Vanishing Satellite Signal (1 Viewer)

[frankhanna]

Anyone any ideas?

We are on a pitch in Krk, Croatia. When we arrived yesterday we put up the satellite (Oyster) and it locked onto the satellite easily. We got all of the Sky channels but not BBC ITV or Channel 4.

Today we felt the van was slightly uneven so we put the chocs out and raised it all of 3 inches. Now we have nothing.

Anyone got any explanation or advice?

It is a Sky + box.

The message on the screen simply says.

Your Sky+HD box isn't getting a satellite signal.

Help.

Frank

 

[Phill D]

the further you get away from the main reception area ( particularly southerly ) you may need to adjust the scew on the lnb ( if thas poss on your unit. there is also a thread on the forum about changing frequency on the sky box. will see what i can find,

i assume youve done the obvious and reset the satellite dish as if it was starting over in a new location:thumb:

 

[Phill D]

here is the info on frequency change if this helps
:thumb:

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[frankhanna]

Satellite

Thanks Phil.

Apart from turning it off and turning it on again I have no idea about resetting.

Can you tell me what to do?

F

 

[Phill D]

5. Getting a signal in the southernmost parts of Europe.
The Astra 28 system transmits a north beam and a south beam, (and also, from the Astra 1N satellite, a spot beam that carries the 5 terrestrial channels and their digital variants). When Sky digiboxes are first switched on, they're programmed to look for the north beam first and if they don't find it they'll just give up. The north beam is receivable throughout northern Europe and even as far south as northeast Spain and northern Italy, (see the satellite footprint maps at the end of Section 2). For other parts of Italy and the Iberian peninsular however, the north beam might be out of reach unless you have a very large dish and you will need to change the digibox's default transponder setting to one of the south beam frequencies in order for it to work. The process is straightforward and your viewing card will continue to work. Having said that, I have to caution you that most of the channels still available on the south beam are Sky subscription channels, so this technique might not work without a subscription.
Incidentally, you know how they keep saying on TV, "Don't try this at home"? Well, this is a case in point. There's no point in practising the following routine before you actually leave for southern Europe because your digibox will simply ignore you. As long as it can receive the north beam, it will say "Up yours matey, I know best". So wait until you can no longer receive a conventional signal and then proceed as follows.
Using the remote control, press Services and then 4. Now in succession, press 01 (without pausing between the 0 and the 1) and then press Select. This is an undocumented sequence which gives access to the Installer Setup screen. Press 2 to get the Default Transponder screen. (Incidentally, don't be tempted to experiment with other features in the installer setup facility - you could seriously mess up the box which is why the routine is undocumented. Keep to the instructions!)
[If you're using a SkyHD box, the Installer Setup screen is accessed differently. Press Services and then navigate to Settings (along the top line, indicated by a spanner icon), press 0, 0, 1 and Select. Then tab along the next line to Default Trp]

 

[Phill D]

using the keypad on the remote control, change the Frequency from 11.778 to 12.051 (ignore the decimal point, just key in the 5 digits), press the down arrow key 4 times to highlight Save New Settings and press Select. Press Backup 3 times to return to the main screen. Now go through the dish alignment process as described above. On the south beam, the Lock Indicator panel will continue to show 'Not locked' but this is normal and will not affect signal reception. You should still get the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). If the digibox retunes itself back to 11.778 it means you are still within range of the north beam - no harm done except for a couple of minutes wasted effort! You might also notice that the Transport Stream value is different from 07d4 - not a problem. As an alternative to 12.051 you can also try 11.817 or 11.739.
Once the dish has acquired a signal, you might still have a problem. The normal sequence when a Sky box starts up after a power-off is that it does a listings search and then displays the Sky welcome screen (EPG 998). The problem is that the welcome screen is on the north beam which obviously isn't available to you (otherwise you wouldn't have had to change the default transponder). So having failed to find the welcome screen, the box returns a 'no signal found' error message. All you need to do is key in the 3-digit code for say Alibi, Dave or Discovery, or any other channel on the south beam and you'll then get a picture.
(On the extremities of the north beam footprint, you might suffer difficulties with the digibox. This is because the digibox will switch to the north beam default transponder if it can, but if the signal drifts in and out during a 24-hour cycle, you might find you have to keep changing the default transponder back to the south beam in order to get any reception at all.)
As indicated earlier, on the south beam you'll get relatively few channels. None of the main entertainment channels from the BBC, ITV, etc, will be available and you'll be restricted almost exclusively to some (not all) subscription channels. Not even Sky News is available now (early 2013). Although Channel 4 is not available, for Welsh speakers S4C, the Welsh Channel 4, is.
Unfortunately for people travelling to the eastern Mediterranean (Greece for example), all the Astra 28 beams are marginal at best, at least with the size of dish that a caravanner could carry. With luck you might get a signal on either the north or the south beam, but be prepared for nothing at all.
Now that the UK terrestrial channels are difficult to receive in southern Europe you might wish to consider tuning instead into the Astra 1 system, which covers that area well. Paul Wharton wrote to say he'd managed to get excellent reception from Astra 19 with a small minidish and could get a number of English-language channels including Sky News and BBC World (both subscription-free). I've no personal experience of accessing Astra 19 but I suggest you try changing your default transponder to 11.597, V, 22.0, 5/6. Then bring the dish round to 19ºE and see what happens. You should get Network ID 0001 and Transport Stream 0421. If you get a signal, you'll then have to put Sky News and BBC World into Other Channels. The details are:
Sky News 10.832 H 22.0 5/6
BBC World 11.597 V 22.0 5/6

