Some channels on Freesat not being received

blastman

Hi folks, I have a bog-standard $ky box in the living room connected to one of their dishes that has a quad LNB attached. I bought a Freesat HD recordable box for the bedroom which is running off the $ky dish. I've noticed that some channels aren't received properly on the Freesat box, mainly stuff like movies4men and TrueMovies but the one I would like to be able to receive properly is Channel 4 HD. It works sometimes, but usually it is very choppy and will give a message that the signal strength isn't sufficient. My BBC and ITV HD channels work fine, as do all the main SD BBC, ITV and CH4 stations. I have no issues on the $ky box with any channels that I'm aware of, but I don't have $ky HD.

Anyone know what might be the isse, does the dish need a bit more fine tuning or is it $ky's equipment (vaguely remember something about not being able to tune in CH4 HD to other channels in Ireland because the decoder couldn't handle it)?

Thanks.

jujamax

I've noticed CH4HD is hit or miss also, especially when the weather is poor. I also have a recordable Freesat box linked to a Sky dish with quad LNB.

Gerry Wicklow

CH4 HD is one of the weakest signals at the moment and will fail first if the dish is slightly off or in bad weather. However it is also currently testing on the new Astra 1N satellite.
Try a manual tune of 11127 V 22000 2/3 and look for a signal named 21200

Ger Roe

Do you have a nearby wireless phone (DECT not Mobile) in the bedroom? If so, it may be causing interference on certain channels - I seem to remember True Movies being one of those frequencies more likely to be affected by digital interference.

If it is a phone related problem try moving the phone to another location and/or moving the coax feed to the box around a bit, to see if the interference can be eliminated.

It seems to point to a proximity issue, if the other box is receiving correctly.

t c

Exact same problem Blastman. Channel 4HD no signal, CBS channels gone or poor. But had been messing with dish, so got up to-day and did a tune on dish/LNB, now 4HD 95% both strength and quality andd all others back to normal.

So I reckon you need to do the same.

TC

Noggle

Would anybody know howto get BBC News Channel on the Sky Box --I had it for years and then suddenly about a month ago it would not tune in where I had it set upand I can't find it ? Thanks

Tweaky

anybody having problem with POP tv and tiny pop this evening - channels disappeared on sky box and FTA combo - they were keeping the kids entertained and now they are driving us mad !!!

Gerry Wicklow

Tweaky wrote: »

anybody having problem with POP tv and tiny pop this evening - channels disappeared on sky box and FTA combo - they were keeping the kids entertained and now they are driving us mad !!!

Seems everything is missing from that TP.

swoofer

for bbc news do this in the add channels
10802H
22000
5/6 and find.

ok

what is pop tv and is it on astra?

swoofer

ok found tiny pop its on sky ch 617 and its working as i type???

Gerry Wicklow

GBCULLEN wrote: »

ok found tiny pop its on sky ch 617 and its working as i type???

That TP 11307 was off for a while. carrier but no data.

swoofer

and heres tiny pop and plus 1 and I think they changed from h to v, sneaky for a combo.

11307v
27500
2/3

enjoy

gbc

bmaxi

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

CH4 HD is one of the weakest signals at the moment and will fail first if the dish is slightly off or in bad weather. However it is also currently testing on the new Astra 1N satellite.
Try a manual tune of 11127 V 22000 2/3 and look for a signal named 21200

Never been able to get Ch 4 HD on my Freesat box, which is temperamental at the best of times.
When I tried your suggestion I noticed that the box will automatically choose the FEC once I have selected the frequency and polarisation, i.e. it selects 3/4 and won't allow me to change this. This gives me ITV2+1.
Will Freesat boxes automatically tune Astra 1N or does it have to be manually added in some way as I'm assuming it is tuning to one of the other satellites?

swoofer

what is the make of the freesat box? and yes they tune automatically but my humax gives me a choice to say yes/no and what frequebcy are you using for c4hd?

bmaxi

GBCULLEN wrote: »

what is the make of the freesat box? and yes they tune automatically but my humax gives me a choice to say yes/no and what frequebcy are you using for c4hd?

It's a Sagem DS186HD. I used 11127 V 22000 as suggested.

swoofer

12606V F4 Fixed DVB-S2 QPSK 27500 3/4 try this one and say what happens, I'll try the other one but I think I know what the problem is.

gbc

bmaxi

GBCULLEN wrote: »

12606.65 V F4 Fixed DVB-S2 QPSK 27500 3/4 try this one and say what happens, I'll try the other one but I think I know what the problem is.

gbc

No luck. There is no way to extend the frequency into places of decimals and when I put in what settings I could, there was no setting in the FEC section.

swoofer

oops, i just cut and pasted so you can either use 12606 or 12607. is the software up to date and have you tried a freesat re-scan as well? is the signal strength poor?

