Loss of ITV channels.

pladecalvo

pladecalvo

Member
My Satellite Setup
Humax Foxsat-HDR
My Location
Valencia, Spain
I live in Valencia, Spain. I have a Humax Foxsat HDR with a 1.9 dish tuned to Astra2. During the day, reception of all channels is excellent but from about 8pm to 4am I lose all ITV channels. BBC breaks up at about 9.30pm but returns by 11:30-12:00pm. I suspect a larger dish may be required. Any suggestions?

Thanks.
 
You got it - larger dish (assuming what you have os correctly aligned and the potential for losses minimised).
 
Thanks tivu.

I have a strength signal of 85% and quality signal of 90% and try as I may, I can't get any better than that so I assume that the set-up is OK. I really don't know a lot about this sat business. Any idea why the signal goes at night and not during the day? What happens to the satellite at night to lose the signal....not to technical please. :D
 
All sorts of stuff!

Satellite moving in their permitted 3D boxes, fluctuations in Transponder Power Output due to changing levels of illumination of the Satellites' solar panels and state of charge of their batteries.

Loads more factors ............ bottom line is that the phenomenon is well know in fringe areas and probably the best you can do is learn to live with it!
 
Thanks.

Yes, I have learned to live with it. That's the good thing about the Humax HDR. We record programmes during the day and then watch them when the signal goes. Best thing I've bought for a long time. I highly recommend the Humax HDR


Now good Sir....if I may pick at your expertise a little more with regard to recording. I have a single LNB and I can record one channel whilst watching another provided both Channels are from the same 'broadcaster' i.e I can watch BBC1 whilst recording BBC2, 3, or 4, or record ITV1 whilst watching ITV2, 3, 4 etc but can't record a BBC channel whilst watching ITV. Presumably, I need more than one LNB to do that?

Sorry about all the questions but I'm a bit dumb when it comes to all this 'techi' stuff. I usually need the handbook just to turn things on!! :eek:
 
No, one LNB is fine .............. but you need to replace it with one with two outputs.

LNBs these days can cope with providing two, four or even eight (in some cases) independent outputs from a single "head".

Presumably you have a C120 style LNB given the size of the dish (ie One mounted by a flange, as opposed to the 40mm collar used on smaller dishes)?
 
Tivù said:
Presumably you have a C120 style LNB given the size of the dish (ie One mounted by a flange, as opposed to the 40mm collar used on smaller dishes)?
Click to expand...
Yes, that's right. Thank for the advice.
 
hello i saw this.
you can record but the drawback in they have be on the same poler.
if bbc1 is horz and bbc2 is the same that it is possible.
if you use a dual lnb than run 2 lines one to record and one to watch.
if your bbc is braking up here are some tips.
how long is the line from the dish?
how old is it? thicker line with a thicker conducter has less loss.
lnb there is many that work better than others.
you want to see if the scew and alignment in spot on as well.

brake up on a 1.9 meter dish in spain can be caused for many reasons
old line
thin line
brakes in line
low quality lnb
dish not aligned
skew not 100%
long cable run from dish to receiver
receiver not as sensive as others.
look under receivers for fringe areas.
ivacom lnb with c120 flange and dual outputs and good cable may resolve your problem.
ralph
 
Thanks Ralph. I'm sure the break up is caused by the dish size. After getting advice here, I contacted the guy that I bought the dish off. He said his programmes broke up at night too. He now has a 2.4 dish but still gets nights when the signal breaks up, though not as much as it did when he had the 1.9.
 
It also depends where in Communidad Valencia you are? Valencia covers a large area, and reception varies greatly over this area.

If you are actually in Valencia (City and north of), where BBC1, Itv1,2,3,4 should be there 24/7.

I'm 70kms south of Valencia city and get no break up or loss on my 1.8m and various boxes......but then even 20kms inland from me reception on 1.8s drop off...

(unless you have a fortecstar panel / petal dish in which case your reception is pretty damn good!!!!!)

