Saorsat technical changes - 1st July 2020

I suspect this is penny-pinching because UPC (who only rent the Virgin Brand) are not on Saorsat. It's a failure of licence regulation.
It's a total pig to retune "other channels" on Humax HDR1010s, secret menu for Diseqc and you have to rescan. Which is a failure of the Freesat rules, making UK boxes ghettoised. Most Freesat can't do non-Freesat at all, but generally it's the only way to get Interactive MHEG.

My Ka LNBF is on a Multiswitch, port 4 / D, Vertical-Low. So the the other 3 connections are on the original Ku LNBF moved to 23.5E, which thus gets extra radio. So 5 x LNBFs on the bar of the 1.1m dish.

These settings work for me.

I've found "adding a transponder" only works on some boxes. Does work on a Humax HDR1010s, in fact the only way, except you have to use the hidden menu, reselect diseqc on ALL satellites (freesat fails if you don't set Astra to 28.2 even though it's port one, unless you've not done an other Channels scan.

I do a Blind Scan, FTA only. I do have it using the Vertical - Low cable of a Quattro mounted at 23.5, so I scan 23.5 E Astra 3B rather than setting up 9E. Means the bar on the end of the arm has 4x Quattro Ku LNBFs (28.2, 19.2, 13 and port 4 is 23.5) and one Ka LNBF.

Just did it on a Redline G140, but I had to delete the old channels afterwards. Some boxes ask if you want to delete the existing channels. I had to swap the external SMPSU on the G140, too noisy and wiping out all LW & MW. The similar price Redline M440 HD has an internal SMPSU which is totally quiet, RF wise.
It found it a 10758 and SR of 12499 QPSK 5/6 DVBS2.
It's 84% quality, simply replacing the Ku LNBF at 9E in June. I'd only checked alignment of 28.2E / entire dish when I moved it last April. The LNBs are the same place on the bar as maybe 10 years ago.

Apart from not having "Interactive" MHEG5, the Redline M440HD and G140 are better user interfaces than the Manhatten SX and Humax HDR 1010S.
Android TV is pathetic for Satellite. Generally Android TV looks like it was designed for Apps on a 19" screen on a desk you are sitting at. The actual tuners / TV channels seem to be an afterthought. Far too small GUI even on 48" at normal viewing and totally orientated to Apps and streaming. Also STUPIDLY if the Channel Change banner is enabled, it pops up stats on HDMI inputs every time a disc format changes etc. Sony had far better TV software of their own. Also gratuitous format & encryption even for FTA channels and the USB HDD only plays on one TV? ANY FTA Satbox with recording via USB is better. Or a PC. Idiots.
The Redline boxes create *.ts files for FTA.

10758 works for me too.

I have a similar set up to you watty , using a Triax multiblock and multiswitch.

Except that my dish is a TD 88 and I use Port 2 , Vertical / Low ( the other 3 inputs on that port coming from an LNB at 19.2 E position.) I don't think I'm missing too much without that input from 19.2.

I centred the dish on 16 E before putting on the multiblock bracket.

So I was loosing Saorsat signal occasionally. in heavy rain.

I'm just hoping it doesn't get much worse with these new changes in settings.
It's hard to tell atm because it actually stopped raining where I am today.

Trying to rescan Humax Foxsat in Galway city.
With these new settings is the frequency different for different parts of the country?
Not getting anything with the new settings

Deleted entire satelite settings and reinstalled.
When inputting frequency, humax only allows 5 digits, therefore 20192 instead of 20192.500 .
Would this be the cause?
Thanks

Will try this evening,thanks

Did you do a factory reset? ( You shouldn't have needed to.) If you did you need to set up your "Antenna Settings" properly , according to your installation.

Check out this site for a guide for the Foxsat.

http://www.astra2sat.com/freesat/diseqc-settings-on-freesat/

Yogomeysl wrote: »

I changed over to 10758 MHz, 12500 symbol and 5/6 Fec. Signal is down about 30% from previous saorsat parameters. RTE starts freezing now and then.

I moved up and down a few MHz either side of 10758 looking for a higher signal strength, but no joy. Never had a problem before with the older settings. Is anyone else experiencing lower signal strength?

The change from an FEC of 3/4 to 5/6 means the signal contains less in built error correction. Higher FEC -> Less robust signal ->Bigger dish for stable reception.

You could try realigning your dish to see if your reception can be improved. As an initial test, press gently on the dish on left, then right, then top, then bottom and see if signal quality improves - you may need someone to monitor the TV.

Failing that, you need a bigger dish.

funkey_monkey wrote: »

What signal strength and quality is everyone getting?
I'm in NE Antrim and getting only 30% SNR and 60% AGC. Using the 'real' transponder value in Satellites.xml (whic I added myself):

<transponder frequency="20192500" symbol_rate="12500000" polarization="2" fec_inner="4" system="1" modulation="1" />

Able to pick up channels. Fear is that came the next heavy rain shower we'll drop the channels. Is this going to improve in future or is this it?

Nearly identical numbers here. I contacted 2rn on Friday about it. They are going to check the signal in areas. As kindly mentioned in a previous post, changing the error correction to a less robust one is causing problems for people who are on borderline signal strength.

phelixoflaherty wrote: »

Deleted entire satelite settings and reinstalled.
When inputting frequency, humax only allows 5 digits, therefore 20192 instead of 20192.500 .
Would this be the cause?
Thanks

You have to enter the 10758.
I tested the previous frequency last month on an HDR1010s. Only worked by adding a transponder as if it's Ku. the HDR1010s now goes to a purple screen unless unplugged for a while so it's been replaced with a Manhatten SX for Freesat Interactive and a Redline M440HD for freesat + other sats inc Saorsat without interactive.

Read somewhere they used car wax on lnb and dish.
Water did adhere to the surface. Might help

Ok. Got it.
Did reset to clear channels list.
Thanks a million for all the help.

Its a foxsat box with Raydon software