Astra 2D and BBC/ITV reception in Germany

[YorkshireLad6 7,142]

There are many nuances to the installation of a system for UK TV which are not applicable to a generic installation for satellite TV. Of course, if you are short of signal then a larger dish will often (but not always!) help you, and is the cheapest way to get substantial improvement, but in many circumstances people want to avoid this, possibly for aesthetic reasons, possibly for technical reasons (the bigger the dish, the bigger and stronger the mount required). Issues to consider include:

 

• VERY strong signals in the high-band (mainly encrypted Sky channels) which can swamp an LNB or receiver when the dish has been refined for the VERY weak low-band (Astra 2D, UK FTA services) signals.
• Using a receiver-determined default transponder signal (usually high-band, strong) to set up the dish which has little or no relation to the signal actually wanted (low-band, weak, another satellite)
• Choice of an LNB which is optimal in the low-band rather than the high band (the opposite of most expensive "high-gain" LNBs - see my comments here for further discussion on this topic)
• Skew and cross-polarisation of the LNB
• Compensation for satellite wobble (which frequently occurs in the evenings as satellites re-align their solar collectors) on fringe signals meaning a dish aligned in the daytime to a fringe signal may actually lose that signal at night time and regain it the next day

 

Generic (i.e German) satellite installers are unlikely to know about these things, amateurs are fooled by the nomenclature and ("hi-gain", "sensitive", "signal strength", "pay more, get better quality") but specialists in UK services are (should be) aware and can advise accordingly.

 

 

Interesting comment, considering when I upgraded my LNB it improved my signal quality and strength and was quite noticable. Not enough though which was why I upgraded my dish as well.

 

You upgraded your LNB and thought it improved your signal strength and quality. It probably did - but not for the signals you actually wanted to receive as the transponder monitored would have been in a completely different frequency band. It's likely that it actually decreased the reception for UK/FTA/Astra2D channels due to channel swamping (AGC overload), or poorer performance in the low-band. Increasing your dish size fixed the problem of course, but was a sledge hammer to crack a a nut. I'll wager that careful selection of a different (usually cheaper) LNB on the same, smaller dish, properly aligned, skewed and peaked on a low-band transponder would have worked just as well.

[SpiderPig 9,853]

OVBG..

 

You talk shite!

 

End of..

[ovbg 724]

^^ thanks for the reply and I did indeed find it quite informative. However, I did try a number of LNB's prior to changing the dish, LNB's borrowed by friends, from earlier installations, bought one which was returned and of course those tried by the technician (who by the way was quite well recommended). And remember, I tried my same Receiver, LNB, Cable and dish at a friends house and had no problem there.

 

Increasing the dish size solved the problem.

 

If that 10cm over the 80cm dish is considered a sledgehammer to crack a nut, what do you call all the other experiments and money spent?

 

The simple 10cm increase in dish size solved the problem.

 

It's very clear to me you know very much about this subject, and I hope our disagreement here doesn't cloud any "forum" friendship as I may well use your knowledge in the future if I have several problems However, for me the only solution that worked was an increase in dish size by 10cm which was not and still is not a serious issue and something that if I had tried first would have saved a terrible amount of hassle and a couple of years of constantly missing shows.

 

Sometimes there is a wonderful technical solution that fixes the problem. Sometimes the most obvious also does the trick ;O)

[stuartmartin 46]

Sounds normal to me increasing the dish size for better reception even this link advises the size for your area

http://sat.beitinger.de/astra_2d_english.html <<<<<<<< also another info site<<<<<<<< http://www.astra2d.com/

I also notice that Karlsruhe area has two sizes on the map .I use the 80 and am Happy

StU

[YorkshireLad6 7,142]

There's no doubt about it - increasing the dish size is the most obvious and easiest way to fix a perceived fringe reception problem. Increasing your dish from 80cm to 90cm increased the surface area from 0.5m² to 0.64m² - an increase of almost 30% in the reflective surface area with a pretty much proportionate increase in signal reception at the LNB. My point was that you may not have needed to do it, and for some people it's quite simply not an option, especially if they live further south or east and are considering say moving from a 90cm to a 100cm dish - the surface area increases then to 0.79m², which while it's good for that extra signal, increases wind load on the dish such that the mounting pole will now strain under a tonne of turning force in a force 8 gust of wind, so additional mounting considerations may be needed, especially in exposed situations, or, if it's a balcony installation you start to lose the daylight in your living area. In such circumstances attention to other elements of the installation pay dividends as would talking to professionals who really understand the unique issues of the situation.

