Astra 2F: Western Europe Discussion

[Burnham Beech]

Location: SE France 46°N 7°E - Albertville

60cm dish - results for 12207V & 12110H

Both no problems, good signal 24/7 - heavy rain here at present.

 

[davidcmadrid]

Map updated to here

 

[hairybadger]

Location: SE France 46°N 7°E - Albertville
60cm dish - results for 12207V & 12110H
Both no problems, good signal 24/7 - heavy rain here at present.

Am about 50km north of Albertville - 12207V is OK, even in heavy rain. I still have no issues with any of the Freesat channels.

 

[Analoguesat]

Haute-Savoie report added

 

[alec]

Perplexed!

Yesterday I witnessed it first hand:
Left home - "no signal" on all C5 channels, 4/seven just about viewable on the Topfield only - walked half a mile to a friend who has a (ca.) 70 cm supermarket dish and single LNB on his roof, linked by longish wires (twisted together and covered with insulating tape at the join!) to 2 very old Sky Digiboxes in different rooms. Not surprisingly he can only watch one at a time but either pulls in ALL the C5 channels 24/7 with no problems and no noticeable artefacts.

Still trying to work out what I am doing wrong. He's the second person I know in our small town to have problem-free reception - the common factor is that both have oldish Sky boxes, while those who can't get C5 etc. mostly seem to have Foxsat HDRs. Hard to believe that the Digiboxes are so much more sensitive though.

Any ideas?

 

[timo_w2s]

Which Sky boxes? For example the Pace 2600C1 is very good with weak signals.

 

[Lazarus]

The tuner in the Foxsat HDR is none too shabby, though.

 

[Juan69]

I have experienced this in my own home and I am fairly sure it has to do, at least in my case, with the really fine tuning necessary. i.e. I can get most of the channels except for the Five cluster, but if I move the dish very very slightly I regain the Five and all other start to break up.

 

[alec]

I have experienced this in my own home and I am fairly sure it has to do, at least in my case, with the really fine tuning necessary. i.e. I can get most of the channels except for the Five cluster, but if I move the dish very very slightly I regain the Five and all other start to break up.

Juan, that's not quite my problem - I just can't get enough signal on the 5 cluster (a few mornings excepted) no matter how much or how carefully I tweak the dish. Non-2F channels are OK.

Simon (my digibox friend) is picking up all Sky EPG FTA channels with no problems on (metaphorically) a dustbin lid and a coathanger . I've asked him to email me the makes and models of his digiboxes - will report back asap.

 

[timo_w2s]

The tuner in the Foxsat HDR is none too shabby, though.

It did cross my mind as I've heard that but as I've no experience with the Foxsat I wasn't sure quite how good it was. All I can say is the 2600C1 (and newer HD models) can bring in channels that other boxes can't. The best test would be to borrow a box...

 

[Gary D]

Juan, that's not quite my problem - I just can't get enough signal on the 5 cluster (a few mornings excepted) no matter how much or how carefully I tweak the dish. Non-2F channels are OK.

Simon (my digibox friend) is picking up all Sky EPG FTA channels with no problems on (metaphorically) a dustbin lid and a coathanger . I've asked him to email me the makes and models of his digiboxes - will report back asap.

Alec,

Just a thought - are you using your Foxsat in non-Freesat mode? If so, have you tried it in non-Freesat mode to see if makes a difference?

I'm just wondering if the Sky boxes that are working nearby have different transponder settings compared to the ones sent from the Freesat epg...

The definitive test would be to plug in your friend's Sky box to your dish though - but would they be willing to risk it?

- Gary.

 

[timo_w2s]

The SD Channel 5s are only on one 2F transponder so both Sky and Freesat will be looking at the same signal. As for risks, I wouldn't take my box over to the house who's wired up their dodgy cables with tape...

 

[alec]

@ Gary D: No, I've only tried it in Freesat mode - I'll have a go tomorrow just to see.
The Topfield seems much more sensitive that the Foxsat (in Freesat mode anyway).
I'll have to ask Simon nicely if he would bring one of his digiboxes up here to test - not much risk for him (unless he can't get it to work again when he takes it back home) and much better than the other way round, as timo says :-)

 

[alec]

Simon has checked his boxes - the one I saw the other day is indeed a Pace 2600C1 (well done, Timo) but the other is an "AXIL AD600" - apparently a French supermarket box bought second hand - that also pulls in C5 24/7.

I tried my Foxsat in non-Freesat mode - no difference (found RT HD though!).

I have an old (not as old as Simon's) sky box in the loft. Not sure of the make. I'll dig it out and give it a try today.

 

[alec]

I have an old (not as old as Simon's) sky box in the loft. Not sure of the make. I'll dig it out and give it a try today.

Tried the sky box - a Pace DS445NB - instead of the Topfield. Results: very similar, no C5 and very pixellated 4/seven, signal tester shows (roughly) 90%/80%, so worse than the Humax or Topfield.
As a next step I'll try taking that box (which doesn't owe me very much) to test with Simon's - apparently miraculous - dish. (He didn't buy it at Lourdes though :-)
Anybody know if the 2600C1 is better at weaker signals than the DS445 ?

 

[dxsat]

Anybody know if the 2600C1 is better at weaker signals than the DS445 ?

Much better. The Pace 440 and 445 are notorious for poor reception in fringe areas owing to their poor tuners with limited overload margin.

 

[Gary D]

Simon has checked his boxes - the one I saw the other day is indeed a Pace 2600C1 (well done, Timo) but the other is an "AXIL AD600" - apparently a French supermarket box bought second hand - that also pulls in C5 24/7.

I tried my Foxsat in non-Freesat mode - no difference (found RT HD though!).

I have an old (not as old as Simon's) sky box in the loft. Not sure of the make. I'll dig it out and give it a try today.

Well, that's my theory blown out of the water!

I have a Pace 2600 at my place 40km east of Toulouse and that seems to be working fine with all the available channels on 2F.

I was forced to do a hit-and-miss re-aiming of the dish after a big bird had landed on the arm of the dish causing the whole thing to be aimed at the ground.
As I didn't have the signal meter with me, I just tried varying the elevation of the dish until I heard sound coming from the TV. I don't know how, but purely by chance the signal quality ended up being far better than anything I was able to get previously using the signal meter to aim the dish.

So I think the moral of my story is that the dish aim is unbelievably critical at the fringes, and somethimes you just need to get lucky when looking for that perfect sweet spot.

I just hope that bird stays away, because I don't think I'd managed to get that perfect aim again.

By the way, if you can't get hold of a Pace 2600, I think the Pace 430 is the next best box to get. They look exactly the same but the 430's tuner isn't as sensitive at the 2600's.

 

[solly]

today first time I lock signal astra 1n pan Europe beam with 4.5m
same time no lock and same lock it
3.7db to 3.9 db
pan Europe beam 1

 

[solly]

also I got 12326v sr-29500 fec 3/4
3.8db on dreambox 8000s 23% signal lock and no lock

 

[solly]

picture from dreambox 8000s astra 1n 12305h
very low signal on 4.5m
pan Europe beam 1