Search for BBC2

[MLD]

We use a Sky box.  We used to get all the 'free' channels it was possible to get, but over the last year they have gone.  we now get BBC1, Channel4+1, ITV(London) on Sky 993 and a few other free channels.  On BBC2 etc we get 'no signal received'.  What have we done wrong and what do we need to do to get it right again?

I'm not sure whether I need to turn the dish again, or whether water has got into the connection.  Any ideas would be welcome.

[Tim]

Well, the nature of digital signals is that they are transmitted in groups - what this means that if you getting BBC2, you should be able to receive all the other channels that are grouped with it. Can you confirm if it is BBC2 England you are getting, or regional Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish? There is a method behind this madness - bear with me.

Regards - Tim

[Anton Redman]

The first stage for me would be to try my box at a friend’s house who also has Sky and try their box at my house so you can eliminate the box itself as the source of the problem. Then :

 

1. Try BBC2 national variants on 989 onwards.
2. Use Services – 4 System Set Up – 6 system test and check signal quality and strength. If strength if over 80% and Quality over 70 you should be alright.
3. Assuming you can reach the dish and LNB – Take your Sky Digibox and a TV outside on a dry day and using a shorter length of coaxial cable check if this improves the reading and the channels you can obtain. If that is the case the cable has probably deteriorated. Try remaking the F connections at both ends or replacing the cables.
4. If it does not improve the reading and you have a standard 80 cm French dish I would try a new LNB from a  hypermarket or DIY store. If you have a black oval fine mesh Sky dish either buy a new LNB by mail order or try steps below.

 Fine tuning the dish alignment.

 

Before you start moving any thing. Mark the elevation on the dish with a paint line or scratch so that you can recover the same position if every thing goes wrong.

Walk down the garden at least 10 metres and hammer a stake into the ground so you can find the exact angle if anything goes wrong.

Wait for a dry day if possible and take you digibox and a small portable TV outside so that you can see them as you move the dish by minute amounts.

Maximise the signal strength then quality on the default transponder:

1. Move the dish up and down and left to right by minute amounts first maximising strength then quality.
2. Lock the position then move the LNB clockwise or anticlockwise and also in and out again concentrating on quality

 

Use the following sequence on the remote control

 

Services (green oval button)

4   System Set Up

0  1  Select ( NB nothing is shown on screen till you press Select)

2  Default transponder

 

The Default Transponder Menu Looks like this

 

Frequency (GHz) 11.778

Polarisation V

Symbol Rate (Mbaud) 27.5

FEQ 2/3

Save New Settings

 

For ITV1 you change the setting to

 

Frequency (GHz) 10.758

Polarisation V

Symbol Rate (Mbaud) 22.0

FEQ 5/6

Save New Settings

 

For BBC 1

 

Frequency (GHz) 10.773

Polarisation H

Symbol Rate (Mbaud) 22.0

FEQ 5/6

Save New Settings

 

Repeat the steps for maximising shown above.

 

Restore the default settings and check signal strength and quality are still OK (they may be a bit worse but if they are still good it is a step in the right direction). 

 

Do not Try a Forced Software Upgrade till you have sorted out the signal quality.   

 

Best of luck

[MLD]

We are not getting any BBC2, but we are getting all the BBC1's.  And only ITV London, not ITV NorthWest.  Hope that helps.

[Gyn_Paul]

What other chnnels have gone missing? even if you don't have a subscription for a channel is should show you a sign-up screen rather than a "no satellite is being received".

Is the dish easy to get at? It would certainly do no harm to re-make the connection to the LNB if there is a bit of slack cable.

The next thing I would suggest is turning the LNB through 90 degrees and then see if this gives you access to a completely different set of channels.

If so, then it's possible your box is only receiving signals from one plane (either horizontal, or vertical, but not both),  which  could mean either the box is no longer sending the 2 levels of voltage needed to effect the switch, or the LNB is not detecting them. Again, a high resistance joint in the cabling could be the cause. Either way, 5 minutes with a meter will give you the answer.

Another option is that the dish is slightly off its marks, but I wouldn't suggest tweaking it without a small portable TV in line of sight. Oh, and as Martin is always reminding us, mark the dish/mast before you slacken off any nuts, so you know where you started from.

I've no doubt others will be along in a minute with other options!

paul

[MLD]

Anton - Checked the BBC1 info from services etc and that was OK, couldn't do it on the ITV channel though.

