Poor signal on some stations espec at night

galwayguy85

Hi Guys.


I'm living in Germany these times and have recently installed a 'Selfsat' receiver for the purpose of getting UK Freesat at 28E

Look at http://www.selfsat.ch to see what i'm talking about.

At night in particular some stations such as Channel 4, Channel 4 HD, More 4, Film 4, BBC 4 HD (almost anything with a '4' in the title it seems:)) tends to become unwatchable. Other stations such as the BBC1 and BBC2 are fine.

During the day, these same stations are perfect.

I've ruled out rain or droplets thereof on the dish surface/LNB as a factor. In fact, the weather recently has been very good. About 25 deg celsius during the day time. Little or no cloud cover.

I've also use a signal finder to maximise the signal received as much as possible.

Is this a normal when the weather improves? Back in Feb when the dish was put up, everything was fine, across all stations.

Would I be waisting my time by getting a 'singal booster' to put between the receiver and dish or LNB?

Thanks for any feedback.

Delta Lima

So you are using a flat panel 'dish'. From what I have googled, its about equivalent to a 60 cm. conventional dish. You should check out the Astra 2 footprint here.

http://www.satbeams.com/footprints

There's a big difference in signal strength from 28E depending on where you are in Germany. The further east you go the worse it gets.

STB.

A lot of the UK stations are now on the narrow beam, meaning the footprint is not as big it once was. The Selfsat would be far too small.

You need an 80cm dish. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astra_2E

galwayguy85

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm near Dortmund.

For various mostly aesthetic reasons a conventional dish wasn't possible to install where we live.

The galling thing is that the signal is high in both strength and quality during the day on the main Freesat stations we tune into. I can't imagine the beam very suddenly got narrower on whichever transponder carries Channel 4 HD and sister stations for just evening time transmissions?

STB.

Those selfsat dishes are not strong enough to pull in the signal. I am surprised that you get a signal during the day. They claim they are akin to a 60cm, but perform like a 45cm from memory.

There are various factors that cause this to happen all technical and none of which would help you.

A UK spotbeam is very tight (towards what it was). You will get sheer drops. The night time issue in an on the fringe (or outside the fringes!) you describe is just a symptom of that.

Bigger dish, and even then no guarantee!

galwayguy85

Thanks for that STB.

I guess I'll be glad for what stations I do I clearly.

Channel 4 HD can be gotten over by watching or more likely recording whatever broadcasts on Channel 4+1 (I think that is on a different transponder/satellite).

Greenman

galwayguy85 wrote: »

Thanks for that STB.

I guess I'll be glad for what stations I do I clearly.

Channel 4 HD can be gotten over by watching or more likely recording whatever broadcasts on Channel 4+1 (I think that is on a different transponder/satellite).

I suppose you can always go down the Filmon road.


JD.

galwayguy85

Yeah, or the BBC iPlayer route. A tiny bit of a hassle hooking up the computer to the TV etc.

Greenman

galwayguy85 wrote: »

Yeah, or the BBC iPlayer route. A tiny bit of a hassle hooking up the computer to the TV etc.

I've got a few of these on the go, very handy.

galwayguy85

Cool. Thanks for the tip. I'll give it some thought. The Sony TV already has some 'smart' functions built in, but can be a bit of a chore to use. Netflix, for example takes about 3 attempts to launch.

winston_1

galwayguy85 wrote: »

Would I be waisting my time by getting a 'singal booster' to put between the receiver and dish or LNB?

Yes you would, and wasting money as well.

galwayguy85

UPDATE

Now that we are entering Autumn (or 'Winter is Coming', as I like to call it), Channel 4 HD, UTV HD and their sister stations on the transponder(s) it's transmitted on are now working perfectly.

I reckon it may be down to the relative position of the various heavenly bodies and how they can impact the satellite signal's footprint, espec when overseas (Germany in my case).

I am starting to believe in astrology.