Lost Some Satellite Channels

[Paul Marsh]

I turned on my Freesat receiver yesterday morning and noticed that some channels, such as France24 and Bloomberg were missing. I was getting a good signal strength and quality on other channels.

These channels were also missing on my Free-to-Air receiver. I am aware that a new satellite is in place at 28.2E and that some channels are migrating. The affected channels are/were all on 11426MHz vertical, 27500 2/3. I tried re-scanning this transponder with the FTA receiver but it seems to have gone.

I have just gone through the channels on the FTA receiver and I have also temporarily, (last night), lost channels from the 11222MHz horizontal transponder, such as CBS Action and Horror+1. Strangely FilmOn was there, but very weak and breaking up badly.

Other channels on low band horizontal are good so I assumed that my LNB and dish were OK.

This morning, CBS Action and Horror+1 were back, but not France24 etc. I did a factory reset of the Freesat receiver and it told me that I had a good signal strength and good, (maximum), quality, offered the missing channels in the EPG after rescanning, but said "weak or no signal" when trying to tune to the channel.

Is anyone else having trouble with France24 and Bloomberg etc, or know what may be wrong with my setup?

TIA

Paul

 

[Lazarus]

The changes are transparent and seamless for UK users.

No problems on any of my Freesat boxes, but give me a few minutes and I'll see if I can find a likely cause.

PS: In actual fact, life for UK Freesat users should improve as the weaker and less stable signals from Eurobird are to be transferred to the new Astra craft.

 

[PaulR]

Not heard of anyone else reporting this.

If two different boxes are having trouble with the channels then it's most likely to be either (or both!) the LNB failing of water in the coaxial cable.

Try your box at another known working location if you can. This should then rule out a box problem.

 

[Lazarus]

Ok. France 24 11426V is full bore here and hasn't shifted birds yet.

It's possible your dish is slightly out of alignment, as well as any of the other causes in the previous Post, albeit LNB failures are rare. Water ingress is certainly a possibility!

 

[Paul Marsh]

Thanks for the replies.

I suspected the LNB or cable initially, but as mentioned in my previous post all other transponders, (including other low band horizontal), are unaffected.

I always leave the box in standby at night and this morning did a full factory reset and rescan without success.

ISTR that a few years ago at another house and different receiver, I had a similar problem whereby a whole transponder was lost. At that time I think that it was the Travel Channel or its +1 that was affected. I never did find the cause, but suspected L-band signals from a newly installed cell site to be the cause.

Paul

 

[Lazarus]

Could be interference but it would have to be very local, though.

Also, the TPs affected don't correspond to the normal cause (DECT Phones).

Water ingress doesn't necessarily result in across the band degradation and often has unpredictable effects, including only seeming to affect a small frequency range.

Also check for physical damage, dodgy joints and connections.

 

[satelliteman]

Strange one. I'd be looking at the above recommendations and also get the dish checked for mis-alignment.

 

[Paul Marsh]

Thanks for everyone's comments and advice.

Unfortunately the dish is no longer easily accessible due to subsequent building work. Does the fact that the Humax is showing "good" signal strength and the maximum possible signal quality indicate that the dish must still be properly aligned?

Paul