Sky satellite TV reception latest - Hurricane?

[jimmy_the_builder]

You will be on the wrong sat, keep wiggling till the next one!

You're dead right. I've now moved the dish to a different, higher, point on the building, and I think the fourth satellite I found turned out to be the right one. I'm going to take it all to pieces now and try this all again in France at the weekend. Such excitement!

 

[Hurricane]

Well done - you are on your way
One way to tell if you are on the correct satellite is to look at the Network ID
You can fine it on the Sky Box under Services - System Setup - Signal Test
When the dish is pointing at Astra 2, the Network ID will be 0002

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Well done - you are on your way
One way to tell if you are on the correct satellite is to look at the Network ID
You can fine it on the Sky Box under Services - System Setup - Signal Test
When the dish is pointing at Astra 2, the Network ID will be 0002

Thanks, it was 0002, so all good. I thought the Sky HD+ box that I bought for the boat was a bit big though, so I've just bought another one, this is the mini Sky HD box made by Amstrad.

 

[KevB]

Have you tried using marina WiFi for TV????
Especially in Spain.

However, better than a Slingbox would be to use a VPN - I recommend HMA (Hide My Arse)
For about £7/£8 per month you get a UK IP address and you can then just watch BBC TV through iPlayer.
No point routing through your home system when you can go directly to the source (BBC/ITV)

Our boat is set up so that the on-board PC outputs Video/Audio through the TVs.

All we need now is a good internet connection - maybe 4G will be the answer.
Actually, here in Spain, the marina connects its berth holders internet using WiMax services
I would like a "DIY" WiMax service but there are problems - both technical and other.

It worked perfectly over 3g in southern Spain. I'll email you the password for mine and you can give it a go. The beauty of the slingbox is you don't need any hardware other than something connected to the internet ie laptop, pad or phone with hdmi out to connect to your tv. You get absolutely everything that you have at home, it even has a freeview receiver built so just stick an aerial on it and get full freeview wherever you are in the world with the channels exactly where they should be and no hassle of searching like many of the streaming sites and you're not sharing it with the rest of the world, just you.

If you want to view the lost channels, a slingbox is the perfect solution but only if you have somewhere in the uk to install it of course.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Well done - you are on your way
One way to tell if you are on the correct satellite is to look at the Network ID
You can fine it on the Sky Box under Services - System Setup - Signal Test
When the dish is pointing at Astra 2, the Network ID will be 0002

So now I'm on the boat, sky box and sat dish all here. I used dishpointer.com to, er, point my dish at '28.2e astra 1n|astra 2a|astra 2d|astra 2f', I briefly got a full signal strength indicator on the sky box, and it seemed to download an epg, but the network id is 7559536, not 0002. Any idea what 7559536 is?

 

[DavidJ]

I've just put your id 7559536 into google and got a caravan forumite with the same problem except he is in Sheffield. He has given his data as:
Just tried another setup and I think the lnb could be my problem. My signals read

Input 1 signal strength is 3/4 of the way up the bar
Input 1 signal strength is very low about 1/10 of the bar.( I can't get this any higher,if I move the lnb or even just touch it I loose the strength completely)
Input 1 lock indicator ok
Input 1 network I'd 7559536
Input 1 transport stream 0000

Unfortunately he doesn't post any solution to his problem but it may indicate that the id might not be due to your location.

I'm hoping you have this one sorted before I take my skybox to Spain next Monday.
Best of luck

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

I've just put your id 7559536 into google and got a caravan forumite with the same problem except he is in Sheffield. He has given his data as:
Just tried another setup and I think the lnb could be my problem. My signals read

Input 1 signal strength is 3/4 of the way up the bar
Input 1 signal strength is very low about 1/10 of the bar.( I can't get this any higher,if I move the lnb or even just touch it I loose the strength completely)
Input 1 lock indicator ok
Input 1 network I'd 7559536
Input 1 transport stream 0000

Unfortunately he doesn't post any solution to his problem but it may indicate that the id might not be due to your location.

I'm hoping you have this one sorted before I take my skybox to Spain next Monday.
Best of luck

Thanks, in fact I'd found that thread as well, but like you I didn't find it particularly useful. It's a shame that you can't get the Sky box to tell you what you're actually pointing at, when it's not their satellite.

