UK satellite picture problems

Technology
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I subscribed to simply get their tax article this year, as it was also on offer. Not the best decision I made, as found it vague and not very helpful. More help on SF. And I seem to notice they have a tendency to generally report after the event on many topics + run many articles repeated, but with different verbage. Needless to say wont be renewing!

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Hi again Hairbear. I’m obliged for the tip on -25° skew. I did change right away but couldn’t detect any immediate improvement. It was not until this past week, which has seen us losing all “terestial” at times, even under clear skies. I was able to conduct a decent test (alignment and focus too) when ITV SD (801) was the only channel left here, and was breaking up badly. 2° either side of -25° (never mind eight) and the signal was totally lost, thus confirming -25°. Mind you, a number of websites were still showing -17°. Must all be singing from the same (wrong) hymn sheet. Thanks again.

Interesting also to read that there have been wholesale reception problems with FreeVIEW in the UK. I guess the local terrestrial transmitters might download from satellite. Whatever, the powers that be might then have to turn the wick up, thus allowing us obnoxious ex-pats more access to the forbidden fruit!

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I wonder whether we’re not being told much about atmospheric disturbances / unusual behaviour that might have come about because of very unusual solar activities of late? Much auroral activity?
See Why Solar storms have dramatically increased aurora activity this year | BBC Science Focus Magazine

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… and more:

Seems the so-called solar ‘X-class flares’ started December 2022 / January 2023.

I read elsewhere that these pesky rays can damage satellites’ electronics as well as upset the atmosphere. So I guess any damage could be permanent (unless they built in redundancy).

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Ah. So you have a Sky box then, rather than Freesat. On Freesat, you should never lose all channels as some of them use a transponder on the European beam that is much bigger than the UK tight beam and available in most of Europe.

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… please explain about ‘European beam’. Is this also at 28.2°E?
Maybe you are replying to a UK viewer?
We are in S. Dordogne - on Freesat through a Humax Foxsat HDR - and without doubt have seen a deterioration in reception; until this year it was rare to lose signal (80cm dish, good alignment, LNB changed every 3 or 4 years). Now the slightest ‘weather’ and some channels are lost. As I said earlier, it is a bit better after I twisted the LNB 7° or so a/clockwise.

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Some HD Freesat channels moved from Astra 2D/E to Astra 2F/G which is also at 28.2° East, but apparently has less powerful transponders.

Given the current solar activity, this is making Freesat reception sketchy for a lot of people.

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Thanks.

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Each satellite has a very tight UK beam, covering the UK and whose signal drops of very quickly beyond northern France. They also have a European beam whose coverage is much larger. Both beams transmit simultaneously, but on different blocks of frequencies so as not to interfere. Most Sky and Freesat channels transmit using the UK tight beam. It just so happens that several English language news channels (but not BBC News) are included on various European based satellite offerings and so they’re on the European beam. It just so happens that Freesat uses these channels, and so you should always be able to get these channels.
https://www.flysat-beams.com/astra28-beam.php

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Sorry but most of that went right over the top of my head @hairbear , but can you explain to me why when I change to another channel I lose the signal within seconds but if I then switch to an adjacent channel and back again, the signal returns and stays as strong as ever?

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No. :grin:

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Any recommendations for which Freesat channel should be used in conjunction with a signal meter for dish alignment?

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(A few days ago I would have given a different answer).

We are freesat, West Midlands postcode, like that since 2014-ish. On Sunday BBC1WMidHD was not working at some time, so I skipped through all other regions of BBC1 (all HD). ALL others were ok. Double checked, WMids not working, all other regions good. So we have changed our ‘postcode’ to be in a different region.
Interestingly, WMids only went HD this year, very much later than other regions.

To answer the question — in general Dave (157 on freesat) is the channel I would use to get good tuning.

In normal reception we get above 90% / 80% Strength / Quality on most channels.

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Correction Hairbear – my typo, ITV SD is 803 on Sky (801 is BBC1SD).

I do have a Humax HD Freesat box, very little used in a bedroom (also a “back up” Sky HD+ box in another). However, I did use the Humax to conduct these tests with a small (42”) telly on a table in my back garden. The neighbour must think I’m lunatic!

I’ve had a play about, but can’t detect any of “our” (old folks) channels currently available on Freesat but not on Sky. It would be interesting to know which you find are stronger on Freesat.

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How times have changed :joy:

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They have indeed Corona. Who would have thought watching The Coronation . . . . . the previous one!

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Operation Recover HD is complete. Gone from 75% Signal and 50-75% quality on all HD channels to 100% signal and 80-100% quality.

Installed new aluminium 125cm dish, twin universal LNB and ran new good quality coax cable.

New installation was approx 2 metres above existing dish on stone wall.

Lessons learned:

  1. Unless you have scaffolding and 3 strong friends, you’ll need a pulley point to haul the new dish into place. Dishes aren’t that heavy, but they’re bloody awkward to lift up a ladder unless you have 4 arms.

  2. Get the correct LNB type for your satellite box. Old HD Humax Freesat boxes need Universal LNBs. New Arris 4K Freesat boxes need Wideband LNBs.

  3. Don’t trust the elevation marking on the dish mounts. Mine is 2° out and some swearing was involved.

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Well done!

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Thanks.

It’s take a few days and having an existing working (although not very well for HD) system to enable troubleshooting was a godsend.

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Well done indeed. Just out of interest, what model dish and lnb did you get, and where from ?