Sky in Madrid and Low band LNB's

[sayireand]

I live in Madrid and at present I have a Sky package from Ireland. On channels 101-104 we have some TV stations which are only part of our package and on channels 914,915 and 916 three radio stations which are free and available on all packages. These are all found on Astra 2D on 10.744H. I am working with a Pace 2500 (it's reputation is bad but it's a myth as I caaaan get all other channels all day), a 1.35 dish and a 0.7 LNB.

I have the signal in the morning no problem until about 13.00 (strength and quality on this particular frequency almost 60%, Locked OK, Network ID 0002, Transport Stream 07fb, ) but until I tweaked the LNB no signal for the rest of the day except some spitting in now and again. I moved the LNB a bit and am getting a more regular signal on 10744H during the day but with still a lot of picture break-up. The signal disappears in the evening.

Since the tweaking the LNB I have noticed that apart from the morning when the signal for all channels is really strong that the signals for the channels on 2A North (e.g. Nat Geo, Channel 999 Sky Sports News etc) begin to disappear when the Irish channels come in and vice versa. I might be getting Locked OK, Strength 55%, Quality 45/50% on the Irish TV channels when those channels on 2A north show 'not locking' with little quality.

It seems to me that there is a direct relation and that some of the stronger signals are swamping the signals on 2D. Also strangely the strongest ITV region is normally Grampian etc on 10.906V whereas when the Irsh channels (on Horizontal) come in, that region on Vertical disappears and London on 10832H comes in stronger.

The weather is not an issue as the same thing has happened on a fine day just as much as today with quite heavy cloud and rain.

Are there any LNB's which are designed for low band reception? Any ideas?

 

[Channel Hopper]

Youre on the right track I think but for the wrong reason

The incoming signals of all satellites at 28 East can be a problem with the input sensitivity of the tuners in some receivers, especially with dishes that are better performers

With a Universal LNB the receiver will only select one group of frequencies either low band or high band, depending on the tone applied from the tuner input

Swopping for a low band LNB (fixed 9750 MHz only) will not therefore change the incoming signal strength as the receiver is not seeing the rest with the standard universal to start with

It could be worth trying a really old 10GHz LNB to see if removing 250MHz of incoming signal helps at the low end but then you are naturally introducing the upper 250MHz because of the Local Oscillator change

Best thing would be to look at the incoming signal with a spectrum analyser and see if there are frequences that blast through a s a result of particular features of your system, (poor match of LNB feed to dish, long cable run or kinks in cable, cheap air cored or damaged cable, line amps, F plug problems, etc etc

 

[pmcmill]

I'm in Alicante and do the same thing . By turning the LNB what you're actually doing is adjusting the "skew" . In weak areas this can have quite a significant effect on the received signal . By turning my LNB 1 or 2mm I can significantly change the channels I receive .
Paul

 

[sayireand]

Hi there thanks for the replies.

Pmcmill.

What changes can you get? Can you give some examples?

What is your reception of channels 914,915 and 916 like?
How do they come in at different times of the day?

They are Irish radio channels which are on the frequency I'm looking for and are FTA without a sub.

 

[pmcmill]

Hi sayireand,
Regarding 914,915 & 916 . I can't get 2D reception with my channel master 1.2 in Alicante . With a 1.8 I know I could get 2D but at the moment I can't justify the extra expense for ITV which is the only channel that interests me . My "skew" situation is as follows . Basically if I turn the LNB in one direction I can get CH4 for nearly all day but lose Sky1 in the afternoon . Going the other direction I get Sky1 but lose CH4 in the afternoon . There are other channels involved in this , all being on 2A/B North beam . What I do is run an RF cable from the Sky box to a small mini Casio TV to the roof . From there I can fine tune the LNB to get the best signal . As your in Madrid your situation will be different . I'm right on the fringe here and fine tuning is a must .
Cheers
Paul

 

[aldav]

Hi sayireand,

I also live in Madrid and I am currently trying to find someone who can install the right sort of dish etc. I have a digibox and a BBC free card but I want some body who knows what they are talking about when it comes to the dish size and LNB to use. I have investigated this and obviously the bigger the dish the better with a universal LNB but as to who is the best in our area to use I am stumped. Do you have any suggestions? Also I have read that Sky are bringing out new cards does that affect us we have a normal FTV card? Sorry for asking more questions than giving answers but I'm new to all of this.

Cheers

aldav

 

[sayireand]

Hi there aldav,
I've sent you a private mail. Hope to hear from you soon.

S

 

[rolfw]

When you guys sort out the new dish, it'd be nice if you posted in the sticky thread at the top of the page and give your system details and what you can receive.