C4 Transporder

ameolive

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I'm Rome and so far I haven't had any problem receiving C4 using my 80 cm dish even in case of light raining, however tonight I started having some pixelation and occasional breack-ups.
When I checked transponder 12168V, I had a beautiful 30 % quality and 100 % strength

The above figures are quite good for my GDS 310 , so I was surprise to have these problems.
I was even more puzzled when all the pixelation and breack-ups disappered when I watched C4 from the OTHER CHANNELS menu where I added it after tuning on 12168V.

Can you explain this ? Is there any chance that the C4 that is on the 104 channel of the EPG is transmitting now from a weaker transponder ( just to make things worse here in Rome after the lost of BBC and all the hassle to get the new FTV cards )?


Thanks in advance for the help


Ciao

Ameolive
 

denis1501

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No, it's still on 12168v, it hasn't moved.
However it's on Astra 2A North beam and that is most likely why you're having picture break up. For some reason this beam is stronger during the winter months in Central Italy. Why? I wish I knew!
On March 1st with a 1.25m dish I could see all channels 24hrs a day.And have been doing so since before Christmas.
On April 1st I have picture break-up on almost all movie channels, British Eurosport etc until 4pm even on a sunny day. Then they're all ok for the night. Maybe it's a case of the skew of the lnb needing re-alignment twice or three times a year, I don't know!
In your case your 80cm dish is a little on the small side, in my opinion, for our area. And why Ch.4 was perfect through the 'add channels' is anyone's guess. Maybe you tried this in the evening when the signal was at it's strongest??
Also do you have the new/latest software in the box??
regards
D.
 

Zorba

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The older Grundigs always had problems with ch4,granada plus sky sports news and extra etc.sometimes they could be repaired by replacing a load of capacitors in the power supply.Its possible that your grundig has developed a fault.Maybe its in an enclosed area and overheated.Try someone else's digibox on your dish to confirm where the problem is.
 

ameolive

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Thanks for your replies.

It appears to have been just an isolated episode as since then I haven't exeperienced anymore pixelation.
I confirm that everything was fine through the ' added channels ' menu; this is the reason why I guessed that the C4, I was watching on the EPG , was transmitting from a different transponder.

To be honest it was quite scary because as said before so far, even with a .8 mt dish, I had no problems receiving C4 even in moderate rain.

I fully agree with DENIS 1501 when he says that this period is the best for receiving from 2A north I noticed exactly the same.

I think that part of this behaviour may also be explained with temperature effetcs , we should not forget that all the dishes are basically southfacing and during our roman summers I believes that temperature inside the LNBs may easily get 60 or 70 deg so irremediably degrading the quality of the signal ( the hotter the more disturbing noise is produced in the elettronic components ), this degradation may be unnoticed with a good quality signal but not on my dish where when at its best it delivers just a meger 30% .

In addition I have also to say that even from the same beam 2A North , not all the transporder behaves in the same way.

Of course it depends partly from the LNB skew but I believe also from the fact that probably ( but it just a guess ) each transporder transmits with different power.
Anyway in my case I adjusted the skewness of my LNB to optimise C4 reception so that I have 30% quality for C4 ( for most of the day and clear sky ) while, under the same conditions, I have just 10% for say 11778.

Having said the above, I still have to find an answer to my old question also known as the 'mistery of the misteries '.

The question is quite simple : ' Is anybody able to explain me why I can manage to obtain an outstanding 80% quality from channels transmitting from transponders located on 2B north ? While in principle and according to ASTRA charts there would be no differences in terms of reception between 2A north and 2B north ? ( you may check this using the 'add channel' menu' )
I have posted this question at least a couple of times but so far I never received an answer

Hoping to hear from someone

Ciao e Grazie
Ameolive
 

PoloMint

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ameolive said:
...The question is quite simple : ' Is anybody able to explain me why I can manage to obtain an outstanding 80% quality from channels transmitting from transponders located on 2B north ? While in principle and according to ASTRA charts there would be no differences in terms of reception between 2A north and 2B north ? ( you may check this using the 'add channel' menu' )...

