Getting Eurosport from Astra 1C

[RichardToft]

Please help me. I have to get Eurosport from Astra 1C in time for a visit from my son-in-law who is Dutch and a keen cyclist. I did this 2 years ago using an Amstrad 510 and a Sky dish and it worked just fine. Since then the decoder has been in the cupboard, and I am now trying to reinstate it. I can tune the decoder and get a good picture on many of the Astra channels, and then suddenly CNN seems to burst in and take over the screen. Very often the setup frequency for the CNN appears to be the same as the channel I was watching, or sometimes it is 7713 which is way off the range of any of the information I have. I also have the problem that the decoder seems to forget that I have previously tuned a channel, and it resets itself to 7713, and scrambles the audio tuning. There is a lot more I could say, but would prefer to answer questions/ carry out actions if this has provided sufficient for someone to recognise my problem. Please can anyone help? Thanks.

[Mickha]

Hi RichardToft,
and welcome to the forum, I think Astra 1c has been moved to 5E, so that could be part of the problem. Another one is that the only Eurosport FTA, Free to Air, on Astra 19.2E, is Eurosport Germany, available in Analogue, 11259 V, on Astra 1F,19.2E, and Digital, 12226 H 27500, Astra 1H, 19.2E.
There is a Eurosport as part of the Canal Digitaal package, on Astra 19.2E, 12344 H 27500, but I think that is only available with a subscription.
Can you please post more details of your set up, especially your satellite receiver, make/model, Analogue/Digital.
Which satellites you can receive, general location, country and region, e.g. North West England, which Eurosport you are trying to tune in and more detailed information on the frequency, and settings, you're using.
Hopefully we can help you get set up.

[BGonaSTICK]

It may be that if the decoder is a very old analogue one, that it's 'forgetfulness' about which channels it's tuned to could be because it's on the way out.

At a pinch, which language(s) audio would satisfy your needs?

[SAT-WORLD]

An English Language version is still available on analogue satellite.
Same parameters as the German version:Astra 1F (19.2E) - 11258.50 V - Txp:4
http://en.kingofsat.net/freqs.php?&p...freq&filtre=no
P.S The Amstrad SRD510 is a analogue receiver.
If you want a new analogue receiver,then the Metronic from Pixmania is available for under £30(including delivery):http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/2362...ator-orig.html

[RichardToft]

Thanks for the welcome Mickha, BGonaSTICK and SAT-WORLD. I am new to the workings of a Forum - can I reply to you all in one posting?

I am trying to receive the German Eurosport with English commentary because it is free and excellent. I understand this is Analogue and I have the Amstrad SRD510 decoder. The tuning info I have is the same as you have advised ie Satellite Astra 1F frequency 11.2585 Ghz with audio tuning of 7.02/7.20. I'm not sure what this means, but these are the numbers that work, and that I got from www.ses-astra.com 'Find a Channel' website.

I am using a 60cm Sky dish that I previously had pointed at the sky satellite (somewhere about 28 degrees?), and of course that is a digital signal which I decoded with a separate digibox. So I am using the same dish for digital and analogue by swinging it from one satellite to the other, and changing the type of decoder. I show the image on a Toshiba Regza WLT66 flat screen.

I live on the South coast of England (Dorset) and previously used this same kit at this time of year 2 years ago to get the Tour de France. At that time it worked well. Actually it was brilliant - I was well and truly hooked!

I do not know the age of the Amstrad but its Serial No is GE43255155. It had a replacement power pack fitted about 4 years ago. I have had experience of a computer that could not retain its settings when switched off (an old Mac), and the problem was a dud battery on the motherboard. I have opened up the Amstrad but cannot see a battery anywhere. It seems to run rather hot even when in standby mode. I would be happy to buy a new decoder if necessary.

I don't want to pay a subscription for just these three weeks of Tour de France, but am happy to get my signal, either analogue or digital, from anywhere. If you think I should be looking somewhere else, please don't hesitate to say so.

Thanks again for your help.

[BGonaSTICK]

If you want it subscription-free and in English, then yes - it has to be in analogue as you mention. If you can't tune it with the Amstrad, then why not try the cheap Metronic box as suggested by SAT-WORLD?

If it didn't work, I'm sure you could just send it back.

The other thing that could be wrong is the LNB itself. You could try changing that first. They only cost £5 - £10.

How long have you got before your son-in-law visits? Most stuff comes via mail-order, so could take a few days.

I take it you can get Eurosport sometimes, or has it completely gone since the box has been exiled in the cupboard?

[RichardToft]

I am getting slightly pannicky so have ordered the metronic box as insurance. Son-in-law wants to see the mountain stages so I have a few days yet.

The LNB is working fine as it has previously been capturing the digital sky signal ok - before I swung it over to get the Eurosport. Also I can tune it to just about any of the analogue channels including Eurosport, and they display a good picture for a few seconds, and then get overtaken by CNN. Then when I start to check the tunings I see that some of then are as I set them, and some have changed to something unrelated.

So yes, since I got the decoder out of the cupboard I have been able to tune ok to Eurosport, but then lose it to CNN. I vacuumed out a lot of fluff from inside the box before I started this latest escapade - do you think that could have caused a problem?

With global warming in mind I have a master switch which isolates the power to all my tv and hi fi gear, so nothing is left on standby overnight. I wonder if the Amstrad box needs standby power to retain its settings?

BTW I also have a second bigger dish which results in all the same symptoms when I substitute it. So I think it can only be the decoder.

Thanks for your help.

[BGonaSTICK]

Good, that's a logical process of isolating the problem and I'm hopeful the new box will restore your viewing.

It could be the removal of mains power making it worse, but there's clearly something not right there. The new box should give you a few years of analogue viewing on Astra1 yet.

At some point you'll want to switch to digital, but Eurosport in English is a nice-to-have for free