[ShocK x10]

Hi, im new here (although i've been reading for a while).

I have a problem with my dads Humax Foxsat HDR box in that it only picks up German channels, no English what so ever. Freesat Tune doesn't work as it wont accept my postcode nor any London or Manchester postcodes that I found in Google. My settings in Manual Tune are as follows:
Satellite: freesat 28.2E <locked>
Transponder: ALL
Scrambled: FTA
Channel Type: ALL

But these are the settings that give German channels. If i change the Transponder to (11428 H 27500 A) as listed in "Trouble Shooting [14.2]" http://www.humaxdigital.com/global/p...101308_low.pdf and try to re-tune in Manual but it gives ZERO (0) channels available - instantly and it also has a 0% Quality meter whereas before it showed a whopping
Strength: 80 - 95 %
Quality 80 - 90 %

It now shows - on Transponder (11428 H 27500 A)
Strength: 80%
Quality: 0%

Thus I am completely stumped. My dad managed to work the system using a motorised dish with GPS Targeting, it automatically changed for the location and the elevation / azimuth - but that would happen to be on a boat so..

Any help would be appreciated.
-Josh

[PaddyC]

Are you sure your dish is actually on 28.2E and not 19.2E where all the German channels are located? Who installed the dish and did they use a meter?

Actually, if you have a Sky digibox (or can borrow one for 5 minutes) plug it into the dish and to go SIGNAL DETAILS, see what transport stream shows up, it should be 0002. I'm guessing it will tell you 0001 which would mean it is on Astra 19.2E. Sounds like the dish needs moved.

[Adrian_F]

For an accurate compass bearing depending on your geographical position go to....

Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com

(Manchester is nearer to 33 degrees East of South not 28.2 as you might imagine)

[ShocK x10]

I installed the dish, and I didn't use a meter. What you're saying is that if i can move my dish more towards the East I will receive Astra 28.2 instead of 19.2?

Is there any way that I can find the transport stream on the foxsat, without having to source a sky digibox? (ie within the hidden menu, which i havn't yet tried)

I tried dishpointer but Google maps doesn't zoom in far enough on my location for it to be of any real use, except telling me where to point it within about 10`.. - The equipment I have is Humax Foxsat HDR, Skyware dish (found it free, new cond.) a compass, spanner and a tressel.
The dish is mounted on the tressel as a temporary measure (about 2 weeks) until my dad decides what he wants to do, so long as i can get BBC 1, 2 ITV and C4 ill be fine. It's just that my terrestrial aerial won't work with ym new tv

-Josh

[Chris Muriel]

I agree that you could well be pointed at the wrong satellite (19.2ºE , 13ºE or some other) .
To get some background as to what stations and multiplexes/transponders are up there look at Europe, Africa & Middle East - LyngSat and select a satellite.

I wonder if you could take your Foxsat box to a near friend or neighbour who has Sky and try to set up the box on their system initially.
Then take it back to its rightful abode and try moving the dish to the correct position (e.g. left and down a bit) until the (now pretuned) correct channels appear.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

[ShocK x10]

Good idea, Ill try that if i can

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by ShocK x10

I installed the dish, and I didn't use a meter. What you're saying is that if i can move my dish more towards the East I will receive Astra 28.2 instead of 19.2?

Is there any way that I can find the transport stream on the foxsat, without having to source a sky digibox? (ie within the hidden menu, which i havn't yet tried)

I tried dishpointer but Google maps doesn't zoom in far enough on my location for it to be of any real use, except telling me where to point it within about 10`.. - The equipment I have is Humax Foxsat HDR, Skyware dish (found it free, new cond.) a compass, spanner and a tressel.
The dish is mounted on the tressel as a temporary measure (about 2 weeks) until my dad decides what he wants to do, so long as i can get BBC 1, 2 ITV and C4 ill be fine. It's just that my terrestrial aerial won't work with ym new tv

-Josh

Bypass the installation routine and goto menu/system/diagnostics.

[ShocK x10]

Diagnostics didnt tell me anything that would seem to be useful while tuning. All it gave was firmware etc

[lohr500]

Try this website to help with alignment.
Worked a treat for me.

Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com

Bang in your postcode, select the 28.2E Astra satellite and hit GO. Then move the hand around until it is over your location and left click to get the location data.

[ShocK x10]

Originally Posted by lohr500

Try this website to help with alignment.
Worked a treat for me.

Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com

Bang in your postcode, select the 28.2E Astra satellite and hit GO. Then move the hand around until it is over your location and left click to get the location data.

Post #4, Third Paragraph..

Dishpointer won't allow me to zoom in far enough on my location to get any good idea as to where to point it. In the last 20 minutes I have tried moving my dish around, and I managed to pick up some VERY interesting channels, including Playboy TV .
The 'interesting' channels are:

Satellite3 VPN
Proxy__02
Proxy__08
Proxy__16
proxy__17[
Playboy TV
FX HD test

As well as all the Sky channels and other encrypted channels even though im sure i had FTA only selected. I have had One Success.
I managed to get BBC News, BBC Parliament and BBC ALBA in the same list of peculiar channels. But these are no use to me coz im not interested in Parliament or the News, nor do i speak Scottish

I will try to scan for channels on my neighbours dish sometime today and report back with the results. I must say- picking up closed, test channels is quite funny.

