Advice Needed Communal feed - receive some channels only?

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8ighTK

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My Satellite Setup
communal feed
My Location
UK
Hi

I've recently noticed both our satellite receivers have missing channels. One's an old Sky box; the other's a TV with an S2 tuner so not officially supporting Freesat.

The signal is via a communal satellite feed into the flat, so have enquired with the landlord who've said their engineers think there might be an issue with the faceplate.

If that's the issue, am I being fobbed off, or is it indeed possible to receive some channels and not others? I'm inclined to think it's an external issue, but want to double check, as access to that faceplate may prove problematic. Do they just need to increase / boost the signal strength into our property? Apparently, no other residents have reported an issue.

What do you more experienced guys think?
 
Without knowing what the system comprises and putting a meter onto your feed, it's difficult to diagnose, have they sent someone around to have a look with some test gear?

Have you spoken to your neighbour/neighbours to see if their satellite feed is OK?

I've had cases where the management company had said that the fault is only in one apartment, but found on arrival that they were the only ones using a satellite receiver, everyone else using either terrestrial or cable and the fault was at the dish or head end. People often don't differentiate between satellite, cable and terrestrial, it's just TV to them.

Is the outlet one of these triplexed plates, single or twin sat?
31768_P
 
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How many channels, and what transponder frequencies?
I had to re-scan Talking Pictures, into my receiver, ue to changes, and others have stated that the Great TV channels are no longer available on Freesat, without changing settings.
 
Maybe one of bands has gone in the communal sat splitter for H/V High and low.
 
As asked above, which channels are you missing?
 
 
How many channels, and what transponder frequencies?
I had to re-scan Talking Pictures, into my receiver, ue to changes, and others have stated that the Great TV channels are no longer available on Freesat, without changing settings.

As asked above, which channels are you missing?


A range of channels including BBC News HD, CNN, ITV+1 channels, the suite of Channel 5 channels and more.

Usually, if there's a problem with missing channels, I only experience issues with the TV with a non-supported S2 tuner.

With the Sky box, it'll will automatically detect channel changes etc.

But channels are missing on both.
 
Without knowing what the system comprises and putting a meter onto your feed, it's difficult to diagnose, have they sent someone around to have a look with some test gear?

Have you spoken to your neighbour/neighbours to see if their satellite feed is OK?

I've had cases where the management company had said that the fault is only in one apartment, but found on arrival that they were the only ones using a satellite receiver, everyone else using either terrestrial or cable and the fault was at the dish or head end. People often don't differentiate between satellite, cable and terrestrial, it's just TV to them.

Is the outlet one of these triplexed plates, single or twin sat?
31768_P
Not checked neighbours, but there are quite a few residents to not think at least some of them use satellite (as there used to be many dishes installed before they got rid and installed a communal system).

When I called in, it was at least a few weeks into issue, but no one has reported an issue.

They can't get anyone out as we have to pay for someone to diagnose it first due to being leaseholder.
 
Not checked neighbours, but there are quite a few residents to not think at least some of them use satellite (as there used to be many dishes installed before they got rid and installed a communal system).

They can't get anyone out as we have to pay for someone to diagnose it first due to being leaseholder.
Well what you may have to do is bite the bullet and get someone in to test at your point/points to confirm whether it is local to your apartment or a system fault. If it's the system, it is the responsibility of the management company/freeholder and they will need to get their own person in to solve it and refund the cost of your service call.
 
Well what you may have to do is bite the bullet and get someone in to test at your point/points to confirm whether it is local to your apartment or a system fault. If it's the system, it is the responsibility of the management company/freeholder and they will need to get their own person in to solve it and refund the cost of your service call.
Thanks for the advice; will have to see if can access.

So it is possible to receive some and not other channels?
 
Thanks for the advice; will have to see if can access.

So it is possible to receive some and not other channels?
Yes it is, as channels are in groups in multiplexes at different frequencies and they can vary in signal strength, so any faults along the signal path will mean that some will drop below the reception threshold and others may not. Also on a system, they are fed into the multiswitch from a quattro LNB which has two polarities and high and low bands, one of which could fail and mean the loss of all channels on that band.

As a matter of interest, you mention both a TV receiving and a sat receiver, but only one TV point, how are they connected?
 
You didn't mention that in the thread.


What was your issue in the end ?
Think it was the weakish S2 tuner in the upstairs TV, hence it's not an officially supported Freesat tuner.

In that instance, I was pretty certain it was something internal, as the Sky box downstairs received channels, thus I thought I required some sort of booster to improve the signal for the upstairs TV.
 
Think it was the weakish S2 tuner in the upstairs TV, hence it's not an officially supported Freesat tuner.

In that instance, I was pretty certain it was something internal, as the Sky box downstairs received channels, thus I thought I required some sort of booster to improve the signal for the upstairs TV.
You think ?
 
Yes it is, as channels are in groups in multiplexes at different frequencies and they can vary in signal strength, so any faults along the signal path will mean that some will drop below the reception threshold and others may not. Also on a system, they are fed into the multiswitch from a quattro LNB which has two polarities and high and low bands, one of which could fail and mean the loss of all channels on that band.

As a matter of interest, you mention both a TV receiving and a sat receiver, but only one TV point, how are they connected?

I'm sure the outlet is identical to the image of the 'triplexed plates' you've posted above.

Can the electronics in those just go bad, as it's currently in a location which is effectively inaccessible, so the likelihood of cables coming loose or snapped is highly unlikely.
 
Not entirely what you mean by this, but yes - because there wasn't an issue with the Sky receiver downstairs.

You said the issue was 'resolved', so who resolved it ?
 
Which Sky box do you have? Upload some photos showing the signal meters for some channels that work and those that don't.

Regarding the television, presumably it doesn't automatically update the channel list? There's been quite a bit of shuffling of channels and transponder parameters in recent times - you may have manually edit transponders & rescan in order for the channels to show up.
 
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