I have a Freesat PVR alongside my Freeview PVR and I usually record
different series on each.

This morning when I tried the Freesat one, it came up with "No signal"
on the first 20 channels.

I am wondering if others are seeing the same thing, suggesting problems
with the uplink, or whether I now have a dead LNB that needs replacing.

Has anyone with a Freesat decoder tried viewing yet this morning?

Jim

Indy Jess John wrote:

> Has anyone with a Freesat decoder tried viewing yet this morning?

All the "normal" channels seem ok

News24, FIlm4, ITV1HD, BBC1HD, BBC2HD, CH4HD (how is Steph's packed
lunch still going?) and a handful more I tried ...

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
> Indy Jess John wrote:
>
>> Has anyone with a Freesat decoder tried viewing yet this morning?
>
> All the "normal" channels seem ok
>
> News24, FIlm4, ITV1HD, BBC1HD, BBC2HD, CH4HD (how is Steph's packed
> lunch still going?) and a handful more I tried ...
>
>

207 CNN is fine. I am watching it now.

"Owen Rees" <orees@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:s7j44d$c8m$1@dont-email.me...
> Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
>> Indy Jess John wrote:
>>
>>> Has anyone with a Freesat decoder tried viewing yet this morning?
>>
>> All the "normal" channels seem ok
>>
>> News24, FIlm4, ITV1HD, BBC1HD, BBC2HD, CH4HD (how is Steph's packed
>> lunch still going?) and a handful more I tried ...
>>
>>
>
> 207 CNN is fine. I am watching it now.

I have Freesat via a satellite dish, universal 2-output LNB and a DVB-S to
USB decoder on a Raspberry Pi running TVHeadend.

I've just checked the "Last Seen" date/time for all the "services"
(effectively channels). And everything is showing that it was last seen at
02:00 this morning when TVHeadend tries each mux in turn to scan for updates
to the EPG.

So it's not the problem I had a few weeks ago when ITV withdrew a lot of the
regional variants of ITV1 on SD, leaving only the HD versions. I wondered
why my daily recording of Calendar, the ITV news for Yorkshire, was failing.
Then I learned about ITV's changes. For me, the nearest local news on SD on
satellite is now Granada in Lancashire. If I want news that is more local, I
have to use HD/satellite or else SD/terrestrial. Not a problem, now I know.

On Thu 13/05/2021 11:57, Indy Jess John wrote:
> I have a Freesat PVR alongside my Freeview PVR and I usually record
> different series on each.
>
> This morning when I tried the Freesat one, it came up with "No signal"
> on the first 20 channels.
>
> I am wondering if others are seeing the same thing, suggesting problems
> with the uplink, or whether I now have a dead LNB that needs replacing.
>
> Has anyone with a Freesat decoder tried viewing yet this morning?
>
>

Weather? Heavy rain can play havoc with satellite.

On 13/05/2021 14:35, Woody wrote:
> On Thu 13/05/2021 11:57, Indy Jess John wrote:
>> I have a Freesat PVR alongside my Freeview PVR and I usually record
>> different series on each.
>>
>> This morning when I tried the Freesat one, it came up with "No signal"
>> on the first 20 channels.
>>
>> I am wondering if others are seeing the same thing, suggesting problems
>> with the uplink, or whether I now have a dead LNB that needs replacing.
>>
>> Has anyone with a Freesat decoder tried viewing yet this morning?
>>
>>
>
> Weather? Heavy rain can play havoc with satellite.
>
It had been raining all morning, so that is a possibility.

However, It has been rain free for the last half hour. I have just tried
it again and there are still no channels, so either I need to be patient
while things dry out or I need to replace the LNB.

Jim

On 13/05/2021 16:22, Indy Jess John wrote:
> On 13/05/2021 14:35, Woody wrote:
>> On Thu 13/05/2021 11:57, Indy Jess John wrote:
>>> I have a Freesat PVR alongside my Freeview PVR and I usually record
>>> different series on each.
>>>
>>> This morning when I tried the Freesat one, it came up with "No signal"
>>> on the first 20 channels.
>>>
>>> I am wondering if others are seeing the same thing, suggesting problems
>>> with the uplink, or whether I now have a dead LNB that needs replacing.
>>>
>>> Has anyone with a Freesat decoder tried viewing yet this morning?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Weather? Heavy rain can play havoc with satellite.
>>
> It had been raining all morning, so that is a possibility.
>
> However, It has been rain free for the last half hour. I have just tried
> it again and there are still no channels, so either I need to be patient
> while things dry out or I need to replace the LNB.
>
> Jim
>

Can you manually make it scan 11426H again to get the channel list
again? Maybe reception was bad last time it did it?

