Sky News, CNN, Euronews, France 24 + others missing from FTA service

Alex Forrest

Just looking for some advice on this. From some time in early December my parents noticed that channels such as Sky News, CNN, Euronews, France 24, Al-Jazeera, CCTV News, music channels, CBS, gave no signal when selected on their free to air system. None of the UK terrestrial channels (BBC 1-4, ITV 1-4, Channel 4, E4, Film 4, More 4, Channel 5) were affected, and still had Russia Today, PCNE Chinese, NHK World and CNC World.

Tried manually tuning Sky News and CNN today with frequencies I found online, but no success. Tried a full auto installation but system did not find any of the lost channels. It found some new channels that we didn't previously have before: Five USA, 5' and EWTN.

Tried searching online for others with this issue but it seems to be unique. Maybe someone might know what might be wrong?

Liameter

It could be caused by faulty cable, faulty connection, faulty LNB, faulty dish or faulty receiver. Did I miss anything?

Oh, yes, local interference or something partially blocking the signal path.

The Cush

Alex Forrest wrote: »

Just looking for some advice on this. From some time in early December my parents noticed that channels such as Sky News, CNN, Euronews, France 24, Al-Jazeera, CCTV News, music channels, CBS, gave no signal when selected on their free to air system. None of the UK terrestrial channels (BBC 1-4, ITV 1-4, Channel 4, E4, Film 4, More 4, Channel 5) were affected, and still had Russia Today, PCNE Chinese, NHK World and CNC World.

What satellite receiver are they using?

Regarding the missing channels are the other channels on that frequency/transponder missing also e.g. on the Sky News frequency (12207 V) are Pick TV/Pick TV +1/Community Channel missing also? Are the missing channels on the same satellite? Are the missing channels on the same polarity H or V? Are all the missing channels above or below 11700?

Take a look at the Lyngsat frequency list for Astra 28 and note the channels/frequencies that are missing - http://www.lyngsat.com/Eutelsat-28A-and-Astra-1N-2A-2B.html

Alex Forrest

They are using a Triax ST-HD 537 Combi receiver.

Thanks for your link to the Lyngsat frequency list. I did a full scan again last night and compared the channels received to those in the Lyngsat frequency list. The scan returned Euronews and Al-Jazeera, but still missing channels my parents would like: Sky News, CNN, CNBC, France 24, Bloomberg

Yes, when I looked through the frequency list and saw a channel that I would like to have but was missing, all other channels on that frequency were also missing. The missing channels aren't restricted to frequencies with H or V polarity.

The system has all the channels from Astra 1N (10714 H to 10935 V).
Astra 2F: only channels from 10964 H and 11022 H.
Eutelsat 28A: only channels from frequencies 11224 V, 11260V, 11343 V, 11390V, 11527 V, 11565 V, 11585 H, 11623 H, 11681 V.
There are no channels from Astra 2A or 2B, and no channels from frequencies above 11700.

Maybe this pattern might point to a specific fault with the system? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The Cush

Alex Forrest wrote: »

They are using a Triax ST-HD 537 Combi receiver.
...

Maybe this pattern might point to a specific fault with the system? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Can't put my finger on a specific fault. There's a thread on that particular receiver over in the terrestrial forum but again not sure if that could be the fault. Can you get your hands on another sat receiver to rule a problem with that receiver.

Are the frequencies of the missing channels stored in the receiver with the correct transponder parameters such as SR, FEC, polarity etc.?

If this correct I would look at dish alignment and check co-ax cable/connections to sat receiver and maybe LNB replacement.

What size of dish are they using, I have/had a problem with my T90 dish overloading a satellite receiver failing to find/store channels from certain frequencies.

Alex Forrest

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I have a Technomate TM-3100 D receiver which we used to use before switching to the Triax receiver when Saorview came in. Will try a scan using the Technomate receiver in the morning and see if I get different results.

In terms of the polarity, symbol rate settings etc I'm confident that they were stored correctly by the receiver.

Alex Forrest

Forgot to mention that my parents' system uses a 60cm dish.

I plugged the cable from the dish/LNB into the Technomate receiver earlier today. It still had the frequency settings since it was last used, yet the channels I'm missing gave a 'no signal' message on this receiver after I'd plugged the cable in. Did a full scan just to see what channels it would pick up. Got a slightly worse result in that only the BBC/ITV/Channel 4 channels were received. Weather here was poor today so that mightn't have helped reception.

I think the results would rule out the receiver as the cause of the problem. Maybe the dish is out of alignment? I'm reluctant to move it though as it's taken a lot of work to get it aligned correctly in the past. Might wait until weather improves before starting on it, can manage without Sky News and others till then.

snaps

Sounds to me your dish has moved slightly towards the west. The channels you are talking about are on eutelsat 28.5 east, the rest of the channels are on Astra 28.2 east. Usually an installer will align the dish in between these positions. I would say your dish has moved, possibly now looking at 28.0 east thus knocking out reception of 28.5 east. Its a very common problem.

Alex Forrest

Thanks for your advise on dish alignment snaps. I'll have a go at moving my parent's satellite dish a little to the east, hopefully that will sort out the problem.

Berty44

Got given a second hand Triax 537 ( I read that other thread ) and also this thread with interest.

So I installed it last week and all channels worked fine. Then next day nearly all channels were gone ( the home ones through the aeriel worked fine ). Then some came back and now sporadically some work and some do not work.

I have two other Sky boxes fed from the same dish all of which which are 100% fine.

Will get an old Sky box to check. Just wondering what the results point to.