Freesat & FS-4200

danijela85 · 11-08-2008

Hey guys,

I have troubles with my receiver and cannot get any channels like BBC and ITV, except the one with a $ sign, which shouldnt be!!!

Can anyone help me pls

**mariust5** · 11-08-2008

Hi danijela85 and welcome to the forum , first of all you have to give us more details on your system , i presume it's satellite , please tell us about your dish , what size is it , fixed , motorised and some symptoms , did you have these channels before in the clear or it'a a new system .

**portly** · 16-08-2008

danijela85 , more info would help mate, i have a fs4200 and have know trouble getting the bbc , itv and so on. If you have setup your dish correctly then there shouldnt be a problem, perhaps you have it positioned wrong? Run a scan. Menu .password "0000" installation, multi satillite search. make shore in the menu screen you have under satilliite "Astra and eurobird ,
FTA" NO"
Scan Channel "tv Channel" if you dont want radio
Network search "no"
Scan mode "auto scan"
Then press ok on Search
You should have astra and eurobird in the lower blue box, when you scan the box should show you the channel list as it gets them.
Or add this into the TP list 10773 under frequency, 22000 under symbol rate and h for polarity. But the chances its already there

Let us know what occures old bean and we will see if we can help , but we do need alitlle more info

danijela85 · 18-08-2008

Hey guys,

sorry that i didnt reply earlier, but i got the messages today.

Well I have a 60cm mesh dish with wall mount, is fixed and should receive "Astra 28.2".

Honestly, I had installer who did everything and install the dish plus set up my receiver, which means satellite is correctly set up, check the satellite's position and if it receives "Astra and Eurobird", but from the beginning on I couldnt get a lot of channels and if then only religous and who the hell knows what.

Could it be that my software receiver is from last year and I would need to update it?

Just to inform I did reset the system many times and did a search plenty of times, but it was always the same!!!

Any chance to help out????

**rolfw** · 18-08-2008

What is the make of the dish and LNB, can you take some photos?

**portly** · 25-08-2008

By the sounds of it , your setup isnt setup right.The installer should have done a scan for you and made sure you were recieving all you were supposed to.I you do a scan as i have already posted ,you should see the channels being scanned,as they are scanned and loaded you will get an "OK" by the side of them if you get loads of "failed" then there is a problem. But dont forget you will get loads of channels ,atleast 1000 and i must admit most will be crap, not worth watching jobbies.then you will have to add the ones you like to your favourites, but we wont go there yet

I have one idea, look at your lnb from the front, at what angle is the coax coming out at, is it straight down? or angled to the left or right.This is the skew and can make quite a difference to reception, mine is a 8 o\c looking at it from the front

another thing the channels you can get , what is the signal strenth and quality, if it is low- less than 50% on either then the dish ect hasnt been setup correctly, but adding the skew may change that , it did for me.
As for the reciever software it should be ok, is the box a maplin jobbie? ive updated my software but found the eurobird sat not on its sat list

but it was easy to add.
Please for us to help you we do need more info, i know it can be embarssing but we cant help with bits and pieces

danijela85 · 26-08-2008

Hi portly,

Thx 4 the info, which is really helpful.

I am not embarrsed, I am just annoyed

The funny things is that my dish is set up at 8 o/c, and even the guy, who installe it, checked and got full reception, but my receiver doesnt show at all except from the eurobird one!!!!!

I know it sounds like he did a crap job, but more or less he did the same as u wrote me and was really surprised that when he did a scan, he got full reception but that my receiver didnt!?! hmmmmm as I asked already last time, could it be that my software is from last year November and I would need to update it?

however in the next couple of days i will make pics from my satellite dish and lnb, so you guys will know a bit more what I am talking about!!!

danijela85 · 26-08-2008

Hey guys,

Actually I had some pics from my dish and LNB (haaa not even realizing). I hope that will help you more out!!!

titan23 · 26-08-2008

I am in the same situation with the 4200 set, I get some channels from both Astra and Hotbird but not all transponders. Watching the scan I didn't see any of the UK BBC and ITV channels picked up. Signal strength is 90% and quality 72%. I have tried tweaking the skew and it seems set for optimum signal strength. Setting up my steerable system without a meter was easier than this.

danijela85 · 26-08-2008

Hey guys,

there is another thing that I wanna to ask you!

Does it matter if u have a single or a dual LNB?

**Topper** · 26-08-2008

If fs stands for fortecstar which I suspect it does then if you need to check the type of lnb this thread explains what the problem is assuming of course your lnb is the type as shown in that thread

**portly** · 27-08-2008

Originally Posted by danijela85

Hey guys,

there is another thing that I wanna to ask you!

Does it matter if u have a single or a dual LNB?

