Couple of quick questions for the Cyprus old boys

bignick

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Hi, I’ve gotten quite interested in the sky satellite scene and have learned quite a bit now, but I need a little local know how.


  • Astra 2B Q: In the last few days it seems that the transponder feeding C4 etc has weakened yet the one feeding Sky Mix etc has got stronger – other channels have been affected too. Sky mix normally needed a 2.4m for good reception in the Akrotiri/Episkopi area now my mate gets it with a mere 1.8. Meanwhile I was getting C4 24/7 with a 2.2m dish and am now losing reception at certain times of the day. Is this due to local conditions eg Temp change, or is sky fiddling with the transponders/ signal strengths?
  • Lacuna Meter Q: Having just acquired a Lacuna meter off EBay, and made a download lead (I have downloaded the North / South logs) I am now looking to calibrate it. Will the default setting suffice for this meter or is there a special setup for this region?

Thanks for any help you can give
 

iceman

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SKY is not fiddling with the transponders outputs..The flactuation in signal strenghts in the last few days are most probably due to atmospheric conditions.

Sorry cant help you with Laguna meter..I use a UNAOHM spectrum analyser myself.

iceman
 

Grande_Assiette

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Hello "Big Nick",

I'm based in Limassol and this is the time of the year when the unscrupulous installers are found out.. they fit dishes that work fine in the winter months and then... whoops.. BBC/ITV "disappear" just when folk sit down to Corrie/ E-enders etc.

As Iceman says this is due to atmospheric conditions.


Over the past year those with smaller dishes will have "lost" ITV news and we've all lost Motors TV, and it would now appear E4 and B4 have just moved transponder to one we can't get ( a la ITV2/3, BBC Parliament )

I use the same meter as Iceman.

GA


iceman said:
SKY is not fiddling with the transponders outputs..The flactuation in signal strenghts in the last few days are most probably due to atmospheric conditions.

Sorry cant help you with Laguna meter..I use a UNAOHM spectrum analyser myself.

iceman
 

ALucas

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All day yesterday and this morning, I had no signal for the Sky Mix transponder.
Has something changed. All others seem to be OK.
 

bignick

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Its been doing all sorts of stuff just lately - when I originally posted the thread the signal was really strong but now its gone the other way and I'm even having difficulties with C4 - weird or what - How is Q Music channel for you?
ALucas said:
All day yesterday and this morning, I had no signal for the Sky Mix transponder.
Has something changed. All others seem to be OK.
 

simonskyman

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bignick said:
Its been doing all sorts of stuff just lately - when I originally posted the thread the signal was really strong but now its gone the other way and I'm even having difficulties with C4 - weird or what - How is Q Music channel for you?

You were lucky to get ch4 all day on your dish mate.those 2.2 dishes are usually not very good for certain channels.What digibox and lnb do you have?
 

bignick

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I'm using a V2 Pace sky+ box which I must admit I'm a little disappointed with - its meant to work the same as the DS430N but I don't rate it as good as that. As for the LNB, I swapped my MTI AP8 for an Invacom C120 Quad and it made a significant difference - then I added an adjustable feed horn and that’s when thing really got good - but that’s a different thread!! Before the V2 I was using a Panni DSB30 and Pace DS430N - Panni was best but kept locking up. Since adding the V2 I've been 'fiddling' to get used to the Sat meter, so problems may be self induced - but I'm still not convinced.

simonskyman said:
You were lucky to get ch4 all day on your dish mate.those 2.2 dishes are usually not very good for certain channels.What digibox and lnb do you have?
 

Zorba

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have you compared the four outputs of the lnb ? sometimes they vary and one output might perform better than another on certain frequencies.check your dish is not warped,those 2.2m cheapies bend easy when you push/pull for aligning.
 

bignick

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Thanks for the info zorba. I've had a little fiddle with the outputs but could workout if any were better - someone told me it was generally the same two that were stronger but I can't remember which ones - Do you know?

As for the bendablity of the dish, you are completely right, they bend ever so easily which does have some advantages. I can fine tune them just by pulling slightly a different points to see if the signal increases - adjust the position then bend the outside slightly (not the actual parabola - the outer strengthener) to fine tune! In the end though, a quality 2.4 is ssoooo much better!!!
zorba said:
have you compared the four outputs of the lnb ? sometimes they vary and one output might perform better than another on certain frequencies.check your dish is not warped,those 2.2m cheapies bend easy when you push/pull for aligning.
 
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