28e levels in south france

[4wd]

Anyone in \ around Alpes Maritimes \ Nice with some reception reports? Am back in France, and this summer all UK's are gone, apart from some very rare apparitons of a few 2E transponders.

Dish \ lnb \ box are fine, nothing more to squeeze out, & got the EU's at full blast 17dB. Either the trees I've been worried about for some time are finally doing their job, or the UK levels are way down. Or both! In Norway levels have been unexpectedly excellent for a long time, in earlier posts have mentionned the impression of some general beam (lobe) shift towards the north.

Before looking for a new dish emplacement (will be difficult, & size over the current 140x130 out of the question), any info about current reception conditions in the region very welcome. Thanks.

 

[Manikm909]

can you not raise your dish higher? how close are the trees.

 

[sonnetpete]

Either the trees I've been worried about for some time are finally doing their job

Not sure about the South of France but up here in Normandy, we had a cold, wet Spring then very warm weather. This seems to have led to the trees growing more leaf (and just 'growing') than normal. So it could well be foliage that's your problem.

 

[peapod1]

Anyone in \ around Alpes Maritimes \ Nice with some reception reports? Am back in France, and this summer all UK's are gone, apart from some very rare apparitons of a few 2E transponders.

Dish \ lnb \ box are fine, nothing more to squeeze out, & got the EU's at full blast 17dB. Either the trees I've been worried about for some time are finally doing their job, or the UK levels are way down. Or both! In Norway levels have been unexpectedly excellent for a long time, in earlier posts have mentionned the impression of some general beam (lobe) shift towards the north.

Before looking for a new dish emplacement (will be difficult, & size over the current 140x130 out of the question), any info about current reception conditions in the region very welcome. Thanks.

Just returned to the Var near Bandol after a long absence. Diddlysquat on UK channels, and just a few EU obscurities. Cannot say my 1m Gibby is perfectly aligned though since I don't possess a meter of any kind

 

[4wd]

can you not raise your dish higher? how close are the trees.

Sonnetpete:
So it could well be foliage that's your problem.

A few times a year some extreme winds + chimney mounted, any bigger or higher up dish will for 95% sure imply destruction of some sort, already took max chance. Anyway having a 130x140 dish on a very long pole will mean trouble in this valley, and if it's trees, they'll continue growing. Trees are not on my property, + have to clear an overgrown hill top quite far away, just managed to go clear previous years. Cutting trees down (or leveling the hill :O) not realistic.

As the EU's are still 'frying the lnb', am suspecting lower uk signals, + -maybe- trees further diminishing reception.
1st of all need to know if there is still some useable UK signal in the region.

 

[Nalleman]

A few times a year some extreme winds + chimney mounted, any bigger or higher up dish will for 95% sure imply destruction of some sort, already took max chance. Anyway having a 130x140 dish on a very long pole will mean trouble in this valley, and if it's trees, they'll continue growing. Trees are not on my property, + have to clear an overgrown hill top quite far away, just managed to go clear previous years. Cutting trees down (or leveling the hill :O) not realistic.

As the EU's are still 'frying the lnb', am suspecting lower uk signals, + -maybe- trees further diminishing reception.
1st of all need to know if there is still some useable UK signal in the region.

Well far away from you in France here in southern parts of Sweden I have noticed lower signal on the UK beam on 2F. Down around 1,2 dB.
2E and 2G though are about the same as usual.

 

[wards287]

Here in the Var near Fréjus, levels are comparable with previous years. Friends with 1M dishes are struggling but as we have a 2galli 1.4M dish on the ground, no HD's but SD's ok if no rain etc. We have a Humax HDS 1000S and Opticum LNB so ITV on 111 is good since the recent frequency changes.

 

[jcv18]

Hello there !
I am new here, so please excuse me if this is posted in the wrong section.
This one said France, and I'm right in the centre of France so...

I am looking for technical advice/expertise :
I have an 80cm dis pointing to Astra 2E/2F/2G for reception of the UK FTA channel (mostly Freesat) using a Technomate TM-7102HD-T2.
Everything was working fine until a few days, where the temperature started to go up.
Since then, reception is gone on a few frequency only, the others being perfectly ok.
For exemple, I've lost all reception on TP11307V (Great ! tv channels) while it was fine before...

I would like to know if there is a direct link between the temperature and the quality of signal.
Thank you for any advice or explanation you could give me, a way to fix this would be greatly appreciated

Keep safe,
JCV

 

[Channel Hopper]

Hello there !
I am new here, so please excuse me if this is posted in the wrong section.
This one said France, and I'm right in the centre of France so...

I am looking for technical advice/expertise :
I have an 80cm dish pointing to Astra 2E/2F/2G for reception of the UK FTA channel (mostly Freesat) using a Technomate TM-7102HD-T2.
Everything was working fine until a few days, where the temperature started to go up.
Since then, reception is gone on a few frequency only, the others being perfectly ok.
For exemple, I've lost all reception on TP11307V (Great ! tv channels) while it was fine before...

I would like to know if there is a direct link between the temperature and the quality of signal.
Thank you for any advice or explanation you could give me, a way to fix this would be greatly appreciated

Keep safe,
JCV

Losing and regaining Channels

I'm in Valencia Spain and very oddly at the moment seem to lose channels in the mornings only for them to reappear later in the day. 144 and 831 on Sky used to be nice and clear all through the day but now no signal up until 6-7 pm all of the CBS channels from 142-148 have gone completely. No...

www.satellites.co.uk

 

[a33]

I would like to know if there is a direct link between the temperature and the quality of signal.

