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Snow, Freeview & Freesat


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Old 30-01-2015, 04:48
Stigid
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Snow, Freeview & Freesat

During the heavy Snow all day Thursday, my Freeview reception, which is pants at the best of time, was none existent.

(We are in a valley fed from a remote slave transmitter)

My recently purchased Humax HDR-1000 Freesat PVR was excellent though, no Snow reception problems at all.

I used to have SKY+HD

Stopped that, I needed to use extra 2 PVR's to record stuff. (Single HD Tuners)

Freesat, now ditched those 2 PVR's
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Old 05-02-2015, 03:32
tvmad-alan
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Old sky dishes were very bad with snow and rain and I had phone many time to get a refund on a film ..... but with the smaller and dish move from 19 to 28 made for better and less troubles along with move to digital.
But no longer with Sky but do have freesat and I find it is more likely to go blocky then freeview does in bad weathers....

Freeview I would add that power from main transmitters are lower then old systems and I feel that does not help if you on the digital edge were any movement or blocking of signal will be worst .... also has not been of help that local channel mux are set lower power and too com 7 with HD & SD channels.

Virgin has troubles from weathers too with cable pits filling with water and mud and even ants nests along with other service digging into the cables...

As we are going to get more weathers that beat records as greenhouse gases are pumped into air, we are going to have be ready to have more break up of all signals and services....sadly
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Old 05-02-2015, 12:29
Winston_1
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Freeview I would add that power from main transmitters are lower then old systems
Not so. It is measured in a different way.
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Old 05-02-2015, 14:18
tvmad-alan
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Not so. It is measured in a different way.
A kilowatt is a kilowatt so when London transmitter was 2000kw per channel ( 1, 2, ITV, C4 Ch5 ) before DSO and now 200kw for main six muxes

Digital signal is powered by electricity that is measured in Kw ( kilowatt)
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Old 05-02-2015, 14:32
chrisjr
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A kilowatt is a kilowatt so when London transmitter was 2000kw per channel ( 1, 2, ITV, C4 Ch5 ) before DSO and now 200kw for main six muxes

Digital signal is powered by electricity that is measured in Kw ( kilowatt)
There are several different ways of measuring power in AC circuits which can give very different figures for the exact same signal. So unless you use the exact same measurement method for two different signals you cannot directly compare the figures produced.
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Old 06-02-2015, 13:50
mutant_matt
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Just a note to say, you can get the Sky "Zone 2" larger 60-ish cm dish from eBay including twin and sometimes quad, LNB, for not much more than £20.

These are designed for use in Scotland (and the fringes of the 28.2 signal) and work really well everywhere. Anyone who is getting rain/snow breakup, with a properly alligned dish and decent cable, this is a cheap, and very simple, worthwhile upgrade/fix.

I'm putting one up myself, to get rid of the very occasional heavy rain storm break up, even though I'm only just North of London.

HTH!

Matt
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Old 06-02-2015, 14:01
grahamlthompson
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Just a note to say, you can get the Sky "Zone 2" larger 60-ish cm dish from eBay including twin and sometimes quad, LNB, for not much more than £20.

These are designed for use in Scotland (and the fringes of the 28.2 signal) and work really well everywhere. Anyone who is getting rain/snow breakup, with a properly alligned dish and decent cable, this is a cheap, and very simple, worthwhile upgrade/fix.

I'm putting one up myself, to get rid of the very occasional heavy rain storm break up, even though I'm only just North of London.

HTH!

Matt
I second this, I am in the MIdlands and use a zone 2, reception is generally bombproof. Only lost signals once since 2008. The wrong sort of snow covered the dish face . As dish is only 6ft off the ground a broom sorted it out very quickly.
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Old 06-02-2015, 16:08
Nigel Goodwin
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A kilowatt is a kilowatt so when London transmitter was 2000kw per channel ( 1, 2, ITV, C4 Ch5 ) before DSO and now 200kw for main six muxes

Digital signal is powered by electricity that is measured in Kw ( kilowatt)
True - but the transmitter power consumption figure isn't what we're talking about - and Winston is correct, the actual 'powers' are generally identical to what they were previously, just that the method of measuring the power is entirely different.
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Old 08-02-2015, 23:05
Anthony_UK
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38cm Zone 1 minidishes are crap across a good part of the UK and the baulk out at the weaker Eutelsat28A channels in heavy rain as well. A 60cm dish is far better for Freesat and Sky reception across the UK;SES Astra recommend at least a 50cm dish across the UK for trouble-free reception of their services from satellite.
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Old 10-02-2015, 17:35
MartinPickering
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Just a note to say, you can get the Sky "Zone 2" larger 60-ish cm dish from eBay
Professional mail-order aerial and satellite TV equipment suppliers are also available, who can provide good technical advice in addition to a good selection of equipment.
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Old 14-02-2015, 14:09
Dr.OliverTwich
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Snow rarely affects terrestrial signal reception.

Assuming it is not an issue of water / ice forming in the connections of the receiving aerial / cabling, then it's likely to be caused by reflections off the icy/snow-covered surfaces destructively interfering with the direct signal to the aerial.

