Reception good, where are the FTA channels?

[Skywalker]

Like many others here, I am new to the satellite game and assumed that it was just a matter of getting the kit together, mounting it, pointing the dish in the right direction and bingo! I'm getting over 600 stations on astra 2 but no BBC, ITV or the regional radio channels (looking for the Scottish Gaelic channel) apart from BBC World. Where are the UK FTA channels? Same story on HellasSat 2, lots of stuff but the only Greek channels appear to be encrypted. I then tried Atlantic Bird on 5W, again lots of stations but none of the standard FTA French channels I believed were there. What am I doing wrong? I understood my Starlight 5800 should be enough to pick up at least the usual UK freeview channels and that the national Greek and French stations would help improve my fluency - unfortunately I'm not interested in Italian or Arabic of which there are lots! Help Please......!?!

 

[Analoguesat]

Your rexceiver probably has some transponders (frequencies) missing

This site will allow you to check your frequencies:

http://www.flysat.com/satlist.php

 

[Topper]

Like many others here, I am new to the satellite game and assumed that it was just a matter of getting the kit together, mounting it, pointing the dish in the right direction and bingo! I'm getting over 600 stations on astra 2 but no BBC, ITV or the regional radio channels (looking for the Scottish Gaelic channel) apart from BBC World. Where are the UK FTA channels? Same story on HellasSat 2, lots of stuff but the only Greek channels appear to be encrypted. I then tried Atlantic Bird on 5W, again lots of stations but none of the standard FTA French channels I believed were there. What am I doing wrong? I understood my Starlight 5800 should be enough to pick up at least the usual UK freeview channels and that the national Greek and French stations would help improve my fluency - unfortunately I'm not interested in Italian or Arabic of which there are lots! Help Please......!?!

If you are not receiving what you are expecting to it suggests to me you are not pointing at 28.2 East to start with, if you are receiving BBC world then you are on either 19.2 East (Astra 1) or 13 East (Hotbird)

Try naming some more channels you can receive on what you think is Astra 2 and we can then tell where your dish is pointing.

 

[Skywalker]

Thanks to those who have replied so far, as always it would seem to be a mix of problems. After reviewing my mount it would appear that the recent strong winds have moved the motor, pushing the dish down. After that I tested the kit next to the motor and it would appear that the Starlight 5800 may be operating the motor intermittently - if the angle is small it doesn't bother at all! For example from the null point to 5W (Atlantic Bird) it indicates the antenna is moving but nothing happens. I will recheck the F connectors but maybe I need a newer box and maybe that is why it was put up for sale! Anyway some additional questions - does the satellite transponder not transmit it's identity and shouldn't the digibox recognise it when indicating the signal strength? Finally do you have to specify each transponder when doing a channel search on most digiboxes or does "all FTA" not cover that? Great forum, you are doing a service to many of us novices!

 

[Analoguesat]

There are various search modes on many receivers.

Power scan / blind scan goes and looks for everything going. Can be slow.

NIT or network scan looks at the network identification tables transmmitter by a set of satellites and "Fills in" any missing frequencies

Normal scan just scans the existing database of frequencies and loads any new channels but will miss any newly active frequencies. This is by far the fastest scan type on most receivers and is favoured once you are happy you have all the frequencies you need.

 

[Robbo]

Anyway some additional questions - does the satellite transponder not transmit it's identity and shouldn't the digibox recognise it when indicating the signal strength? Finally do you have to specify each transponder when doing a channel search on most digiboxes or does "all FTA" not cover that? Great forum, you are doing a service to many of us novices!

Hi,
Yes the identity is transmitted, but most receivers don't decode it.

When doing a channel search, you can usually do a satellite search, which willsearch all the transponders in its list, or you can search an individual transponder.

All FTA usually covers TV and radio.

