Astra 2E: Canaries & Africa Reports

Deso said:
Can you get these from the Satellite shop in Rosario, up on the right from the 3 bums roundabout, and also how much are they?
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I don't know Deso. DigiDave put it in for me when I bought the HD box. I asked for an ultra black but it wasn't available, he went on to say that the Boshmann is the readily available one here.
 
milestone 11 said:
I don't know Deso. DigiDave put it in for me when I bought the HD box. I asked for an ultra black but it wasn't available, he went on to say that the Boshmann is the readily available one here.
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Ok, thanks for that, I will make some enquiries. :)
 
milestone 11 said:
Don't get conned with the LNB. I have one of these, LNBTW02BOS+ BOSHMANN Universal Twin LNB, Noise Figure 0.2 dB which is also available as a 4. Readily available here and as Radioagogo will attest, seems better than ultra black.
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Shame this does not come in a quad. Would have tried one.

lnb.webp
 
Deso said:
You could still try it, for research purposes. :)
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No thanks :) - would only annoy me even more if it proved successful.

Still, will be trying out my new Quad BlackUltra, an AMSTRAD DRX890 and possibly a TM5402 HD C1+ after I return from the UK in a few more weeks time.
 
FRINGE said:
No thanks :) - would only annoy me even more if it proved successful.

Still, will be trying out my new Quad BlackUltra, an AMSTRAD DRX890 and possibly a TM5402 HD C1+ after I return from the UK in a few more weeks time.
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That should keep you occupied for a while. :)
 
FRINGE said:
No thanks :) - would only annoy me even more if it proved successful.

Still, will be trying out my new Quad BlackUltra, an AMSTRAD DRX890 and possibly a TM5402 HD C1+ after I return from the UK in a few more weeks time.
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Don´t hold your breath. The Amstrad DRX890 is very good, but at best its only as good as the Foxsat (though I think the Foxsat is better - I have both). I don´t think you will find an improvement with the Black Ultra over the Invacom, unless the Invacom is a few years old, as their performance does tail off. I just changed my 4 year old one for a new one and got a 5% improvement. Not much, but at these boardline figures every little helps.

Happy to be proved wrong though.
 
Deso said:
That should keep you occupied for a while. :)
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Yes, but should be worth it (hopefully) for me. If nothing else, it will provide a bit of factual evaluation of several products in one location and on the same dish/cable configuration.

DishDick said:
Don´t hold your breath. The Amstrad DRX890 is very good, but at best its only as good as the Foxsat (though I think the Foxsat is better - I have both). I don´t think you will find an improvement with the Black Ultra over the Invacom, unless the Invacom is a few years old, as their performance does tail off. I just changed my 4 year old one for a new one and got a 5% improvement. Not much, but at these boardline figures every little helps.

Happy to be proved wrong though.
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I hope so too. Not holding by breath but it is certainly worth a try. My invacom is about 3 years old now (I think) and I know that they can deteriorate over time. It is also true that from a boxload of LNB's you can pick best and not so best in terms of performance, luck of the draw I guess. When you say 5% improvement - what was it a measurement of?

The DRX890 will go into our apartment to replace the crap receiver I have down there (was fine for 1n - but then again, wasn't most of them? :)).

My other thought (a Technomate) is being pursued in another post (http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/threads/technomate-tm-5402-hd-m2-vs-tm-5502-hd-ci.160839/). If I do get one (assuming again that it has no advantage over the Humax) it will head for my cinema room - the 4th and final destination from my quad LNB.
 
FRINGE said:
Yes, but should be worth it (hopefully) for me. If nothing else, it will provide a bit of factual evaluation of several products in one location and on the same dish/cable configuration.



I hope so too. Not holding by breath but it is certainly worth a try. My invacom is about 3 years old now (I think) and I know that they can deteriorate over time. It is also true that from a boxload of LNB's you can pick best and not so best in terms of performance, luck of the draw I guess. When you say 5% improvement - what was it a measurement of?

The DRX890 will go into our apartment to replace the crap receiver I have down there (was fine for 1n - but then again, wasn't most of them? :)).

My other thought (a Technomate) is being pursued in another post (http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/threads/technomate-tm-5402-hd-m2-vs-tm-5502-hd-ci.160839/). If I do get one (assuming again that it has no advantage over the Humax) it will head for my cinema room - the 4th and final destination from my quad LNB.
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Increase was 5% increase in MER (db).
 
Not sure if its the right place to post but I'm staying in tenerife for a few weeks at our normal apartment. Until yesterday we had no bbc but the maintainance guy re-tuned the tv yesterday and we are now getting approx 40 uk channels through the digital tuner(not the normal analogue) in the tv, via the communal system. Any ideas where this would be coming from?

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Hmmm.

27.5W, at a guess!
 
blackers said:
Not sure if its the right place to post but I'm staying in tenerife for a few weeks at our normal apartment. Until yesterday we had no bbc but the maintainance guy re-tuned the tv yesterday and we are now getting approx 40 uk channels through the digital tuner(not the normal analogue) in the tv, via the communal system. Any ideas where this would be coming from?
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So are all 40 channels new or just the BBC ones?
 
