UK radio changes

Gerry Wicklow

Parameter Change

11553 H is now 23000 2/3 DVB-S2 8PSK

Which means the following channels are now only available on HD-enabled equipment-

Craft Extra
Capital Xtra (radio)
Radio X (radio)
Capital (radio)
Gold (radio)
Khushkhabri (radio)
Classic FM (radio)
TJC
High Street TV 2
High Street TV 3
NTD
Noor TV
Pitaara
Club Land TV
Now Rock
NDTV 24x7
SonLife
LBC News (radio)
Smooth (radio)
Heart Dance (radio)
Virgin Radio (radio)
TWR (radio)
Heart 90s (radio)
CHSTV
Hum Masala
PTV Global
Kanshi TV
Hum Europe
Deen TV
Panjab Radio (radio)
Sukh Sagar (radio)
BFBS Radio (radio)
LBC (radio)
Heart (radio)
Heart 80s (radio)
Talk Sport (radio)

Info from Digital Spy

Morris Code

Once again thanks for that Gerry….drove myself mad at weekend trying to find Talksport….I was missing the S2 bit.I did notice that it faded in and out during a couple heavy showers but came back came back when rain stopped.

Gerry Wicklow

Ive seen some complaints about weak signals since they changed

Maz2016

Thanks Gerry, drove myself man too looking for Virgin radio

Luker

Gerry, can I ask we have the Ferguson Ariva combo boxes - one is a 254 and the other is 255. (I think I bought one off you?!?) anyways I can’t tune in the stations that are now DVB-S2. Just says no signal. But the specifications for the boxes say it’s available. Am I doing something wrong?

Gerry Wicklow

It's possible that the box thinks it already has that tuned using the old settings.

I would select the 11553 H transponder listing and delete it.

Then add it as a new transponder using these settings :-
11553 H is now 23000 2/3 DVB-S2 8PSK

Luker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122156892#Comment_122156892

thank you, still says no signal. It’s strange. It’s not a big deal. It’s only 2 music channels one of the lads watch from time to time. My fear is, more will be switched to DVB-S2 in the coming weeks and will lose even more

dxhound2005

Since reported weak signals and rain fade have been mentioned, it could be worthwhile checking what signal readings you have on various transponders. People sometimes say a particular signal has disappeared but all the rest are "perfect". But they might only be looking at the strong signals like the BBC, out of the hundreds of stations. On my system 11553 is 10.2 dB which is not particularly weak. But BBC One NI HD and the others on 10846 V are 17 dB.

An example of a weak one ony my system is 11082 H with the music station Now 80s and others. That is 6.5 dB. You could check that one first to see if you have a signal.

https://www.lyngsat.com/Astra-2E-2F-2G.html

TAFKAlawhec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122159580#Comment_122159580

Just for reference, here's my reception signal-to-noise (SNR, values in db) ratio stats just taken earlier on a dry afternoon in Co. Tyrone, received on an Octagon SF8008 with a Zone 1 mk4 dish with corresponding Technomate quad LNB with ~12 metres of WF100 coax cable…

Spot beam stations

BBC 1 NI - 16.8
BBC 2 NI - 15.5
UTV - 16.8
Channel 4 NI HD - 14.2
Channel 5 HD - 16.0
ITV 2 HD - 16.8
E4 (SD) - 16.8
4seven (SD) - 17.0
Sky Mix (UK) - 14.5
Challenge (UK) - 15.5
Dave - 14.5
Quest HD - 15.0
That's 60's/80's/90's - 15.5

2G European Beam stations

Now 70's/80's - 12.8
Now Rock/Clubland - 12.2
Magic/Kiss/Kerrang! - 12.8

…as a rule of thumb, the 2G European beam is the weakest of the European beams to receive in Ireland (though not a "weak" beam compared to many other satellites across the arc), with around a 2-5db SNR penalty compared to stations on the UK & Ireland spot beams, with weaker stations on the spot beam usually occupying higher (>11.7 GHz, Ch4 NI HD being an obvious candidate) frequencies and stronger stations usually on lower frequencies. If I used a Zone 2 dish instead of a Zone 1, I'd probably get a 1.5-2db SNR increase across the board but the above figures show that my current setup is perfectly fine.

Luker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122159580#Comment_122159580

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122161056#Comment_122161056

Very interesting, thank you both. I will check this tonight