A
alcanadakid
Member
That's bad news, we have had almost a year of untroubled reception. It will be a pain if we have signal problems again
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That's bad news, we have had almost a year of untroubled reception. It will be a pain if we have signal problems again
Deanscroft
Member
Well - as predicted the new Astra 2F satelite has lauched and has started to take channels off the temporary 1N satelite that has been operating for the last year. The first channels to have moved across are 5, 5+1 (region1), 5 usa, 5 usa+1, 5*, 5*+1, some ITV 1 and +1 regions, a couple of BBC 1 HD regions (scotland and wales), Ch4 HD and 4seven. The frequencys used are unchanged so there is little point in trying to retune to find them. If they have disappeared then it is because the signal here is no longer strong enough for the equipment in use. There are some possible fixes that might get them back if the signal strength is borderline but the only guarantee is to buy a very big dish.
I would be very interested to hear from people who are still receiving these channels as the rest of us would like to know what equipment they have installed.
I would be very interested to hear from people who are still receiving these channels as the rest of us would like to know what equipment they have installed.
L
lollipop
New member
Have definitely lost Ch5 will check the others.
K
Kiredor
New member
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2012
- Messages
- 3
I live down in Algaida in the centre of Mallorca. Unfortunately I returned to the UK on the day before they did the Channel 5, etc., switch over to Astra F2 so was unable to check Ch 5 reception. However, I was there during the regional BBC HD switch over to F2, but sadly my Humax Foxsat was unable to pick up the 11.023 H frequency. I've bought another LNB (Inverto ULTRA Quad) whilst back here in the UK, plus a signal meter to help me optimise my dish alignment (it did move a bit in one of the bad wind blows we had a couple of years ago, and I managed to get it back sufficiently to get a good signal with 1N but probably not accurate enough for F2). My dish measures 1.65 metres vertically (less horizontally). I'll be back after 13th Jan so will then be able to clamber up on the garage roof adjust the dish to see if I can get Ch 5 etc.
But I have since contacted 2 separate friends with dishes in Algaida to see if they both still had Ch 5, and they both said yes. One admitted that the picture was suffering a bit of pixelation. Also they were checking during the daytime. Both their dishes are smaller than mine (I'll check the actual measurements when I'm back in Jan, but I think 1.4's).
I notice in one of the satellite forums that someone in Palma was able to receive the Regional BBC HD signals on 11023 with a 1.65 dish. I think the person was an installer.
But of course even if I get 1F reception, it's all speculation until we see what happens with the 2E footprint next summer...
I'll update with results in mid January.
Rod
But I have since contacted 2 separate friends with dishes in Algaida to see if they both still had Ch 5, and they both said yes. One admitted that the picture was suffering a bit of pixelation. Also they were checking during the daytime. Both their dishes are smaller than mine (I'll check the actual measurements when I'm back in Jan, but I think 1.4's).
I notice in one of the satellite forums that someone in Palma was able to receive the Regional BBC HD signals on 11023 with a 1.65 dish. I think the person was an installer.
But of course even if I get 1F reception, it's all speculation until we see what happens with the 2E footprint next summer...
I'll update with results in mid January.
Rod
Sparky
Administrator
Article from the Majorca Daily Bulletin . Grupo Serra Newspaper . Daily Press . News in English . Online Digital Information . Palma of Majorca Balearic Islands Spain. majorca daily bulletin. grupo serra newspaper . daily press . news in english . online digital info
NEW FEARS FOR SKY AND BBC & ITV IN NEW YEAR
Palma.—Readers in the North and North East of Majorca and all of Minorca have already experienced almost complete loss of Channel 5, however local rumors were unfounded in regard to Majorca losing BBC and ITV on the 16th of December, this predication was possibly caused by a satellite technician working in the South of Spain, interviewed on local radio with little working satellite knowledge of the Balearic islands.
Ocean Satellites predicated the loss of Channel 5 on Twitter and other social media before Majorca actually started to have any problems with this group of channels.
So we were glad to hear that Sean Connolly from Ocean says we will not have any problems with losing BBC and ITV until after the summer 2013.
However he goes on to say we are very close to a catastrophic loss of Channel 4 and a large number of Sky channels including most of Sky sports as early as January or February.
Connolly predicates loss in Alaro, Inca, Pollensa, Alcudia, Arta , Cala Millor and all of Minorca on dishes smaller than 1.6M on the following channels.
