Losing some freeview channels and need help

[nettar]

Hi

Can anyone help me, I have a 2.4m dish and 2 Pace Sky boxes 1 is a 2500B and the other is a 2200. I used to get all the freeview channels but over the last few months I seem to be losing a few of them. I went on The Sat and PC Guy and got the new frequency numbers to install and the only numbers that seem to work are Channel 5, ITV1 and the BBC channels.

In the mornings and evenings when I try and watch Channel4+1 (135,995), E4 (136), E4+1 (137), More4 (138), ITV2 (118), ITV4 (120), Film4 (315), or Film4+1 (316) I get the following:-
FOR YOUR INFORMATION 25
No satellite signal is being received
In the afternoons and sometimes late evenings the picture is very very pixelly sometimes after 6pm I get lucky and can nearly have a clear picture only on More4+1, Film4 and Film4+1, I get absolutely nothing from Channel4+1, E4,E4+1 and More4.

The frequency numbers that I have for the above channels are as follows:-
Channel 4 10714 H 22000 5/6 12480 V 27500 2/3
Channel4+1 More4&E4 10729 V 22000 5/6

In the mornings and evenings when I try and watch Channel 4 (104,994) I get the following:-
FOR YOUR INFORMATION 30
There is a technical fault with this channel
Please try later
In the afternoons and sometimes late evenings the picture is very pixelly sometimes I get lucky and can nearly have a clear picture. Until last week I was able to just about watch Shameless on Channel 4 but on Tuesday night it was extremely pixelly and I unfortunately wasn’t able to watch it.

BBC3 (115)
Is always pixelly and virtually impossible to see any programmes.

I know the white viewing card is not dormant because I get a good picture on Channel 5, Five USA, Five USA+1, Fiver and Fiver+1. Does anyone else have this problem? Is it because I live in the Velez Rubio area? Or does my dish need realignment?


Thanx
Netta

[satandpcguy]

Hi and welcome,

The channels you are having trouble with are the free to air channels, ie those that require no sky viewing card, so the SKy card is irrelevant on this issue.
And a few of the channels (like Film4, BBC3/4) are on the weaker Astra 2d horizontal beams, and so even with a 2.4m dish you may not get the 24/7 anyway where you are.
I have noticed that in some areas, over the last few months, that the transponder with c4+1 and e4 has been "pixelating" earlier than normal. This could be an issue with a neighbouring satellite that has fired up using similar frequencies, and overpowering the UK frequencies, but this is unconfirmed.

As with most things, loss of channels can be due to a number of reasons:
dish has moved and needs realigning
LNB issues (they do not last forever, and it may need replacing)
"nasties" inside the LNB
cabling issues (water ingress)
and possibly it could be as you are using very old boxes that are staring to give up.

Hope this helps