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Astra 2E/2F Technical Thread


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Update: After Saturday's little miracle (ITVHD) everything went off again. However, yesterday Himself was back up his ladder a-tweakin' and a-faffin', can't say he's not a tryer. And this time he re-tried giving the LNB a tweak, as suggested by Martin many pages back in this thread. And this time- success! Not perfect of course. Some regional BBCs now with strong signals. BBC2 NI/Wales. No BBCHDs but ITVHD strong. All Channel 5s but no 4s. Definitely weather conditions are playing a big part in this, as over the course of yesterday it was showery and signals started to break up. And at about 11pm last night (clear and calm) we were back to receiving all the channels that we could receive pre-satellite switch. So now we are convinced that given the right conditions we can actually receive them, but a larger dish is required to make the reception more consistent. I hope that more people are finding that things are improving. And thanks again to our experts on here!

PS Rumours that putting in a Scottish postcode would improve things proved in our case to be without foundation. Yes it gave us STV, but everything else remained unavailable. But it was worth a try.

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[quote user="soupagirl"]So now we are convinced that given the right conditions we can actually receive them, but a larger dish is required to make the reception more consistent. I hope that more people are finding that things are improving. [/quote]

Given your reports, I am sure that if you go a dish size bigger, you will get a much better reception giving you less of a problem in poor weather/atmospheric conditions.

I have just changed a 75cm wide dish for a 85cm wide dish and found a massive improvement. The 75cm dish was tweaked to maximum reception but was only just OK here. Any hint of clouds could break up certain channels.

Now with some of the channels that moved recently, I now have even better reception than before any of the changes of the last year [:D]

BBC1 HD on 10847V 23000 now about 12,3 dB. Not bad at all.

Some transponders are now pulling in 18dB on the Europe wide beam (12610 V 22000) [:-))]

Danny

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Hi Quillan, where did you buy your large dish and do you mind me asking how much it cost and what your engineer charged to install. Our dish is currently on the side of our house and is quite high up so don't want to risk it with a ladder!
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Just arrived down in 31 expecting to find nothing being received (80cm dish and a 'Sky' Octo LNB) and lo and behold all channels except for BBC HD - ITV etc HD being received. Some channels, such as Pick have high quality and strength.

Will fit an Inverto LNB tomorrow and also set it up as best I can and will report on any differences.
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[quote user="Gardian"]

Listened to BBC4 radio via the iPad this morning, but decided to switch to Classic FM.  Hitherto, that has worked OK via the TV / Skybox.  Still OK.

For some reason and for the 1st time in a week, I decided to try BBC1 TV and to my surprise got a rather broken picture.  Went to '967' BBC1 South West (which has always been our 'go to' when the weather is dodgy) and we get a perfect picture - well, as perfect as we've ever got down here!

BBC2 on 970 is OK, as is Ch4 & Ch5 (have been without the latter for ages).  No ITV, BBC radio 2 & 4 dodgy.  Haven't tried much else yet, but clearly there's a lot of tweaking still going on.

We're currently just a 50cm dish in the NE Gard.  We have a 1m dish on order for installation in a week's time and we'll still go ahead with that I think, because this is obviously a moving feast, but it does at least provide some reassurance that the new one should prove sufficiently large.

[/quote]

Well, that initial euphoria didn't last and only occasionally since I posted the above have we been able to get anything.

Anyway, we had a bigger dish installed this morning. Its a 1.15m 'monster', but we're now firing on all cylinders - the installer said that he had a hell of a job sourcing it. We would probably have been able to get away with a 90cm one, but no harm in over-spec'ing it - the on cost was marginal.

The installer was extremely professional, speaks almost perfect English and would be happy to help out anybody still experiencing difficulty in this general area. Email or PM me for details.

   

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An update from the deep south, Herault (34) close to Pezenas. The normal dish size here (pre-apocalypse) was 80cm with some getting by with 60cm. After the sat change MOST with an 80cm lost signal from spotbeam 2e (trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about...fail) but about 30% still get all channels on the original 80cm dish. We, sadly were not in the 30%. Today we had fitted a 1 metre dish and I supplied a new quad LNB as the existing one was about 6 years old. All channels now back up and running, we have a rainy/windy day today (most unusual) but almost no picture disturbance at all. I hope this report helps the techies, any more info required just shout.
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Following from my post yesterday saying I had reception………

Just changed LNBs and noted the percentages before and after and also from an access point with possibly 20m more cable.