January/ February signal to drop on: l Sky Sports 1'3, F1, Sky Sports HD 3'4, F1HD, Eurosports 2HD. l Channel 4, 4+1, More4, E4, E4+1, More4 l Entertainment channels like UK Gold, Commended Central, Dave, Sky One HD, Sky Atlantic HD. l Most of the documentary group of channels . l Some of the music channels including MTV and VH1 · More than 5 of the Sky movie HD channels. He says that Calvia, Palma and even Cala D’or will not be affected by these changes in January and February even on smaller 1.35M dishes provided the dish is well aligned.
However he goes on to say there is a new Arab satellite which will be transmitting very powerful signals close to Sky which will cause further interference problems from April 2013.
The reason for this is that the Arab signals are strong and the Sky signal is weak so it causes cross interference to the weaker Sky signal in fringe areas of the signals such as Majorca and further South.
There is further bad news, it is predicated that BBC and ITV are under threat, when they migrate from their current strong signal location which currently works in Majorca and Minorca on a 1.1M dish to a weaker new satellite due to be launched in August 2013.
This new satellite is designed around a similar tight focus signal as the current Channel 5, the strength of the exact signal level is not certain, but it is should be somewhere between 15 % stronger or 15% weaker than the new Channel 5 satellite, if its stronger then all of Majorca will be able to receive BBC & ITV on a 1.35M dish.
If it was the same as the new Channel 5 then it would work in the South West on current satellite dishes and on 1.6M dishes in the North and the North East and Minorca.
If on the other hand it was 15% weaker, then the South West would only need 1.6M dish and the rest of Majorca and Minorca would need 1.8 or 2M dishes.
The cost of a 1.6M aluminium dish is in the region of 500E to 650 euros, and can be easily installed on a building wall, a well worth investment considering it’s a one off investment compared to paying monthly to watch the BBC on the internet .
However if one needs a jumbo 1.8 or 2M dish they become too heavy to be mounted on a wall and costs more than 1'000 euros. At that point internet options are more viable provided your internet speed is more than 2.6Mbps such as Freeview IPTV set top box which costs around 200 euros for the box and 30 euros per month for the subscription.
Andrew has a very interesting take on this in his blog today, here :- alcudiapollensa.
Like him i only have Spanish tv, i have the basic Canal+ package and once again this Christmas they have upgraded me to the full sports and film package for nothing....yep that's right it's free......could you imagine BSkyB doing that?
, i don't think so 
.
NEW FEARS FOR SKY AND BBC & ITV IN NEW YEAR
Palma.—Readers in the North and North East of Majorca and all of Minorca have already experienced almost complete loss of Channel 5, however local rumors were unfounded in regard to Majorca losing BBC and ITV on the 16th of December, this predication was possibly caused by a satellite technician working in the South of Spain, interviewed on local radio with little working satellite knowledge of the Balearic islands.
Ocean Satellites predicated the loss of Channel 5 on Twitter and other social media before Majorca actually started to have any problems with this group of channels.
So we were glad to hear that Sean Connolly from Ocean says we will not have any problems with losing BBC and ITV until after the summer 2013.
However he goes on to say we are very close to a catastrophic loss of Channel 4 and a large number of Sky channels including most of Sky sports as early as January or February.
Connolly predicates loss in Alaro, Inca, Pollensa, Alcudia, Arta , Cala Millor and all of Minorca on dishes smaller than 1.6M on the following channels.
January/ February signal to drop on: l Sky Sports 1'3, F1, Sky Sports HD 3'4, F1HD, Eurosports 2HD. l Channel 4, 4+1, More4, E4, E4+1, More4 l Entertainment channels like UK Gold, Commended Central, Dave, Sky One HD, Sky Atlantic HD. l Most of the documentary group of channels . l Some of the music channels including MTV and VH1 · More than 5 of the Sky movie HD channels. He says that Calvia, Palma and even Cala D’or will not be affected by these changes in January and February even on smaller 1.35M dishes provided the dish is well aligned.
However he goes on to say there is a new Arab satellite which will be transmitting very powerful signals close to Sky which will cause further interference problems from April 2013.
The reason for this is that the Arab signals are strong and the Sky signal is weak so it causes cross interference to the weaker Sky signal in fringe areas of the signals such as Majorca and further South.
There is further bad news, it is predicated that BBC and ITV are under threat, when they migrate from their current strong signal location which currently works in Majorca and Minorca on a 1.1M dish to a weaker new satellite due to be launched in August 2013.
This new satellite is designed around a similar tight focus signal as the current Channel 5, the strength of the exact signal level is not certain, but it is should be somewhere between 15 % stronger or 15% weaker than the new Channel 5 satellite, if its stronger then all of Majorca will be able to receive BBC & ITV on a 1.35M dish.
