Satellite Tuning thing (Astra2) ?

[JohnI.Stephen]

Sorry guys; I posted this question within another thread but I guess I need to ask it separately.

I have a small Maplins portable satellite setup which works well. However,whilst I can select BBC1 (South East) easily, if I select BBC1 (North West)the picture is full of squares and is impossible to watch. Why would this be? all the other channels come through crystal clear?

Does this mean that we have a range of frequencies and that I need to fine tune my dish in some way ?

Thanks

 

[Lutz]

Check the frequencies. BBC 1 South East is on 10.8175GHz whereas BBC 1 North West is 10.788GHz. All the other settings are the same (vertical polarisation, symbol rate 22000, FEC 5/6)

 

[JohnI.Stephen]

Thanks Lutz but what does that mean to me in practice? All I can do (surely) is move my dish up and down and from side to side. Or am I missing something (again ?!)

John

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Hi John

You could try twisting the LNB slightly to see how this affects the tuning scale reading

 

[JohnI.Stephen]

Thanks John; I'll try what you suggest but I guess my concern is that, I was under the (false?) impression that, having locked onto the satellite, I would then be able to receive any and all available (non scrambled) channels. Up until now, this has been the case; or so I thought. However, to have clear reception on all my favourites except the one, is baffling. Either i AM locked onto Astra 2 or I am not.... or is it more complex than this?

Thanks for your further explnations !

John

(At a wonderful site near Keswick where, upon my suggestion they now have Wi-Fi ! Hurray !)

 

[WatsonJohnG]

It can depend on local reception conditions and the strength of the particular channel

I can get picture break up at home sometimes on one of the movie channels but usually its OK

 

[Lutz]

No, John, it's got nothing to do with your dish if you get good reception on one channel but poor on another (unless one is vertically polarised and the other horizontally, which isn't the case here - otherwise it could be a sign of a defective or maladjusted LNB). The problem in your case must be one of fine tuning the receiver.

 

[JohnI.Stephen]

Hello John and Lutz; thanks very much. I had "fiddled" (technical term !)with the LNB and have improved the Signal Quality from 16-20% --> 60%+ ! Now I seem to be able to receive all the channels OK. Many thanks to you both.

John

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Hello John and Lutz; thanks very much. I had "fiddled" (technical term !)with the LNB and have improved the Signal Quality from 16-20% --> 60%+ ! Now I seem to be able to receive all the channels OK. Many thanks to you both.

John

Great

Enjoy the holiday

We go to France on Tuesday for 7 weeks !!

 

[john_374302726]

Sorry for butting in but I bought same setup from Lidl and it works very well, but I cannot receive any english radio stations. Can you?

Any info greatfully received thanks.

John

 

[JohnI.Stephen]

john: Firstly what satellite have you tuned in to? Personally I select Astra2 because there you get the UK TV and radio stations (including the best of all, Planet Rock !)

John

 

[john_374302726]

Hello folks.

Sucess I did a search for radio stations and it found them all magic!

I also searched for tv stations not a good idea it produced hundreds many of which are scrambled or rubbish. They certainly take some sorting!

Has anyone produced a listing of decent stations free to air?

Kind regards John

 

[JeremyClarksson]

With the satellite suitcase sold in Lidl, Maplins etc only search for FREE to air (FTA) channels otherwise you will end up with hundreds of scrambled channels, so if possible do not search for ALL unless you have a box that takes a card and the card.

Unfortunately you have to reset all the channels to get rid of the scrambled ones again - an alternative is to use the fevourites menus to store the channels you want to watch.

re. original question there are several satellites on 28 deg east transmitting digital signals, all going under Astra2 and Eurobird deignations (local BBC channels appear on both), you have to be pretty much spot on to get a lock on them all.

If you get a lock on one channel and think "job done" you are likely to miss a few.

If you spend a few minutes more you should be able to lock on them all if you are in the satellite target area.

I was in Blue Anchor the other week and could get no freeview - only poor reception of those foreign channels from over the Severn so a perfect lock on satellite was well appreciated! (weather was poor).