Satellite channels tuning conundrum

[Solwaybuggier]

We have an Oyster V, feeding 2 tvs, an Avtex in the bedroom and a VisionPlus in the front. We’ve been on the CMC site in Melrose since Friday - when we arrived the atmospherics were difficult, our local BBC 1 (NE & Cumbria) was breaking up on the VisionPlus so we switched to BBC1 London, which always seems to have the strongest signal. When we turned it back on later, the BBC channels had all disappeared from the channel list, so I did a retune - near 500 fta channels, including some regional BBC1s, but not NE &C or London, and no BBC2 channels other than Wales. Meantime, the Avtex was still getting all channels including NE&C and London, and continues to do so, so it’s presumably nothing to do with the satellite feed.

I’ve done another retune on the VisionPlus, but there’s still no change.

I appreciate that the 2 tvs have individual tuners, and the Avtex one may perform better than the VisionPlus (as it probably should do for the cost!). What I don’t understand is why the VisionPlus is only getting some regional BBC1 channels but not London, which we’ve always found the strongest - the NE&C channel has always seemed to have a weak satellite signal. And why we’re getting BBC2 Wales but not England.

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Anthony OysterTech]

Good morning Solwaybuggier

It's a strange one this but there is a chance that you could have a problem with the LNB.
If you have a Twin Oyster system with one feed is supplying the Avtex and the second supplying the Vision plus TV then the two TV's are working on independent feeds which can be different. A twin LNB is actually two LNB's in one casing so there could be a small fault on one side of the LNB that's causing some signal loss to the Vision plus TV.
Unfortunately the only way to test this would be to switch the feeds internally to see if the Avtex then has the problem instead of the Vision plus.
Alternatively we are back in the office from 8:30 tomorrow morning so if you give us a call when you are with the system we can check through the frequencies with you on that TV and try and ascertain if there is any part of the signal that is particularly struggling on that side.

Hope this helps.

 

[SpeedyDux]

We have an Oyster V, feeding 2 tvs, an Avtex in the bedroom and a VisionPlus in the front. We’ve been on the CMC site in Melrose since Friday - when we arrived the atmospherics were difficult, our local BBC 1 (NE & Cumbria) was breaking up on the VisionPlus so we switched to BBC1 London, which always seems to have the strongest signal. When we turned it back on later, the BBC channels had all disappeared from the channel list, so I did a retune - near 500 fta channels, including some regional BBC1s, but not NE &C or London, and no BBC2 channels other than Wales. Meantime, the Avtex was still getting all channels including NE&C and London, and continues to do so, so it’s presumably nothing to do with the satellite feed.

I’ve done another retune on the VisionPlus, but there’s still no change.

I appreciate that the 2 tvs have individual tuners, and the Avtex one may perform better than the VisionPlus (as it probably should do for the cost!). What I don’t understand is why the VisionPlus is only getting some regional BBC1 channels but not London, which we’ve always found the strongest - the NE&C channel has always seemed to have a weak satellite signal. And why we’re getting BBC2 Wales but not England.

Anyone got any ideas?

As I said on another thread:

"On New Year's Eve, without any prior warning I could find, the BBC, ITV, C4 and Channel 5 all discontinued their standard definition broadcasts on the Sky and Freesat platforms. For those with HD TVs this change wasn't a big deal, but all the SD TVs using satellite dishes and perhaps cable feeds suddenly lost the majority of the free-to-air channels they had been used to viewing. In my case all but 12 remaining channels, down from nearly 100."

This appears to have been scheduled to happen in March 2023, but was brought forward to 5th January, and without warning happened on NYE.

Those missing satellite SD channels should still be on Freeview and accessible via the Avtex aerial.

 

[Solwaybuggier]

Good morning Solwaybuggier

It's a strange one this but there is a chance that you could have a problem with the LNB.
If you have a Twin Oyster system with one feed is supplying the Avtex and the second supplying the Vision plus TV then the two TV's are working on independent feeds which can be different. A twin LNB is actually two LNB's in one casing so there could be a small fault on one side of the LNB that's causing some signal loss to the Vision plus TV.
Unfortunately the only way to test this would be to switch the feeds internally to see if the Avtex then has the problem instead of the Vision plus.
Alternatively we are back in the office from 8:30 tomorrow morning so if you give us a call when you are with the system we can check through the frequencies with you on that TV and try and ascertain if there is any part of the signal that is particularly struggling on that side.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Anthony - yes, I can see the logic in what you’re saying - I’ll probably ring your office in the morning. I’ve just done another retune, in lovely bright clear conditions, but no real change.