Figures computed from bar lengths of the ‘meters’ on a Foxsat HD and a Foxsat HDR. Unsure which is Quality and which is strength – anyone know what the top and bottom bars on a Foxsat refer to.

Know there are problems with tables on the forum so each line shows:

Top or Bottom meter, channel, Sky LNB, Inverto, Sky LNB with additional cable length, Inverto LNB with additional cable length.

Percentages calculated by measuring the length of each bar.

It would seem that anything above 67% is categorised as GREEN and anything above 33% and below 67% is Orange.

Ch4 and Ch5 seemed to fluctuate in the top bar – lowest figures used.

All cabling used from a DIY chain and not the best quality.

Dish 80cm mesh dish

Sky LNB – marked Sky J8LS (octo verison)

Inverto LNB – Inverto Black Ultra Quad

The figures certainly show the difference cable length AND LNB makes

All HD channels receivable except BBC 1, 2, 3 and 4.

If anyone would like a copy of the spreadsheet with appropriately coloured figures send me your email address.

Top, BBC1 – 81%, 100%::::70%, 79%

Bottom, BBC1 – 51%, 62%::::50%, 50%

Top, ITV1 – 83%, 100%::::70%, 80%

Bottom, ITV1 – 51%, 62%::::50%, 60%

Top, Ch4 – 77%, 92%::::59%, 75%

Bottom, Ch4 – 51%, 62%::::50%, 60%

Top, Ch5 – 78%, 100%::::59%, 75%

Bottom, Ch5 – 51%, 72%::::50%, 69%

Top, Pick – 100%, 100%::::79%, 84%

Bottom, Pick – 100%, 100%::::100%, 100%

Top, BBC1HD – 0%, 0%::::0%, 0% - NO OR BAD SIGNAL SHOWN

Bottom, BBC1HD – 0%, 0%::::0%, 0% - NO OR BAD SIGNAL SHOWN

Top, ITV1HD – 91%, 100%::::59%, 75%

Bottom, ITV1 – 51%, 72%::::50%, 69%

Top, Ch4HD – 81%, 100%::::61%, 75%

Bottom, Ch4HD – 51%, 52%::::50%, 59%

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The top one is strength and the bottom quality, the qualiy is what you are after. The Humax boxes cannot measure individual channels strength and quality just the transponder. Channels are in groups on a transponder, you can see the groups on the King of Sat website.

http://en.kingofsat.net/sat-astra2f.php

and

http://en.kingofsat.net/sat-astra2e.php

Some channels are still on Eutelsat (or they were) wide beam so you should get 100% strength and quality. The Freesat channel listings are also on wide beam.

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[quote user="PaulT"]

Following from my post yesterday saying I had reception………

Just changed LNBs and noted the percentages before and after and also from an access point with possibly 20m more cable.

Figures computed from bar lengths of the ‘meters’ on a Foxsat HD and a Foxsat HDR. Unsure which is Quality and which is strength – anyone know what the top and bottom bars on a Foxsat refer to.

Know there are problems with tables on the forum so each line shows:

Top or Bottom meter, channel, Sky LNB, Inverto, Sky LNB with additional cable length, Inverto LNB with additional cable length.

Percentages calculated by measuring the length of each bar.

It would seem that anything above 67% is categorised as GREEN and anything above 33% and below 67% is Orange.

Ch4 and Ch5 seemed to fluctuate in the top bar – lowest figures used.

All cabling used from a DIY chain and not the best quality.

Dish 80cm mesh dish

Sky LNB – marked Sky J8LS (octo verison)

Inverto LNB – Inverto Black Ultra Quad

The figures certainly show the difference cable length AND LNB makes

All HD channels receivable except BBC 1, 2, 3 and 4.

If anyone would like a copy of the spreadsheet with appropriately coloured figures send me your email address.

