28e levels in south france

jhalliday45 said:
It's great to come back to this forum from time to time to refresh my sanity that no much how "tinkinering " I do some channels are just a lost cause, and this time of year so many of the channels do not work, the challenge is I fear I have got my dish as good as I will get it, earlier in the year I was receiving pretty much everything (in good weather), so i need to fight off temptation to change things cause I will only make it worse than now.
Click to expand...
Moved my lnb 1mm to the east and got from 43% to 46% on ITV4! Watching Le Tour.
 
yes so I shuld do the same to pick up bbc better.
 
Just an update after the spring installation here north of Nice-Cannes, reception has been better than hoped for, levels staying within a 8 to 12 dB range (time of day\satellite\weather). It's just what's needed, only dropouts where a few periods of heavy rain.

After the initial and usual 1st week of back and forth with phone level app + tools nudging the crucial mm's, trying lnb's etc, the setup has been left untouched for many months, receiving all the wanted channels. So ftm can continue using the 130 (x140) dish.

----------------
ps: jhalliday45 asked "What are the rules in France for satellite dish size without any planning permission ?"
Asked the local maire long ago, said not aware of any existing restrictions.

And this, my 2 Solo2's still perfect like new after all these years. Incredible, see solo2
 

Attachments

  • PXL_20250829_213328855.webp
    PXL_20250829_213328855.webp
    78.2 KB · Views: 84
Last edited:
Hello all!, I've not been on here for many months cause things have been pretty much as good as I could get them, however I spent all Feb in UK and just returned to France a week ago and my dish lost all signal mid Feb - about the time there was very strong storms in the region, hence I assumed things have become misaligned. However after 2 or 3 attempts I am getting absolutely nowhere in finding a signal, not even the european footprint stuff. The LNB seems to be working fine (although low channel strength ~50% max) and have tried replacing it but same issues, I have noticed that when my hand goes in front of the LNB (between it and the dish) the signal strength increases approx 4-5% !, Google AI tells me that is because the dish is misaligned or misshaped and effectively the water in my hands is focussing the beam more (? no idea!).

I cannot see that the dish is obviously misshaped after the battering by the wind, nothing looks bent or out of shape, and to be frank I do find the parabolic dish shape to be quite strong. I think the support post has bent forwards a few degrees but I have compensated for that in the dish angle when trying to align.

When aligning I have always found at least some strong europe signal channels etc.

Any ideas ? have any signal strenghts changed etc ? normally this time of year with clear bright days the signal is quite good, but other than just trying to align again I don't know what else to do.
 
Last edited:
Are you checking for signal quality at the dish end or receiver end? If receiver end then it could be a water damaged cable. Try replacing it or at least checking at the dish end with a short cable run.

Do you have a picture of the dish? If you take on side on, it should be relatively obvious if it's misshapen. Or if it's easy enough, place the dish on a flat surface like a large pane of glass (window etc) and it should lie flush.

Lastly, any new tree growth in the way?
 
For finding the correct azimuth direction you could use Satellite Look Angle Calculator , "Time when Sun Azimuth equals Satellite azimuth". If at that time the sun shines, you can aim your dish, and after that only elevation needs to be checked.

If the dish might have become "warped", you could check with the so-called string test. Assuming that the dish face of the dish is supposed to be flat.

Another thing to check might be if the LNB arm is not displaced.

Do you have some sort of signal-finder? I always use a simple sat-beeper, to indicate if I receive some sort of satellite signal. That helps to know if I have landed somewhere on the Clarke Belt.

Greetz,
A33
 
An observation here,
when we get Southerly winds "le vent marin" or "entrées maritimes" the official name of that wind, this often carries desert sand in altitude,which block 28E signals a lot.
Makes you lose the UK beam, BUT you ll still get the Euro beam (CNN,sky news...)
Use CNN to optimise ,then Rewind TV....
Strangely,Hotbird & Astra 19E are totally unaffected.
Keeping a 2nd fixed dish with a monoblock (13E&19E) will offer more choice under "sandy" conditions!

and,as you may know,it has rained a huge lot where you now are. so check cables etc...
Today,no" sand",so you should be able to get something.
 
Last edited:
Captain Jack said:
Are you checking for signal quality at the dish end or receiver end? If receiver end then it could be a water damaged cable. Try replacing it or at least checking at the dish end with a short cable run.

Do you have a picture of the dish? If you take on side on, it should be relatively obvious if it's misshapen. Or if it's easy enough, place the dish on a flat surface like a large pane of glass (window etc) and it should lie flush.

