Astra 2E/2F Technical Thread

[Quillan]

This is a technical thread only.

The idea is to swap peoples experiences of receiving UK TV via Astra 2F and 2E. Type of information that is useful is name of village, town city (close to you) + department (but no actual postal addresses please for security).

What size dish you have and where it came from plus if you know what LNB you have as well.

At the time of starting this thread do you have C5 standard definition (plus the other C5 channels) and/or BBC 1 local in HD? What about the quality, does it work perfectly all the time or the pixels break up after a certain time of day then disappear?

Do you have a Sky box, if not what are you using?

If any of the tech people who know a lot more than us have any information (in simple layman’s terms please) they can also add it.

We should be able to find a pattern which will help other members and new members get their UK TV channels in France.

For all other "chit chat" which is none technical you can add it to the following thread which is also 'pinned'.

http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance/cs/forums/2996430/ShowPost.aspx

[Martin963]

Well I can confirm that in Perigord there's no problem with the existing FTA channels on 2F,  ie Channel 5 SD and Channel 4 HD.   Even on a 60 cm dish the signal romps in.   Which is no comfort of course to those of you further south,  but scotches the advice that was being peddled in summer 2012 that people even in mid France would need at least a 1 m dish to carry on watching!   I think at the time I said I'd be surprised if that were the case,  although I do have a 1 m dish ready for action should it be needed.....

Not much point in listing LNB types etc where I am as it works on anything,  but good to have a thread - we're going to need it.  Thanks Quillan.

[Quillan]

As I type this the engineers are on my roof trying to fit a 1.5M dish, I thought it would have to go on the ground from what others have said but there you go. Certainly on the ground with the scope connected to it with 1M of cable it gave a signal quality of 10.8db, that about 1 db more than before (with the 1.2M) which caused pixels later in the day ending in no signal. I will keep you posted.

By the way my location is next to Quillan in the Aude an hour south of Carcassonne.

[elamessa]

I don't know if this counts but on my travels in my motor home I have a 60cm Alden mesh dish mounted on the roof with a Alden Libertas SD receiver (dont know what type LNB) and a 80cm Triax dish that sits on a tripod with a Comag SL30/12 receiver and Easyfind Single lnb 0.1db. This year we have been down to Toulouse and used the 60cm dish to receive all Astra 2 UK channels with no break up even in rain. We have used the 80cm dish as far south as Sitges in Spain again receiving all Astra 28 degree UK channels with no problem.

The house dish is 90cm and no problems with any channels via Freesat receiver again dont know what the LNB is. We are in the Haute Vienne.

HTH

[Quillan]

Update to my last post, they have been and gone.

C5 SD = 11.17 db signal quality

ITV London HD = 9.4 db signal quality

Unfortunately I don't have an HD box (or TV) to test but I am trying to get them to loan me a Humax box and HD TV. The tester that they use also allows you to see the TV picture and I could see ITV London in HD but I don't know nor can I see what happens later in the day.

When you look at the quality in graph mode coming from the satellite currently used for BBC, ITV SD etc the quality for C5 is about half.

SoI will wait and see what happens tonight, fingers crossed. From what was said in the other thread I think that if it rains, just a little, I might loose the signal but we will see.

[Martin963]

[quote user="elamessa"]and used the 60cm dish to receive all Astra 2 UK channels with no break up even in rain. [/quote]

The acid test (currently) is whether you could get Channel 4 HD (and something called "fourseven",  I've no idea what sort of progammes this provides) and Channel 5 standard def.   Can you remember whether you watched those...?

You say "all Astra 2 channels" so maybe you did try the ones I mention.   But they (C4 HD,  C5 SD,  fourseven) are the best indicator (as far as we know) as to likely reception of the BBC and ITV after the migration from 1N to 2E.

Apologies if I'm telling you something you already know!   Certainly at your base location I'd be surprised if you have any problems.

[johnnyboy]

Hi All,

We're in the haute Vienne close to La Souterraine and currently have a Humax box and an 80cm dish.

Reception is usually very good, HD being possible most of the time with the channels that supply it. Have not looked at the reception figures for ages, but will try and do so in the near future.

