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Technical changes to Freesat channels, 2nd-10th October 2013

Are you having problems with certain Freesat channels?

Will you need to retune your satellite equipment to keep watching some channels?  Photograph: Shutterstock
Will you need to retune your satellite equipment to keep watching some channels? Photograph: Shutterstock
published on UK Free TV

Here is the answer from Freesat help:

From Wednesday 2nd October to Thursday 10 October, a series of technical changes are happening to the satellite transponders that broadcast some of the channels on Freesat.

If you encounter channels missing from your TV guide, put your Freesat box or Freesat TV into standby for 30 seconds and then switch it back on again. This should see everything restored; If this does not work you will need to do a quick "Freesat channel scan". Instructions for this can be found in your product manual (see Freesat product manuals - find and download replacement user manuals for your Freesat box), or give us a call on 0845 313 0051 and we’ll be happy to help.

If you are doing a manual Freesat channel scan, it’s worth making a note of your scheduled recordings and resetting them once the scan is complete to be sure you won’t miss out.



Help with Free satellite?
What can I do when my Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fau1
Can I receive UK TV in Ghana?2
What is a CA module?3
My box says "No Satellite signal being received"4
Is there any way I can get free channels via satellite and have the kind of hard5
In this section
Freesat adds a plethora of new channels in time for Christmas including channel 1
A tale of a two Freesat boxes2
Yesterday, Drama and Really joining Freesat this month3
PBS America joins Freesat for Halloween4
Fixing the Freesat Freetime internet connection problem5
Satellite TV operators FRANSAT, TIVUSAT and our Freesat launch FreeTV Alliance 6

Comments
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
J
jamie stevens
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

3:38 PM
Havant

sandra c:

The dish needs to be aligned to the correct satellite, if you are using a cheap satellite finder then the chances are it wont tell you what satellite you have found, therefor making it very difficult to find the satellite which will give you UK channels.

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jamie stevens's 207 posts GB flag
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N
Nick Bennett
6:01 PM

Hi all, fairly simple question, I hope :-)
I've recently moved to Malta and have access to a 1.5m dish.
I have with me a Grundig Freesat box which I am thinking of using. Before I invest in 30m of cable and an LNB, will I be able to receive the "main" channels BBC, ITV, CH4 or am I not within the footprint of the relevant satellites?
Many thanks in advance
Nick

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Nick Bennett's 1 post EU flag
J
jamie stevens
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

6:55 PM
Havant

Nick Bennett:

You will need to receive channels from astra at 28.2 for freesat

lyngsat.com should let you see the footprint

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jamie stevens's 207 posts GB flag
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Thursday, 28 November 2013
S
SB
9:41 AM

Hi
I had a dish installed yesterday for freesat, for my new Samsung TV. I live between two blocks of flats and I tought the dish would have had to have been on the chimney to get line of sight, but the two blokes that installed it said all was okay to install on the back of the house. But after they left I discovered that I could not get 18 channels. They showed me the main HD channels and some others before leaving, so not the main ones, but nonetheless. The TV displays weak signal / check settings on certain channel numbers and no picture. So called the people back. First they said it isn't normal to be able to pick all the channels up. But I said my mate gets them all. So then they got a battered sky box out of their van and plugged it into my new TV using an adaptor and found some of the channels I could not get...different numbers though. They said it was therefore my Samsung TV that was the problem. I am confused. I found where to check the signal strength and on some of the channels I'm getting it varies between 48 to 60 % but some are 12%. The signal quality of the main channels (like BBC1HD) is 100%, but signal strength is 50%ish. They said there was nothing I could do. This doesn't feel right. The chap doing the tuning in said he couldn't work out why the tv was showing eutelsat 28.5E when it was tuning, but I found both Astra and eutelsat on the channel list afterwards. So it tuned to both. He said that was the problem. He didn't know what eutelsat was. I am confused. I cannot get channels 142, 302, 303 500, 501, 502, 503, 505,506, 603,604, 605, 606, 690, 810, 811, 812, 813.

Can anyone perhaps shed any light?

