Lost in France

[dysons]

I have been using a Sky Digibox to view the FreeSat channels in France (Near Cahors, about 3/4 the way down). This was working well for several years, right up and including April 2016.

Now (May 2016) the Digibox is reporting no signal. There is no sign of movement in the dish and the sat finder meter seems to indicate that the dish is correctly aligned (although it could be aligned to another satellite).

Has anyone else experienced problems recently? Have Sky changed their transmissions? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Lazarus]

Welcome, Steve

No, no significant changes to 28E transmissions of late.

There are often some minor variations that can affect true Fringe reception, but that shouldn't apply to you.

What size dish are you using? If there's no misalignment, then maybe the cabling is affected by water ingress or the LNB is dead.

Which Receiver make/model do you have as, over the years, Sky have used a lot of boxes than can fail prematurely.

 

[Lazarus]

Ah, cable and LNB seem ok, having re-read your Post.

So you are down to misalignment (You won't perceive a two or three degree difference to the next Satellite by eye alone), or box failure.

Do you have an English mucker close by so you can try their Receiver on your dish and vice-versa?

 

[dysons]

Ah, cable and LNB seem ok, having re-read your Post.

So you are down to misalignment (You won't perceive a two or three degree difference to the next Satellite by eye alone), or box failure.

Do you have an English mucker close by so you can try their Receiver on your dish and vice-versa?

Thanks for the response(s). That shall be the next thing to try when I am down there again. (I wasn't sure if Sky had turned something off or re-aligned it.)

Do you know where I can find an idiots guide for aligning a sat-dish - it is over 5 years since I did it and have lost the info!

 

[Lazarus]

Sky have little control of the actual operation of those Astra Satellites and they are used not just by Sky, but by Freesat, Satellite Broadband and Privateers.

I would suspect the box before tinkering with the dish, as earlier Sky boxes were prone to premature degradation of their Power Supply Smoothing Capacitors and that can be exacerbated by leaving the Box powered down between visits.

Can you please provide the Dish and Box details requested earlier?

 

[hairybadger]

Thanks for the response(s). That shall be the next thing to try when I am down there again. (I wasn't sure if Sky had turned something off or re-aligned it.)

Do you know where I can find an idiots guide for aligning a sat-dish - it is over 5 years since I did it and have lost the info!

If you have a squawker it isn't too hard - they only cost 10EUR or so. Use dishpointer.com to get basic direction and elevation information and then with the squawker plugged in and the amplification set to max nudge the dish until you get a tone. When you get a tone turn down the amp and play with the dish until you get a tone again, lather, rinse, repeat. You'll need the receiver itself (or rather its signal meter) for fine tuning. Beware if you call in a local satellite technician he'll need some convincing that you don't want 19.2E

But: yes, what @Lazarus says - box first

 

[dysons]

Sky have little control of the actual operation of those Astra Satellites and they are used not just by Sky, but by Freesat, Satellite Broadband and Privateers.

I would suspect the box before tinkering with the dish, as earlier Sky boxes were prone to premature degradation of their Power Supply Smoothing Capacitors and that can be exacerbated by leaving the Box powered down between visits.

Can you please provide the Dish and Box details requested earlier?

Hi, No sorry, I have searched for the info on the Dish size and the Digibox info but it is all in France and I am in the UK at the moment. Assuming it is the box, what are the options available to me? We are only in France for a few weeks each year so I don;t want a subscription based service - can I purchase a box outright?

 

[dysons]

If you have a squawker it isn't too hard - they only cost 10EUR or so. Use dishpointer.com to get basic direction and elevation information and then with the squawker plugged in and the amplification set to max nudge the dish until you get a tone. When you get a tone turn down the amp and play with the dish until you get a tone again, lather, rinse, repeat. You'll need the receiver itself (or rather its signal meter) for fine tuning. Beware if you call in a local satellite technician he'll need some convincing that you don't want 19.2E

But: yes, what @Lazarus says - box first

Thanks for the advice.... What is a 19.2E???