 

[GSL]

I've just put your id 7559536 into google and got a caravan forumite with the same problem except he is in Sheffield. He has given his data as:
Just tried another setup and I think the lnb could be my problem. My signals read

Input 1 signal strength is 3/4 of the way up the bar
Input 1 signal strength is very low about 1/10 of the bar.( I can't get this any higher,if I move the lnb or even just touch it I loose the strength completely)
Input 1 lock indicator ok
Input 1 network I'd 7559536
Input 1 transport stream 0000

Unfortunately he doesn't post any solution to his problem but it may indicate that the id might not be due to your location.

I'm hoping you have this one sorted before I take my skybox to Spain next Monday.
Best of luck

Me to, in two weeks, we are relying n you Jimmy!

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Me to, in two weeks, we are relying n you Jimmy!

I'm relying on Hurricane!

 

[Hurricane]

Sorry guys - I'm back home now after spending the weekend in Scunthorpe - Dont Ask!!!

Jimmy, it obviously isn't pointing at the correct satellite.
This is always the problem - there are loads up there

One trick that I used to use a few years ago was to start pointing it to the east and gradually move it to the south watching the satfinder as it goes.
I think it used to be the second strongest signal.
But remember that it isn't as easy as just turning the dish - the elevation has to change as well.

Another trick I used at Valencia (when we wanted it for the Grand Prix coverage) was to find Hotbird - Network Id of 013e
This gave me a good reference point to work out where we should be looking for the Astra 2 slot.

You might also like to try a little adjustment with the skew (physically twisting the LNB to line up with the satellite's transmission skew)
Skew varies across the whole of the satellite's footprint but any adjustments are very small - no more than about 20/30 degrees
Incidentally, Nick's KVH dome also needs its skew setting but I suspect that was set up for the SoF a long time ago.
Again anyone with Raymarine/Intellian systems can usually forget skew as it is handled automatically.

Sorry I can't be much more help
It is the combination of getting the correct vertical (elevation) and horizontal (azimuth) alignment
Only to say, when you DO find it you will wonder why/how you ever missed it!!!

Good luck and don't give up.

EDIT
Sorry, should have said that Hotbird is at 13 degrees East
Also remember that when they say 13 degrees this is the longitude of the satellite above the earth so if you can find one known satellite, it often helps you find others.

 

[Richard Shead]

Just don't google Hotbird....

 

[DavidJ]

Mike,
Are all satellites positioned on the same track. ie Once I get onto say hotbird (from my position in Spain), have I by definition got my elevation right (and maybe skew) then it's just a case of adjusting for the azimuth alignment for sky channels?

 

[Hurricane]

Mike,
Are all satellites positioned on the same track. ie Once I get onto say hotbird (from my position in Spain), have I by definition got my elevation right (and maybe skew) then it's just a case of adjusting for the azimuth alignment for sky channels?

No - sorry - it all changes
There is no track - these satellites are in fixed orbit
They are positioned in the "Clarke Belt" - geostationary orbit.
That is where their orbit is such that their speed won't push them further away or closer to the earth's surface whilst staying in the same relative position to the ground.
This actually relates to a position about 25,000 miles above the equator
See here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_orbit
So, in answer to your question, wherever you are on the planet, you need to point directly at the satellite which means changing both the elevation and the azimuth.

However, there are some dish mounts you can buy (mainly for motorised systems) that can be set up so that they follow an arc covering the line of satellites.
In reality, though, with a cheap domestic dish, you would need to adjust both the elevation and the azimuth for a particular satellite.

BTW
Think about it for a moment - we all take this for granted - but just think about the scale here
25,000 miles above the equator
Think about the size of the earth and then think where these satellites are.
Thats a round trip of well over 50,000 miles for the signals to travel.
The early satellite transponders used to operate with just a few watts
Now think of that in relation to the speed of light and you will now understand where the delays come from.
I think it is about a quarter of a second delay for each satellite hop - often seen in live TV News reports from around the globe.
Just amazes me

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Jimmy, it obviously isn't pointing at the correct satellite.
This is always the problem - there are loads up there

Ok - good progress here. It turns out that I _was_ pointing at the right satellite, but the Sky box was unhappy about something, perhaps too many attempts to tune it in or something. Either way - I did a system reset on the sky box, and this time it came up with the network id 0002. I can get most of the news channels except bbc, and most of the radio channels again, disappointingly, except all the bbc channels.