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SB's 9 posts GB flag
J
jamie stevens
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

9:58 AM
Havant

SB:

You should always be able to pickup every channel.

showing you a working system on a sky box is not the same as freesat and therefore no defence for the system working

You can amend the tv settings to only scan for Astra.

This shouldn't make a difference though.

With the dish you receive 4 beams of signal, they hit the dish at different angles so if not installed correctly you could have an obstical blocking one of the beams thus giving you missing channels.

I would imagine that when they aligned the dish the have not checked they are receiving all 4 beams on the dish.

To be only getting 50% strength then you have issues that will only get worse in back weather, you should be looking for 80% plus on the freesat strength.

regards

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jamie stevens's 207 posts GB flag
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S
SB
10:07 AM

Hello jamie

Thankyou. Hmm, I felt that the whole sky box thing wasn't right. Wasn't very impressed with that. So am I right in thinking then that the two blokes possibly do not know as much as they need to? On the second visit they were adamant it was installed correctly and said with satellites it was either aligned properly or not aligned...and therefore it worked or didn't. ..which clearly isn't the case.

I suppose then I'd need to get another aerial installer in to fix it? Not happy at all.

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SB's 9 posts GB flag
S
SB
3:22 PM

Hello again,

Could you tell me/explain to me why the Skybox was able to pick up the missing channels when connected to one side of the shotgun cable, and yet the TV wasn't able to? I have somehow be able to speak to these aerial installers but if I don't know why they can keep telling me their box works so it is my TV. I've decided not to let them get away with it as I've just paid £140 for it to be installed (price included two freeview runs to bedrooms from existing aerial....cable is very thin white stuff coming in through loft).

These are local installers, not far from me, and I'm finding it difficult to get them to acknowledge that it's their problem. So if anyone could give me enough info so I can call and lay the problem back at their door?

Thanks.

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SB's 9 posts GB flag
MJ Ray
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

5:37 PM

SB: sorry but here comes a brain dump! Different receivers have different sensitivities and it may be that they've kept a particularly sensitive Sky box to hoodwink complainers if they're dishonest, but 12% signal on some transponders is usually either a faulty connection somewhere (possibly in your TV - sorry!) or a misaligned dish.

Is it possible that when they scanned with the Sky box, there were fewer clouds and the misalignment was marginal enough for it to make a difference? Did you try a rescan on the TV immediately after the successful Sky box scan?

I'm not good with freesat channel numbers and the tv is at the other end of the house to the computer: if jamie's right that they didn't test properly, there should a pattern to the missing channels, like are they all on Horizontal or all on Vertical polarity, or all high or all low frequencies? Did the Sky box show the same level of good signal with all channels? Also, is this a freesat-approved installer? If so, they should be able to show it working with a freesat box. I don't much like the freesat regulated scheme, but it does count for something in cases like this and there's always freesat to complain to about them.

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MJ Ray's 44 posts GB flag
S
SB
9:20 PM

That's the thing, they plugged their sky box in to my tv they didn't scan anything. It was ready to go with a load of channels already. But all the channel numbers were completely different to freesat and a lot of the channels weren't on freesat at all I noticed...but amazingly this chap knew where to find the ones missing on my tv...and they worked. He didn't actually check the signal strength at all.. on either the skybox or my tv...nothing. Just said, "there, done". When I said it was something to do with the flats they wouldn't have it and said that 'if it was the flats our box wouldn't work now would it'. Of course I don't know anything but my gut was telling me that it wasn't right.

I checked the website and it displays a graphic containing the freeview log and freesat logo on the right side, but there's nothing about being an approved installer. Flip.

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SB's 9 posts GB flag
J
jamie stevens
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

11:20 PM
Havant

SB:

You don't need to be approved by Freesat to be able to fit a dish and make sure it works correctly.

I would have doubt to their ability just given the fact they carry a sky box to prove their dish is working and quickly blaming you equipment.

If I was in that situation my customer would trust my advice and even if they didn't I would simply show them the 4 beams on my satellite meter to put their minds at ease.

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jamie stevens's 207 posts GB flag
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