Sky News Mystery on large dish

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fyfin
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Sky News Mystery on large dish

Postby fyfin » Thu Mar 28, 2019 9:53 pm

Something really weird has happened in our community TV system. We have a large 2.4mtr dish which has provided a reasonable signal to the 16 apartments connected to it. We have had a different multiswitch and lnb put in which hasn't performed as well as the old one but certsin times of the day, at least was working fine on all boxes, a combination of Sky non HD and HD boxes and other Freeview boxes, Humax or otherwise.

However, on Tuesday the installer decided to change the connections to a more logical progression on the multiswitch and as far as I know that's all he did (I wasn't there at the time). Immediately weird things happened. All the Sky boxes refused to pick up a signal and no amount of rebooting, changing the default transponder to 12.051 made any difference. In case by some miraculous co-incidence they had all failed at the same time, I took my Sky box which was working fine at my house and tried it in 2 of the apartments where it simply refused to start i.e. no signal being received. Yet when I plugged in a Freeview box in at the same apartment it worked perfectly except no Sky News. Turned out that all the Freeview boxes irrespective of model worked fine except no signal message for Sky News.

I can't for the life of me figure out what has happened as I know Sky News is one of the easiest channels to pick up - my mate gets it on a 1.3mtr dish here.

I do think the satellite signal has been a bit dodgy lately as i have been getting pixellation on BBC1 East East now and again and can't get HD channels except C5 but no problem with Sky News and all Sky Boxes work connected to my dish. As I said, it's a mystery and just hope the installer comes up with something tomorrow as I've got some very annoyed residents who do love their TV. (I'm President of the community unfortunately) lol
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satandpcguy
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Re: Sky News Mystery on large dish

Postby satandpcguy » Thu Mar 28, 2019 11:56 pm

Sky News is on a vertical high polarity
The correct default transponder frequency for sky, 11778, is also on a vertical high polarity
So that is one thing in common as to why your boxes are not booting, or getting sky news.

12050 carries no channels...and it is a vertical high polarity... two reasons why your boxes are not booting up on that frequency.

Some BBC HD channels are on vertical low polarity..some on horizontal (try BBC News HD or BBC One Wales HD - horizontals...you may get these)
Some ITV HD channels are on vertical low polarity..some on horizontal
Some C4 HD channels are on vertical low polarity..
C5 and C5HD are is horizontal low polarity..
If you are only getting C5HD, (and the BBC News HD or BBC One Wales HD channels) then you have lost the vertical low group also.

Your Freesat boxes (not Freeview since they are not for a dish), may work if they have horizontal regions for BBC ITV... and the Freesat data stream is also on horizontal....

sounds like somewhere the verticals are not coming through....
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fyfin
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Re: Sky News Mystery on large dish

Postby fyfin » Fri Mar 29, 2019 1:53 pm

Many thanks. That would explain it. I dont want to interfere as the installer is getting a bit fed up with all the problem. The new multiswitch has controls to alter horizontal and vertical I think so maybe that got changed when connections were moved.
Unfortunately as President I made the decision to have a new multiswitch to upgrade and add a few more connections so I get the moans from residents who are all friends as well.
Some are using internet tv and didn't tell me and still blamed the new installation when they had buffering lol.
Oh well we'll see what happens today when he's having a go at sorting it.
I really appreciate your help.
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Re: Sky News Mystery on large dish

Postby fyfin » Fri Mar 29, 2019 9:31 pm

It appears he believes the cables to all the apartments have suddenly become a problem. So all being checked on Monday.
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Re: Sky News Mystery on large dish

Postby fyfin » Sat Mar 30, 2019 5:05 pm

Many many thanks to Satandpcguy, a mine of information and a tremendous help with our problem. Rather than wait until Monday I tested the theory that if the problem was vertical polarity maybe I should change the default transponder to a horizontal frequency. I chose 10964 H 22000 5/6 and tested it on a Sky box, I rebooted the box and Abracadabra the channels all came through, all except Sky News of course. So I went round the rest and did the same and all worked fine. Some very happy customers / residents / friends lol.
I informed the installer who was also pleased as he had no idea what was happening.
Based on what Satandpcguy mentioned I told him it must be lack of vertical high polarity and if it's not the multiswitch which he says he replaced and the problem persisted, then it has to be lnb or the cable carrying vertical high. We're meeting on Monday morning to discuss but I'm slightly worried as he seems a little out of his depth.
Great forum and we're so lucky that members are happy to share their knowledge.
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Re: Sky News Mystery on large dish

Postby fyfin » Sat Mar 30, 2019 5:12 pm

Just in case anyone is interested here is where I found the list of frequencies http://en.satexpat.com/tv/uk/freesat/
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