 

[Solwaybuggier]

As I said on another thread:

"On New Year's Eve, without any prior warning I could find, the BBC, ITV, C4 and Channel 5 all discontinued their standard definition broadcasts on the Sky and Freesat platforms. For those with HD TVs this change wasn't a big deal, but all the SD TVs using satellite dishes and perhaps cable feeds suddenly lost the majority of the free-to-air channels they had been used to viewing. In my case all but 12 remaining channels, down from nearly 100."

This appears to have been scheduled to happen in March 2023, but was brought forward to 5th January, and without warning happened on NYE.

Those missing satellite SD channels should still be on Freeview and accessible via the Avtex aerial.

Thanks for the response - which I initially thought gave the answer, but then I realised it first occurred on 30 December, not 31. And I’m getting plenty of SD channels as well as HD ones, including BBC1 regions - both tvs are HD too. So I suspect it may be something else?

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[Satandpcguy]

As I said on another thread:

"On New Year's Eve, without any prior warning I could find, the BBC, ITV, C4 and Channel 5 all discontinued their standard definition broadcasts on the Sky and Freesat platforms. For those with HD TVs this change wasn't a big deal, but all the SD TVs using satellite dishes and perhaps cable feeds suddenly lost the majority of the free-to-air channels they had been used to viewing. In my case all but 12 remaining channels, down from nearly 100."

This appears to have been scheduled to happen in March 2023, but was brought forward to 5th January, and without warning happened on NYE.

Those missing satellite SD channels should still be on Freeview and accessible via the Avtex aerial.

No issues with any SD channels over the past week or so. In fact broadcasters refrain from doing any changes during 2 weeks around Xmas to make sur they do not disrupt viewing. Only BBC have announced anything with SD channels, nothing from ITV C4 or Five yet. And the news and papers would be full of reports of any major issue affecting these channels - but no reports anywhere.

In my case all but 12 remaining channels, down from nearly 100."

Kinda suggest an issue with your system somewhere, losing 90 channels, especially when those channel would be operated by a nuber of different broadcasters and companies and uplinkers.

In my case all but 12 remaining channels, down from nearly 100."

BBC changes will start om 5th January, when BBC Two NI HD launches.
This triggers the BBC 1 SD closedown, with the first change expected to be BBC 1 South around late January. Then other BBC SD channel will close and move HD only until April, with a lone BBC 1 SD region around until early 2024.

For the OP, are you using a twin LNB for your system with two separate cables feeding the two receivers? Or are you splitting one cable to feed two tuners. If the latter then if both receivers are powered on, then the will be fighting for control over the LNB, with one winning and only allowing the other receier access to one of the four frequency groups used, meaning a loss of channels that are on the three other frequency groups.

 

[stewartwebr]

I have been trying hard to remember the name of the button on the screen which I needed to change when I had a similar problem. It was set as "FTA" or something similar and needed the button to be toggled to all channels and it took a lot longer to scan but found all channels. I know this is vague, but I'm not in the motorhome. Have a look at the screen it may be obvious when you view the tune screen. Hope this helps

 

[SpeedyDux]

No issues with any SD channels over the past week or so. In fact broadcasters refrain from doing any changes during 2 weeks around Xmas to make sur they do not disrupt viewing. Only BBC have announced anything with SD channels, nothing from ITV C4 or Five yet. And the news and papers would be full of reports of any major issue affecting these channels - but no reports anywhere.



Kinda suggest an issue with your system somewhere, losing 90 channels, especially when those channel would be operated by a nuber of different broadcasters and companies and uplinkers.

In my case all but 12 remaining channels, down from nearly 100."

BBC changes will start om 5th January, when BBC Two NI HD launches.
This triggers the BBC 1 SD closedown, with the first change expected to be BBC 1 South around late January. Then other BBC SD channel will close and move HD only until April, with a lone BBC 1 SD region around until early 2024.

For the OP, are you using a twin LNB for your system with two separate cables feeding the two receivers? Or are you splitting one cable to feed two tuners. If the latter then if both receivers are powered on, then the will be fighting for control over the LNB, with one winning and only allowing the other receier access to one of the four frequency groups used, meaning a loss of channels that are on the three other frequency groups.

Thanks for your suggestions.

I have a Sky dish from 2012 with I think only 1 LNB. And a Panasonic satellite decoder, original Sky equipment, perhaps older from my previous house. The Sky card is no longer paired, but it is still necessary to keep it in the slot to get all the free channels. There is no means now to update or restore the decoder's software due to having terminated my Sky subscription. In any case, Sky regarded my set-up as obsolete and had ended support. They tried to sell me Sky Glass instead, i.e. a new TV. My broadband speed is too slow for that, and I don't have fibre BB as an option. Not yet. I had to bin Sky.

Bizarrely, yesterday when I switched on the Sky decoder and my TV at 7 pm, all the missing SD channels were back. Short-lived celebration - at precisely 8:30 pm they suddenly vanished simultaneously yet again, with the message No Satellite Signal on the blank screen. I still received a strong satellite signal, because the decoder system check said so, and the same 12 SD channels remained visible. This makes no sense.