I have had BBC2, the weakest BBC channels for our area, on a 1m dish at 4 or 5 pm....in the El Saler area, but go inland a few KMs and 1.8ms only keep them in for about an hour or two longer.

and pipino in Javea (about 20kms further south of me!) almost get BBC1 24/7 on his 1.5 gibdish and Humax box....

so reception will depend EXACTLY where you are in "Valencia", and may mean a bit more alignment.

You may also find by simply upgrading your single LNB to an invacom twin makes a big improvement in reception - twins are standard installs (or should be) as single LNB do not, for whatever reason, perform as well as the twins.

And can also be important to make sure the dish is not bent - either in transport or whilst taking down or putting back up again.
 
Thanks Wobony.

I'm 20km North East of Valencia in Lliria. I think we must be in a bad area here because I have now met 2 other people living nearby who lose their BBC/ITV signals at night, even with 2.4 dishes.
 
Sounds like the bottom line for you is that upgrading to a twin output LNB will give you the full PVR functionality you want with the bonus of the prospect of a slight improvement in performance (bearing in mind woborny's remarks about the Invacom Twin), and that upsizing the dish might, unusually, not actually bring much return on effort/cost.
 
Unless there is very bad weather, those 2.4m dishes should have no problems with getting them channels 24/7 - I know as I have been to that area a few times to do a few realignments (for one the original (so called) "installers" used a beeper unit and tv and sly box for alignment - another was at the dish and was shouting down to his mate who was in front of the TV!!)
Even on dishes further south (xativa, montroi) than you (and hence less signal at night) are managing those channels 24/7 even at night.
And i have several 1.8s in Sagunto (east of you) that get them 24/7, and BBC2 almost 24/7 (abou 90mins of breakup late at night)

Also would not be surprised if your dish has moved in the recent high winds we have been experiencing since last October / November. I have seen many so called "concrete" bases fail in the winds and so the dishes have been rocking even in the slightest gusts....when i say concrete i mean dry mix which is more sand then cement so the instalelrs can do the install in the shortest possible time and do not have to wait for the bsae to dry and so they do not have to travel back to see you!
 
woborny said:
You may also find by simply upgrading your single LNB to an invacom twin makes a big improvement in reception - twins are standard installs (or should be) as single LNB do not, for whatever reason, perform as well as the twins.
Click to expand...
I have a fixed foghorn 1.9 prime focus dish. Should I be looking at the Invacom C120 Twin or the Invento C120?
 
Normally the Invacom C120 twins or quad are used.
On a few peoples dishes I have seen where Invertos have been used, but the people mentioned channels were being lost (especially those north beam channels around 4 - 6pm). Swapping over to an Invacom solved the problem.
Although to be honest I have not tried an Inverto Black on them...maybe pipino or huevos will pop up with a bit more info if they know
 
hello, the signal you were looking at was probally the default transponder.
it is not on astra 2 d at all.
try loading the itv transponder freq on satra 2d and see what the level is and align the dish from there.
if they are geting it 20 km away ok you should too.
there is not that kind of loss 20 km away.
ralph:)
 
Had a proper company here this afternoon who set up the dish to be spot on but still lost all channels except Channel 4, More 4+1 and the 'Zone Reality' type channels by 9pm.
 
Very odd! Last night BBC/ITV lost at 9pm. Checked at 10pm and they were all back. Checked again at 10:30 and they were all gone again!! :confused:
 
Strange, as Channel 4 is on the same type of weak (horizontal) frequency as BBC2, as is More4+1...so seem weird if you are losing the stronger vertical frequencies - which may well suggest LNB issue.

I had no issues with my Humax HDR last night...all BBC1, ITV1,2,3,4 all OK on my 1.8m dish 70kms south of you...so


pladecalvo said:
Very odd! Last night BBC/ITV lost at 9pm. Checked at 10pm and they were all back. Checked again at 10:30 and they were all gone again!!
Click to expand...

Sounds like you need to call this "proper company" back out to get them to sort it out - as they obviously have not done the job to satisfaction if reception has not been improved.
 
Back
Top