ITV and BBC 1 lost suddenly in Los Alcázares, Murcia

**wedgwga** · 4th September 2012, 05:10 PM

Hi - I,m George and I try to be out here as often as I can, from Solihull. I have a place in Los Alcázares and use a 1.9 m prime focus type disk, with a Sharp LNB and Feed horn for my SKY Box (not an HD one but the slightly older one). In June I went through the satguy process and retuned my box to 12.207 and all channels came back OK, just as they were. When I cam again on 24 August, I switched on and again all was perfect. However, the very next week, I suddenly noticed that my BBC1 and ITV1 were missing from my Channel listing and Favorites, where they have appeared reliably for years! Not daunted, I got my Transponder Listing out and tried a number of 'Other Channel' retuned on both and finally got them back Ok - but, they are now on my 'Other Channels' Menu and I cannot get them on my main Channel List at all! My wife thinks this is a pain so I need to sort it if I can.

Has anyone got any clues as to what I should do? My Dish is solid and all Channels come through with no problem - it's just that I need BBC1 and ITV1 on my main Channel Listing. I have not yet tried retuning on 12.207 as I was scared I might lose everything if I switched off! Has SKy changed the Default Transponder frequency again? Before I strat messing about again, I will value any comments.

Thanks, George.

**satandpcguy** · 4th September 2012, 10:55 PM

Hi and welcome,

The problem with your BBC and ITVs not showing on your Sky Guide, is that the Sky Guide has not loaded the data correctly.

99.9% of the time this is resolved by simply unplugging the box from the power for 10 or 20 seconds, and rebooting the box.

Has SKy changed the Default Transponder frequency again

No.
The main and correct Sky Default Transponder frequency is still 11778.
It has been this for many years now.
This is the only frequency carries the full 7 day Sky Guide information.

You only change the default transponder frequency from 11778 to another to HELP the sky box boot up when 11778 is unavailable.

A Sky box needs to download the Sky Programme guide information before it starts to work.

If 11778 is unavailable (even 2.4m dishes can struggle with this frequency mid to late afternoon in some areas of Spain, and so will be avaialble for less time on smaller satellite dishes) then you change your default frequency to another frequency. You do this as all other frequencies carry a small amount of Sky Programme guide information (about 6 hours), which is enough to kick start the box into working.

Once the Sky Programme guide information has loaded, and you get Sky Channel 998 Sky Intro data, then your channels will be there - although you may not get Channel 998 and that channels shows no signal messages.

Once the Sky Programme guide information has loaded, and you get Sky Channel 998 Sky Intro data, then your manually input default transponder frequency is ignored, and the Sky box will use whichever of the 100 plus frequencies it needs to for the channel you have selected to watch

Changing the default transponder frequency from 11778 to another frequency does not affect individual channel reception.

Your Sky box will use whichever of the 100 plus frequencies it needs to for the channel you have selected to watch.

Eg if you select BBC1, then the sky box will use the BBC1 frequency (not your manually input frequency of 12207), if you select BBC2, then the sky box will use the BBC2 frequency (not your manually input frequency of 12207), if you select ITV1, then the sky box will use the ITV1 frequency (not your manually input frequency of 12207), if you select Channel 4, then the sky box will use the Channel 4 frequency (not your manually input frequency of 12207), and if you select Five, then the sky box will use the Five frequency (not your manually input frequency of 12207).

There are only about 6 or 7 channels on 12207 - all Sky channels, like Sky News and Pick TV and Sky Sports
There are NO BBC or ITV on 12207. They have never been on 12207.

**wedgwga** · 5th September 2012, 06:06 PM

Thanks again satand pcguy = you always explain it so simply! It's clear that, for whatever reason, I just need to reboot the SKY Box and in my case, 12,207 did that before and hopefully, will do it agin. I will try this tomorrow as well as adjusting my LNB horn focal distance slightly, to try and get back Pop and Bloomberg.

I will post again when I have explored further and thabnks again for some great advice!

