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Satellite System help for a Block of flats.



Captain Sensible

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
6,435
Not the real one
Hi, i'm looking for some advice for my uncle's satellite system. He lives in an apartment in northern France. The block has 16 apartments. They have one largish dish on the roof receiving Astra 28.2 and 19.2. Originally the block had a lot of Uk expats in so they added 28.2 for uk to ,but now it's only him. He only ever had FTA channels. He has a fairly old satellite receiver and before I came to visit him a few weeks ago, told me that his receiver could not receive HD channels and he had lost a lot of channels. So I bought an HD satellite receiver and took it with me when I went to visit him. When I plugged it in and scanned, I could only find the existing channels he already had, there was no HD and is not even any new channels or ones that had moved frequency. I tried to input the frequency that I knew would find BBC one HD, and that came up as nothing found. When I rescanned again I noticed that only the same old channels were being found every time. His old satellite receiver, has not been rescanned in over five years and many channels had moved frequency in that time. However with the new receiver as I said I could only pick up the same as with the old receiver. It was almost as though there was some kind of filter, that filtered out all other frequencies that you could search for. I understand there must be a multi switch and amplifier to send a signal to each of the 16 apartments, but how on earth are The frequencies restricted? I first thought maybe the LNB's need changing, as they may not be compatible with HD, but then I realised even SD channels that he should be able to receive he cannot. I wondered if there is some device, like a master receiver somewhere in the block that is only sending certain channels to his apartment. He then told me that other people in the block had complained that they had the same problem, but as a lot are holiday apartments they are not always in use. He said there was a quote from a firm to re-install a satellite system but this escalated into thousands of euros. The freeholders aren't too interested either and don't want to pay as they are mainly holiday homes. Unfortunately I couldn't get into the room where I believe the multi switch or what ever it is that is blocking the frequencies is located. Does anyone know of any device that might be causing this problem? I've searched online and can't find anything. If I know what may be causing the problem I will know what to look for the next time I go over there. Cheers.
 

Superphil

Dismember
Jul 7, 2003
25,387
In a pile of football shirts
Sky have focused, or narrowed, their broadcasting 'beam' over the years meaning you need bigger and bigger dishes to pick up their transmissions if you are out of the U.K. I speak from experience, when my brother moved overseas in 2001, to start with he could receive Sky satellite transmissions on a 90cm dish, ten years or so later, and several upgrades, his 3.2m dish in the garden could no longer pick up much more than ITV and Channel 5. It could be that you need a bigger dish old chap.
 

Captain Sensible

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
6,435
Not the real one
Sky have focused, or narrowed, their broadcasting 'beam' over the years meaning you need bigger and bigger dishes to pick up their transmissions if you are out of the U.K. I speak from experience, when my brother moved overseas in 2001, to start with he could receive Sky satellite transmissions on a 90cm dish, ten years or so later, and several upgrades, his 3.2m dish in the garden could no longer pick up much more than ITV and Channel 5. It could be that you need a bigger dish old chap.

Cheers Phil. Yes I know they have done that and Spain is suffering that particular issue. However from Northern France most channels are available according to maps and also it's not just 28.2, it's also from the German and French 19.2 also. There is something that is only letting certain frequencies through to his satellite receiver.
 

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