--
Brian Gregory (in England).

On 13/05/2021 16:22, Indy Jess John wrote:

> It had been raining all morning, so that is a possibility.

The only time I've seen rain fade when the road outside my house became
a river with water about 3 inches deep and which had fallen in the
previous 10 minutes.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

"alan_m" <junk@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ig57caFgtt5U1@mid.individual.net...
> On 13/05/2021 16:22, Indy Jess John wrote:
>
>> It had been raining all morning, so that is a possibility.
>
> The only time I've seen rain fade when the road outside my house became a
> river with water about 3 inches deep and which had fallen in the previous
> 10 minutes.

Yes, I've not noticed that I get more errors in a recording if there's heavy
rain outside. I do intermittently get periods of more errors, but it seems
to be at random, not when there's heavy rain, or when it's windy (which
might in theory blow the dish slightly off axis). The thing that almost
always cures the errors is to reboot my Raspberry Pi, which presumably
resets the USB port on the Pi and the DVB-S adaptor, though the LNB probably
has power throughout - unless the adaptor cuts the feed-through power when
it reboots. I've got into the habit of rebooting the Pi every day or so as a
precaution.

Even terrestrial reception doesn't seem to be affected by atmospheric lift
to the extent that people like Bill warned me, even though I'm a long way
from Belmont, with the ridge of a hill half a mile away spoiling what is
otherwise line of sight according to Java Jive's reception predictor. I get
more errors with terrestrial than with satellite, so I tend to use satellite
for recordings I'll want to keep and terrestrial for time-shifting
watch-and-delete.

On 13/05/2021 18:53, alan_m wrote:
> On 13/05/2021 16:22, Indy Jess John wrote:
>
>> It had been raining all morning, so that is a possibility.
>
> The only time I've seen rain fade when the road outside my house became
> a river with water about 3 inches deep and which had fallen in the
> previous 10 minutes.
>

I was looking at the weather from a rain cloud point of view. I had a
line of sight from my house right along an active weather front in the
direction of the Astra satellite, so the signal would be passing through
a lot of raindrops.

That said, it has been dry now for just over 7 hours so if the reception
was going to be restored it wouldn't now be saying No Signal, which it
still was 15 minutes ago. I did power the PVR off and back on and it
made no difference.

I have just ordered a new LNB. Knowing my luck, normal service will be
resumed just before it arrives in the post :-(

Jim

On 13/05/2021 14:35, Woody wrote:

>
> Weather? Heavy rain can play havoc with satellite.
>

As a matter of interest, the last time I had rainfade on 28E there was
bright sunshine here but it was as black as hell to the south.

Bill

On Thu, 13 May 2021 16:22:48 +0100, Indy Jess John
<jimwarren@OMITblueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>On 13/05/2021 14:35, Woody wrote:
>> On Thu 13/05/2021 11:57, Indy Jess John wrote:
>>> I have a Freesat PVR alongside my Freeview PVR and I usually record
>>> different series on each.
>>>
>>> This morning when I tried the Freesat one, it came up with "No signal"
>>> on the first 20 channels.
>>>
>>> I am wondering if others are seeing the same thing, suggesting problems
>>> with the uplink, or whether I now have a dead LNB that needs replacing.
>>>
>>> Has anyone with a Freesat decoder tried viewing yet this morning?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Weather? Heavy rain can play havoc with satellite.
>>
>It had been raining all morning, so that is a possibility.
>
>However, It has been rain free for the last half hour. I have just tried
>it again and there are still no channels, so either I need to be patient
>while things dry out or I need to replace the LNB.
>
>Jim
Or realign your dish that's got blown by the wind.
--
Dave W

Maybe the mice are hungry enough to eat the cable?
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Indy Jess John" <jimwarren@OMITblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:pC7nI.609236$qNp.111222@fx39.ams4...
>I have a Freesat PVR alongside my Freeview PVR and I usually record
>different series on each.
>
> This morning when I tried the Freesat one, it came up with "No signal" on
> the first 20 channels.
>
> I am wondering if others are seeing the same thing, suggesting problems
> with the uplink, or whether I now have a dead LNB that needs replacing.
>
> Has anyone with a Freesat decoder tried viewing yet this morning?
>
> Jim

On 13/05/2021 23:27, williamwright wrote:
> On 13/05/2021 14:35, Woody wrote:
>
>>
>> Weather? Heavy rain can play havoc with satellite.
>>
>
> As a matter of interest, the last time I had rainfade on 28E there was
> bright sunshine here but it was as black as hell to the south.
>
> Bill

Good point.