Top, BBC1 – 81%, 100%::::70%, 79%

Bottom, BBC1 – 51%, 62%::::50%, 50%

Top, ITV1 – 83%, 100%::::70%, 80%

Bottom, ITV1 – 51%, 62%::::50%, 60%

Top, Ch4 – 77%, 92%::::59%, 75%

Bottom, Ch4 – 51%, 62%::::50%, 60%

Top, Ch5 – 78%, 100%::::59%, 75%

Bottom, Ch5 – 51%, 72%::::50%, 69%

Top, Pick – 100%, 100%::::79%, 84%

Bottom, Pick – 100%, 100%::::100%, 100%

Top, BBC1HD – 0%, 0%::::0%, 0% - NO OR BAD SIGNAL SHOWN

Bottom, BBC1HD – 0%, 0%::::0%, 0% - NO OR BAD SIGNAL SHOWN

Top, ITV1HD – 91%, 100%::::59%, 75%

Bottom, ITV1 – 51%, 72%::::50%, 69%

Top, Ch4HD – 81%, 100%::::61%, 75%

Bottom, Ch4HD – 51%, 52%::::50%, 59%

[/quote]

It may also help if you can tell us which BBC - ITV region you are on.

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[quote user="Angie"]Would anyone have a rough idea of the cost of buying a 1.5 metre dish?  I am having trouble even sourcing one, let alone finding the price!  Thank you[/quote]

Don't know where you are but

http://www.2galli.fr/boutique/fiche_produit.cfm?ref=AS1500AZEL&type=30&code_lg=lg_fr&num=21

In Villeneuve sur Lot.

And this in Toulouse

http://www.transplanet.fr/boutique/info_produit.asp?num=19833

http://www.transplanet.fr/boutique/info_produit.asp?num=1946

Danny

EDIT didn't see your link, Quillan.

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[quote user="Angie"]Hi Quillan, where did you buy your large dish and do you mind me asking how much it cost and what your engineer charged to install. Our dish is currently on the side of our house and is quite high up so don't want to risk it with a ladder![/quote]

We just had a 1.15m dish installed.

The installer got it from Galli and charged me €150 + €170 for installation + €62 for cable, fixing kit etc.  TVA @ 10% on top.

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As stated, we are getting all HD channels apart from BBC !, 2, 3 and 4 (BBC News, CBBC and Cbeebies HD received). Still, not too worried about the HD channels, just happy that we can still receive all the non HD channels down here in 31, on an 80cm dish.

Will wait a while longer before deciding whether to go to a 1m or 1.2m dish.
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[quote user="PaulT"]As stated, we are getting all HD channels apart from BBC !, 2, 3 and 4 (BBC News, CBBC and Cbeebies HD received). Still, not too worried about the HD channels, just happy that we can still receive all the non HD channels down here in 31, on an 80cm dish.

Will wait a while longer before deciding whether to go to a 1m or 1.2m dish.[/quote]

That is what is weird if you get ITV HD you should get the BBC HD channels.

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I think his dish is just on the cusp as it were. Perhaps tweaking with a proper signal tester may help.

For those on the edge who used to lose their C5 early evening it seems it all starts to fade away around 02:30 at the moment changing a few minutes each day moving towards dawn. I would not have noticed this if it were not for a bad night with my neck and I sat downstairs watching telly at this sort of time. C5 went first then they all followed one after the other. Seems that 2F is 'weaker' than 2E where I live as it was the 2F channels that went first. Yet another new dish is supposed to arrive shortly, same size but better quality, it also takes a 40mm LNB unlike the other which took only the smaller diameter LNB.

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Crebtree wrote 'That is what is weird if you get ITV HD you should get the BBC HD channels.'

It might be nice to have a tweak but at the moment my thoughts are 'leave well alone'.

Waiting to see what happens when it rains heavily (and also trees get leaves) and then decide what size to upgrade to.

I have little experience of dishes and amazed at the lack of provision of fine adjustment mechanisms.
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Forgive me for being blunt, but isn't there another solution to this 'tweak a bit here, left hand down a bit, right hand down a bit more' ???

Employ a professional, who knows what he's doing. If it doesn't work, then you come to a discussion as to how to proceed.

No messing around on dodgy roofs, no re-ordering better quality dishes, no agonising on here.

Sometimes, we have to know our limitations!
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