So - if I got a paid-for Sky subscription, would this enable the bbc channels?

Alternatively, would a 120cm dish pick up UK freesat (ie as opposed to Sky freesat)?

 

[Forty_Two]

So - if I got a paid-for Sky subscription, would this enable the bbc channels?

Alternatively, would a 120cm dish pick up UK freesat (ie as opposed to Sky freesat)?

No it's about signal strength not money!

Possibly, but that's a big dish on a Quay or a boat. Your Sky box will only lose a couple of channels if you pull the Sky free Viewing card out. It won't get the Freesat epg, wrong software. Wouldn't make any difference with the BBC channels anyway. Only big dish will fix that (same satellites).

Going to put a better Lnb in my 85cm dish later this week but I don't hold out any real hope.

 

[Hurricane]

Ok - good progress here. It turns out that I _was_ pointing at the right satellite, but the Sky box was unhappy about something, perhaps too many attempts to tune it in or something. Either way - I did a system reset on the sky box, and this time it came up with the network id 0002. I can get most of the news channels except bbc, and most of the radio channels again, disappointingly, except all the bbc channels.

So - if I got a paid-for Sky subscription, would this enable the bbc channels?

Alternatively, would a 120cm dish pick up UK freesat (ie as opposed to Sky freesat)?

No - I thought that was clear in the previous posts
Sky's BBC/ITV is just the Freesat channels inside their EPG (Electronic Program Guide)
In fact I don't think that even a bigger dish will pick up BBC/ITV - it certainly doesn't in Spain
Some places in our part of Spain can't even get them on a 3m dish.
The Sky native channels are what we are stuck with.

Interesting though - you say most of the radio channels are available - any BBC ones?
As far as I know all the interesting radio channels are on the UK narrow beam transponders.
Having said that, I have noticed some channels that work aren't as good as some others so maybe I'm now seeing the northern European beams as well as the southern beam.
Thats assuming that there still are northern and southern beams - its difficult to keep up to date with all this stuff.

Back to your point - we could really do with Sky offering a BBC (Europe) channel that we could all subscribe to but I believe that the BBC licenses don't allow transmission outside the UK.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

No it's about signal strength not money!

Possibly, but that's a big dish on a Quay or a boat. Your Sky box will only lose a couple of channels if you pull the Sky free Viewing card out. It won't get the Freesat epg, wrong software. Wouldn't make any difference with the BBC channels anyway. Only big dish will fix that (same satellites).

Going to put a better Lnb in my 85cm dish later this week but I don't hold out any real hope.

It's to install on the quai, not on the boat; the quai is pretty wide and I noticed tonight there's a boat on the next quai over that has a 120cm dish set up - so there's some precedent already. I need to go and ask them if it works!

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

No - I thought that was clear in the previous posts
Sky's BBC/ITV is just the Freesat channels inside their EPG (Electronic Program Guide)
In fact I don't think that even a bigger dish will pick up BBC/ITV - it certainly doesn't in Spain
Some places in our part of Spain can't even get them on a 3m dish.
The Sky native channels are what we are stuck with.

Interesting though - you say most of the radio channels are available - any BBC ones?
As far as I know all the interesting radio channels are on the UK narrow beam transponders.
Having said that, I have noticed some channels that work aren't as good as some others so maybe I'm now seeing the northern European beams as well as the southern beam.
Thats assuming that there still are northern and southern beams - its difficult to keep up to date with all this stuff.

Back to your point - we could really do with Sky offering a BBC (Europe) channel that we could all subscribe to but I believe that the BBC licenses don't allow transmission outside the UK.

Ref the radio channels - unfortunately none of the BBC channels worked.

 

[DavidJ]

Ok - good progress here. It turns out that I _was_ pointing at the right satellite, but the Sky box was unhappy about something, perhaps too many attempts to tune it in or something. Either way - I did a system reset on the sky box, and this time it came up with the network id 0002. I can get most of the news channels except bbc, and most of the radio channels again, disappointingly, except all the bbc channels.

So - if I got a paid-for Sky subscription, would this enable the bbc channels?

Alternatively, would a 120cm dish pick up UK freesat (ie as opposed to Sky freesat)?

This is starting to look quite unattractive...do you get Film 4 ?

 

[Richard Shead]

I gotta ask.....why the need given the surroundings? understand the young kid thing.