BBC and ITV Reception Problems

[John Ruddy]

Hi,

Any advice or recommendations about the following: -

I live in Belfast and I subscribe to Sky for my UK address. I also own a property in Catral, Costa Blanca where I receive UK television signals via a 1.9 metre dish situated in my garden.

My dish / system is now 18 months old. It was professionally installed and has always worked perfectly. At first I redceived TV signals through a generic 'Freesat' digi box but I very quickly replaced tghat with a SKY box brought over from the UK. - Signal strength on both boxes was perfect but, obviously, I did not receive some channels when using the generic box. - When I introduced my SKY box I brought my UK viewing card with me nad with card I receiuved virtually all the additional programmes SKY provides for me in Belfast. - EXCELLENT!! - Now the problem.

When I am not in Sopain my didi box is switched off because the house is unoccupied. On my return I therefore have to re-boot the system again. This has never been a problem until recently and what I now find is that the signals for ALL BBC and ITV channles are pixilated. - All other channels are received normally and are still picture perfect. - I experience exactly the same results using my Freesat generic digi box, using my SKY digi box without a viewing card and using my SKY digibox with my viewing card. - I have checked all cables and connections and they seem ok so I cannot understand why the problem is restricted to just BBC and ITV channels. - Any suggestions.

One 'wild card' factor I should perhaps mention is that in front of my dish, but some distance from it, I have a Washingtonia palm tree. Whilst inspecting the dish in bright sunlight I noticed that a small section of it, towards the edge of the right lower quadrant as I look at it from the front, is in shade. - Can signal strength and signal quality be impeded by the light, thin, foliage of a tree? Will BBC and ITV signals, but no others, all be concentrated on the dish section I perceive to be in shade and full reception therefore be 'blocked?'

John

[satandpcguy]

....This has never been a problem until recently and what I now find is that the signals for ALL BBC and ITV channles are pixilated. - All other channels are received normally and are still picture perfect. - I experience exactly the same results using my Freesat generic digi box, using my SKY digi box without a viewing card and using my SKY digibox with my viewing card. - I have checked all cables and connections and they seem ok so I cannot understand why the problem is restricted to just BBC and ITV channels. - Any suggestions.

The dish may have moved out of alignment.
The problem will be affect those channels that are on the weakest satellite "beams" - ie BBC and ITvs.
Other channels like Sky News and True Movies are on a different satellite - and beam - whose reception is far easier to recevie than the BBCs. The reason why you need the "big satellite dish" in Spain is if you want to be able to receive those weaker bbc signals...

....One 'wild card' factor I should perhaps mention is that in front of my dish, but some distance from it, I have a Washingtonia palm tree. Whilst inspecting the dish in bright sunlight I noticed that a small section of it, towards the edge of the right lower quadrant as I look at it from the front, is in shade. - Can signal strength and signal quality be impeded by the light, thin, foliage of a tree? Will BBC and ITV signals, but no others, all be concentrated on the dish section I perceive to be in shade and full reception therefore be 'blocked?'

Anything blocking the clear line of sight from the satellite to the will reduce the amount of signal reaching the dish. And this will be more noticable on the weaker signal channels - like BBC and ITVs.

The best time to check the line of sight is in the morinng - around 10am when you can use the shadow of the LNB on the dish as an indicator. When this shadow is in or near the centre of the dish, which means the dish is "looking" at the satellites which is in the direction of the sun at that time, look around for anything else that is casting a shadow on or very close to the dish. Then remove the things causing those shadows.

[Nick Green]

What on earth(or in space!) has happened to BBC News(Channel 200 on Freesat)When it first moved to the weaker transponder last year we could get it until about 5.00pm. Just lately it has been going off during the day making it virtually unusable. Have the BBC reduced the signal strength still further? It is not an equipment/dish problem. I am getting BBC1HD, BBC HD, ITV1 HD 24/7 and just about everything else on a Famaval 2.4 dish in Benissa Costa.
I cannot believe that the signal can be strong enough to give decent reception even in the UK!