All new bbc 1, 2, 3, 4. Channel 5 and usa, both plus 1's also. Basically all channels I would get on dtt freeview box back home. Plus italien, german and French (104 channels in all) Also what I didnt get was it its defo on the digital tuner side, where before they were all on analogue sude
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blackers said:
All new bbc 1, 2, 3, 4. Channel 5 and usa, both plus 1's also. Basically all channels I would get on dtt freeview box back home. Plus italien, german and French (104 channels in all) Also what I didnt get was it its defo on the digital tuner side, where before they were all on analogue sude
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That is very interesting. So you are saying that the channels are being "re-modulated" (for want of a better word) in such a way that they are being tuned in by a standard digital terrestrial receiver?

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Probably an updated SMATV setup where they have installed SAT to COFDM transmodulators (DVB-S to DTT). Now, where they have sourced the programming from, is another matter.
 
Cool, I get how it works now although I would say the bbc is coming from another source :-)

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Anyone been tracking when the signals are at their strongest and weakest here in the Canaries? I know my signal starts getting weak 6pm onwards and is strongest in the mornings. But has anyone done any detailed tracking?
 
Last night I actually got a sniff of BBC News HD on (11023 H). The first time I have ever seen it on 2F. This was at around 23:30. I also did an experiment with a Sky DRX-890 and a Technomate 5402 HD both tunes to UTV HD at the same time. The Tecnomate remained locked on long after the Sky box started breaking up.
 
Sorry for the wordy post but, as promised, here is an update on things since arriving back home (Tenerife) with a new BlackUltra LNB, Technomate F3/5 and Amstrad DRX890 500GB SKY HD receiver(s) - to see if I could improve my 2e reception.

First check was with my existing Invacom Quad LNB and the 3 receivers.

I used 10714H (Channel 4 - because I get poor reception and pixellation on this one) for the purposes of this check. It was Friday 14th March at 14:30 with a clear sky. The same coax feed line was used, in turn, on each box.

The TM-F3/5 Gave a quality reading of between 61% and 62% (flicking between the two) and there was very, very minor occasional pixellation, easily watchable. The Humax gave a quality reading of 50% (as normal for me with Channel 4) but was pixellating a little more than the TM-F3/5. It was still watchable but annoying and the sound was OK. The Amstrad provided a picture that was pixellating badly. I could make it out but it was not watchable and no sound.

However, to explain a little more; the TM-F3/5 provides a signal 'quality' reading in individual percentage (%) units, so I now have a better understanding of the signal received (better than I could previously with my Humax which only provides a % signal 'quality' scale measured in units of 10). So, having used the TM-F3/5 for the past couple of days now, I would guestimate that the Humax provided a signal quality of about 59%/60% with the Amstrad at about 58%/59%. Obviously my observations are simply that, observations, but it does represent a reasonably objective opinion of performance.

So, the box that gave the best reception (marginally) was the new TM-F3/5. The Humax came a close 2nd and the Amstrad was the poorest.

By the way, 10729V gave the same result.

Given that initial check, I decided to consign the Amstrad to the reject bin but the data clearly shows how 'on the edge' I am at my location. As they say, every bit counts.

Next came the turn of the BlackUltra LNB and I must say the results were not as good as I had hoped for. The clear winner in this case was my existing Invacom Quad. I used 10891H for this check on the TM-F3/5. The time was 15:15 and with a clear sky. Using the BlackUltra, the best I could obtain was a signal alternating between 60% and 61% (and a pixellating picture). Using the Invacom, the best signal that I could obtain was alternating between 63% and 64% (and a perfectly clear picture). I did look at Verticals as well and had similar results. So, for me, the Invacom came out on top.

One thing I noted with the BlackUltra, it had to be positioned so that the rear face of its feed horn was hard up against its retaining clamp in order to get the best signal- so maybe something to do with the focal length. Anyway, there was (obviously) nothing that I could do to move it back any further.

So overall not really a lot of change but I am glad that I did what I did. The TM-F3/5 is a good box and it will get used (and I prefer its menu/set-up options to my Humax). It also shows that I need to maintain a signal quality of 61% or more in order to overcome any pixellation. I have since tried to tweak the dish a little but, to be honest, any change resulted in reduced signal quality so I guess it's about as good as it can get. My only thought now is with my Invacom LNB. I have read that its performance can and will deteriorate over time. Mine is about 3 years - coming on 4 years - old now. So maybe a change there would be for the better. But I am no rush.

Will now keep a diary (one day per week) to monitor how things go through the year with 2E (and 2F) using my new TM-F3/5.

By the way, I get the best (and watchable) signal from Channel 4 HD - so no real problem.

Anyone want to buy an Amstrad DRX890 or BlackUltra LNB ;).
 
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