TV only has one AV input then you can buy a selector switch box for a few euros.   It is important with most boxes to be sure that you actually correctly select the satellite that you've swung the dish on to,  ie that you don't tell it to look for channels on Astra 1 when the dish is actually looking at Hotbird. In addition,  some (many) satellite boxes have out of date info in their factory set up memories,  so when you ask them to look for channels they look on the wrong frequencies.  So have a careful look at http://www.lyngsat.com/atlantic.html (for ab3) and if necessary input the information shown MANUALLY - this option is often called "advanced search" or transponder search.  For example for French TV digital on AB3 you need to put in 11591 MHz, Vertical polarisation,  symbol rate 20000 and possibly FEC of 2/3 as shown in the table.  Then tell it to search this frequency only. Clear as mud? Please ask again if that doesn't do the trick.

re insurance;  after eight years of paying our premiums we recently tried to claim €100 after EDF's neutral to our three phase supply became disconnected and our voltage rose to 320V.  (The claim was so small because I realised we had a major problem within a few minutes and unplugged (amongst others) two laptops,  five satellite receivers,  the fridge,  etc etc,  thus saving them.)  After six weeks we still hadn't even received the insurance claim form from our agence,  in spite of submitting EDF's damages form to our insurer.  Four messages left at the insurance agence didn't result in anyone contacting us. So I emailed AGF head office in Paris to complain,  and guess what - it's lit a fire under our agence!   They have agreed to settle the €100 claim in spite of describing it as "hors normale" - but I don't think we will be using the same agence next year.   Which is silly as they stand to lose far more in ceased premiums on the house and tractor of €400 pa than they were so unwilling to pay out. Whilst one likes to think of everything in France as efficient and helpful,  insurance seems to be an area where they could learn an awful lot from their anglosaxon neighbours,  at least in my limited experience....  

There are several websites that give you a multidigit number to punch into your Nokia phone - you submit its serial number and the unlock code comes back.   It's quite fiddly to do (some codes need you to punch the # button several times in quick succession) but I managed it. Sorry I don't know the websites now but a Google search would find them.   The one I used was free and I was glad not to line Orange's pocket any further.   Incidentally the Orange SIM card still works in the phone,  it's just now possible to swap cards. Thinking about it I think the link to the site I used was posted on Living France in this section.....

Forgot to say,  make sure that the Forward Error Correction for 2D freqs is set to 5/6 if the info is requested.   You won't find a signal if it's wrongly set,  although often it finds the answer automatically.

As Brian says,  get the receiver wired up to the Astra 2 dish direct and then do a manual search on EACH of the BBC frequencies on 2D,  using the parameters shown on the Lyngsat satellite site. http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html Personally I have had nothing but trouble with Diseq and gave up (on two different installations) long ago.  The switches simply killed off certain frequencies which worked fine when the Diseq was removed. The other thing to try is giving the LNB a little twist clockwise (as viewed from the front of the dish) so that it is about 5 - 10 deg off the natural position.   For some reason that even the experts can't explain,  the BBC transponders on 2D seem to benefit from a slight skew adjustment and sometimes this can make all the difference.   You shouldn't lose the 2A/2B signals by doing this,  check the signal quality meter if you can as you do it. Slight dish misalignments are actually aggravated as the dish gets larger;  the satellites are in a cluster in space,  but several 100's of kms apart,  and if your installer set it up on Astra 2A or B he/she may not have done 2D any favours.   Mostly there's no problem,  but just once in a while..... If all else fails take your Simba to a British friend with a Astra 2 dish,  get it working there,  then bring it home;  that should narrow down the problem.  

Curiously enough (and having started this thread) my access to free.fr is exemplarary at the moment;  one complaint to them (never replied to) and a post on Living France seems to have cured my problem a few days after my first post. Are you at all in the same area as me?  (NE 24). Laters:  have found a message from free.fr in response to my complaint.   They suggested using a numero de secours which is:   08.60.07.73.07 Let us know if it works for you

The only way to find out is to try.    As has been said,  some moderner UK-sourced sets are truly multistandard,  but a lot aren't - they'll work in most of Europe EXCEPT France.   The problem is that the French TV system (termed system L) is as different from all the others as it could be,  except that it has 625 lines like the other European systems. Philips sets seem in the main to be truly multistandard. If in doubt,  look at the specification in the manual.   System L needs to be mentioned if the TV is to work in France.   The UK uses system I.    In addition the set needs to be SECAM capable for colour,  the UK uses PAL.

Amazing what this site and a complaint to free.fr can do.   Just at the moment I'm getting through first time every time,  and it's far faster than it has been lately. I'll make the most of it while it lasts....

Thanks for the feedback - got through first time this evening but I think it was a one off. Like others I can't justify a year's contract for ADSL when we're only here for a few months each year. Must learn to cultivate patience as a virtue....

