Recent content by Fisty McB

A number of years back I set up a 13/19/28 tri-lnb on a Zone 2 dish that worked okay, but did struggle on 13E on some of the weaker transponders (this was with a setup centred on 19E)- I'd expect that to be less of an issue in somewhere like SE England compared to where I am. @ozumo is right...

From an NI perspective, it's amazing to think that the three TX sites used to broadcast five services each on MW, but after Radio 4's MW switch-off occurs Lisnagarvey will be down to just two MW services (5 Live & Talk Sport) and Derry/Londonderry & Enniskillen will be down to just one (5 Live).

There's a heck of a western drop-off of the Thor 7 satellite 's CEE beam from Norway to where I'm located - not a sniff of anything from that bird here even on a 1.2 metre dish whereas both beams on Thor 5 as well as the K1 beam on Thor 6 are easily picked up, with K2 being weak but receivable...

Just a few pointers... * The reason some are suggesting that these Vivacom tests at 13E are using a "Superbeam" is that such a beam was in Eutelsat's publicity for both the HB 13F & 13G birds prior to their launch. It was a worry about a year ago for some on this forum that certain broadcasters...

Same in N. Ireland - from solid reception to zero! Ah well, I'm guessing that the "superbeam" than was in pre-launch publicity has been given a bit of a steer south-eastwards? Either that or maybe the new Hot Birds have similar beamforming to that of Quantum at 48E.

A slight change made in my setup recently - the 4.3 degree monoblock wasn't getting either Turksat 42E or HellasSat 39E on Dish 2 properly, so it was decided to try and use two separate LNBs to receive each position. Adding the LNB for Turksat was fine, but HellasSat was not due to the steep...

No problems with reception here in Northern Ireland, indeed the SNR seems to be stronger than the other transponders I get here from 13E, up to 1.5db higher than normal! I take it Vivacom are in the process of moving from Intelsat 38 @45E to Hot Bird?

IIRC the timing of the DAB Single Frequency Networks in the UK is limited to 74km - that means that if a distant DAB TX is more than 74km more than what is received from a more local TX from the same frequency, then the two (or more) transmitters will destructively interfere with each other...

I suspect when it happens it'll happen without public warning. It is after all only meant to be used "internally" by Arqiva and there's no need for them to mention such procedures to the masses.

From looking at MB21's TX Gallery, most of the UK DTT transmission sites that appear to have Satback at the ready should their main feeds fail seem to be the around 50 so "main" sites where the fibre feed to the site could fail. Satback provides the backup for the PSB1&3 multiplexes, while PSB2...

I haven't opened the device to check, but presumably a set of small wire snips can do the job if it starts to look suspicious? As it is with the meter, it's done a decent job altogether despite its minor flaws - I've got about 99% of the LNB lining up now done and the meter's CNR/MER readout...

For those from 2026 that still want a landline phone but whom have no interest in general Internet access, Openreach have a special 512 Kbit data rate line provision for such lines to carry VoIP services though I'm not aware of anyone but BT offering this right now (I'm sure there is but I...

(TL;DR at the bottom) The major national landline phone network is under a business group called Openreach, which is an arm of British Telecom, which serves all of the UK (except for the city & surrounds of Kingston-upon-Hull for historical reasons). At present, you can no longer get a new...

How many satellite-based subscribers does Sky have at present? I have in the back of my mind a figure of 10 million plus back in the 2010's but I'm not sure what the more recent figures are, and a quick search doesn't give many clues. I'm going to estimate that getting all such subscribers over...

Astra 2F is due to reach its 15 years of operational life in 2027/8, Astra 2E in 2028/9 and Astra 2G in 2030 - however the modern SES fleets have more often than not been able to get a few years more out of their operational lifespans (closer to 18-20 years before hitting inclined orbits that...