Welcome to the forum, @jcv18!

When it really is a temperature-dependant phenomenon, I'd first think of a drifting LOF of your LNB.
You can check that, by changing the LOF-settings in your receiver.

Normally they are set at "universal LNB", with the values 9750 and 10600.
You can set them at manual, 9746 and 10596, and then check reception.

When no improvement, try 9754 and 10604, and check reception again.

Please report if it leads to improvement?

Greetz,
A33

 

[jcv18]

Welcome to the forum, @jcv18!

When it really is a temperature-dependant phenomenon, I'd first think of a drifting LOF of your LNB.
You can check that, by changing the LOF-settings in your receiver.

Normally they are set at "universal LNB", with the values 9750 and 10600.
You can set them at manual, 9746 and 10596, and then check reception.

When no improvement, try 9754 and 10604, and check reception again.

Please report if it leads to improvement?

Greetz,
A33

Hi A33,

Thank you for the welcome, and thank you for the advice.
I have not had the chance to test changing the LOF settings : today, the Great ! channels are working perfectly

For TP110307V, I was happy with a Quality signal at 55-60%
I was loosing the channels at <50%
and today, the signal is at 78% confused

I have now 82% for TP10773H (BBC1 SD), never had such level before confused

The only change I made is register on this forum: You Guys are powerful !!!

Thanks for the tip, I still might have to use it someday.

 

[4wd]

Sooo, hired in a guy to reach heights I dare not go any longer, took down some hinders on my property, but looks like the biggest problems are far a way on a hill top, trees been growing steadily over the years, factual impossibility to do anything about that.

As the EU's are still around 100% 17dB, am quite sure the problems are due to the combination of UK beam being down a few dB's and trees causing the further degradation beyond reliable lock.

Any alternative good dish position is next to impossible ftm, but will keep looking. Accepting reality, it may be the end of any reliable freesat reception here.

 

[PaulR]

Commiserations if it really is the end.

Prurient curiosity now. How long was the tree guy there for and how much did he charge? Did he do a full job (taking away the cut branches) or was that left to you to sort out?

 

[4wd]

It's a guy who lives locally and has been working for me for years. In this case I payed 50 euros for his climbing, cutting, bringing his tools, making a quick sorting of firewood vs what goes in the grinder "le broyeur". And not the least, coming on time, that's a luxury in France! Was a dangerous job high up, cut it down 4 meters or so (half of the tree), very long branches and a good trunk. He knows how to do it safely, I would have cut some limbs off or fallen down, in that context any price is good.

Deal was whatever was needed up there while I gave instructions from the ground. He would gladly have taken some extra euros for cleaning up completely, but do not need to pay for what I can (& want to) do myself, as long as it's on ground level every job is fine ftm.

 

[4wd]

Ha! Looks like it's sorted after all. Continued tree cutting, then chose a spot in the rear of the property as far away from the hill as possible, while not expecting much. Resulting in the old 90cm showing much better levels than the 130x140 at it's current position.

Am sure this will work, so will be having the large dish at ground level = no more ladders to the roof for fine adjustments, and no more fear of it bringing down the chimney during storms :O) & Wimbledon is saved.

Picture, typical for the UK transponders.

 

[4wd]

Experiencing a dose of inspiration, went ahead. Temporary and corse pole\mounting point\adjustments, but even then immediately got those extra dB's needed. Great.

& the side mounted astra 19 very good as well.

 

[jeallen01]

Ha! Looks like it's sorted after all. Continued tree cutting, then chose a spot in the rear of the property as far away from the hill as possible, while not expecting much. Resulting in the old 90cm showing much better levels than the 130x140 at it's current position.

Am sure this will work, so will be having the large dish at ground level = no more ladders to the roof for fine adjustments, and no more fear of it bringing down the chimney during storms :O) & Wimbledon is saved.

Picture, typical for the UK transponders.

Has to said (again!) that the "ground/just above it" mounting of a dish approach is much the best way to go if you can get the sats that you want, and it's "practical" to do.

 

[4wd]

If anyone wondering, the superbly good enigma\wifi signalmeter app is from krkadoni, available in playstore, free and no adds. Great thing.

 

[4wd]

Some days on, the chosen new dish spot gives very good reception, the dish will live there.

So will have to tackle a brand new problem task, learn how to make a ground pole stand firm supporting a large, front-heavy offset.
Have always had easy jobs before, solid walls, solid chimneys, never done anything in soft, humid clay \ dirt, which is now the situation.

 

[jhalliday45]

Some days on, the chosen new dish spot gives very good reception, the dish will live there.

So will have to tackle a brand new problem task, learn how to make a ground pole stand firm supporting a large, front-heavy offset.
Have always had easy jobs before, solid walls, solid chimneys, never done anything in soft, humid clay \ dirt, which is now the situation.

Yes the ground support will be my problem too, I assume if permanent I will set it quite deep in concrete hole whilst ensuring it is totally perpendicular (to earth) etc. My problem at present is that my 120cm dish I decided I dare not place on the roof, and happen to have a fence post in a great position and more or less well aligned, issue is it is not perpendicular, the fencing interferes with the back of the dish alignment so the readings are not true, oh and the fence pole is not round so minor sideways adjustments are tricky - it has been a journey but still it all works now thanks in no small part to the support from here.

Once I am 100% that the dish is not changing location I will invest in a fixed post etc. Are there any instructions on this - and or recommended suppliers ? or is it simple a case of having something like a round scaffolding pole sunk into the ground in concrete ?