Last night was different though, very heavy rain and so we were unable to watch programmes being broadcast, had to make do with catching up with the 75% or so of recordings! Mind you, possibly the Noisette has crept up again to interfere with the signal, just another job on the impossibly long list, note to self (how on earth did I ever have time to go to work?).

Have found that even medium amount of rain can affect the signal sometimes, would this be an indication of the alignment requiring correction and/or a slightly larger dish?

Best regards,

Johnnyboy

[elamessa]

[quote user="Martin963"][quote user="elamessa"]and used the 60cm dish to receive all Astra 2 UK channels with no break up even in rain. [/quote]

The acid test (currently) is whether you could get Channel 4 HD (and something called "fourseven",  I've no idea what sort of progammes this provides) and Channel 5 standard def.   Can you remember whether you watched those...?

You say "all Astra 2 channels" so maybe you did try the ones I mention.   But they (C4 HD,  C5 SD,  fourseven) are the best indicator (as far as we know) as to likely reception of the BBC and ITV after the migration from 1N to 2E.

Apologies if I'm telling you something you already know!   Certainly at your base location I'd be surprised if you have any problems.

[/quote]

Yes we did watch CH4 FourSeven and Channel 5 as well as Film 4 and 5*, we like CSI/Mentalist/Goodwife/Persons of Interest etc ......sad I know but someone has to watch them.

[johnnyboy]

Update: have just switched on and am currently receiving all the channels you mentioned Martin. Not sure if the quality of channel 4HD is any better than SD transmissions though.

Johnnyboy

[Martin963]

@ Johnnyboy

Sounds hopeful then.   The slightest tree growth is always a problem,  but it tends to appear so subtly - a lost channel here,  a bit of pixellation there....

To ensure completely against rain fade can be an expensive pursuit - the French TV network (fed by satellite apart from the HD channels) uses 1.5 m dishes - the signal could be picked up on a 45 cm dish 99% of the time but they "over-specify" in the hope that the incoming feed signal will NEVER quite disappear.    Even with 80 cm dishes we've ALWAYS had the odd episode of rain (or cloud) fade,   in fact last night we lost Astra 1 for about five minutes (German classical radio in my case) but "on vit avec".

But if your fades are regular then a check of the trees and then a retweek might be in order - but I'd wait until after 2E is up and running....

[Martin963]

@ elamessa

Well then,  entirely valid report!!   Film 4 doesn't count but then it would seem that it's only going south of Toulouse that any problems start to appear on smaller dishes.

I do think that Quillan is having incredibly bad luck - it would be ironic if the "cold spot" in which he has contrived to situate himself for 2F reception should turn out to be a "hot spot" for 2E - it can happen......

[Jako]

No surprise that reception is strong here in 87 (close to 24 and 16) on my T55  Wavefrontier with inverto black ultra. No problem even during heavy rain last night. HD channels transmitted in DVBS2 8PSK are very sensitive to problems with the stability of the lnb's local oscillator and skew. Imperfect skew may result in glitches even during mild rain. LO problems have the same effect but regardless of rain and is common for old lnb's-replace the lnb.

[PaulT]

[quote user="Martin963"]

 But they (C4 HD,  C5 SD,  fourseven) are the best indicator (as far as we know) as to likely reception of the BBC and ITV after the migration from 1N to 2E.

[/quote]

On that basis I just tuned in to C4 HD and C5 SD and both fully acceptable pictures and sound, and then it rained heavily and they just broke up and the Humax box reported no signal.

80cm mesh dish and Sky Octo LNB

Located in Salerm in 31

[CeeJay]

Just about 35kms north of Montpellier and am receiving all the channels fine via an 80cm dish and a Panasonic FreeSat television, however we do get rain fade when it's especially heavy.....as last night!!

[johnnyboy]

Took your advice Martin and gave the noisette a good haircut, much to the chagrin of our neighbour. Funny how the locals seem to think of your house as still theirs, even after pocketing your hard -earned!

She was more worried about the possible lack of nuts, my worry was all the TV and satelite kit not working as advertised.

Still a small amount of pixelation going on earlier, not due to weather I would have thought. Must check the skew and orientation again, but maybe give it a few days yet.

Johnnyboy.

[Quillan]

Well in my spare time yesterday I set my system up to record C5 every hour from 20:00 through to 07:00 this morning for 5 minutes and I no longer seem to have a problem. A 'good' thing was it was also raining last night. I don't have a clue about HD because as you know I only have SD. So I am hopefully all set for the 6N this year. Fingers crossed.

