Difficulties receiving digital FTA German stations from Astra 1

[xerxes]

I've got a problem trying to pick up digital FTA German channels from Astra 1 with a 2 LNB multi-feed system. The problem is: I can't seem to do it.

I've got a 100 cm Gibertini dish, pointing pretty accurately at Astra 2, with an Invacom Twin to make sure I can get reasonable Astra 2D reception.

Up until last week I was using a 2nd LNB (an MTI universal twin) on the same dish to pick up the analog FTA German channels from Astra 1, with pretty good reception. Last week I replaced my analog receiver with a Technotrend TT-Micro 320 digital receiver (from Amazon). I've now run its autoscan feature several times, and can pick up a total of 201 stations, including BBC World and Sky News, but only very few German stations - only Das Erste, Arte, and Phoenix, actually.

I assumed that perhaps I needed a more sensitive LNB and should take more care positioning it. So I bought another Invacom Twin to replace the MTI, and spent the whole of the afternoon up a ladder in the cold doing what I could to make sure I was getting the best signal from Astra 1. But this made absolutely no difference - I'm still getting exactly the same 201 stations, and absolutely no sign of ZDF, RTL, SAT-1 etc.

I had been auto-scanning only for FTA stations only. Tried auto-scanning for "All", to include encoded stations, and located several Premiere (ie German Pay TV) stations, but still absolutely no sign of ZDF, RTL etc.

I don't want to replace the dish with something bigger. I also don't want to install a 2nd dish to point directly at Astra 1. So has anybody got any other suggestions how I could get my missing German stations? Or will I have to give up living the digital dream (with Astra 1), and return to boring old analog?


ROLFW: should you be reading this, I'd like to thank you for your encouragement and help back in 2003 when I was originally setting up my system. Your advice then was extremely helpful, and very much appreciated.

 

[Topper]

Well there is something wrong in your setup somewhere as Astra 2 has about 300 FTA channels and Astra 1A has about the same IIRC. I do not know your setup so based upon the assumption you are using a diseqc switch to combine the signals from both lnb's, I suspect your new stb has not been set up correctly and therefore does not know that the input for the 2nd lnb is diseqc B. Alternatively perhaps you are only receiving one polarisation. Without knowing more details or a complete list of what you are receiving it will be difficult to advise

 

[rolfw]

Hi xerxes, good to see you on the forum again.

Is your Astra 19.2 an old single band LNB? Sounds like it may be and if so you will need to swap it out for a universal, as most of the German FTA channels are high band.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Could be the micro 320 has a fault with the 22kHz tone switching, if it is not auto enabled.

Can you try it on a friends system ?

 

[xerxes]

At last, I've got time to post again. I'm pleased to say that following on from what Rolfw had to say, I've solved my problem.

The problem seemed to be with the old (universal) MTI LNB, which I bought in 2003. Once I'd replaced it with the (universal) Invacom Twin, which I bought just a couple of weeks ago, and positioned it reasonably accurately I was able to receive all the German channels from Astra 1. I can now receive about 400 FTA TV channels, including BBC World News, Sky News, CNN and a couple of other English-language channels, as well as all the German channels. Mission Accomplished, as George Bush might well have said, had he been assisting me.

Originally I was wondering about the relative signal strengths of the analog and digital transmissions from Astra 1. Whilst I was positioning the Invacom, I had it connected up to both an anlaog and digital receiver at the same time. This showed that even when I was getting such a weak analog signal that the picture was breaking up completely I could still get perfect digital reception.

A word about how I fixed my 2 LNBs to my 100 cm Gibertini dish.

Originally I had been using a nasty Gibertini multi-feed holder. This multi-feed holder allows you to position an LNB horizontantly OK, but the actual LNB holder doesn't allow you to adjust the LNB in a vertical plain. This meant I could position my Astra 1 LNB left-right OK along the multi-feed rail, but couldn't change it's position up-down, resulting in poor Astra 1 reception. I found by taking the LNB out of its holder and waving it about in the general direction of the dish, that the best position seemed to be more or less horizontal, resting directly on the multi-feed rail, 1 cm or so below the Astra 2 LNB. So as a temporary measure I fixed the LNB in this position using cable-ties. That was 6 odd years ago.

When I came to replace my old L-shaped MTI LNB with the new, in-line Invacom, I found that the cable-tie method simply wouldn't work any more. Looking around the Internet I saw that you can now get "height-adjustable" multi-feed holders, giving you a lot more freedom in positioning an LNB. I got one of these from eBay, fixed it to my dish arm, and positioned the Astra1 LNB very quickly and easily. I'd always though the Astra1 LNB had to be lower than the Astra 2 LNB, but I can see now that this is not correct. Both LNBs are at the same level, but the Astra 1 LNB is pointing down with respect to the Astra 2 LNB, quite noticeably.

The way the new multi-feed holder works is quite simple. Instead of a rail, it consists of a curved bar. Each LNB holder slides along the bar, and can be raised or lowered above the bar. The holder can also be revolved around the bar in a vertical plain, as well as twiddled left and right. Very simple, and it works brilliantly.

I've attached a photo of my set up so you can see this in action.

I really should have removed the Gibertini multi-feed holder, but I don't fancy having to reposition the dish to optimize Astra 2D reception again, especially in the middle of winter. So I've left it in position, and used it to, ahem, attach the new multi-feed holder below it. With cable-ties. OK, OK - I'm not proud of this. But it works. And it's only a temporary measure. Just for a year or two. You should also be able to see from the photo the difference in the vertical positioning of the 2 LNBs.