 

[Lazarus]

Hi, No sorry, I have searched for the info on the Dish size and the Digibox info but it is all in France and I am in the UK at the moment. Assuming it is the box, what are the options available to me? We are only in France for a few weeks each year so I don;t want a subscription based service - can I purchase a box outright?

Yes, at the simplest level, you can buy an inexpensive Freesat (Not Freeview) box.

Check out the current range as listed at the right hand side of the linked page

Join Freesat

 

[dysons]

Yes, at the simplest level, you can buy an inexpensive Freesat (Not Freeview) box.

Check out the current range as listed at the right hand side of the linked page

Join Freesat

Thanks for your help.

 

[4wd]

Thanks for the advice.... What is a 19.2E???

Astra 1 sats , see http://www.wirelesswaffle.com/images/geostationary-arc-from-uk.jpg

 

[A nonymous]

19.2e is where all the French, German and Spanish stuff is broadcast from

 

[ExIcom]

I have been using a Sky Digibox to view the FreeSat channels in France (Near Cahors, about 3/4 the way down). This was working well for several years, right up and including April 2016.

Now (May 2016) the Digibox is reporting no signal. There is no sign of movement in the dish and the sat finder meter seems to indicate that the dish is correctly aligned (although it could be aligned to another satellite).

Has anyone else experienced problems recently? Have Sky changed their transmissions? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Steve

Hi Steve,
It is probably the sky box needs a software update if it has been un-used for some time. With the sky box turned off, push and hold the back-up button and turn on the box.. you will get an on screen display which lasts up to 10mins. DO NOT turn off during the update.

 

[dysons]

Hi Steve,
It is probably the sky box needs a software update if it has been un-used for some time. With the sky box turned off, push and hold the back-up button and turn on the box.. you will get an on screen display which lasts up to 10mins. DO NOT turn off during the update.

Hi Exlcom,

Thanks for that but I cannot see how it will receive the software update? it is not connected to a phone line and (it says) there is no satellite signal! Also the box was being successfully used in April 2016 but failed by the end of May 2016.

Steve

 

[dysons]

19.2e is where all the French, German and Spanish stuff is broadcast from

Hi Manicscrewdriver,

Will 19.2e still work for the English stuff (rather than the French, German & Spanish stuff)?.

Regards,
Steve

 

[timo_w2s]

Hi Manicscrewdriver,

Will 19.2e still work for the English stuff (rather than the French, German & Spanish stuff)?.

Regards,
Steve

Sky left 19.2E when it switched to digital in the late 90s so these days there is mainly just international news channels for free via 19.2E.

 

[timo_w2s]

Hi Exlcom,

Thanks for that but I cannot see how it will receive the software update? it is not connected to a phone line and (it says) there is no satellite signal! Also the box was being successfully used in April 2016 but failed by the end of May 2016.

Steve

If you have no satellite signal then the box can't update. It only uses the satellite for downloading the software, not phone or internet. The frequency used for updating Sky boxes is 11.778V SR 27.5 FEC 2/3 on Astra 28.2E which should give a decent signal across most of western Europe.

 

[Archive4]

I tried and tried and tried, but , oh bother! Cannot resist this , good girl, good song!

 

[ExIcom]

If you have no satellite signal then the box can't update. It only uses the satellite for downloading the software, not phone or internet. The frequency used for updating Sky boxes is 11.778V SR 27.5 FEC 2/3 on Astra 28.2E which should give a decent signal across most of western Europe.

hi Steve, you said on your original post that your sat finder was finding a signal. The update signal is from the satellite. Cant hurt to try it

 

[Archive4]

Is it possible that the Skybox default transponder was changed to one that is no longer used or visible from your location? Many boxes in Spain were set to boot from 12129 V which has been idle for a while, although now in use again but at a very difficult level to lock in these parts. As the default, 11778V is now on the europe beam you should be able to see it.
Try checking in the installers menu on the box to see what txp it is trying to load from and reset to default if it is not set to 11778V