Cello TV / Satellite Tuning

[AlastairH]

I have a new Cello TV and we are on our travels around Germany. I had not thought to make sure it worked before we left, thinking it would be pretuned to Freesat like our last tv. Try as I might I cannot get it to tune in to Freesat. I have used two different Apps to make sure it is pointed at the correct point in the sky with no success. I then tried the tv itself and found that it did not seem to be tuned to any particular satellite.

Here is where it gets tricky. The TV does not offer the choice of Astra 2 but does offer Astra 2E, 2F & 2G. When I try to tune it in to the latter, it finds around 40 channels, none of which have the major UK terrestrial channels and all show ‘No signal’. I have also tried tuning to Astra 1 and it shows >600 channels, including BBC, ITV etc but again ‘No signal’. The strange part with tuning to Astra 1 is that on completion of tuning, the satellite is described as Hotbird 13B!

Any suggestions from you satellite techies out there or can anyone explain what I am doing wrong with the TV please?

 

[Gellyneck]

We've got a Ferguson TV which is the same as Cello and I'm pretty sure I had to go into Menu and Satellite Edit to change the settings to Astra 2E, 2F, 2G and then make some other changes to the sub-menus to get it to work. As we ended up with 600+ channels (a load of which were, using the Scottish vernacular, keech) I then went in and deleted a number of the transponders.
There are pages in our TV manual that describes the process and when I called the manufacturer (Cello) for clarification they were very helpful.
After having done all that decided we didn't like the now and next listing so went out and got an external Manhattan SX receiver which is a FreeSat receiver and plugs in using and HDMI lead. Far superior.

 

[Wagoneer]

If you're getting "no signal" press the "source" button to make sure you have selected the correct function like "satellite". I assume your Cello is the Traveller model with built-in sat decoder.

Once you've locked onto the Astra 2 bunch of satellites (2E, 2F, 2G) the channel scan will take about 20 minutes to download all the available free to air channels.

It sounds like you have a manual sat dish. The sat finder app will give you a good indication of where to point the dish but the dish needs to be fine tuned in order to receive a signal from the satellite. Check the signal strength bar on the TV screen - it should be at least 80%.

PS. Also check the skew of your LNB. For Germany it should be set between 6 and 7 o'clock, viewed from the front of the dish.

 

[AlastairH]

Thank you to all replies.

It turns out that I may have a software problem (Cello have sent me a fix) or I may just be out of range of the Satellite.

For readers’ information, I have a QuickSat 65cm dish and a Cello Traveller TV. I have been trying to tune in to FreeSat which broadcasts on Astra 2.

I have also found the Satellite Pointer App easier to use than the Dish Align App.

 

[AlastairH]

By way of an update on my post last year, I have found that my Cello TV is faulty. We travelled to France this year and yet again, the TV would not tune in to the satellite. After returning home and wondering if it was me, the tv or the dish, I connected my old Avtex TV to a fixed Sky dish and successfully tuned it to FreeSat. I tried the same with my Cello and although it showed successful tuning to hundreds of channels and radio stations, it always displayed ‘No Signal’ after it was finished.

Following my post last year, Falcon, the suppliers of the Cello TV sent me software to fix it, which it did after I loaded it. It is therefore disappointing to find that the software fix did not last. I bought the TV just over two years ago so it is now out of warranty. I have only tried to use the satellite twice due to COVID and family illness which prevented us going back to Europe. What a waste of money.

By the way, the sound quality from the speakers on the Cello TV are very poor - and there is nothing wrong with my hearing.

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