Humax Foxsats reception Northern spain

spain-boy

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Hi ,I have a holiday home in Northern Spain , which I use intermittantly . No phone /internet connection due to cost .
The 800 x 700 oval satelite dish is aimed at ( I believe ) Astra 2 , with 4 port LMB .
I have connected a technomate freesat box , and an old style skybox receiver with a blue card .
I want to upgrade this set up to allow me to record programmes when out etc
with this in mind I bought a Foxsat 500gb from a main Uk retailer which I took out there to hook up with an extra cable to LMB for the twin tuner .

Problem 1 )
I hooked up the foxsat and started the setup wizzard , but repeatedly told me that it couldnt find a satellite signal .
I did this at a time the weather conditions were v good as the signal can drop out somewhat when weather is bad .
As the 2 other boxes were connecting I assumed new Foxsat was the problem .
Does the box need to think it is in uk to tune in ?

Problem 2 )
With the current setup with dish on flat roof (due to tree height ), the signal can drop out when the wind blows or it is raining .
Would building a " windbreak " wall round the 3 back & sides help resolve this ?

Problem 3 )
How can I get BBC iplayer & ITV player to work , as I understand this can be an issue ?

Many Thanks .

spain-boy
 

PaulR

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If the installation was working with a Sky box then it should work with the HDR. You say that it was working - did you connect the Sky box after failing with the HDR to see if it still worked?

If wind and/or rain caused the signal to drop out before then it's possible that wind has blown the dish out of alignment while you've been away. You shouldn't need to build a wind-break, the installation should be mounted securely enough to not need one at less than hurricane speeds. Also, maybe the trees themselves grown so much that they now block the signal completely?

iPlayet and ITV player require an Internet connection so no chance I'm afraid. Even with Internet you'd have to use a British proxy server or IP masking as these services are geolocked to UK IP addresses.
 

Hughes

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My experience in Spain and with Humax Foxsats might be of some help:

The control signals for Freesat are on a particularly weak transponder, well, weak in these parts.

Three things to try.

Change the quad LNB for a good quality single LNB, as these generally give a little more signal, and it could be enough to make a difference. Once the box is working you can go back to the quad if required.

Try leaving the box connected for,say, 24 hours. The signal might be stronger at certain times, and the information could load itself. This definitely happens with Sky boxes, but I don't know with Freesat.

Get the box working at a friend's house in Spain, or take it back to the UK, load the channels and bring it back!

If the dish has moved, none of this will work.

Suerte, or Good Luck!
 

Analoguesat

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If you have no phone and no internet in Spain you can forget about using BBC iplayer / ITV Player & the others that are coming soon (certain boxes only).

I have a Freesat box in the bedroom and its never been connected to the internet - it works just fine, so you can discount that as a potential problem.

As the others say you are having problems because the box is not getting enough signal off the Freesat default transponder (11428H) so its not picking up the epg info.
 

spain-boy

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many thanks for your thoughts .
On my return in a couple of weeks a mate is bringing around a 9 metre scaffold so I can trim the trees back to eliminate them as a potential problem .This may not help as the technomate box and skybox are functioning adaquately in good weather .
Being near to the pyrenesse mountains we get a regular wind from a certain direction which catches the roof mounted dish square on the back of the dish , which ( although mounted on a substantial pole ) I think does flex the dish . My wind break wall idea is the only way to shield the dish as to wall mount it would increase the tree issue .
I do have a single LMB which was part of the original dish kit , but dont think it would be a " quality " item .

I have brought the foxsat home with me , so could try to connect it here to a mates dish to register it if that would be of any help ??
 

Analoguesat

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Well you can try it here, to ensure it works, but you still have the problem of no epg signal, and therefore probably a none-op box when you get back to Spain.

You may need to install a bigger dish to get enough signal off 11428H.
 

spain-boy

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What size dish then ? the current one is 800 x 700 mm oval as supplied in the basic kit bought from the local DIY shop .

The other issue will be a larger dish will catch the wind even more !

Why would rain make the signal drop out almost completely - is this another indication of weak signal ?
 

Analoguesat

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spain-boy said:
What size dish then ? the current one is 800 x 700 mm oval as supplied in the basic kit bought from the local DIY shop .

The other issue will be a larger dish will catch the wind even more !

Why would rain make the signal drop out almost completely - is this another indication of weak signal ?

No idea what dish size would be needed to guarantee reception down in Spain..

Rain absorbs the microwave frequencies around 12000 MHz transmitted off the satellites very efficiently.
 

PaulR

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A 700mm x 600mm dish is known as a 70cm dish in Spain and a 60cm dish (the effective size) in the rest of the world. This is really too small for that far south and I would expect an 80cm dish to be more realistic.

BUT as you may have read here there's a new satellite in the offing. This won't affect the signal that gives you the programme guide on the HDR, that's carried on an entirely different satellite, but will impact on the signal footprint for nearly all the Freesat channels. The problem is that nobody knows what size dish will needed then and even 80cm may not be big enough. The new satellite (2F) was supposed to be launched this week but has now been put back "for a few days". Going on the original launch date we would have expected it to be in service in a month or two so can you justify expenditure which might need updating by Christmas?
 

spain-boy

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PaulR said:
A 700mm x 600mm dish is known as a 70cm dish in Spain and a 60cm dish (the effective size) in the rest of the world. This is really too small for that far south and I would expect an 80cm dish to be more realistic.

Just to clarify so I understand the dish size thing..
As I have said previously ...... my dish is 800 x 700 mm ( as in 80cm high x 70cm wide ) not sure where you got 600 from ?
Would my dish be regarded as a70cm here ? and if so by that reconing , I would then need one 90cm high x 80cm wide ?
 

PaulR

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Sorry, yes it's a 70cm dish as the principle is the same. Must get my eyesight checked as the 800 looked like a 600 on my screen! The Spanish (and Portuguese I think) would call that an 80cm dish.

70cm is still not really big enough for you. I have a 70cm dish in France in the Vaucluse and I lose the Beeb in rain. My English friends have an 80cm dish on the other side of the village and they don't suffer dropouts. So, an 80cm x 90cm (it's unlikely to be exactly 90cm BTW) dish would be better maybe only suffering signal loss in heavy rain. But don't forget that you may need larger soon.
 

Hughes

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With regard to loading your receiver at a friend's house in the UK, I think this will work, as I recently gave away my Foxsat to a friend in the Dordogne in Southwest France. I took it there by car, plugged it in and it worked first time, but with no signal from channels on Eutelsat 28.5º. The dish was a $ly mini dish. I told my friend not to enter the menu and,for example, change the postcode as that might cause the present list to be lost. So far it's working fine, if rather precariously. On my next visit I'll install a new 1 metre dish and a dual Inverto Black Ultra LNB, along with another Freesat receiver from my "collection"
 
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