If it was the same as the new Channel 5 then it would work in the South West on current satellite dishes and on 1.6M dishes in the North and the North East and Minorca.
If on the other hand it was 15% weaker, then the South West would only need 1.6M dish and the rest of Majorca and Minorca would need 1.8 or 2M dishes.
The cost of a 1.6M aluminium dish is in the region of 500E to 650 euros, and can be easily installed on a building wall, a well worth investment considering it’s a one off investment compared to paying monthly to watch the BBC on the internet .
However if one needs a jumbo 1.8 or 2M dish they become too heavy to be mounted on a wall and costs more than 1'000 euros. At that point internet options are more viable provided your internet speed is more than 2.6Mbps such as Freeview IPTV set top box which costs around 200 euros for the box and 30 euros per month for the subscription.
Andrew has a very interesting take on this in his blog today, here :- alcudiapollensa.
Like him i only have Spanish tv, i have the basic Canal+ package and once again this Christmas they have upgraded me to the full sports and film package for nothing....yep that's right it's free......could you imagine BSkyB doing that?
, i don't think so .
A
alcanadakid
Member
Slingbox
Has anyone used Slingbox in Mallorca? It looks to be the answer to the forthcoming problems. We have a friend who uses it at their holiday home in the US, and connected to their TV in UK.
See:-
Slingbox.com - Watch Your TV Anywhere
Has anyone used Slingbox in Mallorca? It looks to be the answer to the forthcoming problems. We have a friend who uses it at their holiday home in the US, and connected to their TV in UK.
See:-
Slingbox.com - Watch Your TV Anywhere
El Gordo
Well-known member
A
alcanadakid
Member
Looks like you need the Internet though!!
That's right - and a good download speed. Currently we have about 1.2 Mbps in Alcanada, which hopefully is enough.
C
CHUG
New member
Hi all, just come over for a week for New Year and 3 Kings , can't seem to get any channels clearly....one or 2 are vaguely coming in and out but very pixelated , would this be due to this new problem , or should I try getting someone in to have a look at it .....Confort perhaps ? Cheers , Steve.
L
lollipop
New member
At the moment I think it is only Ch 5 that is giving problems so maybe need to get some one in.
C
CHUG
New member
Hmm , that's what I suspected , thanks Lollipop, will go in search of help in the morning , meanwhile will resort to good old conversation and book reading for this evening.
R
Ronnie
New member
Stick to your conversation and bookreading Chug, you are not missing anything on British television, Its the worst in living memory!!!!!
S
Stevo66
New member
We get Channel 5 with a perfect picture with our Humax Box.
fil6699
Member
We have also lost Channel 5 only but as we have the full sky Package to be honest just loosing Channel 5 is not a great loss. But am concerned about future losses.
Deanscroft
Member
Reception of the Channel 5s is proving to be very patchy. Very much dependant on your location and equipment. I have friends in Crestatx who are having no problem. I am in Gommar and have no signal whatsoever. My Father in Pinaret is getting a signal but very prone to breaking up. It could be a case of - If you are getting something then upgrading your eqipment (even just replacing the cable with new good quality stuff can double the signal strength at the decoder) could solve the problem. If you are getting nothing at all then the answer is more drastic - live without it, move house, or buy an enormous dish.
A
alcanadakid
Member
Had the Sky engineer at home in UK yesterday and discussed the impending problems in Mallorca with satellite signal and he recommended the Slingbox solution.
Have one on order (£99) and will try it on the visit next month. According to the spec it will work on a download speed of 0.8Mps.
Have one on order (£99) and will try it on the visit next month. According to the spec it will work on a download speed of 0.8Mps.
J
jamesfshaw
New member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2011
- Messages
- 38
We have a 1.4 metre satellite Dish mounted on the roof terrace.
If we bring out one of our UK Multi Room digiboxes wil it work in Puerto Pollenca?
If we bring out one of our UK Multi Room digiboxes wil it work in Puerto Pollenca?
J
James
Member
Yes - so long as the dish is aligned to the correct satellites for BSkyB although, as discussed above, you may not receive Channel 5 or its spin-offs (I no longer do) and you/we can expect to lose more channels over the coming months as many channels switch to a new satellite with a smaller/weaker footprint & a new Arab satellite comes online which is expected to interfere.
J
jamesfshaw
New member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2011
- Messages
- 38
Thank you for that. So what do we do next? Have an even bigger dish?
