Satellite problem

[bixy]

All of a sudden I find I cannot get the usual channels BBC 1 - 4, ITV 1 - 4 nor any radio. I can get obscure religious or music channels, so clearly I am receiving the satellite signal. This is not s Sky setup but just an ordinary satellite box. I am totally confused. Any ideas?

Patrick

[Tim]

Need a bit more information Patrick - what are these channels you are getting? This may help to narrow down your problem.

Tim

[bixy]

Thanks Tim. I was getting channels such as: God Europe, God channel, God Revival, Babeworld. When I tried just now I could not even get those.

Patrick

[Tim]

Well, although they are not channels I watch, I'm pretty sure they are transmitted from the 28 east position, so it would seem that your dish is still pointing at the correct satellite for the UK channels, although it's possible that it may be slightly out of alignment and still get one or two channels.

Try the simple things first - have you tried unplugging the box from the mains supply - counting to ten - then plugging it back in again? I don't mean just switching it off and on again.

Have you checked that the cables are all connected properly? Have any trees been sprouting new branches near the dish?

What make of box is it? If it's one I'm (or perhaps somebody else on here is) familiar with it may help in trying to sort out what's going on.

Tim

[Barrym]

when channels get moved around by sky (or astra) the sky decoder automatically changes int programme guide (the epg) to find the new position.  if you have a non sky box you have to do this yourself.  You probably need to do a new programme scan and then look through to see where the channels have been moved to

[bixy]

And they are certainly not channels I watch - it was just odd that they were the only ones available. The box is a Technomate 1500 CI.

I tried a set up and according to what it said on the screen  it was receiving a good signal - strength 92%, quality 76%. No new tree branches nearby. Tried disconnecting from mains - no effect. All leads, connections ok. I am mystified.

Patrick

[Martin963]

Any messages appearing on screen such as "poor signal" or suchlike?   Can you access the onscreen signal meter - it's normally somewhere in the Installation -> add/find channels menus?   If so how is it looking?

I've just (this am) been sorting out an installation where try as we might we couldn't load the BBC radio transponder.   Turned out to be a duff LNB which wouldn't respond to the 22 kHz signal.   But that's not your problem here!

[bixy]

Just seen your post Barrym. I tried a new programme scan - it wasn't picking anything up. When I try a channel it shows a signal strength of 5% or less and yet, as I wrote above, at set up the signal strength from Astra 2 is good.

[Martin963]

ah,  a Technomate,  just like mine!

So on the channels you can't watch (but normally do ) what are the two bargraphs on the menu bar doing (pink for signal strength,  blue for quality).   You need at least three blue squares (absolute min,  five is more comfortable!) for a picture.

If the blue squares are OK it might be a box fault.   Technomates have been known to forget things (mine's done it twice) and need a complete factory reset and full rescan.

[Martin963]

We're cross posting here!!   The signal strength tells you very little,  what's the quality look like (the blue scale) in the "search for channels" menus?  

[Tim]

You are correct Barrym  - Sky boxes do get the frequency changes sent to them so you don't have to worry about it, but in this case, none of the main BBC/ITV tv channels have moved - there was a change the BBC radio channels a few months ago though - and a stream of posts on here followed shortly after!

I think Martin's on the case now - with the same sort of box it should be sorted out swiftly - or the box heads for the bin!!

Tim

[Martin963]

sorry I've wriiten a load of b*;;s about the blue and pink squares,  that's the Technomate 5500!

What does the circular signal meter on the menu bar read on the channels you used to watch and what colour is it?   (is what I should have written).

Confusing when one is the proud owner of two Technomates

Apologies

[bixy]

Hello Martin,

The circular signal strength is red and reads no more than 5%.

Patrick

[Martin963]

Well it does sound as though either the dish has moved enough to knock out the majority of channels,  or that the LNB has failed,  or that the connections on the cables have failed.   I'd certainly start - if you can do it easily - with the connections,  then move on to the dish,  marking carefully its present orientation,  then loosening its clamps a little and trying a nudge both left/right and up/down while watching that display),   I'm sorry if that's stating the obvious already.