Is anyone else having terrible problems connecting to the free.fr dial up payg internet service? It was fine when we were over in Feb, since we got here at the start of May it has been near impossible to get through (line engaged). I wonder whether the problems are an attempt to push people like me towards Broadband. If so, have they read all the horror stories on this site, the ones that stop people like me even considering Broadband? I wondered about the Tele 2 payg internet service. Does anyone have any comments about its efficiency? Thanks in advance...... Martin PS If anyone replies and I fail to thank them straight away, it’s probably because I can’t get through.  It took 35 goes this evening.

......  having recently returned to France,  and being a "B.F." with a failing memory to boot,  I put in the prefix 1644 to make several calls back to the UK,  instead of what I meant to dial for Onetel,  ie 1638. Research suggests that 1644 seems to belong to freetelecom,  which in turn seems to actually be free.fr. Does anyone have the faintest idea how I will be billed for these calls,  or how much?   We have a pay-as-you-go dial up with free.fr but no other arrangements.   Incidentally,  since starting this discussion back in Feb,  I have had several round and round email discussions with Onetel.   Initially they claimed that the 1638 prefix would be dropped soon and that I would have to go for preselection or resiliation,  but when I said I would under no circumstances accept preselection the mention of suppressing 1638 has - interestingly - disappeared from the conversations..... Hm,.....

@ fulcrum Yes I am.  Try 11.591 GHz vertical pol SR 20000 FEC 2/3 http://www.lyngsat.com/ab3.html Bon chance.

I'd give it a go,  as long as the box and card are not going to be separated for more than a couple of weeks. Baz is right in that Sky do have the facility to match up boxes and cards down to the last channel if they want,  but at the present moment a lot of channels DO work with the "wrong" card in the "wrong" box.   I don't know about the Sports channels as I don't subscribe to that package,  and certainly the PPV films won't work,   but it wouldn't do any harm to try the sports ones. However if someone can confirm that the Sports ones are tied to the box/card then obviously don't bother.

Yes,  but NOT by physically joining up the cables!.   The safest (and only) way if you have Sly boxes is to replace the existing LNB on the dish with a dual one,  this has two connections and you run two cables out,  one to each box.  The LNB is essentially a 2 in 1. The only other way is that most (at least a lot of) non sky DVB-H boxes have a second F connector on them.   This is a kind of loop through,  and allows you to daisy chain a second receiver upstream from the first.   When you turn on the second upstream receiver it takes priority on the tone and voltage switching (but does it safely).  The drawback with this is that if the two receivers are looking at programmes with different pols and frequency bands the upstream receiver wins and the picture vanishes from the first one in the line.   But if they are same (say you want to watch two different BBC progs) then you can.   Saves going on the roof to replace the LNB But to repeat,  don't try combining cables up to one LNB,  you'll end up with "expensive smoke".   And if you try the loop through, check that you've used the right ins and outs on the receivers.

For English TV you are I suspect sunk as the UHF signals you were presumably watching have a max range of 40 - 50 miles from a high power station.  So when you get to France the channels concerned are re-used for French TV.  A few favoured spots on the north coast of France may just get a UK signal,  particularly round the Channel Islands and Calais,  but the signals drop off very quickly once you get inland.

Baz - sorry about your tale of woe.  Was the TV site by any chance: http://www.tvtv.co.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects/EPGen.woa ?

Well it might but probably won't,  at least not on the indoor aerial.   If you're within about 10 miles of a main TNT station and with an unobstructed view then an indoor aerial may work,  but generally for reliable TNT reception you need the existing aerial to be picking up crackingly good analogue pictures.   Which generally means an aerial at roof level,  preferably not attic mounted. Try and find out if your neighbours have any luck with TNT and indoor aerials before splashing out.   If you were going to get it with the indoor aerial I would expect three (not two) channels to be viewable on your present set-up.

Not sure I was lusting after them,  I've had them since 1995!   But what I was getting at is that the satellite FTA German market developed quickly - none of this "we mustn't broadcast it to the rest of Europe in case the rights people throw their toys out of the pram";  (cf ITV which could have been FTA on 2D from the start,  but were brainwashed into thinking they must have Murdoch's videoguard in place). Along with the German regional stations which you mention (which I thought were all loosely tied up with ARD,  and carry their own programming most of the day and evening) there are also all the RTL's aimed at Germany,  Vox and PRO7,  which mean a good range of films,  docs,  news,  etc,  all FTA.   Which is why the pay-TV operator (Premiere) is pretty small and keeps changing hands as its owners lose money on over-bidding for Sports rights. Personally I find the German system rather more "generous" than Mr Murdoch's anglo-saxon alternative.   Nothing wrong with operating an efficient system as he does,  but it bugs me that he scrambles every last channel he can (such as Bloomberg,  Eurosport,  TVEi) which are all available FTA if you care to stick up more dishes..... But I don't doubt you that it was a slow start before satellite came along

Well it might keep Pete&Hilary in Eurosport for a bit.   Kind offer Ray.   Wonder where they are in France?