[soffit]

For those that decide to install their own dish as a newbie all manner of delights are waiting......[for the masochists a purchase of a satellite tuner is a definate NoNo]. I did this too and you have to expect some grief... well quite a lot really.

You should persist and ignore all advise on here. ' I did it myself said the little red hen' Seriously, just look at a site that gives you the angle and the elevation at your postcode. [there are loads] If you can't do it then employ someone that can. It took me a couple of hours but I still feel proud about it.

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by ShocK x10

Diagnostics didnt tell me anything that would seem to be useful while tuning. All it gave was firmware etc

If the tuners have a signal it will give you strength and quality. You need a basic lock in a satellite first

[lohr500]

Hi ShocK X10

How close can you zoom in on your location using dishpointer?

I just tried choosing several locations at around 5 miles away from home and the suggested elevation didn't change at all.
The magnetic compass degrees varied by just 0.1 deg which is probably unmeasurable using a handheld compass.
The skew also changed by 0.1deg max.

I guess if you can zoom within 5 or 10 miles then Dishpointer should give you a reasonable start point to make sure you are aiming at the right satellite.

[Robbie34]

Buy yourself a cheap satellite meter and peak your dish. You can get a decent meter for £8.50 from Wizard Satellite.

You are obviously on Astra 2 now as you have got BBC Alba.

[ShocK x10]

Ok, thank you to everyone.
A big thanks to Paddy C for telling me I was pointing at the wrong satellite, and Chris Muriel for suggesting taking my box to another location. I took my box to a neighbor and guess what.. it accepted my postcode! Then it tuned in and such, and now I get BBC 1, 2, ITV, C4, BBC HD and probably 90% of the others aswell (BBC THREE and BBC FOUR dont work but i dont really mind coz ive never watched them)

So here's my solution if yours doesn't work too:
First use dishpointer to find a rough bearing for your dish, I'd suggest you download the Google Earth plugin as this gives a better view.
Second try resetting the box and retuning - manually.
Third take the box to someone with a working Sky or Freesat and tune it there, then plug it back in yours.
If it still doesnt work try advanced settings. Go MENU->Setup then press RED GREEN YELLOW BLUE GREEN YELLOW BLUE and it gives Antenna settings menu. After that tweak it where you need. Revert to default with a factory reset.


Just a side note - my dish was pointing in the right direction all the time after I changed it according to Paddy C but for some reason it wouldnt scan the channels until i changed location. This could have had something to do with my postcode which wouldnt be accepted until i changed location to someone who already had Sky professionally installed. Once again big thanks.

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by ShocK x10

Ok, thank you to everyone.
A big thanks to Paddy C for telling me I was pointing at the wrong satellite, and Chris Muriel for suggesting taking my box to another location. I took my box to a neighbor and guess what.. it accepted my postcode! Then it tuned in and such, and now I get BBC 1, 2, ITV, C4, BBC HD and probably 90% of the others aswell (BBC THREE and BBC FOUR dont work but i dont really mind coz ive never watched them)

So here's my solution if yours doesn't work too:
First use dishpointer to find a rough bearing for your dish, I'd suggest you download the Google Earth plugin as this gives a better view.
Second try resetting the box and retuning - manually.
Third take the box to someone with a working Sky or Freesat and tune it there, then plug it back in yours.
If it still doesnt work try advanced settings. Go MENU->Setup then press RED GREEN YELLOW BLUE GREEN YELLOW BLUE and it gives Antenna settings menu. After that tweak it where you need. Revert to default with a factory reset.


Just a side note - my dish was pointing in the right direction all the time after I changed it according to Paddy C but for some reason it wouldnt scan the channels until i changed location. This could have had something to do with my postcode which wouldnt be accepted until i changed location to someone who already had Sky professionally installed. Once again big thanks.

Postcode acceptance and ITV HD requires reception from Eurobird 1 at 28.5E, So does the epg. Try pressing guide and see if the channel you are watching comes back in the background if not you will still have problems. The postcode was accepted on your mates dish was accepted because his dish is properly aligned, your missing channels indicate your dish alignment needs tweaking.

[ShocK x10]

Originally Posted by grahamlthompson

Postcode acceptance and ITV HD requires reception from Eurobird 1 at 28.5E, So does the epg. Try pressing guide and see if the channel you are watching comes back in the background if not you will still have problems. The postcode was accepted on your mates dish was accepted because his dish is properly aligned, your missing channels indicate your dish alignment needs tweaking.

Ive just moved my dish to another location, but yes I managed to get all the channels yesterday including THREE and FOUR, and after about a minute i get the channel playing behind the EPG selection screen (where is lists categories and such). I know it isnt fully aligned as Receiving Programming Information takes a while but im getting there

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by ShocK x10

Ive just moved my dish to another location, but yes I managed to get all the channels yesterday including THREE and FOUR, and after about a minute i get the channel playing behind the EPG selection screen (where is lists categories and such). I know it isnt fully aligned as Receiving Programming Information takes a while but im getting there

Sounds as if you are OK now then. You can check the signal strength (and more inportantly) and quality by tuning to a channel and menu/setup/diagnostics. Choose on channel on each transponder to test the lot.