--
Brian Gregory (in England).

On 14/05/2021 10:32, Dave W wrote:
> On Thu, 13 May 2021 16:22:48 +0100, Indy Jess John
> <jimwarren@OMITblueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> On 13/05/2021 14:35, Woody wrote:
>>> On Thu 13/05/2021 11:57, Indy Jess John wrote:
>>>> I have a Freesat PVR alongside my Freeview PVR and I usually record
>>>> different series on each.
>>>>
>>>> This morning when I tried the Freesat one, it came up with "No signal"
>>>> on the first 20 channels.
>>>>
>>>> I am wondering if others are seeing the same thing, suggesting problems
>>>> with the uplink, or whether I now have a dead LNB that needs replacing.
>>>>
>>>> Has anyone with a Freesat decoder tried viewing yet this morning?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> Weather? Heavy rain can play havoc with satellite.
>>>
>> It had been raining all morning, so that is a possibility.
>>
>> However, It has been rain free for the last half hour. I have just tried
>> it again and there are still no channels, so either I need to be patient
>> while things dry out or I need to replace the LNB.
>>
>> Jim
>
> Or realign your dish that's got blown by the wind.

We have had much stronger winds than the ones recently and the dish has
not moved at all.

However, I have just had a look at it, and it is in the same direction
as it has always been. And I still have a No Signal from it.

Jim

On 14/05/2021 10:43, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
> Maybe the mice are hungry enough to eat the cable?

That had occurred to me. However, there are two cables from the LNB to
the PVR and I am not sure which one provides the feed to the TV, so I
tried each one singly in both connections and then reconnected both to
the opposite input to where they were originally and I still got No
Signal whatever I did, so unless both feeds were chewed I would have
expected to have got some evidence of a signal. I didn't.

Jim

On 14/05/2021 20:34, Indy Jess John wrote:
>> Or realign your dish that's got blown by the wind.
>
> We have had much stronger winds than the ones recently and the dish has
> not moved at all.
>
> However, I have just had a look at it, and it is in the same direction
> as it has always been.  And I still have a No Signal from it.
>
> Jim
>
You can't tell by looking. And sometimes a gust will deform the
reflector just ever so slightly but it drops the gain by lots. And
there's very little leeway with these things. Get your eye in line with
the rim (do it at several different angles) and sight across the near
and far parts of the rim and see if they are parallel. If not, it's
usually possible to judiciously pull at the dish until the are, then
re-align if necessary. I've pulled many dishes back into shape like that.

Also check that the LNB arm hasn't got displaced or become loose.

Check the LNB connections for damp. Check there's a DC voltage on the
feeder, at the dish.

Then buy a new LNB.

Bill

In message <GyAnI.266606$F197.250064@fx07.ams4>, Indy Jess John
<jimwarren@OMITblueyonder.co.uk> writes
>On 14/05/2021 10:43, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
>> Maybe the mice are hungry enough to eat the cable?
>
>That had occurred to me. However, there are two cables from the LNB to
>the PVR and I am not sure which one provides the feed to the TV, so I
>tried each one singly in both connections and then reconnected both to
>the opposite input to where they were originally and I still got No
>Signal whatever I did, so unless both feeds were chewed I would have
>expected to have got some evidence of a signal. I didn't.
>
Satellite signals are in two frequency bands (switched by the presence
or absence of a 22kHz signal from the STB) and two polarisations
(switched by the supply DC voltage from the STB being either 14 or 18
volt). Although I think that far more than 20 channels would be
affected, is it possible that one of these has failed?
--
Ian

On Fri 14/05/2021 20:53, Indy Jess John wrote:
> On 14/05/2021 10:43, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
>> Maybe the mice are hungry enough to eat the cable?
>
> That had occurred to me.  However, there are two cables from the LNB to
> the PVR and I am not sure which one provides the feed to the TV, so I
> tried each one singly in both connections and then reconnected both to
> the opposite input to where they were originally and I still got No
> Signal whatever I did, so unless both feeds were chewed I would have
> expected to have got some evidence of a signal.  I didn't.
>

The box will use either tuner depending on what is available at that
instant.

