Advice Needed Some satellites, in particular Turksat 42 E not receiving a signal anymore

[Kev K]

Hi,
I have a motorised satellite system which generally works fine for me. I've had it for several years, but up until several months ago I started receiving no signal messages on every single channel on Turksat 42 E. I've never in the past had any problems with Turksat other than a weak signal on some channels. I could still receive many of its channels with a good signal. I did a full reset of my Phoenix Apollo satellite receiver and then added the latest transponders and tried scanning using several transponders to get a signal, but with no luck.
The odd thing is that at one point I thought I had found a genuine signal using one of the Turksat transponders, so I scanned the channels and it came up with channels that do not even exist on Turksat! They were in fact channels that are only on Hotbird according to Lyngsat.com. I don't know how on earth it did this but when I tested the channels there was no signal. I also had this problem with another satellite as well a while ago.
I also had problems with Hotbird the other week where around half of the transponders were not receiving any signal, but I tried rescanning for these transponders the other day as it was a nice sunny day with no clouds and now they work fine! However, I have tried so many times to fix Turksat as I mentioned before without getting anywhere.
I was wondering whether this could be a problem with the receiver? I've had it for 7 years, but I don't have any other problems watching other satellites like Hotbird, or Astra.
I have an 80cm dish and live in NW London.
Thanks for your help,

 

[Mickha]

You can get Astra 2, 28.2E, Astra 1, 19.2E, and Hotbird, 13E, with a 45cm dish, especially given your location, so this doesn't tell us if your dish is tracking the arc correctly.
What are your signal quality readings on 39E, 16E, 10E, 9E, 5E, 0.8W, and 30W?

I can't understand how your receiver can scan in channels from 13E, when on 42E, unless there is a problem with your receiver.

 

[mariust5]

Do a blind scan on 42E as Turksat had a frequency reshufle not so long ago .

 

[Channel Hopper]

Some of the Turkish channels are only transmitting in Standard Definition on the Eastern beam , meaning you will have to upgrade to a high definition receiver. There is no guarantee any of them will continue on the Western beam though, so be prepared to lose them.

 

[Kev K]

You can get Astra 2, 28.2E, Astra 1, 19.2E, and Hotbird, 13E, with a 45cm dish, especially given your location, so this doesn't tell us if your dish is tracking the arc correctly.
What are your signal quality readings on 39E, 16E, 10E, 9E, 5E, 0.8W, and 30W?

I can't understand how your receiver can scan in channels from 13E, when on 42E, unless there is a problem with your receiver.

It's interesting because these satellites are the ones that I've had trouble scanning recently, though I remember I used to have 0.8W, 16E, 39E working in the past. However, I'll give it one more try again on Saturday.

It sounds like you could be right about the tracking causing the problem. Is it a common problem and what causes it?

Many thanks,

 

[Lazarus]

It sounds like you could be right about the tracking causing the problem. Is it a common problem and what causes it?

Yes, common >> High winds are often the culprit, causing the motor/dish to slip around the mount, or the dish to slip on the motor stub. Also, it's possible for the dish elevation to drop if the clamps aren't tight enough.

 

[Mickha]

Just to add sometimes the pole might move, under the weight of the dish/motor, and added wind velocity.
Check any mountings, for signs of damage/movement, and the pole is still plumb.

 

[Kev K]

Just an update on this - I had the guys who installed my motorised system come and look at it to try and fix it. They checked the dish and motor and they said that it didn't need re-aligning. They said the motor was fine as well. They sat here for a while trying sort it out and they said in the end that the receiver need replacing.

So I bought a new Openbox receiver and I am still having problems but the problems are a bit different. I have no problem with 13E or 7E as these return the correct channels, but what is so strange is that when I move the dish to Sky 28E, it comes back with channels on 19.2E !

Fo example, I am scanning for transponder 10832 H 22000 on 28E, but because the same transponder exists on 19.2E, its bringing back the channels from 19.2 E instead of 28E. I have set the dish to point to 28E, but it seems to me that its pointing at 19.2 E because after the scan the channels seem to work.

