Radio 4 and BBC World Service via satellite

[dalmata]

We used to be able to receive BBC World Service via a little WorldSpace satellite radio but that system has been recently switched off so now we need to get our heads round using a conventional satellite setup to be able to stay connected to the outside world! We have bought a 1m dish and have set this at a bearing of 134 degrees from north which is the magnetic azimith for the astra 2A/2B/1N satellites in our area (SW Spain near Cadiz). I have no idea how to set the required elevation of 34 degrees using the scale on the satellite mount but we have set it to what seems about right and adjusted it until we got a 'signal strength' of 90% or more which we assume means that the dish is pointing at something useful!

We have connected the dish to a cheap Spanish satellite receiver (I think the make is Iris) and have done an Automatic Search for the free to air channels - it spends quite a while searching and comes up with loads of TV and radio stations the first of which is Islam TV which is ideal if you like watching 24 hour coverage of the call to prayer at the mosque! The problem is that of all these many stations (all of which play in excellent quality) the only useful ones to us are BBC World (TV) , a couple of other English-language news channels and a couple of Spanish TV channels - what we were hoping to find were the BBC radio stations which I thought were on the Astra 2A south beam (we're not that bothered about British TV channels although if we could get them that would be good - I believe these are available on Astra 1N.)

So my question is - how do I get the digibox to look for the channels that I want? (Its 'automatic search' facility has 'astra 2A/2B 23 east' in the list but does this mean that it doesn't bother looking for Astra 1N channels as they're not in its database?) There is a 'manual search' and 'blind search' facility but I can't work out how to make them look for anything even if I set up what transponder I want to search. There is an option on the Automatic search that says 'NIT on' - I have found out that NIT stands for network information table but I don't know whether I need to set this to ON or OFF! Is my problem simply that the dish is too small to receive the channels I want? Or am I pointing the dish at an entirely wrong position in he sky?

Can anyone offer any pointers please? I hate being in a position when I know absolutely nothing about what I'm trying to do!!

[ashfieb]

You can get BBC World Service on the Internet:

http://www.livestation.com/channels/9-b ... ce-english

[dalmata]

Only if you have an internet connection which we don't!! As I say I'm not looking for anything fancy but we really miss being able to listen to the World Service ..... but thanks for the information, maybe one day we'll get a permanent broadband connection which would certainly make things easier!

[satandpcguy]

If you are seeing BBC World News TV channel, then you are NOT pointing your dish to the UK TV group of satellites at 28 east (which are 1n, 2a, 2b, and EB1).

BBC World News TV channel is on a number of satellites, including Astra1 (19 east) Hotbird (13 east) and Badrs 26 east. But BBC World News TV is NOT on the UK TV group of satellites. If you mean Islam Channel, then your dish is on Hotbird. Either way, your dish is NOT pointing towards the UK TV group of satellites, and this is why you are unable to get the UK channels you want.

BBC radios are on frequency 11954H on Astra 2
BBC Radio 5 is on not Astra 1N

If your dish is pointing towards the wrong satellites, if you ask your receiver to search a group of frequencies (like Astra 2a and 2b) the receiver will pick up any frequencies it finds from the satellite that your dish is pointing to.

Although you have signal strenth of 90%, that means it has located a satellite but not necessarily the correct one.

Ideally you can use dishpointer.com, and a satellite signal meter to see if you are on the correct satellites.

Or just select frequency 11954H on the list for Astra 2a,2b on the reciver, turn the dish until you see signal, and scan. If you see BBC radios then you are on the correct satellite, if not, delete those channels, move the dish to get another signal ,and rescan.

NIT on will automatically uydate the table of frequencies in the receive with any new frequencies it finds on the satellite.

[dalmata]

Thanks - that's really helpful! I'm back in the UK at the moment so I'll print off the information to try in a couple of weeks when I'm back out in Spain. Most of the channels on the satellite I've found are German ones so if I've actually pointed the dish at Hotbird then I guess I need to swing it round towards north a bit to find the Astra group. When you say 'select frequency 11954H' should the digibox show good 'quality' as well as 'signal' strength if I have found the right satellite?

I have used the website dishpointer.com to find the azimith and elevation and LNB skew for my house and thought I was pointing the dish in the correct direction (a bearing from north on the compass). We have mounted the dish low down on a SE facing wall but as we live in the campo there are no obstructions as long as the elevation of the dish (which is supposed to be 34 degrees but as I say I have no idea how to set this - there is a scale going marked B 20 to 80 on one side of the dish mount and a scale from 60 - 0 A on the other side) will not be obstructed by a 2m high wall around our garden. Does dishpointer do something else other than just give the google map showing where the correct bearing will go? We have a signal strength meter but it just whistles louder the stronger the signal; it doesn't tell you the name of the satellite. Is there any obvious channel early in the list that would show I'm on Badrs or Astra 1 if I moved the dish and scanned again (in other words , so I know I haven't found the correct satellite yet).