gbc

bmaxi

GBCULLEN wrote: »

oops, i just cut and pasted so you can either use 12606 or 12607. is the software up to date and have you tried a freesat re-scan as well? is the signal strength poor?

gbc

Yep, signal strength is poor to non existent on the Freesat box but is excellent on my Arriva 120 box which is on the same quad LNB. On the Arriva it is on 12560 V 27500, I think it's from Eurobird. I don't know what satellite it's from on the Freesat box but I had read the signal would be stronger from Astra 1N.

swoofer

ah, now you should have said 12606 on the arriva and did you try 11127 on the arriva?? and there are only 2 frequencies for ch4 hd. the 11127 is very strong, ie 98%q on my spider. did you check cables on the sagecom? did you swop lnb leads on arriva? it could be a faulty box. , and check lead to lnb, could be loose, do you have DECT phones!!

gbc

bmaxi

GBCULLEN wrote: »

ah, now you should have said 12606 on the arriva and did you try 11127 on the arriva?? and there are only 2 frequencies for ch4 hd. the 11127 is very strong, ie 98%q on my spider. did you check cables on the sagecom? did you swop lnb leads on arriva? it could be a faulty box. , and check lead to lnb, could be loose, do you have DECT phones!!

gbc

I scanned in both 11127 and 12606 on the Arriva and both are Ch4 HD but so is 12560, it actually appears to be on Astra 2a. Are the TPs specific to a particular satellite or could they be duplicated on one or more? I mean, if you select Astra 2a to scan and put in a TP that's on Eurobird, will the box automatically scan the right satellite?
It is quite possibly a faulty Sagem box, this is the second one of the same model and it throws tantrums every now and then. I'll replace the Sagem with the Arriva tomorrow and see if I'm getting Ch4 HD, Mrs Bmaxi is watching a movie at the moment and it's more than my life's worth to start messing now.

Gerry Wicklow

Dont know how you are getting CH4HD on 12560. 12606 is actually Eurobird 1 and 11127 is the new Astra 1N tests.

watty

The satellite receiver has no clue even what satellite constellation you are pointed at.

The ONLY things that really matter are the Frequency, polarisation and symbol rate on DVB-S (FEC may be needed but can be automatic). On DVB-S2 there are additional parameters.

Satellite names or transponder numbers are just a convenience. If you have no Disqec or Multiswitch and no motor you can actually "scan" any satellite and if the "real" satellite(s) the dish is pointing at has any almost matching frequencies with the same polarisation and Symbol Rates then those channels will be found.

www.lyngsat.com
"Eurobird 1 & Astra 1N/2A/2B/2D at 28.2°E" (and 28.5°E)
See http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html

You'll see there are indeed real transponder numbers. These are of no significance to domestic Satellite receivers, nor indeed is the exact name of the "satellite".

On a Domestic receiver pick ANY satellite at 28.2E (in case you later add Motor, multiswitch or 4 way Diseqc switch) and simply make sure all the entries are correct. Transponder lists on Satellite receivers get out of date and you have to edit, delete or add transponder entries.

Actually nowadays many "transponders" are not "real". A real transponder will have only one polarisation, but could be 75MHz "wide" so the listed "transponders" on Lyngsat and your sat receiver menu can in fact just be centre frequencies of carriers on a Transponder. You might have 6 x 12.5MHz wide, or 3 x 25MHz or a mix. The symbol rate and the Modulation (QPSK, APSK etc) actually allow calculation of the bandwidth. Lower symbol rate is less bandwidth so more Carriers (listed as Transponders) can be fitted on one physical Transponder.

If you look here http://www.lyngsat.com/europe.html you'll see you can pick the individual satellites at the 28.2E constellation. Normally you would never do that. But if you had a 4.8M dish you could actually maybe only get one of the satellites at a time because the "beam" is so narrow. To a regular size dish all the five satellites seem to be at the same place. With a 1.1m dish the difference with Eurobird1 (really 28.5) is noticeable and you need to point the dish at about 28.35 and not 28.2. Even the Satellites at 28.2 (the other 4) are maybe 200km or more apart so a large enough dish can "see" one and not the others.

The Satellites are over 36,000km from us so with a regular dish 5 satellites looks like one.

bmaxi

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Dont know how you are getting CH4HD on 12560. 12606 is actually Eurobird 1 and 11127 is the new Astra 1N tests.

All I can say is, when I press the info button, the blue info band says Ch4HD Astra 2A 12560 V 27500 and the Ch4HD logo is in the corner of the screen.

