I installed our satellite TV setup about 12 years ago using an 80cm dish (ground mounted), quad LNB, underground cable (in gaine); 2 cables, each to Humax Foxsat HDRs. No probs except LNB deterioration - changed twice, last time 3 years ago. (Dish is in full Sun most of the day, that seems to affect LNBs).
Signal strength : quality is always close to 100%, although in rain it drops a bit.
Recently however, since BBC put everything HD, the system falls over, even in light rain. I have read other reports saying much the same.
Can I put an amplifier before the Humax; if so, recommendations?
I assume that you are quite north west in France if you are ok with an 80 dish?
I suggest that you change out the old Humax SD box for their newer HD box before you do anythingâŚ
Southern Dordogne, so certainly not N France.
Everything perfect until 2 or 3 months ago, no probs with HD channels 'til then. OK, in heavy rain the HD channels went. Now even drizzle is enough to kill them.
Couple of threads that might give you some info:
The second thread, towards the end, @_Brian usefully suggested I retune our humax which worked for getting HD. The last few weeks though everything has been off - atmospherics Iâm told - and now back on.
We are further south than you, but do have a large dish.
Hi everyone, Iâve just read what others have said about a free view box, etcâŚ
At the moment I only have a sky dish and cable, but will have to get some box at some point to view any television. Can anyone tell me what I might need, or if I will need to get a complete new ariel fitted, as my sky dish WAS my arielâŚthanks
Edited : Sorry meant to add, I am talking about when I 'm back in France this will be something I will need to sort out.
If your dish was still ok for your location, then you just need to get a freesat box (Humax, Manhattan etc) and connect to your TV with the supplied HDMI lead.
1 Like
I donât watch much tv, but when I do, I no longer use the Humax box with satelite, but use the laptop linked to the tv using my vpn, due to the now flakiness of the HD service.
I was using a firestick with a router loaded with expressvpn, but no longer use that as switched to nordvpn. Even though the firestick allowed me to use my new nordvpn through an app, I found the firestick absolutely unusable as it was so incredibly slow and just kept dropping out.
So apologies for the thread drift, but as an option to the satelite, what would be my best option if I no longer wanted to hook up my laptop, and NOT use the firestick, to be able to stream uk based channels?
3 Likes
How old is your Firestick? The older ones are quite feeble and it might be worth buying a newer one. The 4K Max is âŹ43 and is well rated for performance.
Thanks, SuePJ and Adam. Rest are off-topic.
Does anyone have a ânewerâ box than my Humax Foxsat HDR? If so, is that working here with the atmospheric conditions we have had for the past month or two? Might the freaky atmosphere be caused by the giant âhole in the Sunâ that has been causing highly unusual and extensive aurorae?
Thanks @JohnH - my firestick is probably about 4 years old and totally destroyed my trust in it, hence why I havenât ventured to purchase another. Generally, if I buy a product and it fails, I donât tend to go back for more, rather find another working alternative.
1 Like
Have you tried a factory reset and starting afresh? Generally they do the job, though the older ones can be a bit under-powered and can get short on memory if thereâs too much going on.
Yes tried factory reset and also making sure no apps running in the background, and still too slow to use unfortunately.
1 Like
I have a VPN installed on a router with the third party DD-WRT software installed, and I also use NordVPN. Not all routers can do this. My router is an Asus RT-AC87U and you can get second hand ones on ebay france for about âŹ50. Mine works very well for me. Although this router isnât compatible with the NordVPN router app, itâs easy to program manually.
1 Like
Thanks @hairbear - I have a netgear nighthawk R7000 router so wondering if that would also work. Do I just download the software off the net and self explanatory how to install? Thanks
The Netgear R7000 is supported by DD-WRT
https://dd-wrt.com/support/router-database/?model=R7000_v1
There is however an R7000 and an R7000P so youâll need to know which one. You can download the firmware from the site and flash it into your router. Be sure to save the original firmware first if that option is available in case you need to put it back. Once you have DD-WRT installed, you can follow the instructions at
Note that the options that you see in your router may be slightly different to what is on the web page. If thatâs the case. Just leave any options at thier default and only change what the website says to change.
If you decide to go down this route, then PM me if you have any issues and Iâll try to help.
Edit: Just seen this
This says that Netgear routers with original firmware cannot support a VPN client, so you have to flash with DD-WRT in order to get it to work as a VPN client.
@hairbear great stuff and thanks alot - will be diving around a bit today so will take a look later - very helpful, and hopefully my technical skills wont lead to any disaster 
I am about to bin my Sky package as the price keeps going up and up even for basic package. I have found and am changing over to ExPat Prime tv. No dish - comes through the wifi and you can when you get the box - mirror to your tv. Have had a 14 day trial and its been great - over 100 channels all the usual ones. There is a big advert on the Anglo Info paper on line. Has to be worth a go !
Anglo Info Prime TV offer dropped into my spam box this morning and I wondered what it was all about and how good it was, compared to Freesat for instance. No mention of the charges after the free trial though.
Not sure what this meant though 
:
1 Like
you download it to you comp -click and all the channels come - chose and picture is perfect. I am not sure about sending to your tv as yet - my daughter did hers and you send it from your phone. Think all the info is on that ad.
Am waiting for the box to arrive. Just got fedup with bad picture or none at all when you are in the middle of something interesting and it goes off. Also the programmes are there for we think about a week so a âcatchupâ. You can`t record from it like Sky.