 

[dxsat]

Many free to air receivers get confused as to which satellite they are receiving. Very many frequencies are re-used on different satellites, so, in your case, the receiver may be saying Astra 2, but from your description of which channels you're receiving you most certainly do not have Astra 2, as BBC World is not transmitted on 28 degrees east. If you're getting Arabic, Italian and German channels then you have Astra 1 at 19 degrees. Down and to the left a bit for Astra 2.

 

[Skywalker]

Thanks again for your comments and help - I had tried to check the listings for individual satellites but have found it difficult to pull out of the mass of info. Is there a site that does that? Lyngsat seems to have most info but so far didn't find individual satellite channel listings. It would appear you are absolutely right regarding BBC World - didn't think I could be 9 degrees out! This is why I asked if the transponders transmitted their own ID - it would make it so much easier to line up on them. I will have to move the centre point to the left and try again. Which is the best satellite to set as most southerly now and how would I recognise it? I may well also clear the receiver memory and try again from scratch - to that end is it worth while downloading updates for the receiver software? Do they update satellite names and positions?
As a novice, brought into trying it because of the technical fascination, reduction in equipment cost and an abhorrance of Sky, you guys are a fantastic source of assistance and eventually I will crack it!

 

[mariust5]

To install a motorised setup it's not as easy as you think . Many of us have done it for years and still take a couple of hours to do it properly . I suggest you start with resetting the motor first ( what motor is it ? ) , is it disecq 1.2 , usals ? Than you have to set your receiver with the correct longitude latitude if it's usals . The best sat to start with is thor 1w ( bbc world frequency ) and than go from there .

 

[Skywalker]

Appreciate your response, my motor (satcatcher) and receiver (Manhattan Starlight 5800) will support disecq 1.2 and usals, long and lat are set on the 1.3 channel search menu. I've aligned my dish initially using Google earth, and then using dishpointer for Thor/Intelsat at 1W. The menu for transponder and frequency is possibly where I am going wrong in the individual station search but I would presume that that the signal strength and quality should be reflecting the whole satellite output. Using a one meter dish I expected a reasonable signal on Thor/Intelsat but am showing zilch at present. When I started I did pick up the wrong satellite and was about 10 degrees out (used the wrong point in my garden on Google earth!) but have corrected that and now seem worse off! I will wait until the wind settles and try again but if I am getting no further, reckon I'll have to call in a professional!

 

[Robbo]

Getting a motorised setup working reasonably well is easy. What is more difficult is getting it exactly right so that you can get the weaker satellies as well.

The signal strength/quality on the receiver is for the specific frequency you are tuned to, not the whole satellite.

If 1W is the satellite at the top of your arc, then use 11325H, and adjust the dish to peak the signal for that, then check that you can watch BBC world on it FTA.

A 1m dish has a beamwidth of approx 1.8 degrees, so fairly narrow, so careful adjustment is essential other wise you can miss the satellite very easily.

If you end up spending too long trying to find 1W, just send the dish to 13E instead, it will be easier, adjust on 13E, then send it back to 1W, it should be very close then, and re-adjust if needed.

 

[Skywalker]

Thanks again for the reply - haven't had the time or good weather to try it yet but will do so. One other question - I have been doing my tuning using a TV and my decoder next to the dish and using the reception and quality indicators on the channel search menu. It seemed unnecessary to get the signal meter as I would only be using it once or twice and I wasn't sure about the value of cheaper ones. Should I have invested and what are the better buys?

 

[rolfw]

Meters, even cheap ones, are useful, because they provide a near instant notification, whereas, the readings on a receiver suffer from a slight delay.

Having said that, there are many members here who very successfully use their receivers as a meter, I certainly did before I got a meter.

 

[Skywalker]

Eventually I did get everything together! The main problem was misalignment (surprise!), unfortunately Google Earth may provide great pics but their compass bearing is somewhat out and I don't just mean true/magnetic. I ended up using dishpointer.com and a Maplins signal meter, finally I got Thor and the rest fell into place after. I am still having trouble with Hellas 2 but it may well be some budding trees that are rather close but I still have ERTworld on Hotbird. Many thanks for all your comments and patience!