I'm more confused than ever now, so are you in effect saying that the one
socket is dead and the other is OK so that lets the lnb and cable off the
hook so to speak?
If that is the case then it has to be a switching voltage problem in the
box or that the tuner has failed. Do we know if both receivers are basically
just software running on one bit of hardware? If so then the problem could
be software related.
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Woody" <harrogate3@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:s7mq5o$d6t$1@dont-email.me...
> On Fri 14/05/2021 20:53, Indy Jess John wrote:
>> On 14/05/2021 10:43, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
>>> Maybe the mice are hungry enough to eat the cable?
>>
>> That had occurred to me. However, there are two cables from the LNB to
>> the PVR and I am not sure which one provides the feed to the TV, so I
>> tried each one singly in both connections and then reconnected both to
>> the opposite input to where they were originally and I still got No
>> Signal whatever I did, so unless both feeds were chewed I would have
>> expected to have got some evidence of a signal. I didn't.
>>
>
> The box will use either tuner depending on what is available at that
> instant.
>

On 15/05/2021 09:41, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
> I'm more confused than ever now, so are you in effect saying that the one
> socket is dead and the other is OK so that lets the lnb and cable off the
> hook so to speak?

According to the manual, the box will run on a single connection from
the LNB but you can then only record the channel you are watching.
The second connection let me record two programmes at once or record one
while the other displays on the TV.
That must be delivered by some software logic, but I don't think it
likely that software would explain why everything worked when I went to
bed and didn't work when I got up in the morning.

Bill has suggested I test for voltage arriving at the LNB, which I
hadn't thought of, but I decided I would wait for the new LNB I ordered
to arrive so that I only need to get my ladder out once, test what is
there and replace if necessary.

Jim

In message <chMnI.368296$tDk2.26101@fx06.ams4>, Indy Jess John
<jimwarren@OMITblueyonder.co.uk> writes
>On 15/05/2021 09:41, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
>> I'm more confused than ever now, so are you in effect saying that the one
>> socket is dead and the other is OK so that lets the lnb and cable off the
>> hook so to speak?
>
>According to the manual, the box will run on a single connection from
>the LNB but you can then only record the channel you are watching.
>The second connection let me record two programmes at once or record
>one while the other displays on the TV.
>That must be delivered by some software logic, but I don't think it
>likely that software would explain why everything worked when I went to
>bed and didn't work when I got up in the morning.
>
>Bill has suggested I test for voltage arriving at the LNB, which I
>hadn't thought of, but I decided I would wait for the new LNB I ordered
>to arrive so that I only need to get my ladder out once, test what is
>there and replace if necessary.
>
With a single cable, I with a twin tuner think you should be able to
record any two channels (and obviously watch one of them at the same
time) on the selected band and polarisation. You should also be able to
replay anything recorded.
--
Ian

On 15/05/2021 11:36, Ian Jackson wrote:
> In message<chMnI.368296$tDk2.26101@fx06.ams4>, Indy Jess John
> <jimwarren@OMITblueyonder.co.uk> writes
>> On 15/05/2021 09:41, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
>>> I'm more confused than ever now, so are you in effect saying that the one
>>> socket is dead and the other is OK so that lets the lnb and cable off the
>>> hook so to speak?
>>
>> According to the manual, the box will run on a single connection from
>> the LNB but you can then only record the channel you are watching.
>> The second connection let me record two programmes at once or record
>> one while the other displays on the TV.
>> That must be delivered by some software logic, but I don't think it
>> likely that software would explain why everything worked when I went to
>> bed and didn't work when I got up in the morning.
>>
>> Bill has suggested I test for voltage arriving at the LNB, which I
>> hadn't thought of, but I decided I would wait for the new LNB I ordered
>> to arrive so that I only need to get my ladder out once, test what is
>> there and replace if necessary.
>>
> With a single cable, I with a twin tuner think you should be able to
> record any two channels (and obviously watch one of them at the same
> time) on the selected band and polarisation. You should also be able to
> replay anything recorded.

As I ran two cables to the PVR I have never experimented with what
happens with only one. I just remember what it said in the manual.

With two connections, I can record two while watching a third, or play
back a recording while recording two more.

