Hello all Survivors!
To assist our survival during the winter months we are at the point of needing a new TV satelite and someone proficient to fix it.
We live near Bazas and we find that after 17 years our satelite is only giving us Sky News and sometimes one or two other channels.
Can you help?
What receiver do you have and how big is your dish?
I’m assuming that your talking of Freesat TV ? First, what size is the satellite dish ? You would ideally need a 100 cm dish where you are. The other thing is the LNB. They don’t last forever and their performance can degrade with time and 17 years is a good long life for an LNB, so you may just need to change that for a new one. The other thing is the cable. Some installers use cheap cable suitable for normal TV reception rather than satellite and it doesn’t perform well. Another thing that can happen is that water creeps into the cable where it meets the connector that screws into the LNB and this can cause the signal to be degraded. Yet another thing is that the dish or LNB was either not properly aligned in the first place or has moved slightly over the years.
Now, in an installation in the UK, many of these things may not make much of a difference because the satellite beam is spread mainly over the UK and the Irish mainland. Where you (and me !) are in France the signal level is much lower and generally the further south you go the worse it gets and so these things can make the difference between having all the channels or just a few.
The upshot of all this is that just one of the things I’ve mentioned can cause a very large difference where you are and your issues could be very easy to fix … or not..
If you could post a good picture of your dish, from the front and side would be ideal, and tell us the size that would be a great start. Also, look at your cable and you may find some writing repeated along it’s length. Tell us what it says. You may find the cable outside doesn’t have any or it’s illegible due to sun exposure.
Given the after 17 years comment ….. do you have a HD box. If not begin there - there’s less and less channels not using HD these days (and several of the SD channels need a HD box anyway now - there’s new coding that whilst SD quality can’t be decoded by older boxes). There’s plenty on eBay second hand.
After that - try your local FB groups - there’s always a UK satellite installer there.
Why not use internet?
Avoids having to set up VPNs and recording multiple programs at once?
After 17 years your Satellite receiver (box) will not be compatible any longer with the signal from the Satellite.
Getting a new digital box (good brand is HUMAX) would be the first step. Check the connectors to your old box and go and have a look at new ones either online or at a big supermarket.
Check your TV, ours has the satellite connectors on the back and can receive satellite signals directly so you may not even need a box.
Depending where you are you may need a bigger dish our 80cm near Bordeaux is ok but a 100cm would be better.
The OP stated he still receives Sky News, which is on a transponder that uses DVB-S2, the newer transmission standard. Sky News should be the very last channel to disappear if you have reception issues as the transponder it is on is broadcast on the Astra European beam which has good signal coverage throughout all of France whereas all the other channels on Freesat are broadcast on the UK spot beam which doesn’t. The OPs description suggests signal issues although it would be interesting to know what box he has.
@MIA seems to have gone silent. If he supplies the info we’ve asked for then we could try to help better.
I guess you could say they’re…
wait for it…
Missing in Action 
Hi Matt,
We need someone to install a90cm dish and a new support for it. Possibly also a new head with two connectors.
Regards: Marilyn
Hi
Sorry for late response but we have had Internet issues. We have a Manhattan box, but need someone to install a 90 cm dish for it. Possibly a new head. The other dish is for french TV. Regards Marilyn
Hi
Sorry for late response but we have had Internet issues. We have a Manhattan box, but need someone to install a 90 cm dish for it. Possibly a new head. The other dish is for french TV. Regards Marilyn
Hi
Sorry for late response but we have had Internet issues. We have a Manhattan box, but need someone to install a 90 cm dish for it. Possibly a new head.
How old is the Manhattan box?
As per Hairbear’s posts, you’re going to need a new LNB and cabling to go with a bigger dish.
I’m in SE 47 and installed a 125cm dish a while back to ensure full HD channel reception.
Hi Marilyn, The bottom dish then is the Freesat one. If it’s an 80cm or less I’d upgrade to a minimum 100cm dish and a new LNB. Depending upon what quality the cable is you may be able to keep that but if you do change it and get someone to do it for you, insist they use Webro WF100 cable or one of similar quality. It’s one of the best at a reasonable price. I would also recommend an SMC (reinforced fibre) type dish especially if you experience high winds. It’s great that you have a proper mast mount for your dishes (as I do) as that provides loads of stability. The only thing to watch out for when getting a new dish is that it’s compatible with the width of the pole that you already have on your mast mount. Often bigger dishes require a wider pole but you should be able to find one that fits.
As @NotALot says, knowing the make of the Manhattan box will tell us if that’s OK to still use.
But they no longer make freesat boxes.
Indeed. You used to be able to buy refurbished Freesat boxes from humax until quite recently but they’ve now stopped doing this. Manhattan still do a Freesat box, but I don’t think they do a recordable one. The other option is the Arris Freesat box, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.
