Machine generally playing up

My Humax Forum » Freesat HD » FOXSAT HDR

Machine generally playing up

(29 posts)

grahamlthompson

special member
Joined: Feb '11
Posts: 14,442
offline

hairless - 2 mins ago »
This perhaps should be a new post but I am puzzled. After installing a new dish and (eventually) getting the alignment OK I was able to enter my postcode be and scan for channels. Curiously, despite being in Cornwall it gives me local (Southwest) ones but also various Scottish ones. Is this a faulty database from the satellite ?

Whatever postcode you use everyone gets these.

949 BBC Two HD
950 BBC 1 London
951 BBC 1 CI
952 BBC 1 E Mids
953 BBC 1 East (E)
954 BBC 1 East (W)
955 BBC 1 N West
956 BBC 1 NE & C
957 BBC 1 NI
958 BBC 1 Oxford
959 BBC 1 S East
960 BBC 1 Scotland
961 BBC 1 South
962 BBC 1 S West
963 BBC 1 W Mids
964 BBC 1 Wales
965 BBC 1 West
966 BBC 1 Yorks
967 BBC 1 EYrks&L
968 BBC 2 England
969 BBC 2 NI
970 BBC 2 Scotland
971 BBC 2 Wales HD
972 BBC ONE HD (England)
973 BBC 1 Scot HD
974 Channel 4
975 Channel 4 + 1
976 BBC 1 Wales HD
977 ITV
978 BBC 1 NI HD
979 BBC Two Wales
999 Freesat Info

977 is ITV-London -

| Mon 1 Mar 2021 15:48:59 #21 |
hairless

junior member
Joined: Feb '21
Posts: 5
offline

Yes I get those but also 108 BBC Sco HD, 109 BBC Alba, 174 BBC Scotland. Not a problem, but why ?

| Mon 1 Mar 2021 16:00:10 #22 |
grahamlthompson

special member
Joined: Feb '11
Posts: 14,442
offline

hairless - 9 mins ago »
Yes I get those but also 108 BBC Sco HD, 109 BBC Alba, 174 BBC Scotland. Not a problem, but why ?

Unlike ITV who want you to watch local adverts, The BBC don't mind you having all the nations HD channels and regional channels in the epg.

977 is there because it's the only one that has audio description for visually impaired users.

The box has an edit channels option that means you can replace the lower number postcode allocations with any from this block of channels.

If you install the custom firmware for the box (AV forums) you can unhide the hidden ITV channels and get full epg details. You can also add Channel-4-HD to the freesat epg by tuning it in non freesat mode. You can then set manual recording timers from freesat mode,

| Mon 1 Mar 2021 16:13:51 #23 |
hairless

junior member
Joined: Feb '21
Posts: 5
offline

Sounds like it's all working correctly then. After a lifetime in electronics as a graduate engineer with my own company, and an occasional radio amateur since the 1960s, I find a lot this stuff both amazing and incredibly complex. Thanks for your help.

| Mon 1 Mar 2021 16:22:04 #24 |
grahamlthompson

special member
Joined: Feb '11
Posts: 14,442
offline

hairless - 9 mins ago »
Sounds like it's all working correctly then. After a lifetime in electronics as a graduate engineer with my own company, and an occasional radio amateur since the 1960s, I find a lot this stuff both amazing and incredibly complex. Thanks for your help.

Did you check the signal levels as detailed above ?

| Mon 1 Mar 2021 16:31:46 #25 |
hairless

junior member
Joined: Feb '21
Posts: 5
offline

Sorry, I missed anything about signal levels ?

| Mon 1 Mar 2021 20:59:11 #26 |
grahamlthompson

special member
Joined: Feb '11
Posts: 14,442
offline

If you tune to any channel and press menu- system diagnostics.

It will show the signal level and the more important quality percentages.

Most Freesat channels are on the UK spot transponders that have a focussed beam on the UK. Any of these should easily get 100/100 on a Foxsat-HDR which has excellent tuner sensitivity. A few are on the wide beam europe beam transponders. Because the beam covers a much larger area the field strength is lower. So you will likely get a lower signal strength but if your dish alignment is spot on you should still get 100% quality.

Think of a torch you can focus. tiny footprint is bright large is dim. Light and microwave energy are very similar. A dish is reflecting telescope for microwave frequncies. The LNB is the mirror used to collect photons in a optical telescope

https://satfi.co.uk/coverage/

The red larger area is the Europe beam coverage.

Look for the Europe beam transponders here.

https://en.kingofsat.net/freqs.php?&pos=28.2E&standard=All&ordre=freq&filtre=Clear

Example NHK World-HD is on a Europe beam transponder

209 NHKWORLD-JAPAN 11225 V

Tune to 209 and post the signal level and quality.

If you can get a solid stable signal on 209. Your dish alignment is good. If not follow the fine tune adjustment instructions posted above.

If not spot on heavy rain will likely lose your signal. It does not have to be local, anywhere in the path from satellite to dish can cause issues as can wet snow on dish face or lnb.

Just like as in a microwave oven water absorbs microwave energy very well.

My dish is only about 6ft from the ground. MK1 broom solves the snow issue.

| Mon 1 Mar 2021 21:22:26 #27 |
hairless

junior member
Joined: Feb '21
Posts: 5
offline

Signal is good. 100/100 on both inputs. It was difficult to achieve that, but very careful alignment did it. The new dish is deliberately lower than the original since I am too old to work off a big ladder now.

| Tue 2 Mar 2021 18:51:07 #28 |
grahamlthompson

special member
Joined: Feb '11
Posts: 14,442
offline

hairless - 3 mins ago »
Signal is good. 100/100 on both inputs. It was difficult to achieve that, but very careful alignment did it. The new dish is deliberately lower than the original since I am too old to work off a big ladder now.

Good job

No need to have dishes high. Many can ground mount them provided you have a clear view to 28.2E. I have seen sky mini dishes under an upturned plastic dustbin or in a plastic glazed greenhouse.

You will find it a lot easier if you have to do it again.

| Tue 2 Mar 2021 18:58:31 #29 |