is freeview on the blink?

amandstu

Anyone else having problems the last couple of days?

I have noticed a few channels have gone missing Quite a few of the BBC Channels that had been working fine.(some of them were OK and so it wasn't so important)

I decided to do a "first time installation" to sort it out and quite a few Channels have not been picked up (CNN ,BBC 24 hours) after the retune
.
Could there be a problem with the actual Astra Satellite in the sky?

I used to be able to get the Snooker on the BBC red button but it drops out all the time and the 6390 Channel that runs it without the red button is no longer available since I ran the retune (first time installation).

I di wonder whether it could be down to signal strength /quality but this is showing up as 90%/97% from my box so I don't suppose it would be that as that seems quite good ,doesn't it?

The Cush

What's the make and model of the receiver you're using?

Freeview is the UK terrestrial TV service via an aerial from a UK transmitter, similar to our Saorview.

amandstu

hi
it is a Triax ST-HD 53 (Combi HD Receiver with MHEG5)
I have had it for over a year and although it gets a panning (on boards.ie http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056168690)for its quirks at least it gets me the channels.

Actually I thought I was getting Freeview but I just have a satellite dish and tune in what I can get (don't know what it should be called per se :- Edit FTA I guess)

It has always been a bit "squeeky" in heavy downpours but it seems to be doing this a bit more (cutting out)of late .

Do you think I may need to realign my dish?

Normally when the signal is week BBC24 is one of the last channels to go as it seems to have a strong signal but now it seems to have gone "early" (as well as CNN).

I still have SKY News ,Bloomberg ,France 24 etc.

The Cush

FTA satellite would be the terminology alright.

Dish realignment would be the first suggestion.

Also since you did the "first time installation" you may have lost some of the frequencies that carry the channels. Since the box was manufactured/setup some channels may have moved to new frequencies, any missing frequencies will have to be setup again before a rescan.

List of frequencies/channels
http://en.kingofsat.net/pos-28.2E.php
http://www.lyngsat.com/Eutelsat-28A-and-Astra-1N-2A-2F.html

amandstu

thanks I am not sure what you mean about "any missing frequencies will have to be setup again before a rescan".

One of the problems with this box is the inability to manually retune individual channels.

You have to retune them all at once and then you try to rearrange the order into something memorable but you can't go looking for an extra channel if it dioesn't show up in the initial scan -you just start again from scratch..

By the way I have found the BBC 24 hour News channel but I am pretty suure CNN has gone missing.

You don't think my 90%/97% signal quality/reception (showing on the box)was good enough for me not to need worrying about the dish itself?

The Cush

Regarding signal strength/quality you say in your post that in heavy downpours the signal can be a bit "squeeky" and a bit worse of late, this could due to the stormy weather we've had recently. Dish maybe could do with some adjustment.

Regarding missing frequencies when a receiver is first setup the frequencies used at that time are preloaded, over time some some channels can move to new frequencies and the new frequencies have to be manually setup. When a first time install is carried out the list of receiver frequencies can revert to that when the receiver was manufactured and when you do a rescan not all the channels are found because the receiver doesn't know the new frequencies and they have to be setup manually. Some receivers have a "blind scan" function that will scan all frequencies/parameters and store all channels found.

A Freesat satellte receiver doesn't have this problem as any frequency/channels changes are done automatically. Do you use the Saorview part of the Triax combi receiver?

The Cush

This site has the latest channels list software from Nov last, easier than manually updating any missing frequencies.

http://www.tvtrade.ie/triax-st-hd-537-digital-satellite-combo-box-user-manual.html

amandstu

Yes .There is a Saorview receiver in the TV itself but I don't think I use that as the terrestrial aerial goes into the Triax box and the TV is connected to the box via a HDMI (I think) cable.

I could plug the aerial directly into the TV and the Saorview EPG is more complete but I don't bother with that.

As regarding realigning I try to leave well alone if possible but if I do do that then I will need to apply a bit of WD40 to the clamp I am sure since it must be all of 4 years since I had to look at it -it has been through countless storms over that time and I am amazed that I have not had to look at it for so long.

When I saw the percentage for signal strength/quality as 90/97 I thought that must surely be good enough as my previous box often went way below that and would cut out far more readily in storms (I put the improvement down to the dish itself being better aligned and maybe nice and tightly screwed in so it doesn't swing about in the wind)