Doesn't anyone know what the cause of this could be?

Many thanks again,

 

[MarkW]

What channels do you get on 19.2 and 28?Are there any trees or buildings near by?What is the compass reading(roughly)of the dish when at 19.2 and 28?Edit:sorry,meant to say what was the reading on the direction scale of the motor(can be seen from below at the top of the motor arm) when at 19.2 and 28?

 

[Mickha]

10832 H 2200 on 28.2E is broadcast in DVB-S, whereas 10832 H 22000 on 19.2E is DVB-S2.
If your dish is pointing at 28.2E you should be able to view the English ITV channels, if you can then the problem is just with the software settings, in your receiver.
How are you scanning these channels in? If manually ensure you have selected Astra 2, 28.2E, prior to scanning.

Are you using USALS, to drive our motor? What make motor do you have?

 

[Kev K]

I just managed to get Sky 28E working by scanning for a transponder which did not exist on 19E. However, with Turksat I'm still having problems. I've tried numerous transponders - each transponder seems to be bringing up channels on different satellites. For example scanning for 12525 V 22500 on Turksat 42E retrieves channels from 19E. Another transponder retrieves channels from 10E and another from 4.8E.

I can never get USALS to work, so I do it manually. The motor is a Diseqc motor HH90, not sure on the brand. When I switch to a satellite, the dish moves but there is never a signal, so I move the dish manually with the remote until I find a signal, I then scan the channels and it seems the satellite which the receiver is telling me its on is not corresponding with the satellite that the dish is actually pointing at.

When I start to manually scan for a satellite, I choose 'Go to reference' and then I start moving the dish east. It doesn't take too long until it finds a signal, which is strange because it should take longer to move to 42E. The system then retrieves channels on 19.2E and it is no wonder it didn't take long to find a signal.

 

[Mickha]

That could explain the problem, as you're not storing the satellites correctly. You need to use Diseqc 1.2, I'm not ure how your receiver is set out but usually you need to manually store each satellite, on a number, selecting LNB 1 and turning USALS off.
Different receiver software does this in a different way, please check your manual, for how to set up Diseqc 1.2, or post full information, regarding your current receiver, and someone will either know how it works or search for an online manual.
Once set up Diseqc 1.2 works in a similar way to USALS, in by selecting a channel the dish will move automatically to the satellite the channel is associated with.

This thread should help you find the satellites:
http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/threads/strongest-reference-transponders.15129/page-6

 

[Kev K]

That could explain the problem, as you're not storing the satellites correctly. You need to use Diseqc 1.2, I'm not ure how your receiver is set out but usually you need to manually store each satellite, on a number, selecting LNB 1 and turning USALS off.
Different receiver software does this in a different way, please check your manual, for how to set up Diseqc 1.2, or post full information, regarding your current receiver, and someone will either know how it works or search for an online manual.
Once set up Diseqc 1.2 works in a similar way to USALS, in by selecting a channel the dish will move automatically to the satellite the channel is associated with.

This thread should help you find the satellites:
http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/threads/strongest-reference-transponders.15129/page-6

Hi, yes I am using Diseqc 1.2. Is this not considered as manual?

I moved my dish just now with Diseqc 1.2 to 42E and used the following transponder:

TurkSat 4A @ 42 east 12380 V 27500 Beyaz tv HD

It found a signal, but I started scanning the channels and it was finding many channels on 4.8E such as SVT1, Kanal 9, Viasat etc.

I have no problem deleting and scanning Hotbird over and over again....

Thanks,

 

[Mickha]

Stick to manually scanning in the channels you want, as it looks like you're doing an automatic scan.
Check lyngsat.com for a list of channel details.
Diseqc 1.2 is manually setting the satellites but you have to store them, but don't use goto reference, instead pick a satellite, like 0.8W, use Disecq 1.2 to maximise the signal, then store this as 001, next move to 4.8E and store this as 002, then move East to your next satellite, like 7E, and store as 003, keep doing this until you have all your Eastern satellites, move back to 0.8W, position 001, then do the West satellites, from the last number you left off.