No Signal BBC and ITV

[PossumGirl]

We've had snow since yesterday, although it's stopped for now.  We seem to have lost the signals for BBC channels and ITV channels, although other channels (Four, 5, Sky Movies, etc.) seem to be fine.  Is anyone else having this problem, or is it just snow blocking part of the signal? 

PG

[Richard-R]

getting them fine here, and we have had about 6 inches of the white stuff today.

[Eslier]

You'll probably find that there is snow on your dish and LNB. If you don't want to wait for it to melt you might have to climb up and clear it off. Take care though - ladders and snow/ice aren't a good combination.

[Anton Redman]

Have a look at the dish. If it is clear on snow try unplugging the box or turning off the disjointer counting to twenty and plugging back in or switching the power back on. I ended up putting a switch on the mains lead as I got tired of crawling about the floor after every heavy thunder storm.

[PossumGirl]

I think the problem is probably the LNB.  Apparently, I may be able to reach it with a broom through the trapdoor in the roof.  But I think I'll wait until tomorrow to do it.

If I'm lucky, enough snow will melt off tomorrow during the day, because I want to see LEWIS on ITV.  I'm a sucker for sequels!

PG

[Chrisdubna]

I presume you are receiving your signals from Sky.  There is more than one sat up there and the dish has to be aligned for the best reception on all sats otherwise you can tend to lose signal in poor weather conditions on some channels.  In bad weather, heavy rain, snow or even really wet fog it is normal to lose signal but that would affect all channels.  The way round this problem is to increase gain at the receiving end ie the dish by increasing the size of the dish.  90cm in Brittany is best but in SW France maybe up to 1.5 and even then you are likely to lose signal in really bad weather.  If you really want to be sure of receiving a signal at all times maybe you need to borrow one from Goonhilly Down!

CHRIS

[PossumGirl]

We've actually had very little trouble with signal loss since we've had our dish.  I believe that we do have a larger sized one; I know it's a mesh thingy and is bigger than the mini-dish we used to have for DirecTV in California.  We had a bit of alignment trouble several months back, but our installer came and rectified that, with no trouble since.

Last night, after the snow had stopped for a couple of hours, the signal on all channels came back.  I haven't checked this morning though.  I do think it's snow on the LNB thingamajig.  I might try climbing up on a ladder and sticking a broom out through the trapdoor in the roof a bit later if we still have a problem.

PG

[Eslier]

I'm sorry Chris but I think you might be misinforming people here.  In Brittany, as in most of NW France, a 40cm minidish is perfectly good enough to pick up  the  signals from Astra-2D. Equally, there is no reason why you should lose any signal in bad weather, except thunderstorms or when snow settles on the dish. The important thing is to make sure the dish is properly alligned and installed in a good place. To get the fine adjustment, which makes all the diference, you will need a meter, preferably a switchable hi/lo band meter. So instead of rushing out and buying a bigger dish to try and solve a problem, it might be better to spend that money on a meter instead. In "Sky" terms, being in Brittany is no different from being in the south of England.

[PossumGirl]

Well, I climbed up and gently swept the snow off the dish.  So far, so good.  Signal is all back to normal.  Luckily, I was able to reach with a broom and didn't have to actually climb onto the roof, otherwise, hubby might be a wealthy man today...

PG

[ChezShells]

Hi

Just for the benefit of any searches.

I got all channels in Northen Italy south France and parts of Corsica with a 80cm dish

Here at home I use a sky mini dish.

 

Regards