That’s something I’ve asked a quite a bit also, except the other way around ‘why is 2B north weaker than 2A north?’ as back home in the south of Spain that is the case. Can’t give you a perfect answer but this might help.

Firstly don’t expect the footprints to be accurate, they are a guide rather than being drawn up from any measurements. The one for 2D being a better example of this. As far as Astra are concerned as long as the footprint is (slightly) on the conservative side there are no problems with it, as no one will complain that it states a 1.0m should receive it when in fact a 1.1 is needed etc etc. This also allows for transponders to get weaker over time and the documented footprint to remain the same. For the same reason there is no need to accurately portray side lobes and hot spots. If the footprint says you are just off the edge then as far as Astra are concerned you are out of reception area, it doesn’t make any difference that your friend 150 miles further outside the footprint can receive it with a smaller dish than you (as is the case with some people and 2D), that is far to difficult to document, and the number of people that far from the target area is going to be so small that it is financially unviable to print very accurate footprints. As long as the target area is fully covered and the regions where dish sizes change are fairly accurate the operator paying for the channels on the satellite will be happy and the fringes can just get a gentle even curve.


As for the satellites themselves, and the reason why the footprints are different rather than why Astra don’t document it. As 2A and 2B are different satellites, it is unrealistic to expect them to have exactly the same footprint. They might be in a slightly different position, one might have very slightly more power, or be slightly more clumsy in correcting its position or any number of reasons mean that the fringe of one is not going to be the same as the fringe of the other. But as long as the footprint doesn’t change for the documented target area to Astra it really doesn’t matter, they have happy operators paying to use their space.

I have yet to find better answers than these, but they seem to make sense.
 

ameolive

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Thanks Polomint

The difference in quality reception we have here in Rome between 2A and 2B north is so striking that, in my humble opinion, it should deserve a better attention from ASTRA even for the purpose of enlarging the market to new potential operators.

Having said that I have regrettably to admit that at least as far as Rome is concerned, the 2D footprints are unfortunately pretty accurate: apparently here you cannot receive anything even using a 2.0 mt dish ...you cannot imagine how disappointing is to have the 'no satellite signal being received' message whenever I try to tune on BBC or ITV channels, this frustration increases even more when I think that these channels can be received almost everywhere in Western Europe ( including Spain and North Italy ) with just a .8/1 mt dish !

Anyway thanks again for your reply

All the best
Ameolive

PS : I have just noticed that the EPG software version has changed ! It is now 3.2.11 , that may explain the problems I had last week and the fact that the subtitles ( my english is no good an I need them ..) have became all of sudden a bit erratic..
 

barney

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ameolive said:
Thanks Polomint

The difference in quality reception we have here in Rome between 2A and 2B north is so striking that, in my humble opinion, it should deserve a better attention from ASTRA even for the purpose of enlarging the market to new potential operators.

Having said that I have regrettably to admit that at least as far as Rome is concerned, the 2D footprints are unfortunately pretty accurate: apparently here you cannot receive anything even using a 2.0 mt dish ...you cannot imagine how disappointing is to have the 'no satellite signal being received' message whenever I try to tune on BBC or ITV channels, this frustration increases even more when I think that these channels can be received almost everywhere in Western Europe ( including Spain and North Italy ) with just a .8/1 mt dish !

Anyway thanks again for your reply

All the best
Ameolive

PS : I have just noticed that the EPG software version has changed ! It is now 3.2.11 , that may explain the problems I had last week and the fact that the subtitles ( my english is no good an I need them ..) have became all of sudden a bit erratic..


Hi, Ciao
i can confirm your impression.
I've 3 mt dish in Abruzzo and this is the time where the signal of 2a north beam is very low. I want move another way the skew of Lnb (invacom 0.3) and hope to get all the channel. No news from BBC.
Regards
barney
 

dave branson

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Although i do not have any probs,with ch4 & ch 5,i think the Astra 2D moves around
at," some," times throughout the year.
Its exactly a year since i installed a 2 metre dish to get the BBC,initally reception was
ok early morning thru late evening,now its from about 10.00am till 20.00pm.
Also of course temp factors on the dish/lnb may be the cause.
Anybody think a re-skew of the lnb,re-dish alignment may improve this?
 
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