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Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV For the last six years, I have answered many thousands of personal emails that you have sent to UK Free TV.
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Help with TV/radio stations?
In this section
Friday, 2 September 2011
M
Mike10:02 PM
Tiverton
Hello,
I am on the edge (fairly high up) of Bampton in Devon and currently receive the limited range of digital channels from the Bampton (relay?) transmitter. If I swing the aerial round to point at Stockland Hill, will I be able to get the full range of channels or would I need a new better aerial of some sort. Or would I just be wasting my time trying?
Thanks for any advice.
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J
john Fuller11:10 PM
Skelmersdale
Well... after last month's experience I had when I tried to fix a poor signal and ended up with none at all.... I bought a second hand box and tried again.
I went through the steps above, but it too is registering no signal.
Could it be that when I did the test on the old one, a surge of power knocked out the receiver on the dish ... or something????
:/
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Saturday, 3 September 2011
J
jb388:05 AM
Mike: I have to say that none of the two reception predictors (one being trade) indicate any reception being possible other than from Brampton at 1 mile away.
If you are high up then it might be possible to receive a signal from Stockland Hill, but I don't see you would really gain anything if you did as any signal received would likely only be from Stocklands three main multiplexes on high power, in other words not any more than you presently get from Brampton.
Two of Stocklands commercial Mux transmitters (ArqA & ArqB) are expected to be on low power until some time next year so the chances of picking them up could be quite limited, but if you are prepared to experiment then you don't really have anything to lose, but remember that as well as swinging your aerial around to face towards Stockland Hill to also turn it for horizontal polarisation.
Another point being, that your aerial might be group B (yellow) whereas Stockland is A (red), although for testing purposes this isn't of prime importance, and especially so "if" you decide to use an aerial amplifier during tests.
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J
jb388:16 AM
john Fuller: There is always the possibility
that your LNB is faulty or that the dish has moved very slightly, and you really should start afresh by checking this.
If you acquired another box and there is still a problem then it certainly points to one of the aforementioned applying, if not a cable / "F" plug fault. (short circuit)
Unless you are aware of a particular power surge problem, then I would dismiss this as a possibility.
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J
jb389:08 AM
john Fuller: Just in addition to above, you should use the signal strength / quality indicator on your box (services - 4 - 6) to detect if even the slightest signal is showing, as if it is then although not being enough to resolve a picture it would indicate a dish alignment problem.
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john Fuller12:05 PM
Thanks jb
The signal/qual indicator shows nothing, so I deduce it's unlikely there is a misalignment of the dish.
This started when i tried to rectify a poor signal... but ended with no signal at all. So I thought something I did whilst trying to improve the signal interfered with the LNB .... or short circuit. I didn't physically move the box or the cable - just went through the prescribed procedure
What can I do when my Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
The process didn't follow the steps though. Step 4 of System Upgrade had no result. I didn't know how to reset the LNB as I couldn't find LNB setup in in Services [I have a basic sky box, and no HD].
John (WN86UN)
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J
jb381:30 PM
john Fuller: Yes! as I think your problem all along has possibly been caused by the dish (or LNB) rather than the box, although if you have tried to carry out the system resetting procedure whilst having no signal then you might have corrupted the software resulting in a real problem, but if its just the LNB procedure you tried then thats OK so long as you followed the instructions.
The main thing is that you will have to ensure that your dish is aligned properly for 28.2 degrees before trying anything else, this greatly simplified if you have access to another box that hasn't been altered in any way.
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A
Adele8:12 PM
Barnsley
Hi all,
Part one of my 'switch over' is on Wednesday and I would just like to ask a quick question. I have a PVR and want to know when I re-tune my 'box' will I lose all the pre-programmed schedule (i.e will I have to put the programs that I want to record in the box again).
Thanks in advance for any replies.
Regards
Adele
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Sunday, 4 September 2011
J
john Fuller5:23 PM
Skelmersdale
JB
"if you have tried to carry out the system resetting procedure whilst having no signal then you might have corrupted the software resulting in a real problem..."
Yes, I probably wrecked the sat box by trying to reset the system on a poor signal. With the next box, I did the same thing, but that time started with ni signal at all = 2 busted boxes?? :(
"...but if its just the LNB procedure you tried then thats OK so long as you followed the instructions."
I didn't do that as there was no provision that I could find on the system menu [or anywhere else] to carry out that procedure.
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J
jb387:29 PM
john Fuller: Sorry, on reading you posting again I see that you did "not" actually manage to carry out the LNB reset as you couldn't find it in the list, however I would consider that to be a plus point as its very unlikely that any fault of this nature actually existed with the LNB anyway, so you have only two choices left, the first to verify your dish.
(1) Temporarily acquire another working box to check if any reception is possible from your dish, if not then take measures to re-align it, as that's what it will be provided some form of signal indication can be seen at some point on a Sat detector (even simple types) when the dish is "slowly" swung from left to right, although if not, then that could mean an LNB failure.
(2) Should you not manage to acquire another box try and find someone who will let you try your box on their dish, (you cannot damage their LNB by doing this) and once connected go into "services - 4 - 6" and observe if any signal is showing, if it is then carry out the software upgrade procedure as seen in "Re-set method 3", as this "might" get over anything minor lost by what you have done. (no guarantees though!)
Should of course no signal be showing then it doesn't look very promising, as there might have been a fault with the box itself before you even touched it.
By the way if you know any obliging person with a Freesat box, you could use that to test your dish.
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