[Martin963]

For belt and braces you could try "fourseven" and see if that holds up.....

[Quillan]

[quote user="Martin963"]For belt and braces you could try "fourseven" and see if that holds up.....

[/quote]

Thanks for the tip, I will try it tonight and see how I get on.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Martin963"]For belt and braces you could try "fourseven" and see if that holds up.....
[/quote]

See now with all your smart ideas you have gone and spoilt it! [:(]

Around 23:00 I had pixels which got worse and worse although I never lost the signal completely. All the other channels seem fine. Whilst I can live without 4Seven I guess that means there will be problems with HD channels as well which of course I cannot check.

I seem to be so close and am wondering if now I could look elsewhere i.e. the LNB and the decoder (I currently have a Amstrad DRX550 Sky box and have no idea how good it is) just to get that little bit more rather than go to an even bigger dish?

Any thoughts?

 

[Jako]

Not much difference between these channels, same bitrate and FEC. But 4Seven has a vertical polarity and is higher in the low frequency band. Assuming skew and lnb quality are OK, the only questionmark is the quality of the cable. The attenuation of a cable goes up with the frequency. How long is the cable?

No idea about the sensitivity of the Amstrad tuner, but you definitely need a brand new HD receiver with twin tuner and recording capability.[geek]

[andyh4]

Northern Ardeche - 45th parallel.  60 cm dishes to Humax and with 4 way LNB to Sky + and Sagecom.

Reception good on all channels but they all drop out in very heavy rain. 

[Tarrot]

I am in the SW (not far from Marciac) and lost channel 5 over the summer.   Over the past few weeks I have also become much more vulnerable to the weather - if it rains, I lose pretty well everything  I have a 1 m dish (mounted in the garden) and I will try "tweaking" it before ultimate despair sets in. Using the bar graphs on the TV I seem to have reasonable signal strength, but "quality" has dropped to 50 percent or less.  I  have a little satellite finder, but I think I will need something more sophisticated. Can anyone recommend a device that doesn't cost a fortune? Is there something that will indicate "strength" and "quality" separately?  I assume the tiny meter I have just gives an indication of signal strength.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Jako"]Not much difference between these channels, same bitrate and FEC. But 4Seven has a vertical polarity and is higher in the low frequency band. Assuming skew and lnb quality are OK, the only question mark is the quality of the cable. The attenuation of a cable goes up with the frequency. How long is the cable?

No idea about the sensitivity of the Amstrad tuner, but you definitely need a brand new HD receiver with twin tuner and recording capability.[geek][/quote]

The cable is about 20M, only about three years old and is only exposed for about three metres which shows no sign of 'weather wear'. The engineer checked the signal at the LNB and at the decoder end, he said it was very good, almost the same.

I am not to sure about the LNB. The dish mount takes the smaller diameter LNB so he took the innards from another (plastic) LNB and put them in this old metal one. Thinking about it and if that is true this might be the cause perhaps?

[Quillan]

[quote user="Tarrot"]I am in the SW (not far from Marciac) and lost channel 5 over the summer.   Over the past few weeks I have also become much more vulnerable to the weather - if it rains, I lose pretty well everything  I have a 1 m dish (mounted in the garden) and I will try "tweaking" it before ultimate despair sets in. Using the bar graphs on the TV I seem to have reasonable signal strength, but "quality" has dropped to 50 percent or less.  I  have a little satellite finder, but I think I will need something more sophisticated. Can anyone recommend a device that doesn't cost a fortune? Is there something that will indicate "strength" and "quality" separately?  I assume the tiny meter I have just gives an indication of signal strength.[/quote]

You will probably need one of the devices from this webage http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/satellitemeters.htm#horizonhdstm . Seems you will need to pay between £200 and £300 for one. Might be cheaper to get a man in. They normally (round here) charge between 70 and 90 Euros.

[Tarrot]

I thought it was going to cost !  Part of my problem is I had to site the dish 60 m from the house (the only available line of sight).  I used low loss cable and until this summer all was well.  The distance makes checking difficult, but before I shell out £200 I'll try taking the receiver etc down the garden. Thanks for the advice.