I know from what has been said in the NG before that two programmes with
the same band and polarisation can be recorded concurrently but I have
never needed to pursue that.

Jim

In message <WQNnI.435596$obOf.245903@fx11.ams4>, Indy Jess John
<jimwarren@OMITblueyonder.co.uk> writes
>On 15/05/2021 11:36, Ian Jackson wrote:
>> In message<chMnI.368296$tDk2.26101@fx06.ams4>, Indy Jess John
>> <jimwarren@OMITblueyonder.co.uk> writes
>>> On 15/05/2021 09:41, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
>>>> I'm more confused than ever now, so are you in effect saying that the one
>>>> socket is dead and the other is OK so that lets the lnb and cable off the
>>>> hook so to speak?
>>>
>>> According to the manual, the box will run on a single connection from
>>> the LNB but you can then only record the channel you are watching.
>>> The second connection let me record two programmes at once or record
>>> one while the other displays on the TV.
>>> That must be delivered by some software logic, but I don't think it
>>> likely that software would explain why everything worked when I went to
>>> bed and didn't work when I got up in the morning.
>>>
>>> Bill has suggested I test for voltage arriving at the LNB, which I
>>> hadn't thought of, but I decided I would wait for the new LNB I ordered
>>> to arrive so that I only need to get my ladder out once, test what is
>>> there and replace if necessary.
>>>
>> With a single cable, I with a twin tuner think you should be able to
>> record any two channels (and obviously watch one of them at the same
>> time) on the selected band and polarisation. You should also be able to
>> replay anything recorded.
>
>As I ran two cables to the PVR I have never experimented with what
>happens with only one. I just remember what it said in the manual.
>
>With two connections, I can record two while watching a third, or play
>back a recording while recording two more.

With a dual tuner, I'm sure that the 'third' has to be one of the ones
you're recording - or something already recorded. [At least that's what
mine does.]
>
>I know from what has been said in the NG before that two programmes
>with the same band and polarisation can be recorded concurrently but I
>have never needed to pursue that.
>
It'll be easy enough to check (when you get the present problem sorted
out!).
--
Ian

On Sat 15/05/2021 13:07, Ian Jackson wrote:
> In message <WQNnI.435596$obOf.245903@fx11.ams4>, Indy Jess John
> <jimwarren@OMITblueyonder.co.uk> writes
>> On 15/05/2021 11:36, Ian Jackson wrote:
>>> In message<chMnI.368296$tDk2.26101@fx06.ams4>, Indy Jess John
>>> <jimwarren@OMITblueyonder.co.uk>  writes
>>>> On 15/05/2021 09:41, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
>>>>> I'm more confused than ever now, so are you in effect saying that
>>>>> the one
>>>>> socket is dead and the other is OK so that lets the lnb and cable
>>>>> off the
>>>>> hook so to speak?
>>>>
>>>> According to the manual, the box will run on a single connection from
>>>> the LNB but you can then only record the channel you are watching.
>>>> The second connection let me record two programmes at once or record
>>>> one while the other displays on the TV.
>>>> That must be delivered by some software logic, but I don't think it
>>>> likely that software would explain why everything worked when I went to
>>>> bed and didn't work when I got up in the morning.
>>>>
>>>> Bill has suggested I test for voltage arriving at the LNB, which I
>>>> hadn't thought of, but I decided I would wait for the new LNB I ordered
>>>> to arrive so that I only need to get my ladder out once, test what is
>>>> there and replace if necessary.
>>>>
>>> With a single cable, I with a twin tuner think you should be able to
>>> record any two channels (and obviously watch one of them at the same
>>> time) on the selected band and polarisation. You should also be able to
>>> replay anything recorded.
>>
>> As I ran two cables to the PVR I have never experimented with what
>> happens with only one. I just remember what it said in the manual.
>>
>> With two connections, I can record two while watching a third, or play
>> back a recording while recording two more.
>
> With a dual tuner, I'm sure that the 'third' has to be one of the ones
> you're recording - or something already recorded. [At least that's what
> mine does.]
>>
>> I know from what has been said in the NG before that two programmes
>> with the same band and polarisation can be recorded concurrently but I
>> have never needed to pursue that.
>>
> It'll be easy enough to check (when you get the present problem sorted
> out!).

Not quite. If the third is on the same transponder as one of the other
two then you should be able to watch it whilst recording two others.