As the OP says reception is "pants" normally this indicates a better aerial installation (higher gain with masthead amplification) may be required OR that - due to location - they are receiving from a fringe area and may be technically unserved by any terrestrial transmitter and so will suffer from such weather variation as a result.

It's also possible that the "slave" or Relay Transmitter was faulty (mains losses to small sites in the severe weather - including snow - is fairly common). A check on the transmitter checker at http://www.radioandtvhelp.co.uk/interference would confirm that. ALL DTT sites now how some form of monitoring that Arqiva collate.
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Old 14-02-2015, 16:19
Nigel Goodwin
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Snow rarely affects terrestrial signal reception.
Snow 'rarely' affects satellite either

But snow certainly affects terrestrial, just to a lesser degree than satellite - due to the higher frequencies used for satellite. For the same reason terrestrial signals on lower channels are affected less than those on higher channels - although the difference is less now, with the reallocation of the high channels to make room for 4G.
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Old 19-03-2015, 20:21
TelevisionUser
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Snow 'rarely' affects satellite either

But snow certainly affects terrestrial, just to a lesser degree than satellite - due to the higher frequencies used for satellite. For the same reason terrestrial signals on lower channels are affected less than those on higher channels - although the difference is less now, with the reallocation of the high channels to make room for 4G.
^^^ I'd agree with Nigel Goodwin's comments above. I find Freeview to be more vulnerable to weather interference, e.g. due to prolonged high pressure areas over the UK in summer. I've never experienced a snow issue with my satellite feed and there's only ever been one time during a very heavy rainstorm when the signal was disrupted and even then that was only on the weaker signals from the soon-to-be-replaced (thank goodness!) Eutelsat 28A satellite.
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Old 19-03-2015, 21:14
Nigel Goodwin
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I've never experienced a snow issue with my satellite feed.
Presumably you don't live in an area where it's prone to heavy snow then

The atmosphere full of heavy falling snow can affect it (in a similar way to heavy rain), but more likely is the dish getting covered in snow - so it's important to have your dish where you can access it with a brush or similar For that reason (as well as plenty of others) it's a BAD idea to fit dishes on chimneys.
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Old 20-03-2015, 08:43
grahamlthompson
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Presumably you don't live in an area where it's prone to heavy snow then

The atmosphere full of heavy falling snow can affect it (in a similar way to heavy rain), but more likely is the dish getting covered in snow - so it's important to have your dish where you can access it with a brush or similar For that reason (as well as plenty of others) it's a BAD idea to fit dishes on chimneys.
Since 2008 I have lost my signal once, and that was down to about 6" of Snow on the dishface. We have had plenty of deep snow falls, and blizzard conditions.
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Old 20-03-2015, 10:42
Nigel Goodwin
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Since 2008 I have lost my signal once, and that was down to about 6" of Snow on the dishface.
Which is why you want the dish where you can clear it off
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Old 20-03-2015, 11:20
grahamlthompson
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Which is why you want the dish where you can clear it off
It is. It's only 6ft off the ground. 20 seconds with a broom sorted it

I have had snow on the lnb but that didn;'t affect any of the channels I was watching. It might have affected the weaker channels on Pan European beams though.
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Old 20-03-2015, 11:23
moox
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For that reason (as well as plenty of others) it's a BAD idea to fit dishes on chimneys.
What if you're in a situation where height is the only way to get a signal at all?

Other more snowy countries go for dish heaters. Not really necessary for us in most circumstances of course
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Old 20-03-2015, 11:39
grahamlthompson
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What if you're in a situation where height is the only way to get a signal at all?

Other more snowy countries go for dish heaters. Not really necessary for us in most circumstances of course
It's very rare to need a fixed satellite dish mounted high. Here in the Midlands 28.2E is roughly the same elevation as the average roof. That means a dish mounted just above gutter height can see 28.2E above the top of the roof. Most of us could find a ground level location somewhere in our gardens.
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Old 20-03-2015, 12:50
Nigel Goodwin
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I wouldn't say 'very' rare - and depending on the exact location it might be EXTREMELY common for that area - in fact I noticed just that fact the other day while sat in traffic

There was even two dishes mounted on a cliff face, with cat wires over the road I was sat on.

Just checked on street view

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ll=53...2,30,,1,-20.38
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Old 20-03-2015, 12:57
grahamlthompson
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I wouldn't say 'very' rare - and depending on the exact location it might be EXTREMELY common for that area - in fact I noticed just that fact the other day while sat in traffic

There was even two dishes mounted on a cliff face, with cat wires over the road I was sat on.

Just checked on street view

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ll=53...2,30,,1,-20.38
Such locations are geographically rare. Compared to the total number that can access 28.2E the numbers will be tiny. As will anyone with a roof mounted fish not being able to mount it lower. If you look around Birmingham in areas with traditional terraces oh houses, the vast majority are mounted about halfway up the wall (very unsightly if the property Southern face faces the road).
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Old 22-03-2015, 15:33
wombat66
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[quote=grahamlthompson;77393781] As will anyone with a roof mounted fish not being able to mount it lower.

Isn't this cruel to fish?
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