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[Phill D]

i plagiariser this so hope it works

 

[frankhanna]

Attachment

Phil,

I can't see any attachment to your post.

F

 

[Phill D]

PS the lnb scew is undo clamp and rotate until its about 8 oclock position, but mark it so you can put it back,,oh:

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[callumwa]

You could be getting to the limit of the satellite footprint, hence the channels already missing which are channels on the North beam.The signal could be very weak / narrow hence the slight movement causing loss of the signal.

They are also changing the footprints of the beams at the moment.

Have you changed the default transponder on your Sky Box to a transponder that is on the south beam so that it can find a signal more readily?
The digibox defaults to 11.788 (North Beam) so you could try changing to 12.219 or you can also try 12.051 or 12.207 and 11.817on the south beam.

Also are the weather conditions any different from yesterday?

 

[Phill D]

there are guys on the forum who are more skilled in this than i:thumb:

 

[callumwa]

How to change transponders on your Sky Box to the Astra south beam.


The Astra 2 group of satellites transmit a north beam and a south beam. All digiboxes supplied by Astrosat (www.astrosat.info) are set to receive the north beam by default and this setting will work throughout northern Europe and even as far south as northern Spain and northern Italy. For other parts of Italy and the Iberian peninsular however, it may be necessary to change the default transponder setting to that of the south beam as the north beam will be too weak.

Using the remote control, press “Services” and then ‘ 4’ ‘0’ ‘1’ and then ‘Select’. This is an undocumented sequence that gives access to the secret Installer setup menu.
Press 2 .

Sky + Box
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Sky+ HD Box
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Fig 3
Using the remote control change the Frequency from 11.778 V to 12.219 V [Fig 3] (don’t bother looking for the decimal point as it gets added automatically).
press the down arrow key 3 times to highlight “Save New Settings ” and press “Select”.
Press “Backup” 3 times to return to the main screen.
Switch the power off for 30 seconds and then go through the dish alignment process as described above.
On the south beam, the Lock Indicator panel will continue to show “Not Locked” but this is normal and should not worry you.
If the digibox retunes itself back to 11.788 it is still receiving enough of the north beam signal and will therefore not allow you to change from the default setting. As an alternative to the 12.219 you can also try 12.051 or 12.207 and 11.817

On the south beam, Channel 4 is not available but the Welsh S4C is, nor are some of Sky's premium channels such as movies and sport. Nevertheless, there is still plenty of choice. You won't get ITV1 or any of the BBC's TV channels because they are transmitted on Astra 2D which has a footprint targeted directly at the UK, you're unlikely to get them anywhere in Spain, even with a fairly large dish.

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[frankhanna]

Yippee

Hi Phil,

Got it and changed the transponder to 12015 it works although still don't get as many stations as yesterday.

Still I can get the main one, for tomorrow's football.

Any more thoughts on resetting the box?

Thank you so much.

Clever man.

Frank

 

[Stephen & Jeannie]

To quote !........

My brain hurts !!!!!!!

 

[frankhanna]

Satellite

Hi Callum

I have learned so much in the last half hour.

Thank for those added frequencies.

Great.

Frank

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[Phill D]

seeeeee we can be " nice"