FTA or Digibox

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lazious

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My Satellite Setup
Multi sat for Astra 19.2 (60cm dish)and 28.2.(1.2 m and MTI Twin AP82-XT2BL) LNB .Skymaster DS33 receiver.
My Location
Mallorca Spain
I am down in the south west of Mallorca (well someone has to be ).
I recently set up a multi sat system using an existing 60cm dish for Astra 19.2 and my neighbours 1.2 meter dish with a MTI twin AP82-XT2BL LNB for Astra 28.2. I'd bought a cheap receiver , Skymaster DS33 ,while in Germany.Thing is..
Reception on 19.2 is perfect 24/7 rain or shine.
Reception on 28.2 is perfect all day long. BBC1-4,ITV1-4 etc. Come sunset and i start to lose the Beeb but ITV1 on Meridian keeps going for another hour or so and then breaks up. Around 9 pm ish and all the above have gone. All the stuff on the south and north beams are perfect 24/7.
I replaced the cable (25 meters) with good quality stuff from a Sat shop. I noticed that when the receiver is connected on a two meter length from the LNB signal quality on 10773 H is c 85%. Horizontal is always stonger than vertical.When connected on the full 25 m this drops to 81%. Is that to be expected.??
Now my neighbour has his connection to a Pace Digibox and he tells me that his reception (BBC and ITV etc) is fine unless its really chucking it down.
I'm back to blighty next week and i dont know whether i should plump for a Pace box for 28.2 and retain the Skymaster for 19.2. I dont like the idea of having two boxes and all the messing about when you want to change channels. Much neater when you can just switch dishes anonymously.
So if i'm right in my assumption..the Skymaster is not up to it re the fringe reception can anyone recommend a FTA that is a sensitive as the PACE and cure my problems. Or is the PACE and other digiboxes the best bet for 28.2 fringe reception.
All info and tips greatly appreciated.
 

RedDevil_UK

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although i have never tried one myself, i beleive the Panasonic Sky digiboxes have the strongest tuner especially in locations like yours

good luck though and let us know how you get on, whatever you buy :)
 

rolfw

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It could well be that the tuner isn't up to it, have you tried your mate's digibox on your dish?

You may gain some reception time by tweaking the dish and adjusting the skew of the LNB, it is really critical on larger dishes for fringe reception.
 

lazious

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Multi sat for Astra 19.2 (60cm dish)and 28.2.(1.2 m and MTI Twin AP82-XT2BL) LNB .Skymaster DS33 receiver.
My Location
Mallorca Spain
Rolfw,
Thanks for the quick response. You will notice from my original thread that i share the 1.2 metre dish with my neighbour using the twin LNB. This was the point of my questions.
 

rolfw

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Sorry, missed the connection there. :-doh! :)

In which case a receiver with a better tuner would obviously be an advantage, you could of course also get a freesat card for channel four and five if you use a Sky digibox. :)

There are some excellent receivers around with very sensitive tuners, but it depends what you are prepared to pay.
 

lazious

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My Satellite Setup
Multi sat for Astra 19.2 (60cm dish)and 28.2.(1.2 m and MTI Twin AP82-XT2BL) LNB .Skymaster DS33 receiver.
My Location
Mallorca Spain
I really dont want to go down the digibox route if it can be avoided so if you can recommend some FTA tuners that will more than match the Pace that would be great.I dont really want hard discs or cl slots either.I will pay what i have to if it solves my problems. Or is it that because the Pace is only built for 28.2 this is the best option ??. Can you clear this up. What about the loss of signal strength i mentioned when connected to the full cable run ??
 

wod

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what about a technomate receiver as they have good tuners in them, the 1000 fta box would work i reckon
 

lazious

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My Satellite Setup
Multi sat for Astra 19.2 (60cm dish)and 28.2.(1.2 m and MTI Twin AP82-XT2BL) LNB .Skymaster DS33 receiver.
My Location
Mallorca Spain
Thanks to all for the replies so far .I'm still looking for a definitive answer to my questions. I know there are lots of good receivers around and i know you can get Channel 4 and 5 with a digibox but if someone can come up with some more positive answers ,such as the Panasonic and Technomate as mentioned and i'm looking into this would be great.Re these receivers mentioned would they still pick up the signal when my current box has lost it (less than 50% signal quality). At its low point in the evening this can go down to 35% tho' the signal strength is still about 80%.
 
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