Gerry Wicklow

12560 V & H are Eurobird 1 frequencies although your box may still call it Astra 2 as it is part of that group.

swoofer

i did a scan on that and no channel 4hd! are we talking about same channel? it is CH4HD UK. There is no ch4hd logo onscreen as I type! Do you mean info button on the arriva?

any luck with checking leads on the sagecmon?

gbc

bmaxi

GBCULLEN wrote: »

i did a scan on that and no channel 4hd! are we talking about same channel? it is CH4HD UK. There is no ch4hd logo onscreen as I type! Do you mean info button on the arriva?

any luck with checking leads on the sagecmon?

gbc

I'm more confused than ever. I swapped out the Sagem and the Arriva this morning and the Arriva picked up Ch4HD in the other location so I thought, no problem with connections. However when I plugged in the Sagem where the Arriva had been, it too picked up CH4HD on 12606.
I swapped them back and tried to tune CH4HD on 12606 but nothing, when I tuned 11127 the box said "one service found" but didn't add anything, I assumed this was because the channel doesn't have a name. Both signal and quality were 100% and for a brief moment the programme that was showing on CH4 flashed up but I pressed the wrong button and lost it, couldn't get it again.
The channel on the Arriva is definitely 12560, my box has it as being on Astra 2A but Gerry reckons that may be a mistake. Anyway I rescanned the TP and CH4HD is the only channel on it, there are no other tv or radio channels.

swoofer

why would you swop them back?? or are they in different rooms!! you could try swopping over at the lnb end as well, are all 4 outputs on the lnb in use??

and you have me slightly confused as well. that 12560 is not c4hd uk, trust me.

its probably a dodgy box, do you know how to do a new rescan ie like a new install and have you got the lastest software on the sagecmon and use a different post code, try a manchester one. use this M3 5AS.

gbc--

i am away for about an hour

bmaxi

GBCULLEN wrote: »

why would you swop them back?? or are they in different rooms!! you could try swopping over at the lnb end as well, are all 4 outputs on the lnb in use??

and you have me slightly confused as well. that 12560 is not c4hd uk, trust me.

its probably a dodgy box, do you know how to do a new rescan ie like a new install and have you got the lastest software on the sagecmon and use a different post code, try a manchester one. use this M3 5AS.

gbc--

i am away for about an hour

Yes, they are in different rooms. I use the Sagem with a full HD tv and the Arriva with an HD ready tv, for terrestrial channels.
Only two of the outputs on the LNB are in use but I'm afraid swapping them is not an option as that would involve bmaxi and a ladder, two things which are not compatible.
The Sagem is the second of that model, the first died after about two months and I have never been happy with the second one.
I have used different postcodes, no difference. Why would it make a difference?
I'm including a photobucket link of a photo I took of my tv screen. As you can (Ihope) see, the 4HD logo is in the TLH corner and the info bar is on the screen.

swoofer

ok, the channel banner is done with a channel editor and that is not showing the actual frequency, with some boxes if you do a rescan while on the channel it will save the new frequency but not actual change the frequency on channel banner. I dont know the ferguson but on my edision i can press info then red button and that tells me all I need to know ie frequency. The reason it is tricky to get the new channel 4hd is that it is broadcast in Astra 1N 11127.00 V 44 UK DVB-S2 8PSK 22000 2/3 and the other is still Eurobird 1 12606.65 V F4 Fixed DVB-S2 QPSK 27500 3/4
see the 8psk bit, this allows greater compression. And the sagemon may not allow you to change to 8psk. I have a spare humax freesat hd box as well and to get it to tune in to the new frequency took a bit of getting used to but I did in the end and it came up as a number, 21200 or such like.

Thats no use to you but both boxes worked when you switched them so not all bad. Have you tried each box with only one lead connected? And please say you are not using lnb loopthrough!!

i will post separately on the ferguson channel bit. I am intrigued.

bmaxi

GBCULLEN wrote: »

ok, the channel banner is done with a channel editor and that is not showing the actual frequency, with some boxes if you do a rescan while on the channel it will save the new frequency but not actual change the frequency on channel banner. I dont know the ferguson but on my edision i can press info then red button and that tells me all I need to know ie frequency. The reason it is tricky to get the new channel 4hd is that it is broadcast in Astra 1N 11127.00 V 44 UK DVB-S2 8PSK 22000 2/3 and the other is still Eurobird 1 12606.65 V F4 Fixed DVB-S2 QPSK 27500 3/4
see the 8psk bit, this allows greater compression. And the sagemon may not allow you to change to 8psk. I have a spare humax freesat hd box as well and to get it to tune in to the new frequency took a bit of getting used to but I did in the end and it came up as a number, 21200 or such like.

Thats no use to you but both boxes worked when you switched them so not all bad. Have you tried each box with only one lead connected? And please say you are not using lnb loopthrough!!

i will post separately on the ferguson channel bit. I am intrigued.

Yes, 21200 is the number for CH4HD on 11127. That's what comes up on the Ariva box. The Sagem does allow me to change to 8psk.

bmaxi

Just to update. Managed to tune in 4HD today as 21200, they must have finished tinkering with it. Signal and quality 100%, excellent picture and sound.

swoofer

great stuff and thanks for getting back

gbc