Bremen Germany - Lost reception in the evening

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Nickobrien66

New Member
My Satellite Setup
Fuba Dish. Apple Mac.
My Location
Bremen 28211, Germany
I live in Bremen, Germany, and receive Astra 28.2°E UK channels using an 80 cm Fuba dish.

I have observed for several years that ITV1 HD reception becomes unavailable every evening, while ITV+1 remains available. More recently BBC One HD and BBC Two HD have also begun to deteriorate during the evening but are generally fine during the daytime.

I have found many reports from viewers elsewhere in northern Europe describing a similar day/night variation.

My question is:

Is there any recognised reason why viewers near the edge of the Astra UK spot beam experience poorer reception during the evening?

Specifically:

  • Is it related to normal station-keeping movement within the orbital box?
  • Does the effective UK spot beam vary slightly during the day?
  • Is there any published technical explanation for this phenomenon?
I appreciate that reception outside the intended UK coverage area is not guaranteed. I am simply interested in understanding the technical reason for the consistent day/evening variation.
 
Nickobrien66 said:
  • Is it related to normal station-keeping movement within the orbital box?
  • Does the effective UK spot beam vary slightly during the day?
Click to expand...
This has been discussed several times on this forum and yes, reception at the footprint edges can be highly variable, depending on time of day or year. Various reasons for it - atmospheric, satellite outside the view of the sun (hence running on batteries), station keeping variations etc.
 
Positive (anti-cyclone) pressure

You can check your dish and surroundings in the meantime, maybe buy something bigger to cope and sell off what you have to recouperate.
 
80cms seems much too small. Im in Carcassonne,about same distance from UK and 120 cms is hardly enough. And the variation is seasonal anyway. Better over Xmas,bad over summer solstice (june 21, 1 month before/after)
 
Yes, it is true as Rodscha wrote. I have 180 cm of laminate.
 
Nickobrien66 said:
I live in Bremen, Germany, and receive Astra 28.2°E UK channels using an 80 cm Fuba dish.

I have observed for several years that ITV1 HD reception becomes unavailable every evening, while ITV+1 remains available. More recently BBC One HD and BBC Two HD have also begun to deteriorate during the evening but are generally fine during the daytime.

I have found many reports from viewers elsewhere in northern Europe describing a similar day/night variation.

My question is:

Is there any recognised reason why viewers near the edge of the Astra UK spot beam experience poorer reception during the evening?

Specifically:

  • Is it related to normal station-keeping movement within the orbital box?
  • Does the effective UK spot beam vary slightly during the day?
  • Is there any published technical explanation for this phenomenon?
I appreciate that reception outside the intended UK coverage area is not guaranteed. I am simply interested in understanding the technical reason for the consistent day/evening variation.
Click to expand...
BBC channels are on 2E as is ITV 1 London (don't know which version you're watching - there are some on 2F too).
ITV+1 versions are on 2F.

2E is at 28,5 E and 2F and 2G are at 28,2 E.
Beeing on the edge this could make a difference even if a smaller antenna isn't as sensible as a big one since the aperture is more narrow on a big antenna.
However a small antenna doesn't collect as much signal as a big one so the difference in location of the satellites could be a problem for you.

I'm in southern Sweden using a 1,8 meter antenna and the strength varies during the day (beeing the weakest in the evening) but all channels are always fully watchable. To get the best possible signal on all three birds the dish is pointed at 28,35 E.
The weakest transponders here are 12129 V and 12168 V.
 
I'm having a similar problem to the gentleman in Bremen but in reverse. About 3 weeks ago I started to lose various channels during daylight hours. Only BBC1, ITV1 and Channel 5 are working properly during daylight hours. The rest say "no signal, or weak signal". The strange thing is that everything returns to normal as soon as it goes dark. Is the reason for this because of the recent heatwaves or has my dish become misaligned? Channels sometimes break up during storms but nothing like this has happened before. My 60cm SKY dish and LNB are around 20 years old. My Freesat receiver/recorder (Humax HDR 1100s) is only a couple of years old. It cannot be the receiver which is at fault because I have an older Humax Foxsat in an upstairs bedroom which is experiencing exactly the same thing.

