I can get Astra 28.2 in Northern France but no British FTA channels - help

[Paul_Normandy]

I have a holiday home in Normandy and bought a mobile Sat TV set up from Ebay (I think its a Silvercrest or similar). I can receive all BBC channels when in ENGLAND using a Universal LNB as supplied, but when in FRANCE and tuned to Astra 28E, whilst it said that the BBC and ITV channels were there with high (70%) signal quality it showed as 'No signal' on each one when I selected it from the list, although I could receive BBC News 24 only. Why can't I receive BBC and ITV? Do I need to buy a different LNB or what?

[nanochickin]

The BBC and ITV channels are broadcast from astra 2D which has a small spot beam over the British Isles. Basically to put it bluntly you will probably need a bigger dish

You will be able to pick up signals from the other Astra 28.2e birds with a small dish in France however you will probably not get a lot from Astra 2D

Hope this helps mate



nano

[BGonaSTICK]

Just to confirm, the only thing that had changed was your location, right? All the equipment and cabling was the same?

How big is the dish you have? Are you totally confident that you were aligned on 28.2E whilst in France? Is there any chance you could have found a different satellite?

There should have been lots of other channels you could have received that are not on the restrictive 2D beam.

It could be tricky to diagnose without taking another holiday (hey, a good excuse!)

TBH, Normandy shouldn't pose any real problem for 2D reception (unless your dish is truly tiny) and no, your LNB will be fine.

[Paul_Normandy]

Thank you for the responses.

Nanochickin - I hadn't realised that there are more than one Astra satellite on 28degrees East and perhaps a larger dish is the answer - what I don't understand is that the BBC and ITV channels are shown in the list of channels available when INFO is pressed on the remote but no signal when selected?

BgonaSTICK - Yes nothing has changed except the location. I can get both BBC and ITV etc in East Sussex yet - my house is in a straight line across the channel about 30 miles south of Dieppe but as I say I can't get them. In England I can get BBC etc and NOT the German and other continental channels and the opposite is true in France.

The dish diameter is small but not here at home so can't measure it.

[BGonaSTICK]

I think the easy answer is to automatically put this down to dish size (and that's ultimately a real possibility I suppose, given your results), but I find it hard to believe that the dish is so ineffective that it can't pick up Astra 1 from the UK or 2D from Normandy. I've known those little Silvercrest kits to pick up Hotbird in Scotland, and that's generally weaker than Astra 1.

Assuming that your kit is 'new' off eBay and not faulty in any way, then it makes sense that a 60cm or 70cm dish would pretty much guarantee you reception either side of the Channel. I do wonder though, whether something is not quite right with your kit. Maybe it could be a faulty LNB, or an exceptionally weak tuner. Generally these kits are reasonably effective, so it's not just that they're 'cheap and nasty'.

I realise that doesn't help you very much. The easiest way to eliminate a defective part is usually to systematically swap bits out with replacements until to locate the gremlin. After all that, it could just be dish size, but I have a sneaky feeling it's not.

STICK

[Paul_Normandy]

Many thanks - I will buy a larger dish and have another go - thank you for your assistance.

Paul

[BGonaSTICK]

Please let us know how you get on.