You could - before starting on that - borrow a friend's box (set up already on Astra 2) and just check that you've got the same problem when it's connected up to your dish.   Also double check the excellent suggestions by Timco - it's surprising how fast a healthy shrub or tree can block a satellite's view.

[bixy]

Spot on Martin. We had a tremendous storm Wednesday night which blew a hole in our roof. I checked the dish - it's withstood some pretty hefty winds in the past - it didn't appear to have moved at all. However, fiddling with the dish I got the reception back,so it must have moved. I am reminded how much even very small changes affect reception. What confused me was that I was still getting a few channels, so assumed that it could not be the dish.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

Patrick

[Chancer]

Ah but god can get through with very little signal strength[:D]

When my dish went out of alignment I could only get gay and porn channels, nobody would believe that I had not set them as favorites!

[bixy]

Could someone technically minded explain how it is possible to get some channels when a dish is out of alignment?

Patrick

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

[quote user="bixy"]Thanks Tim. I was getting channels such as: God Europe, God channel, God Revival, Babeworld. When I tried just now I could not even get those.

Patrick

[/quote]

Love and hate, religion and porn. Such a fine line[:D]

[AnOther]

Without getting technical different channels are transmitted on different frequencies and polarisations and indeed the satellite(s) have multiple antennas so you can perhaps imagine why, with a very small degree (no pun intended) of misalignment, you might lose some channels.

A couple of other threads discussing this:

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/761100/ShowPost.aspx

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/572170/ShowPost.aspx

[Fridgeman]

Hi all

I think you will find that the sat he was picking up with the God channels was Eurobird 1 @ 28.5E just that litle bit further east, the dish was at the edge of the signal as he lost those channels as well, a little nudge west and he would get both eurobird and astra 28.2, which he has done now, shame he did not mention about the storm in his original post as I am sure everyone would have gone for...................."the dish has moved !!!!!!"

He has sorted it now so that is good.

What a mine of information this forum has...........[:D]

[Anton Redman]

It is not one single satellite it is a cluster of at least three. The people who own them wait till them have drifited right to the edge of the reception area before using fuel to realign them. So you can get one but not all  

[Martin963]

Yes,  although the 28.2 deg E slot appears as one spot in the sky as viewed from earth,  the satellites (from what I remember) move around in imaginary cube boxes,  about 100 miles wide/high/long.   They are actually a couple of hundred of kms apart from each other as well.   Somewhere on the net there's a long duration exposure of the night sky,  reversed into negative,  and you can see the beautiful graceful curves of the satellites making up the cluster (it might have been 19 deg E in the photo) as they dance round each other in the sky over a six hour period.

Fridgeman's explanation seems very likely - Eurobird is away from the Astra cluster by rather more than the inter-Astra separation,  and although most dish orientations see both lots fine,  you can nudge the position so that Astra or Eurobird  become "invisible" while the other one still works.

Glad you're sorted.

[bixy]

Yes, I should have mentioned the storm in the first place but  it was the fact that  I was still receiving some channels that made me think that it could not be the dish. Now that I have had the explanation about Eurobird I understand.

As has often been remarked; what a wonderful place this forum is. Unfortunately I am seldom able to offer any help myself, being something of a nincompoop at more or less everything, but I have received help countless times on the forum.

Thanks once again to everybody.

Patrick

[Tim]

Well I did say in my second post that it was possible that the dish may be a touch out of alignment as I've experienced this many times before with various installations, but I've found it's always best to eliminate the simple things first before messing about with the position of the dish - especially as most sat boxes don't have decent signal strength/signal quality indicators.

Patrick - I'm glad you've managed to sort out your problem and are not stuck with being forced to watch the channels you were getting!!

 

Tim

[bixy]

Had it not been for Babeworld, I might have thought that divine intervention was at work!

Patrick