Is LNB skew vital in getting the right set of channels or does it just improve the signal at particular times of day (in other words, can I effectively ignore this until I'm doing final tweaking at the end of the process)?

Sorry to keep asking these daft questions but if I can store up a bit more knowledge before I have another go at sorting it that will be really useful!

[barry]

First, where are you located when in spain?

[annfoto]

OP already stated SW Spain near Cadiz, the actual town/village is irrelevant surely

[satandpcguy]

When you say 'select frequency 11954H' should the digibox show good 'quality' as well as 'signal' strength if I have found the right satellite?

If you are on a satelite and select 11954H then strength and quality will show.
But as 11954h can be available on a number of stellites, you will not konw until you doa scan and see the BBC radio channels.

Is there any obvious channel early in the list that would show I'm on Badrs or Astra 1 if I moved the dish and scanned again (in other words , so I know I haven't found the correct satellite yet).

BAdr - lots of arabic and middle east channels.
Astra 1 - usually SPanish digital+ channels are first found, then others, then last german and dutch.

Is LNB skew vital in getting the right set of channels or does it just improve the signal at particular times of day (in other words, can I effectively ignore this until I'm doing final tweaking at the end of the process)?

LNB Skew and distance is critical, but you can start with it at one angle and fine fine it when you are fine tuning the dish alignment.

[dalmata]

Thanks - really useful information - hopefully in a couple of weeks when I'm there (between Chiclana and Conil in Cadiz province) my adjusting and scanning will be a bit more productive!

'LNB skew and distance' ...... the info on the dishpointer website says LNB skew should be -29 degrees but again I can't make any sense of the funny scale marks on the LNB so have just angled it at '1 o'clock' when looking at the dish so I hope this is right. The dish had no instructions apart from how to bolt it all together so I don't know anything about LNB distance ... I'm sure I read somewhere that I should have 3mm between the LNB clamp and the LNB so that's the only 'distance' I have set - can you help with any more advice on how to do the fine tuning regarding the LNB? Is it simply a case of waiting till you have a picture on the TV and seeing if adjusting the LNB makes a difference or should I use the little satellite meter that gives a higher-pitched noise the stronger the signal?

As I say, sorry for the torrent of questions but with no internet connnection at the house I'll be running blind once I arrive there so am trying to think of everything that I might need to know while I'm still in contact with the outside world! I really do appreciate the time you've taken to reply to me!

[satandpcguy]

Accurate skew can mean the difference between excellent reception of some channels, and no reception of some channels. It is very critical. millimeter critical.

As is the LNB distance from the face of the dish. too much or too far can make a big difference in signal reception.

Without a good meter / analyser, you may not get this spot on.

Where I am we can use "north beam" channels and frequencies to get this accurate. Channels / frequencies like 11778 / sky channel 998 / Sky Sports News / Eurosport 2 / most sky movie channels are all on these north beam frequencies and are very LNB skew critical. However, although these channels / frequencies are available where I am, I am not too sure about their availability where you are or on what size dish you need. The BBC channels on 1N (BBC1,2,3,4) also require good LNB distance.

Best it to try and get Sky News. The use that as a bench to align and fine tune to other channels.

[dalmata]

Me again - sorry!

So would the "criticalness" of the LNB setting explain why at certain (seemingly random) times of day the present channels all disappeared and I got a "no signal" message on the TV and then a bit later all was back to normal? I don't really know how often this occurred as having found such a dispappointing selection of channels I wasn't really going to swap the lovely weather in the garden to watch TV (plus having no mains electricity it would have probably drained the batteries!) .... but a couple of times when I tried the TV there was nothing on any of the channels but no obvious obstruction to the dish. Is this an indicator of anything wrong in my setup (eg dish too low to the ground) or just a normal phenomenon?

Thanks

[satandpcguy]

Some channels are more lnb skew sensitive than others - these tend to be the north beam astra 2 channels - such as Eurosport 2, Sky Info 998, Sky Sports News (SD), Sky Sports 4(SD).
But then where you are and on a 1m dish those frequencies on these north beam may not be available. So its not really worthwhile using those. But it can still be critical for reeption of BBC ITV etc...a fewmm forwards and back can mean improved signal.

It can also affect some of the free crappy channels like True Movies on Eurobird 1 / Eutelsat 28A as it is now called..

If you are losing all channel at random times then you have other issues: dish alignment, lnb failure, poor connections, poor cabling, receiver failure....