Reception Problems

[PaysBasque]

Hello, I wonder if anyone has a similar problem. I've had FTV for the

past 4years and never had a problem. Recently however, with all the

storms over the winter, reception has been getting worse and worse.

When I came back from holiday a week ago I actually had no more signal

whatsoever. I finally got the repair man to come and check it out and

he has been fiddling with the dish orientation. We now have reception

but the signal quality seems to be worse than before.

I do remember

someone telling me that the BBC is narrowing the footprint in order to

get rid of freeloaders like us in France. Is that so or is it just a

question of our dish being too small?

[Anton Redman]

If you had a French repairman it is possible he straightened the LNB to 6  o'clock rather than leaving it a 7 pm. All French set ups use the LNB vertically in the holder.

LNBs also deteriorate over time might be worth trying a new good quality low loss one.  

[PaysBasque]

Thank you, I will ask him about that. It might also be time for a new dish or LNB or whatever else I need.

[Pierre ZFP]

Also check or renew the connector to the LNB.  The cable has a braided outer which attracts water faster than that.  The joint must be absolutely waterproof and if you have had bad weather over the winter well.....  Any water in the cable and the copper corrodes and there goes your signal.  Good news is that it's easy and cheap to fix.

[Martin963]

Certainly you needn't worry about the BBC shrinking the footprint -

Astra controls the satellites,  not the BBC.   Any

narrowing is some years away and relies on replacement satellites being

launched,  which won't happen until the present ones wear out

(Astra 2A would be there in about 2012,  Astra 2D a couple of

years later).

[Brilec]

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]Certainly you needn't worry about the BBC shrinking the footprint - Astra controls the satellites,  not the BBC.   Any narrowing is some years away and relies on replacement satellites being launched,  which won't happen until the present ones wear out (Astra 2A would be there in about 2012,  Astra 2D a couple of years later).
[/quote]

The BBC changed to Astra 2D a couple of years ago in order to avoid the very high charges that Sky were demanding for encryption. They changed because Astra 2D has a far smaller footprint on the earth's surface than 2A. This is to comply with the broadcasting rights issue, where they are not allowed to broadcast outside the UK. In practice of course this is impossible to achieve, but reducing the footprint has done what they were required to do.

As a result you do need at least an 80cm dish if you are more than halfway down France to get reliably good reception.

[Martin963]

Yes I know all that. (sorry - that's not meant to sound rude).    But at that time there was a lot of muddled thinking and rumours that somehow the power of the transponders allocated to the BBC on 2D would be turned down to further shrink the BBC coverage.  That was rubbish,  as I said at the time.   Astra control the satellites,  not the BBC.  

If there hadn't been room on Astra 2D then the BBC wouldn't have been able to move across from Astras 2A and B.   As it was it worked fine and Greg Dyke's absolutely brilliant strategy to excape the shackles of videoguard was successful.  

In actual fact Astra 2D was an off the peg satellite and it was something of a lucky break for the BBC that it all turned out the way it did,  ie that it had more directional beams.

What I was trying to do was to reassure the OP that  reduced transmission power was NOT the cause of their problem.

[Martin963]

That's interesting.   I can't type D Y K E as in Greg D without this forum censoring me.  Ho hum!

[Gyn_Paul]

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]That's interesting.   I can't

type D Y K E as in Greg D without this forum censoring me.  Ho hum!

[/quote]

you have to spell 'buggar' with an 'a' as well !

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