BBC Have Moved to Astra 2D!

Expat

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It seems as of this morning May 21st, the BBC have started moving their channels to the Astra 2D satellite!
 

barney

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Yes, Expat.
Bud news.
This morning in Central Italy no signal om 101-102 etc....
Ciao
 

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rumoured that bbc still transmitting on 2a but now no longer the digi box default transponder

if someone can check using the add channel feature we may be able to confirm

i will try this evening when i get home (only delaying the inevitable though!!)
 

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I'm still getting BBC1/2 (Scotland) but I've lost Cbeebies (621&622) plus the BBC news channels .

That's nice of them . They could have waited till the 31st and given me time to tape them for my kids .
 

gazza

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just got the wife to check the channels are still on 2a and doing a manual add channels brings them up

unfortunately when you try to select one of them to view only get a no signal message presumably the digi-box software is preventing viewing other than the default transponder

any way round this?

the writing is on the wall but it would be nice to get a few more days to tape ceebies for my little girl
 

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Here in Germany (near Munich), all the BBC Channels disappeared. Guessed it had to do with the move over.
I have an 80cm dish, and it struggles with the ITV signal - normally I had to view an ITV region such as Scottish or Grampian which have the stronger signal.

Anyway I bit the bullet and decided to experiement - I moved the digibox as close to the dish as possible - less than 2m cable between them, and have set up a wireless connection between the two. The signal quality has doubled and the strengh increased by 30%! I can't believe how much difference it has made. FYI - the cable was originally 10-12m long.

Now I get all BBC AND ITV regions! Good luck to the rest of you trying to get hold of the channels!
 

rolfw

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That was a big cable loss robtaylor, it should be only 3 to 4 db over that distance, what type of cable is it?
 

robtaylor

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To be honest - not really sure... I went to the local hardware store and being a newbie, asked for satellite coax cable. All I can say is that it is chunky white - not much help I know, but I really have no idea what I am looking for!!!

Incidently, I forgot to mention that on my old cable, I had to put an amplifier on to get the signal through, otherwise I had real problems getting the BBCi services. Of course by amplifying the signal I also amplifyed the noise and I am sure that this may have caused a few problems. But which is the lesser of the two evils - noise or signal strengh?!?

Is there a best type of cable? If there is, would anyone know which it is?
 

rolfw

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For a 10 metre run CT100 or equivalent should be more than adequate, it has an airgap dialectric, copper core, copper braid and copper foil screen. An amplifier on a short run like that would normally make things worse, but perhaps it is really dodgy cable. You also have to make sure that the "F" connectors are correctly fitted with good electrical contact to the outer screening.

Attached is a picture of WF100, similar appearance apart from this has a foam dialectric (the bit between the core and screen).
 

methos_de

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Hi, I also live in Germany and am having probs with the BBC and ITV channels. I also have a good 12m of cable. The problem is at the moment, due to my house burning down, i'm living in a rented flat and am not allowed to drill through the walls. To solve the problem of getting the cable into the house I bought some connections which were slim enough to allow them to come in through the windows when they are shut. Know what I mean? This does of course unfortunately also mean that I have two breaks in the cable as they are only about 20cm long and the cable has to be rejoined at either end.
Would this lead to considerable signal loss? I usually have about 75% strength and 80% quality. This is of course only for the default transponder. Being as 2D is so much weaker could these breaks worsen the problem ?
If so any solutions ?

Cheers,

Methos.
 

rolfw

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I've seen the connectors you mean Methos, I believe that they are primarily designed for UHF TV cable runs, so they may not have effective screening for the higher frequencies and hence produce a large signal loss. Not sure of what your solution may be.
 

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Thanks for the info rolfw,

Thinking about the cable, although it has a copper core, the rest looks like aluminium foil with grey metal braid. No copper there. Metals not being my strong point, is this cable really bad?
 

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I am new to the forum but desperate to get the signal back for BBC. I have a standard set brought from Uk with the oval 44 cm mesh dish, ( at least thats how big I think it is). We had great reception of BBC but never had ITV.

I would like to find a solution, new LNB and dish or some combi. I Have a panasonic 30 model reciever and am told this is good.

Will a bigger dish work and if so how big?

cheers
 

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markwilcox,

Being also new... I believe that you are on a similar border region of the Astra 2D spread as me - I would say that an 80cm would be pretty much essential. I tried with a 60, got the main channels ok (on 2A/:cool:, but ITV being on 2D - had no chance. Thats why I went to an 80cm.
 

rolfw

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There are at least a couple of other members in the Berlin area and from what they are saying an 80cm will not suffice and probably something in the region of 1.2 metres will be required.

@ robtaylor, the cable you have is alisat but not the best quality, it should not however incur such high loss figures. If in doubt get some CT100 or equivalent from a local installer, they'll probably sell it by the metre, get foam filled if you can WF100.
 
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@ Mark Wilcox: here in Berlin, I am told that at least 120cm, probably 150cm, maybe 180cm will be necessary. I have received many estimates of how big a dish it would have to be, but have not (yet) read from anyone in Berlin who actually really really receives 2D signals and with what. My 1m dish does not pick up a whisper of a dickybird on 2D. Also, Berlin is big, and the signal strength drop across Berlin will be quite noticable, so those in Spandau will have better chances than in those Rudow or Pankow.

Note: you are not alone. Quite a few Berlin residents are active on this forum and on digitalspy.co.uk; it's only a matter of time before someone can report success or otherwise.

You could consider BBC Prime - check out their schedule at www.bbcprime.com and see if it interests you. £75 p.a. +VAT +£12 for the card. And you'd need a Viaccess receiver (ca. €250), and a dish pointing at Hotbird.
 
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