Edit - all the missing channels still appeared on the Sky EPG including the programme info. There was no "This channel is unavailable" message when I clicked on the missing channels. Only a blank screen and No Satellite Signal message. Very odd.

 

[Solwaybuggier]

For the OP, are you using a twin LNB for your system with two separate cables feeding the two receivers? Or are you splitting one cable to feed two tuners. If the latter then if both receivers are powered on, then the will be fighting for control over the LNB, with one winning and only allowing the other receier access to one of the four frequency groups used, meaning a loss of channels that are on the three other frequency groups.

I’m pretty sure it’s a twin LNB system- we can watch different channels on the 2 tvs - as per Anthony’s response at post #2.

 

[Solwaybuggier]

I have been trying hard to remember the name of the button on the screen which I needed to change when I had a similar problem. It was set as "FTA" or something similar and needed the button to be toggled to all channels and it took a lot longer to scan but found all channels. I know this is vague, but I'm not in the motorhome. Have a look at the screen it may be obvious when you view the tune screen. Hope this helps

Thanks, and I know what you’re referring to - on the VisionPlus, in setting it up to retune you can specify whether to look for All, Just FTA or just Scrambled. I’ve tried retuning with both of the first 2, still miss the channels, so it’s not that.

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[Satandpcguy]

Thanks for your suggestions.

I have a Sky dish from 2012 with I think only 1 LNB. And a Panasonic satellite decoder, original Sky equipment, perhaps older from my previous house. The Sky card is no longer paired, but it is still necessary to keep it in the slot to get all the free channels. There is no means now to update or restore the decoder's software due to having terminated my Sky subscription. In any case, Sky regarded my set-up as obsolete and had ended support. They tried to sell me Sky Glass instead, i.e. a new TV. My broadband speed is too slow for that, and I don't have fibre BB as an option. Not yet. I had to bin Sky.

You do not need a viewing card for the free to air channels...never have done, as they are free to air (as free to air mean no encryption!) . All the sky card does it allocate the correct BBC ITV C4 regions to the EPG. So you can take the card out and you will still get all the free to air channels.
Makes no difference if you have a subscription or not, Sky boxes automatically update firmware when it is available. SD boxes have not had updates for several years now.

Bizarrely, yesterday when I switched on the Sky decoder and my TV at 7 pm, all the missing SD channels were back. Short-lived celebration - at precisely 8:30 pm they suddenly vanished simultaneously yet again, with the message No Satellite Signal on the blank screen. I still received a strong satellite signal, because the decoder system check said so, and the same 12 SD channels remained visible. This makes no sense.

On older Sky SD boxes, the "decoder system check" will usually check the signal for the sky default transponder, the one that feeds the EPG and the boxes background music, and usually does not relate to any channels you may have lost. So it will make perfect sense why it says you have signals but no channels...what you are seeing is unrelated!
On Sky HD and Sky+HD all depend on how you have configured your boxes, especially if using just a single cable. It will either show the signal for the "mini tv " display on the EPG, or the signal for the EPG data.
So dont think that the signal test screen on a sky box is measuring all 70 frequencies used for UK TV.

Edit - all the missing channels still appeared on the Sky EPG including the programme info. There was no "This channel is unavailable" message when I clicked on the missing channels. Only a blank screen and No Satellite Signal message. Very odd.

SOunds like you have a bad / broken box...is it an old SD box (which are like 20+ years old), and if a new "flow design" pace or amstrad or thomson box then that will be the reason...

But then if it is happening on two different boxes, then process of elimination says LNB or cabling issue

 

[Solwaybuggier]

For info, if anyone has a similar problem - connecting the rear Avtex tv to the front feed confirmed that the satellite feed is the problem. And then speaking to Pat at Oyster Sat Tech identified, from the channels missing, that the problem is with the horizontal low band on one LNB. He assured me that it is a pretty quick fix, and, let’s be honest , it’s almost the definition of a first world problem, so no urgency. (We’re not near anyone they recommend to fix it - it can wait till we’re near somewhere.)

 

[Anthony OysterTech]

For info, if anyone has a similar problem - connecting the rear Avtex tv to the front feed confirmed that the satellite feed is the problem. And then speaking to Pat at Oyster Sat Tech identified, from the channels missing, that the problem is with the horizontal low band on one LNB. He assured me that it is a pretty quick fix, and, let’s be honest , it’s almost the definition of a first world problem, so no urgency. (We’re not near anyone they recommend to fix it - it can wait till we’re near somewhere.)

Glad Pat figured out the problem for you Solwaybuggier but if you need any further help with this or changing the LNB then please don't hesitate to give us a call.