Kind regards, George

**wedgwga** · 12th September 2012, 07:28 PM

I tried your suggestion and everything is now back to normal, though BBC1 and ITV1 are both on different frequencies - I guess they change periodically!

My other small issue with a new LNB is one of a minor adjustment and adjusting the scew slightly has brought my 'fringe' channels back apart from Bloomberg. Is that a difficult one to get? I had it before on my single Sharp Universal LNB so I know it is possible to get here. The new Inverto 'Red' LNB is reputedly a good one and Bloomberg is missing on both SKY and Freesat. I have addjusted both scew and focal length (though I am unsure of what exactly that should be) and got back Pop etc but not Bloomberg, which I can actually live without!

Thanks for your help, George

**satandpcguy** · 13th September 2012, 07:18 AM

Originally Posted by wedgwga

I tried your suggestion and everything is now back to normal, though BBC1 and ITV1 are both on different frequencies - I guess they change periodically!

The last change of BBC frequencies was about a year or so ago.
On a Sky box you have no indication of what frequency you are using for the channel you are watching.
But it will use different frequencies for the different regional variations for BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and ITV1HD.

Originally Posted by wedgwga

My other small issue with a new LNB is one of a minor adjustment and adjusting the scew slightly has brought my 'fringe' channels back apart from Bloomberg. Is that a difficult one to get? I had it before on my single Sharp Universal LNB so I know it is possible to get here. The new Inverto 'Red' LNB is reputedly a good one and Bloomberg is missing on both SKY and Freesat. I have addjusted both scew and focal length (though I am unsure of what exactly that should be) and got back Pop etc but not Bloomberg, which I can actually live without!

Never found the Inverto "Red" to perform as well as an Invacom on a prime Focus dish.
The focal distance for a 1,9m dish is 73.6cm.
If you can get POP and True Movies then you should also be getting Bloomberg, they are on the same beam, on the same satelite, on the same polarisation.
Maybe a small LNB skew adjustment is requried or perhaps your dish is not aligned 100%?

**wedgwga** · 16th March 2013, 10:09 AM

Back here again for a short break and within two days of arrival and seeing that SKY reception was just as we left it in October last, first BBC1 disappeared and then ITV1 went! I followed your advice and found them agaion in "Other Channels" and set them up no problem. I have also read your posts about the new Satellite and channel changes so I guess this is part of the changeover. No complaints except that we have now got to go through more remote control buttons to view both channels, which don't appear any longer on the Channel EPG - frustrating! Can the SKY Box be set to add these 'Other Channels' to the Favourites Blue Button? Do you think we will get a new transponder setting to get all the UK Channels back on the EPG?

Keep up the good work - George

**satandpcguy** · 16th March 2013, 06:52 PM

There have been no changes to ANY BBC Channels since you were last here.
And only a handful of ITV1 regions moved to the first new satellite - on the 4th December.
These changes would also have affected 4seven, and "the fives", which also moved to the new satellite.

So, as you are having problems with BBC channels, when there have been no changes to these channels, then it sounds like perhaps you dish has moved, and needs realigning.

Also, ALL BBC channels are already on the Sky Guide - from Sky channel 950 upwards - so no need to add them to "other channels".

You can only put channels with actual channel numbers onto your favourites.
As channel in the "other channels" list do not have channel numbers, then you cannot add them to the favourites list.

I am not too sure what you mean by "Do you think we will get a new transponder setting to get all the UK Channels back on the EPG?"
All frequencies used for UK TV carry Sky Guide EPG data.
If you mean "will changing the default transponder frequency to another help to get back the missing channels" then no it will nt.
Changing the default transponder frequency only helps the sky box to download the EPG data from another frequency when 11778, the main and correct transponder, is unavailable.
Changing the default transponder frequency does not help with individual channel reception.

**wedgwga** · 17th March 2013, 09:04 PM

Many thanks again for your comments - I will check my Dish alignment again and reboot to see if the EPG has the 'missing' channels. Please excuse my lack of full understanding of how the SKY Box actually receives the channels - but I am learning! Cheers, George