SAT TV frequency problem

[chessfou]

BACKGROUND:

We had one dish with Astra1 & Hotbird (i.e. Canal+ & TPS) but my wife wanted to watch her soaps (Eastenders in particular), so we got a second dish for Astra 2 (28.2E).

PROBLEM:

However ... we get only those channels  (Astra 2A/2B) of 27,500 frequency and can't get any of those (Astra 2D) that are 22,000 (i.e. all the UK free-to-air channels of BBC & ITV).

QUESTION:

Wherein lies the problem? Is it the dish (alignment? it certainly ought to be big enough - 90cm, I think) or is it the LNB?

Any help gratefully appreciated.

[George]

I'm no expert, but think we need to know a little more about the setup, in particular the second dish.  Is it the same and with a monoblock LNB and are you trying to link to the same digibox?  If so are you just swapping connections when necessary etc. As an interim, from my research 90cm would seem to be a bit excessive for France and smaller would be easier to align.

 

 

[chessfou]

I'm no expert, but think we need to know a little more about the setup, in particular the second dish. [George]

1 LNB on new dish for Astra2 (old dish has 2xLNB - for Astra 1 & for Hotbird) - all 3 connected to a 3-in/1-out "Diseq" - thence in to an Aston Simba 202 digibox. All professionally installed.

Simba has both automatic and manual addition of channels. Auto failed to find any of the 2D channels. Manual installation (by specifying Frequency, Rate, Polarisation & Satellite) also works fine for 2A/2B (rate 27500) but fails totally for all 2D channels (rate 22000).

My guess is that:

either the LNB is not properly set (for what we want - 2D)

or we should have a second LNB (leaving the working 2A/2B installation alone)

but I know nothing about SAT TV.

I would like to have a clearer idea before calling the installer back.

[andyh4]

Are you sure that you are not trying to receive digital signals through an analogue box?  If so it won't work you will need a decoder "numerique"

 

[George]

Not likely to be of any help here, presumably as 2A and B channels are ok then it must be numerique (BBCi channels are on 2A I think)
Have not seen anywhere to be able to specify 2D once the LNB is aligned to Astra 2

[George]

Just a thought - not in France at the moment, but just looked in my manual for an Optex box that I have there.  Its not clear, but is there a possibility that there might be some adjustment possible where the "LNB type" is selected. ie my manual appears to be showing a frequency and if so may be adjusted at that point.  May be clutching at straws, but trying to help [:)]

[Btuckey]

Chessfou,

My guess is that your LNB is not switching between 'High band' (Astra 2A & 2B) and 'Low band' (Astra 2D).  This may be a hardware fault or programming error.  Firstly, try connecting the dish directly to the receiver and initiate a 'search'.  I am not familiar with your receiver, so check in the menu that 2D is expecting a 'Universal' LNB with 22KHz tone switching. 

Hope this helps.

Brian 11500

 

[Martin963]

As Brian says,  get the receiver wired up to the Astra 2 dish direct and then do a manual search on EACH of the BBC frequencies on 2D,  using the parameters shown on the Lyngsat satellite site.

http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html

Personally I have had nothing but trouble with Diseq and gave up (on two different installations) long ago.  The switches simply killed off certain frequencies which worked fine when the Diseq was removed.

The other thing to try is giving the LNB a little twist clockwise (as viewed from the front of the dish) so that it is about 5 - 10 deg off the natural position.   For some reason that even the experts can't explain,  the BBC transponders on 2D seem to benefit from a slight skew adjustment and sometimes this can make all the difference.   You shouldn't lose the 2A/2B signals by doing this,  check the signal quality meter if you can as you do it.

Slight dish misalignments are actually aggravated as the dish gets larger;  the satellites are in a cluster in space,  but several 100's of kms apart,  and if your installer set it up on Astra 2A or B he/she may not have done 2D any favours.   Mostly there's no problem,  but just once in a while.....

If all else fails take your Simba to a British friend with a Astra 2 dish,  get it working there,  then bring it home;  that should narrow down the problem.

 

[Martin963]

Forgot to say,  make sure that the Forward Error Correction for 2D freqs is set to 5/6 if the info is requested.   You won't find a signal if it's wrongly set,  although often it finds the answer automatically.

[chessfou]

Many thanks to you all for the info - there's plenty there for me to be getting on with.

I have one more thought, though, before I go further: the list of satellites (selectable by the digibox) shows just "ASTRA2" (no other indicator and just the one, so no choice of 2A/2B & 2D) - is that normal or is it a big clue to where the problem lies, or just a red herring?

I am particularly pleased to get the little "twist" about giving the LNB a "little twist" (kind of like the standard "give it a little tap with a hammer" [;-)]). Though I'll try by-passing the Diseq first.

I'll fiddle some more (should see the installer Sunday morning - our local market day and his shop is open then) and will report back in due course (sometime next week unless problem solved sooner). Thanks again.

[chessfou]

I've been involved with computers, software, AI & consumer electronics for 36 years, so I shouldn't really be surprised ... that everything now seems to be working (at least I've added BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 & ITV2). So, what did I do? Absolutely nothing (of course, aside from trying the manual installation of those channels again), although we have had a couple of storms ... [;-)]