freesat receiver problem

[dermottester]

I have a basic fta receiver, single LNB, dish etc. All works ok including Astra 2 at 28° and eurobird.

Bought a grundig SD freesat receiver, unplugged the fta, plugged the coax into the grundig and ... it does not work.

The initialisation screen does not appear, it does not download the sw, the info screen says 'no signal'.

I do get the 'postcode/screensize' screen, them a 'scan all' screen, but it does not scan anything.

Put the coax back on the fta box ... all ok.

I have now tried this many times, using all possible sequences.

I doubt that this is a hardware problem, I assume I am doing something wrong. Any ideas??

 

[Topper]

Welcome to the forum dermottester

Well a couple of things spring to mind, even though you have established the dish and lnb are working, as you are based in Italy, you may need to to alter the default transponder as these freesat stb's are intended for UK use and if you cannot see the default transponder you will get no signal.

Also just ensure the central core of the cable into the stb is long enough to make a good contact on the new freesat box

 

[Analoguesat]

The DT should be ok in Italy for Freesat - its carried on Eurobird 1.

Is its a FREESAT box or an old SKY box you are going to use for the free channels - theres an important difference.

 

[dermottester]

The fta receiver is not SKY. I bought the dish and receiver locally, the brand is telesys, though I do not know its actual origin. I use it for the channels on hotbird, including RAI because my terrestrial reception is hopeless.

I will check the default transponder (If I can sort out how to do this)

 

[Analoguesat]

Whats the grundig box?

 

[Robbo]

Try putting it into FTA mode to check the front end.

Someone will know how to do this??

Anyone

 

[dermottester]

Thank you.

The Grundig box is a GUFSAT01SD, I bought it at Argus on 11 Nov.

I do not know how to check FTA on the freesat box. AS far as I can see it only handles the encrypted Freesat services.

 

[Robbo]

The Freesat services are not encrypted.

Just found this thread, it may help:-

http://www.satellites.co.uk/satelli...ush-goodmans-grundig-boxes-latest-update.html

 

[dermottester]

Thank you.

Because the set does not initialize I do not get any sw updates

If we assume that the problem is with the default transponder then there are 2 questions:

How do I change the default? (there is no obvious menu item to do this)

What do I change it to?

 

[dxsat]

The fta receiver is not SKY. I bought the dish and receiver locally, the brand is telesys, though I do not know its actual origin. I use it for the channels on hotbird, including RAI because my terrestrial reception is hopeless.

I will check the default transponder (If I can sort out how to do this)

The answer to your question is in the reply above, and your equipment list in your profile.
You say you have a single LNB on your dish, and use the FTA box to receive Hotbird. Is this correct, and you only have one LNB for Hotbird?

If so, the FTA receiver is wrongly showing you are receiving signal on Astra 2 at 28º if you select this satellite, as there are common frequencies across different satellites.
Your Freesat box will never work unless you add a LNB to your dish pointing at 28 degrees east.

 

[dermottester]

Thank you Snap,
My FTA box allows me to select the satellite (e.g. Astra 2) then it scans (or seems to scan) in the channels, yes there are lots of duplicates.
I have 1 LNB because I wanted to ensure Freesat works before upgrading everything else. I completely disconnect the FTA then use the same LNB and coax to access Freesat (unsuccessfully), I thought this would be the easy way to verify it.

 

[rolfw]

What snap is saying, is that if you are not moving your dish from Hotbird to Astra 2, then you will only receive signals from Hotbird.

Yes, you can select Astra 2 in the satellite menu and because all satellites use similar frequencies, it will show a signal, but you will still be receiving Hotbird and the Freesat box will not work.

 

[dermottester]

Thank You.

When the snow clears from my roof I will get up there to (try to) realign the parabola.

This does not explain why my freesat box does not show the first (according to the doco) screen which should give signal strength, but goes direct to the postcode screen.

 

[rolfw]

Don't know why that is I'm afraid, had a Bush Freesat box today which wouldn't do anything until a valid satellite feed was plugged into it, the power light would flash peridically, but it wouldn't boot.

 

[dermottester]

The weather relented, I realigned my dish, I now get Freesat, but...

The initial scan does not get all the channels. For Ch 101 to 120 I only get 110 (Alba) and 120 (Wales). After 30 min the EPG includes the missing channels, when selected I get "New Service Please Wait" then after 10 seconds "No Signal". I get all the radio channels (I think).

Have done the standard things, rebooted, rescanned, changed postcode. Same result.

 

[rolfw]

Whilst the EPG will work, as it's on Eurobird, most of the mainline channels like BBC and ITV are on Astra 2D which is more difficult to receive in your part of the world. Where about are you in Italy and what sized dish are you using?

 

[dermottester]

Thank you.

The dish is a 60 cm. We are about 60 Km NE of Firenze at N 44 10 E 12 0. The footprint maps say it should be ok.

I do get a lot of channels, are all these actually on Eurobird?

The signal strength at scan time is 75%, after scanning strength and quality are 100% (meaningless indicator?).

 

[guest]

Thank you.

The dish is a 60 cm. We are about 60 Km NE of Firenze at N 44 10 E 12 0. The footprint maps say it should be ok.

I do get a lot of channels, are all these actually on Eurobird?

The signal strength at scan time is 75%, after scanning strength and quality are 100% (meaningless indicator?).

I think you're looking at the wrong Footprints!

Of the five Satellites in the cluster, Astra 2A,B,C and Eurobird 1 are reasonably pan-European, but Astra 2D has a footprint focussed (supposedly) on the UK and Republic of Ireland in order to restrict "overspill".

That is where your problem lies - some parts of mainland Europe catch 2D easily and some really struggle. A 60cm near Firenze is far too small, but you will get decent results for Channels on 2A,B,C and Eurobird 1.

You really need something around the 1.5m mark.

 

[Brian247]

Good Morning
New member and complete novice.Just purchased the new Humax free sat box and having trouble connecting to my existing set up which was done professionally.I have a sky+ receiver and have given up my subscription so the new box as a replacement.I have a Denon amplifier which supplies my surround sound and a DVD recorder.As the wiring is mostly concealed I have had difficulty trying to connect existing cables from my sky+ box to the new one.Any help please

 

[Channel Hopper]

Good Morning
New member and complete novice.Just purchased the new Humax free sat box and having trouble connecting to my existing set up which was done professionally.I have a sky+ receiver and have given up my subscription so the new box as a replacement.I have a Denon amplifier which supplies my surround sound and a DVD recorder.As the wiring is mostly concealed I have had difficulty trying to connect existing cables from my sky+ box to the new one.Any help please

Welcome to the forum Brian

The company that did the job professionally should have an idea as to how the old box was wired up, have you contacted them ?

What exactly are you trying to achieve with your setup ?