can't detect english fta/freesat channels on my non-freesat receiver

[joneshomebody]

Hi Guys n Gals
Just got a screwfix kit, as it has been sometime since I had a receiver, my technomate blew up or at least fizzed and stopped working a while ago.
I thought "Great, an HD box for £50"
However it won't motor across to Thor and will only show four sats Astra 1, Astra2, Eurobird and Hotbird.
Big problem is there do not seem to be many english language channels detected, bigger problem is the support site is S$%^e unless you want to pay a £1 a minute to wait on hold.
Can anybody tell me where to find the fta english language channels with this box?

 

[Topper]

Well they should be where they are always on Astra 28.2/5 East, where all the sky channels are. What model of STB is it? does it support a motor, is it actually driving the motor to other sats or are you stating that there are only four satellites scanned into it at the moment?

 

[Stew.art]

If it's the Labgear receiver that's part of the "HD Complete Satellite Kit" it won't work the motor as it only supports DiSEqC v1.0


_http://www.screwfix.com/p/hd-complete-satellite-kit/98603

edit: @geordiejohn I was speaking of the receiver being limited to v1.0 as that was the only version of DiSEqC mentioned in the pdf manual available at the given link. If you weren't referring to me please forget this paragraph.

 

[geordiejohn]

Do you have a motor? Even if you do, my understanding of DiSEqC v1.0 is that it will not power a dish.

 

[joneshomebody]

Thanks for the responses.
The box has so far has had no trouble powering the motor and the dish does move as it should, albeit slowly.
I have now managed to persuade the box that Astra 1 and Astra 2 are not the same satellite, there was an uncanny similarity between the scanned channels which gave me a clue.
So the box is fine but no real EPG and it is clunky to set up.
It seems only to list and recognise the four (?) sats I listed earlier, God knows why Eurobird is listed together with Astra 2 and separately as sat 4 in the list, so far I can find no way of editing the list or adding sats.
Conclusion is that it really is a budget box , capable of powering a dizzy motor and receiving English language free to air in HD of reasonable quality at 1080, paperwork could be more comprehensive and support is, at present, poor,

 

[Topper]

God knows why Eurobird is listed together with Astra 2

Eurobird was previously co-located with the Astra 2 birds at 28.2/5 East but has moved on since then and or possibly renamed as new birds replaced it at that location

 

[joneshomebody]

Everything seems to be working fine now but I am getting greedy.
As an ashamed non-nerd there is a lot about patching and card sharing that I do not understand.
I used to be able to "update" my technomate via files from satdownloads-now apparently defunct.
I hope to find a way to do the same for the labgear box, does anyone know if it is a clone or do I need to wait for somebody who is a clever cheapskate to publish something?
I am a patient man but I would like to be able to feed my Formula 1 addiction without shovelling money at the Murdochs!