If you are in the uk, then one lnb should do with no probs, theres naff all between astra 28 and eurobird

When you scan astra, what happens when the channels come up as you are scanning?
the software in my reciever was a year old and sounds like the same date ish as yours, i didnt have any probs ,until i upgraded

Are you getting a good signal and quality on both astra and eurobird?if one is better than the other, which one is it?
Mark your lnb,s position now and skew the other way towards 4oc, little at a time and rescan or connect to a portable throught the fs4200 so you can see the screen while scanning.Retape the lnb fitting with selfamalgamating tape so no water can get in

Your dish is not much different than mine except i have a solid dish. im wondering if the dish is set to eurobird just i such away your missing astra,s field and only getting a glimpse of it, often dishes can move and need retighting /realigning as well.
You could do a software update, its not hard, dont use the onscreen one, only via the computer and see what happens then

surely the installer should have sorted this, didnt he have any clues?
Gaz ps run a google on the lnb to see if there are any problems withit, also see if you can find the company that makes it.

danijela85 · 27-08-2008

Hey ya,

Thx for the info

uuuu see the funny thing is that i get a lot of channels on astra and on eurobird (especially crap or without signal). Of course more on eurobird then on astra!!!

hmmmmmm i think the signal is much better on eurobird which is unusually but it is not bad either on astra. well the installer did everything to set it up and it took him hours....anyway wouldnt surprise me if he didnt know it better!!!!

However another question: if i move my LNB around, do I need to pay attention to smth (except from the clock time)?

I will try it this w-end & lets hope that it will work, cos I am so not going to call another installer if the first one didnt have any clue!!!

THX again portly

titan23 · 27-08-2008

Well I have now sorted it out , I was on the wrong satellite. Despite having a very strong sat meter signal and it dropping significantly moving farther east It looks like I was on 23.5 not 28.2. My Maplin sat meter just does not see 28.2 it seems to be swamped by 23.5. What was confusing was the 4200 indicates a good signal strength for 28.2. Once I realised the problem I marked a guesstimated 5 deg on the tube and moved it in tiny increments until I got a signal on the reciever, I now have all the channels.

danijela85 · 28-08-2008

Cooolllllllllll

titan u gave me hope and that means 4 me....asking a friend for help and moving my satellite

**portly** · 01-09-2008

Originally Posted by danijela85

Hey ya,

Thx for the info uuuu see the funny thing is that i get a lot of channels on astra and on eurobird (especially crap or without signal). Of course more on eurobird then on astra!!!

hmmmmmm i think the signal is much better on eurobird which is unusually but it is not bad either on astra. well the installer did everything to set it up and it took him hours....anyway wouldnt surprise me if he didnt know it better!!!!

However another question: if i move my LNB around, do I need to pay attention to smth (except from the clock time)?

I will try it this w-end & lets hope that it will work, cos I am so not going to call another installer if the first one didnt have any clue!!!

THX again portly

Im suprised it took the installer hours to set you up

it took me only half hour from start to finish inclueding drilling holes ect, the alignment took 15mins all in all , and it was my first time

First thing i would do is get some help ,of a freind , get a compass and find the direction of the satiliite form your position, stick the compass on the lnb arm and move the dish "if it needs" to the correct position and just nip up the bolts,then tilt the dish up or down a few degrees if needed ,and leave the skew til last , of course it would be helpful if you had a portable tv connect to your reciever ,to make it easy for you to adjust your sat settings.Once you have everything sorted tighten all the bolts up and check again.It really is as easy as that.

mind you , mine is only 6ft of the ground

Paulr1963 · 19-10-2008

Hi folks. I have just bought one of Fortec Star's kits with an FS-4200 receiver, a single LNB, and a 60cm dish. Essentially I want to get radio channels. I have not even got as far as most posters here in getting it up and running. In fact my query is apt to sound amateurish in the extreme :-)

I've hooked up the receiver to the dish and to the TV (using "RCA Support"). During my initial attempts to position the dish I was looking at what I'd got so far: the receiver is set up with all the channels and is set to receiver Astra 2 and hotbird.

However the signal strength seemed stuck forever at 45% with quality switching between 4% and 5%. Suspicious, I brought the receiver into the neighbour's and plugged his dish (which points at astra 2) into my receiver - that too was registering 45% and a quality of 5%. Any ideas? Now here's the dumb question: in the menus under 'other' there is an option to have the receiver supply power to the dish. Should this be 'on'? And, more importantly, is that the problem?

Grateful for any help to this nutter!
Thanks
Paul

Paulr1963 · 19-10-2008

Folks,

Well I have got a little further. I am now getting a signal intensity of 90% and a quality in the range 70-80% on most transponders. Trouble is, even though I have this intensity and quality on the 10744/H/22000 it keeps failing to pick up anything on that.

during an auto scan.
I have tried repositioning several times but I only get a signal at this position with either south or north of it. I've also twiddled the LNB angle, all to no avail.
Help!

Paulr1963 · 20-10-2008

Originally Posted by titan23

Well I have now sorted it out , I was on the wrong satellite. Despite having a very strong sat meter signal and it dropping significantly moving farther east It looks like I was on 23.5 not 28.2. My Maplin sat meter just does not see 28.2 it seems to be swamped by 23.5. What was confusing was the 4200 indicates a good signal strength for 28.2. Once I realised the problem I marked a guesstimated 5 deg on the tube and moved it in tiny increments until I got a signal on the reciever, I now have all the channels.

Thanks Titan23!

I followed your steps

of tweaking slowly to the east from where I thought I was pointed at astra and BINGO! I hear the distinctive BBC radio 4 voice for a microsecond. Fishing about there got me onto Astra proper. As you said "What was confusing was the 4200 indicates a good signal strength for 28.2."

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