[satandpcguy]

No changes in signal strength for the BBC News frequency.
If its been goinf off earlier, then its somehting with your system / setup, maybe your dish is notaligned properly - a misaligned dish would affect the weakest channels first (like BBC News), before stronger channels like BBC HD channels.

The signal is OK in the UK, as that is where the satellite beams are directed, so the signal is stronger and hence they can use Sky minidishes...we are in a "fringe reception" area, where that signal is much much weaker to receive, hence the bigger dishes.

[bobg144]

Has there been a sudden reduction in signal strength on all the BBC channels from Astra 2D since Friday 17th Feb.?
Up until then we had the usual losing BBC1 regionals signals at around 10pm and the HD channels til after midnight, but since the migration of the ITV / C4 channels to Astra 1N last week , and especially since Friday, we now lose all the BBC stuff, including the HD channels,at 8.30 to 9 pm.
We still get all the other satellite signals at the same signal %/ quality% as before........

[satandpcguy]

Hi Bob,
I have been keeping an eye out for the BBC frequencies since the recent migration of the other channels from Astra 2D.
There are two things I could think of that may have happenned:
1 - increase in signals on active transponders, as less power is being used to power the now vacted transponders
2 - with transponders being vacated, the power output of the whole satellite is reduced as its previous power levels are no longer required.

Also note that we will soon becoming up to the binnual equinox time - when at night, the satellites go dark for longer (in the earths shadow) and are on battery power for longer, which normally results in a 5% power drop (they say), and during the morning the Astra 2d channels fade out for 10-20 minutes when the sun is lined up directly behind the satellites and swamps the satellite signals.

However, saying all that, I can say I have seen no changes in signals on the BBC frequencies on Astra 2d since the mass migration this week.
So perhaps your dish has been knocked out of alignment, or you have some nasties inside the LNB blocking the signals.

[bobg144]

Checked for "nasties" in the lnb - nada, & dish not put out (calm weather etc) but others on the "fringes" have also made similar comments (someone in Javea has the same "issue"!).
Can't wait til tomorrow and see what BBC 3 and 4 are like (never been able to receive them so far) even though some of their porgrammes have been on BBC HD channel.....and will be glad to get BBC News again 24/7.

[satandpcguy]

Certainly is strange. Like I said I have not noticed any change in BBC HD signals over the last few weeks. And apart from you and the one in Javea, I have not heard of others having the same issue, which would indicate an individual system issue rather than something more widespread.
However, all shoouldbe OK from tomorrow, when they move over to 1N for the next few months

[yoyo]

Thought I would report a change in reception. I am based in La Marina. Yesterday, I noticed that I am now receiving a strong signal, all day, on channels I have not or never been able to receive. These are, BBC1 North West, Radio 5 Live, BBC3 & 4, and BBC2 England. Have read the earlier replies in this thread so due you think it is a combination of "the time of year" and the reduced occupancy of the transponder or has something more specific occurred?? I must say the signal strength for these channels looks to be very strong with no break-up of picture.......good news but perhaps only temporary!
Cheers
Mike

[satandpcguy]

Hi Yoyo,
No it its because the channels have moved from the Astra 2d satellite to the Astra 1N satellite, whose signal is a bit easier to receive than Astra 2d. YOu will also notice cghamnges in ITV1,2,3,4, e4, more4 and Film4 aswell as the changes you have seen to BBC channels.

All changes have been posted in out news section in these threads:

http://www.satandpcguy.com/forum/sho...-February-2012

http://www.satandpcguy.com/forum/sho...satellite-dish

http://www.satandpcguy.com/forum/sho...RTE-and-ITV1HD

and

http://www.satandpcguy.com/Site/uk_t...anca_spain.php

Nothing to do with the time of year. But yes, temporary.