Astra 2 problems in Midi

[chessfou]

Anyone else S of the Massif Central having trouble with Astra 2 reception?

After a couple of years with no particular trouble the last few months have seen BBC2, 3, 4 become impossible and BBC1 is really problematic ("mosaic" break-up), although for that we can usually find one of the regional versions that will work.

Whenever problems arise it's a question of what - satellite, weather, tree growth, new building, parabola, LNB, cabling, decoder ... , so I want to see if we can eliminate the first one.

[Martin963]

If it was "the satellite" (actually Astra 2 is a cluster of five different satellites co-located) that was giving problems over a period of several months then Digital Spy and a few other places would be buzzing.

Time to check your end I'm afraid!!

[tj]

Hi

The satellites are always ok, so that eliminates that question.

If the equipment is ok, decoder, cable etc which it sounds like it is since you are receiving other channels no problem , and if there were something new in the way you would be able to see it easily since to affect the reception of the dish it would be less than about 50 feet away.

Ruling that out, then your left with just the alignment of the dish, which I would guess is the cause of your current troubles.

[chessfou]

Thanks for the response. I was certain the problem lies with the dish (or possibly LNB?) but when I checked it, it seemed to be just as "solid" as when it was put in 2.5 years ago - it is ground mounted on a "socle" (sorry, can't think of the English for that word). I suppose there is a very small amount of "give" (not the socle but the dish itself).

Does the following give any clue as to which direction the dish may have become dislodged (assuming it is that):

Astra 2D 10714 H - ok

Astra 2D 10773 H - more-or-less nothing

?

[Pierre ZFP]

What sort of signal quality are you getting on Astra 2D 10714 H as opposed to the other ?  Could be that this just on the limit and a transponder with a little less power cant make it for the other channel.

I would be looking for water ingress at any of the cable connections, especially the one at the LNB.  The F connectors are well known for allowing the cable to soak up water like a wick and then you get corrosion etc.  Often best to cut off a couple of cms and re-attach.

F-connector, my least favourite cable joint after Scart!

[andyh4]

That's why it is called an F connector Pierre

[Martin963]

Before you start re-aligning the dish,   which probably is going to be necessary,   just take a glance at the LNB.   How far "off the vertical" is it?   By that I mean,  assuming it's one where the cable comes out of the bottom,  is it in fact twisted slightly clockwise (as it should be) so that the cable is actually not quite vertical but tending to leave in the direction of the ground nearer 7 o'clock than 6 o'clock.    If you see what I mean.    If it isn't twisted by about 15 deg clockwise (as viewed from in front of the dish) then loosen the clamp and try that.

Whilst it wouldn't explain the loss over the last few months,  it is the case that some of the Astra 2D transponders seem to need the LNB to be twisted more than expected,   although there has never been an official admision about this.

If that doesn't improve the signal QUALITY (forget strength) then a tweak to the dish looks to be necessary.

Do double check growth,    the effects are very gradual and subtle,   as demonstrated at our place when a very elderly apple tree put on a burst of discreet growth and eventually brought signals on 2D to a shuddering halt.

[Pierre ZFP]

[quote user="andyh4"]That's why it is called an F connector Pierre[/quote]

[:D][:D][:D]

[chessfou]

Thanks guys (I assume). I'll take a look at the F ING connector (as well as the LNB) before fiddling with the dish.

However, before I start on that, I wonder if it might not be the "growth" problem (we had that once in East Anglia). Here there are no trees in line but TNT has arrived and I think our neighbour's chimney (which is in line) has sprouted an additional aerial (about 30m away from our dish)..

Is it

(a) possible that's the problem;

(b) likely that's the problem?

[Martin963]

It is theoretically possible I suppose,   but I would say -  given a 30 m separation - very very unlikely at that distance.    The "shadow" cast of something that small at that distance would have pretty much dissapated, even if it was directly in the signal path.

[Tim]

I agree Martin - I would think it extremely unlikely that a TV antenna would cause a problem at that distance - still, RF eh? Funny stuff!

Tim

[AnOther]

Just out of interest here offshore I have a 1.2m SEATEL stabilised system (on a floater if I hadn't said before and we go around in never ending circles - no comments please!).

Being up in the wilds of the North Sea we have an azimuth of about 22deg and about 50m away from the dish out on deck we have a couple of tall light posts perhaps 1m in dia with a platform on top of about 3m dia with an array of sodium spotlights and I have witnessed partial dropouts as we traverse the the appropriate headings.

Fortunately at that size and distance the actual window of blockage is a fraction of a degree so is usually traversed without even being noticed.

[chessfou]

Hah! Problem now solved.

We spotted some big weeds about 2m from the dish - cut them down - no, it wasn't them.

It was the digibox (and I thought "mosaic" problems always emanated from elsewhere).

Our friendly neighbourhood shop owner has loaned us a replacement box (identical to the one which went on the blink - Aston Simba 202), despite the fact that we didn't buy the first one from him - it really is nice living in a small community. Everything now works perfectly (although we did lose Astra 2 during last night's snowstorm) even though there's a load of snow and ice on the Astra2 dish, which I can see from the kitchen window (I'm not going out to look at the Astra1 & Hotbird dish mounted on the roof).

The only remaining question (I think) is do we simply replace the duff box or do we upgrade to a box with HD.

[Tim]

Glad you found the problem.

The only other problem is to HD or not HD?

If you do want HD then the next issue is do you want to go the Sky subscription route or the freesat route?

I've just managed to get hold of the new Humax freesat PVR and so far, I'm impressed - not just with the HD side of things, but also at the moment, the ease of recording. Not easy to buy one at the moment, though, the demand is extremely high and as far as I know, none have made it across the channel.

Decisions?

Regards - Tim

[chessfou]

Not interested in Sky - we have a CanalSat sub, so get French channels by Sat and also misc. FTA, mainly German, Italian & Spanish  (Astra1) and use Freesat (Astra2) for FTA BBC & ITV (also have Hotbird but hardly ever use it - a relic from TPS days).

Thinking about the Aston Wamba HD (one of the very few that can handle a CanalSat card) but €500 requires a bit of thought.

Also slightly hesitant because our TVs are going on 3yrs old; Sony has HDMI in but our main TV - Phillips - has a DVI-I in which I know should work but anticipate a bit of effort being needed to find the right connector.