Sky box and an 80cm Dish

[irart2]

We have a small apartment in Torrevieja which we use twice a year for just a few weeks. I have an 80cm dish and a rather elderly (by current standards) Panasonic Sky box.When we came over back over to Spain at the beginning of March, I realised that ITV and the 5's which we could access via "other channels" were no longer available because of their move to a beam centred on the UK. However, quite by accident I discovered I had BBC1 southwest on channel Sky 101. Further investigation showed that I could also get channels 953 BBC1 Northern Ireland, 964 BBC1 South, 965 BBC1 Oxford, and 972 BBC2 Northern Ireland. I also found I could BBC3 115, and CBBC 613. BBC news 24 was also back - that had disappeared the previous October when we were last in Spain. Frankly I was puzzled as I thought all the BBC channels had gone on to the narrower beam along with the BBC radio channels which I used to be able to get.Does anyone have any idea how long this situation is likely to last?
Another oddity is that all the BBC channels and Sky News along with a few of the other channels start pixelating (hope I have spelt that right!) late afternoon and into the evening, but wonder if that is due to the time of year or atmospheric pressure. I did check alignment and all seems well. I did wonder if a better quality LNB might help - I am still using the original basic LNB which has been in use now for almost nine years.
Any comments or suggestions would be gratefully received.

[satandpcguy]

The ITVs and Fives moved to Astra 2F in December 2012 - http://www.satandpcguy.com/forum/sho...l=1#post120298
This is the reason why you can n longer receive them on your 80cm dish, as that beam on 2F needs a larger dish, at least a 1m.

BBC channels moved to Astra 1N in Feb 2012 - http://www.satandpcguy.com/forum/sho...-February-2012

But in October 2012, they also has a bit of a shuffle around
BBC Radio channels, used to be on a "south beam" satellite, and then in October 2012, move to the same 1N frequency's as the BBC TV channels.
http://www.satandpcguy.com/forum/sho...n-October-2012

1Ns so called "uk beam" is not so UK focused, as it can be receive pretty much all over Europe on 1n dishes! So it is not as "narrow" as you think!
This mean that, where as before they required 1.8 and 2.4m dishes, after their move to 1N, they could be received on smaller dishes.

Ideally a 1m dish should be able to receive all the BBC channels on 1N, but an 80cm dish would be operating on the very limit of its reception, which is why you can only get a handful of them and not all of them. And why some channels are pixelating - the dish is too small to receive them.

[irart2]

Thanks for the speedy and interesting reply. I did not realise that the 1n sat had that big a footprint. So it all makes sense now. As we are only in Spain for 5 or 6 weeks a year I have to see if it is worth investing in a larger dish, as these days by the time we are back out in Spain in October it will have all changed again! Maybe I will ask around to see if I can get a second hand one. Thanks again for your always excellent with such useful information.