 

Overall signal strength is about 60% and signal quality about 75% to 80%.

Thanks for your help Tim and Anton.  Margaret

[Tim]

My apologies - I was distracted while writing my reply, but the question still holds - you say you are getting BBC1 - is it all the regions?

Check by going up to channel 971 onwards - to 988 - no gaps.

This may help to ascertain if you have an LNB problem - particularly with polarisation as has already been mentioned.

If you have unplugged the box, counted to ten, and restarted it - the standard first thing to do with a dodgy Sky box - then the problem is pointing to a dish alignment, LNB or cable issue.

Regards - Tim

[MLD]

Tim, yes we get all the BBC1 channels.  Does this mean we have a LNB problem?  I have unplugged the box several times and counted to ... 30 or so each time!

I will have a go at rejoinging the cable to the dish this evening.  The dish is get at able.

Margaret

[Tim]

No, I'm pretty sure it means the exact opposite. It would appear that your LNB is ok.

We have now probably narrowed the problem down to either the cable or the dish - my moneys still on the dish.

Can you tell me by the way, is BBC1 London on channel 101? If not, which BBC1 is it?

Regards - Tim

[Anton Redman]

How big a dish have you ?   Whereabouts in france are you ? Roughly how many metres is the run from the dish to the TV ?

For reference just North of Bordeaux after fine tunning as above I have 100% strength and 95% quality from an LNB with two outputs on an 80 cm dish. Spent an age tweaking because I was feed up with Classic FM breaking up whenever it rained.

It sounds like either dish alignment or cable / joints to me.

[Martin963]

Actually gyn_paul strictly speaking credit should go to Anton for the idea of marking everything.   I merely repeat what's good advice.

And I'd have never thought of Anton's mirror trick for checking on tree obstruction,  a manoeuvre that I have subsequently used a few times.

It's a group effort on this sub-forum!

[MLD]

Thanks for all your replies.  Have just come back from shopping!  On 101 we have BBC NorthWest - perhaps we need to say we've moved to Kent when next in the UK.  Actually we have!

The dish is a small black one , but when we moved here 3 years ago it worked fine with all the channels working OK, we marked the positions then and they look fine to me, so ... ...

By the way we are east of Troyes (10) so quite north of France.

 

[Tim]

Right - BBC1 North West - unfortunately there is no BBC 2 on that group of channels so that's no help to you. I don't think you are, as you say, getting all the BBC1 channels - I'm gussing you don't see BBC1 Wales & Scotland - if you did you should also get BBC2 Wales & Scotland.

I'm still thinking your dish may have moved slightly although it is possible that your cabling may have seen better days. Anton suggested trying your receiver on someone elses dish - can you manage to do that just to confirm my suspicions.

Tim

[MLD]

Sorry, we can't try out our box on someone else's dish, as we don't know any others with a box out here.

Just going to redo the cable fitting into the dish.

M

 

[Tim]

One other thing to look at whilst you're clambering around looking at the dish in the pouring rain - check the 'skew' of the LNB - I can hear you saying WHAT? Well, the LNB is held at the end of the arm of the dish - it's possible that it may have not been done up tightly enough and turned a little. I can't tell you much more about it because you are using a Sky mesh dish and it's a long time since I've played with one of those.

You will need somebody to watch the TV while the tweaking is going on.

Goodluck - Tim

[AnOther]

Anton's mirror trick ?

[MLD]

Yes, I think it was the skew.  I remember it was last time we lost BBC2 etc.  Just need my husband to watch the TV for a few minutes! to give me a hand. 

and we did the satelite dish in the dry, it started raining this morning!!

Thank you again for all your help.  It means a lot to be able to ask for help and actually get it - Thank you.  Margaret

[Anton Redman]

Mirror trick. Eons ago I think. Mount a small mirror with blue tack at the centre of the dish then look from where the LNB mounts if you can see a building,trees or mountains at the centre of the mirror then the dish will not be able to pick up the satellite if it is correctly aimed.

Skew - viewed from the LNB side of the dish and treating the LNB like the hour hand of a watch it should point to about 7 o'clock as opposed to being vertical / 6 o'clock. As with realigning the dish move a small amount count to 10 and then check the signal quality.

The more information that is posted the more it sounds like a minute realignment should cure the problem