RE: [OT] Poor Sky Digital Reception

["Hawes,Timothy Edward (GEG)" <haweste@xxxxxxx>]

Steve,

I was wondering whether it was related to the BBC's move, since it was
only=
the BBC channels that were suffering. But, IIRC, Channel 4 & 5 are
notorio=
usly difficult to receive when abroad and they're on 2D, yet the picture
qu=
ality was fine from these last night for me. I'll have a wander over to
dig=
ital spy :-) Was your problem only with the BBC channels taking an
unexpect=
ed dive or was it more widespread ?

Odd that mine gets worse as yours clears up ! I assume you're UK-based,
but=
don't answer if you don't want to !

I'll give the BBC signal strength meter a go tonight, thanks for the tip.
S=
ee my other post, I can relocate the digibox and TV within view (and a few
=
feet) of the dish. I suspect it may be a combination of alignment and the
B=
BC "situation" as when I set up the dish I got such a good signal
I didn't =
spend a huge amount of time fiddling with it. I'll try Keith's damp cloth
t=
rick also.

I *think* I can receive Game Network, but it's not a channel I choose to
wa=
tch.

Thanks,

Tim H.

-----Original Message-----
From: Crick, Steve (UK)=20

It was me.

On Friday I:

Changed the cable - No change.
Changed the LNB - No change.
Realigned the dish - No change.

Sunday - It got better all of its own accord. This is in line with MANY
thr=
eads on digitalspy.co.uk. I have been following this problem on that
forum,=
and many people have also seen this. It is all down to the move by the BBC=
>from
a tighter UK footprint, but is a lower power transmission (and susceptible
=
to skew problems) so shows up mis-aligned dish installations.

The assumption was that the BBC have 'turned up the wick' because of all
of=
the complaints they have had over the last week.

A good test I found, was not to rely on the Services - 4 - 6 signal test,
a=
s this is not looking at the 2D bird.

To check the signal on the BBC transponder itself do this: Services 4 - 0
-=
1 - Select (within 5 seconds to access the engineer menu). Select Manual t=
uning. Enter 10.773 - H - 22.0 5/6 (all from memory, but I am 90% sure
that=
is it). This then gives the signal strength and quality level for the BBC =
channels.

By using this, I can see a huge difference between the 'standard' strength
=
meter, and the 'BBC' one.

But all said and done, my (BBC) reception cleared up over the weekend all
b=
y itself. I still cant get FTN and Game Network, but I never could.

Hope this helps - Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: Hawes,Timothy Edward (GEG)

A short while ago someone, who *had* faultless Sky reception, was
reporting=
poor picture quality.

Did you get to the bottom of the problem, and what was the solution ? Was
i=
t all the channels that were poor, or only a few ?

In the last two days BBC1 & 2 have become essentially unwatchable -
ITV1, C=
hannel 4 & 5 are all ok, but other BBC channels are suffering too.
Signal s=
trength is about 60%, Quality is about 40% - these are much lower than
when=
it was installed. There's no new buildings in the way, I guess the trees h=
ave filled out a bit but everything was fine last year :-(

All internal connections have been checked - planning to look at the
extern=
al ones tonight and see if the dish has moved.

SWMBO returns tomorrow and I need to sort something out :-\

Cheers,

Tim H.

+