Lastly, any new tree growth in the way?
Click to expand...
At dish end - I have a bravebox satellite meter, I can get a photo of the dish sure, but no nothing obvious other than the post has moved a few degrees off vertical and no re trees it opens out onto a wide field with currently very low crops. Have taken some photos
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20260319_111933.webp
    IMG_20260319_111933.webp
    2.7 MB · Views: 58
  • IMG_20260319_111936.webp
    IMG_20260319_111936.webp
    3.1 MB · Views: 52
  • IMG_20260319_111943.webp
    IMG_20260319_111943.webp
    1.8 MB · Views: 47
  • IMG_20260319_111955.webp
    IMG_20260319_111955.webp
    2.8 MB · Views: 59
a33 said:
For finding the correct azimuth direction you could use Satellite Look Angle Calculator , "Time when Sun Azimuth equals Satellite azimuth". If at that time the sun shines, you can aim your dish, and after that only elevation needs to be checked.

If the dish might have become "warped", you could check with the so-called string test. Assuming that the dish face of the dish is supposed to be flat.

Another thing to check might be if the LNB arm is not displaced.

Do you have some sort of signal-finder? I always use a simple sat-beeper, to indicate if I receive some sort of satellite signal. That helps to know if I have landed somewhere on the Clarke Belt.

Greetz,
A33
Click to expand...
Yes got a Satellite finder (Bravebox) and used it 100s of times before - my issue was always the really weak signal UK spot signals but I had 90% of UK signals incl HD fine (most of the year), but this time I am getting nothing and I dont know what else to try
 
In your first photo, the left side of your dish rim looks suspicious!
I'd do the string test.
 
a33 said:
In your first photo, the left side of your dish rim looks suspicious!
I'd do the string test.
Click to expand...
Yes I saw that but I think it is just a dent in the outer rim and has been there for years , it is not present on the inner parabole, but I'll try the string test .... if you can tell me what it is or where to find out...

and thank you!
 
your dish seems more "vertical" than mine.Maybe your pole,or the dish inclination have varied during your long absence?
Will compare to mine tomorrow when day comes. I also have 120 cms,in carcassonne
 
jhalliday45 said:
Yes I saw that but I think it is just a dent in the outer rim and has been there for years , it is not present on the inner parabole, but I'll try the string test ....
Click to expand...

OK, if it has been like this for years it might be not a big deal.

However:
AI says: The "string test" is used to check if a satellite dish is warped (bent) by stretching two strings across it to see if they touch at the center.
and: Place two strings diagonally across the dish's face. They should just (barely) touch in the middle; if they don't, the dish is warped.

In this post you see a picture (xx858.jpg) with the strings just touching (at depth 28cm):
www.satellitescommunity.de

Measurement of parabolic antennas - Satellites Community

In my post A challenge for ingenuity [URL:https://www.satellitescommunity.de/forum/index.php?thread/2749-a-challenge-for-ingenuity/] I wrote: If you are interested in how I built the "green" dots, please "like" this post. If you are not interested in…
www.satellitescommunity.de www.satellitescommunity.de

The string test assumes a flat dish face, and a dish rim that is uniformly "thick".
If the strings don't touch, or (the opposite: ) if they touch heavily, then the dish is warped.
You should test with the strings on various locations, for instance left-right against top-bottom, and diagonally.


You cannot find any satellite signal with your Bravebox, also no signal from other satellites, when adjusting elevation and/or azimuth?

Greetz,
A33
 
rodscha said:
your dish seems more "vertical" than mine.Maybe your pole,or the dish inclination have varied during your long absence?
Will compare to mine tomorrow when day comes. I also have 120 cms,in carcassonne
Click to expand...
Yes after testing it last time I may not have left it locked in correct alignment, I had got frustrated at that point, it should be at 33degrees
 
i have an elevation of 27° versus vertical
try testing daytime,propagation 's much better
 
^^^ "an inverto black lnb,to receive astra 2 on 28"

To try to harvest a few more %'s \ dB's, tested other lnb's? Here, with same dish type \ roughly same 'distance from uk', my black ultra collection is the worst at critical sat levels. Everything in the box here (MTI, Triax, Maximum, some hongkong things, Opticum) keeps a lock 1 to 2 dB below what the BU's manage.

Impression, the BU's got some internal 'I give up' threshold, whereas the others keeps trying ((but newer models may differ). Took some time to overcome the hype about BU's being 'the best', now not even bothering taking them out for testing. Very good, solid & dependable for general 'normal sat levels' use though.

Like prevoius years, best of the pack here for 28e uk, the trusted MTI quad AK54-XT2E-F (around 20+ years old). The feather weight Maximum single ain't bad as well. Also got a couple of "MTI High Line Universal Quad" 1\2 kilo tanks, quite decent but bettered by the smaller XT2E-F. Morale, test a lot of lnb's, one may have luck and get some good surprises (I did).
 

Attachments

  • 20260509_221545.webp
    20260509_221545.webp
    234 KB · Views: 26
Last edited:
Back
Top