Does anyone have any idea why this is happening? Do I need a new dish/LNB? I live near Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
 
DeborahH said:
I'm having a similar problem to the gentleman in Bremen but in reverse. About 3 weeks ago I started to lose various channels during daylight hours. Only BBC1, ITV1 and Channel 5 are working properly during daylight hours. The rest say "no signal, or weak signal". The strange thing is that everything returns to normal as soon as it goes dark. Is the reason for this because of the recent heatwaves or has my dish become misaligned? Channels sometimes break up during storms but nothing like this has happened before. My 60cm SKY dish and LNB are around 20 years old. My Freesat receiver/recorder (Humax HDR 1100s) is only a couple of years old. It cannot be the receiver which is at fault because I have an older Humax Foxsat in an upstairs bedroom which is experiencing exactly the same thing.

Does anyone have any idea why this is happening? Do I need a new dish/LNB? I live near Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Click to expand...
Maybe just get an 80 cms,they are cheap & easy to find.
 
rodscha said:
Maybe just get an 80 cms,they are cheap & easy to find.
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Yes, I have already thought about that although the 60cm Sky dish has served us well until now. Everything has worked perfectly for 20 years until 3 weeks ago. However, I was hoping that someone on this forum might know why the Freesat channels are working fine after dark but not during daylight.
 
becaus e your dish is a little small. Propagation s better at night . Reember radio Caroline...better at night than daytime!
 
rodscha said:
becaus e your dish is a little small. Propagation s better at night . Reember radio Caroline...better at night than daytime!
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So you would recommend an 80cm dish for my location, which is just outside Amsterdam? I see that you mentioned that in an earlier post. Does it make any difference if it is a mesh dish or a solid one? Which is better? Our present 60cm Sky dish is a mesh one but it has worked fine for the past 20 years, although I notice it is going a bit rusty now.
 
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Channel Hopper said:
Check if the front of the LNB has either corrosion, or deformation.
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Thanks. We are trying to get someone to come round and have a look at it. It is not easy to find a satellite installer who knows about British TV (specifically Freesat) where we live. Our original installer has given up the business unfortunately.
 
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Is the dish visble with binoculars from the ground, or a skylight/bedroom window ?
 
Channel Hopper said:
Is the dish visble with binoculars from the ground, or a skylight/bedroom window ?
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Yes to both, and it looks like there is nothing wrong with it, but who knows? We need someone to come and examine it. Perhaps after 20 years it has come to the end of its life.
 
Just post a couple of pictures here and somebody should work out the next best move.

If the LNB is 20 years old then finding something that fits - without a second visit by the installer after ordering a suitable replacement would save a second call out.
 
you could visit a Home Depot kind of place,they sell dishes & will know what s needed for Asrta 2,UKtv .
I guess an ordinary metal dish of 80cm will suffice. I get astra 19 & hotbird 13E with such a dish & a monoblock lnb in south France
 
rodscha said:
you could visit a Home Depot kind of place,they sell dishes & will know what s needed for Asrta 2,UKtv .
I guess an ordinary metal dish of 80cm will suffice. I get astra 19 & hotbird 13E with such a dish & a monoblock lnb in south France
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I have found an 80x60cm Sky dish with universal quad LNB online which would be suitable, if indeed the dish/LNB needs replacing. Just waiting on information about shipping costs to the Netherlands. Our original set-up came from the Melksham Satellites company in the UK but they are no longer in business. We started out with a Sky box but then changed to Humax. The dish/LNB is the original one.
 
DeborahH said:
I have found an 80x60cm Sky dish with universal quad LNB online which would be suitable, if indeed the dish/LNB needs replacing. Just waiting on information about shipping costs to the Netherlands. Our original set-up came from the Melksham Satellites company in the UK but they are no longer in business. We started out with a Sky box but then changed to Humax. The dish/LNB is the original one.
Click to expand...
Don't waste money buying something from the UK. Shipping and duty will cost more than buying something from Amazon. It doesn't have to be a "Sky" dish. For example TechniSat TECHNITENNE 70 Digitale satellietantenne voor 4 gebruikers (70 cm, complete antenneset met masthouder en Quattro-Switch-LNB), lichtgrijs : Amazon.nl: Electronics & Photo

SKY dish Size Clarification: While marketed as 80x60 cm, the actual reflector area is approximately 64 cm in equivalent circular diameter,
 
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