[Mik Dickinson 438]

Exactly what i would have said YL6 Grinner knows his stuff thanks for the confirmation

[SpiderPig 9,853]

@ StuartMartin..

 

so.. Is changing the dish for a bigger one better??

 

I have had customers where I have had to down size the dish for better reception!!

 

Go figure that one... If you get the answer right, I will fart the national anthem!!!

 

Oh... And No confering!!

[stuartmartin 46]

Fart all you want mate!!! You seem to do a lot of this anyway

and Yes the larger dish is better just ask your mate Yorkshire Lad

End of

now

stop farting about

[Owain Glyndwr 887]

 

• Compensation for satellite wobble (which frequently occurs in the evenings as satellites re-align their solar collectors) on fringe signals meaning a dish aligned in the daytime to a fringe signal may actually lose that signal at night time and regain it the next day

 

i have exactly this problem with BBC2 Wales and the "wobble" always seems to happen right in the middle of Scrum V so ruins my Friday night Magners League rugby games. Picture is almost perfect during the day, though.

[SpiderPig 9,853]

Looks like you need to invite your satellite bloke to a curry in your neighbourhood...

 

Maybe he will look at it for you!

 

:ph34r:

[Owain Glyndwr 887]

lol, i'm sure that can be arranged.

[SpiderPig 9,853]

I'll tell him then!!! :D

[Pugh 1]

I am moving to Munich in Novemeber and I am keen to receive British TV. From reading other posts and my own research on the net it seems I need to access the Astra 2d satellite to get all the usual BBC, ITV channels either with a Sky box or a Freesat box. I recently lived in Paris and had good reception with a Sky box and a 50cm dish but the astra website recommends a 1.2m dish for Munich which seems huge! Does anyone receive a good signal from the Astra 2d satellite, in Munich, from a dish smaller than 1.2m?

[SpiderPig 9,853]

Look at Post#1

 

There is a huge clue there if you read it!

 

G

[Pugh 1]

Many thanks. I take it that a 90cm dish will do the job in South Munich in most weather conditions

[blue_wonders 0]

Hi All,

 

Could someone if possible recommend satellite installers for Hamburg area?

 

Thanks,

[itv5 2]

Hi, I know I am a little late with my reply, but I was searching for this thread (finally today) and found it after nearly one hour...

 

Now here is my testing result from last month (2011 by now).

 

I have put up a (cheap no name) 80 cm dish with a quad LNB ("Platinum" 0,2 dB) and a Technisat S1 receiver on 2 locations in Saxony. I did not expect too many UK channels showing up on the list. I had only heard from friends (in Dresden) that they have BBC News, Alba and Parliament. This is on 11934/h/27500 @Astra 2A (for insiders).

 

My first lab position was in Plauen (Vogtland) near the border to Bavaria and Thuringia.

 

Map 1

 

Amazingly I got almost all the channels I have in my Düsseldorf list. Only some local versions of ITV1 and BBC 1 were missing. (but there are "backup" versions)

But I can not tell how much a little rain is decreasing the signal. If in doubt I would install a 100 cm dish and expect a stable signal there.

 

Then I went on to Pulsnitz near Dresden.

 

Map 2

 

That was only 150 km away but the signal was remarkably lower. The Astra 2D channels were completely gone. (Channel4, Film4, Five, BBC1..4, ITV1..4 - all missing). But the BBC News, Alba, Parliament, Sky News, Horror Channel and some of the music channels were still there. I had no other dish for testing, but I believe a 100 cm should bring the BBCs to the Dresden region. At least the less important stations are there and better then nothing.

 

My opinion: I personally would invest in a sat dish in Dresden. With a little luck it might be allowed to put up the bigger one and all would be fine.

[sgdavies 0]

Hi all, looks like the dreaded day has arrived, i can no longer get BBC anymore on my freesat box from Hamburg, so thats the BBC and Channel 5 , gone. See this link:-

http://www.a516digital.com/2014/02/bbc-trust-publishes-report-on-bbc.html?m=1

What i am wondering is there anybody else out there who have already purchased a larger satellite dish, and can still receive BBC?

[stuartmartin 46]

I have no problems whatsover here in Karlsruhe so "Piggy" it was a good idea to go for the larger Dish was it not? I also get all my HD programs including Chan 4 HD

[SpiderPig 9,853]

Fitted a 65 dish in Ettingen just last sunday... All workes well...

 

So shove that!