Anyone having problems with Sky or Freesat-from-Sky?
Two of my neighbours are. One is an old Sky HD Box with a free viewing card in, the other I don't know.
Separate independent non-communal satellite dishes.
I'm having no problems with true Freesat.
Central Scotland area.

Just seems unlikely to separate boxes/dishes would fail at the same time this morning and still off: no satellite signal received / no lock.

No mention of problems with Sky on their status website.

Owain

In message <ebfafef3-db5d-4ebc-b0e6-72ad30d8324an@googlegroups.com>,
Owain Lastname <spuorgelgoog@gowanhill.com> writes
>Anyone having problems with Sky or Freesat-from-Sky?
>Two of my neighbours are. One is an old Sky HD Box with a free viewing
>card in, the other I don't know.
>Separate independent non-communal satellite dishes.
>I'm having no problems with true Freesat.
>Central Scotland area.
>
>Just seems unlikely to separate boxes/dishes would fail at the same
>time this morning and still off: no satellite signal received / no
>lock.
>
>No mention of problems with Sky on their status website.
>
>Owain
>

No problems with Sky here. (I'm located in Surrey.)
--
John Hall
"Home is heaven and orgies are vile,
But you *need* an orgy, once in a while."
Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

On Monday, 24 October 2022 at 21:55:57 UTC+1, Owain Lastname wrote:
> Anyone having problems with Sky or Freesat-from-Sky?
> Two of my neighbours are. One is an old Sky HD Box with a free viewing card in, the other I don't know.
> Separate independent non-communal satellite dishes.
> I'm having no problems with true Freesat.
> Central Scotland area.
>
> Just seems unlikely to separate boxes/dishes would fail at the same time this morning and still off: no satellite signal received / no lock.
>
> No mention of problems with Sky on their status website.
>
> Owain

Very heavy rain meant we lost F24 briefly yesterday plus a few artefacts on BBC News 24.

"R. Mark Clayton" <notyalckram@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:d88c8036-fd47-42a6-8c55-7f917c5b6149n@googlegroups.com...
> On Monday, 24 October 2022 at 21:55:57 UTC+1, Owain Lastname wrote:
>> Anyone having problems with Sky or Freesat-from-Sky?
>> Two of my neighbours are. One is an old Sky HD Box with a free viewing
>> card in, the other I don't know.
>> Separate independent non-communal satellite dishes.
>> I'm having no problems with true Freesat.
>> Central Scotland area.
>>
>> Just seems unlikely to separate boxes/dishes would fail at the same time
>> this morning and still off: no satellite signal received / no lock.
>>
>> No mention of problems with Sky on their status website.
>>
>> Owain
>
> Very heavy rain meant we lost F24 briefly yesterday plus a few artefacts
> on BBC News 24.

What's the weather like in the OP's area? Heavy rain and/or rain-bearing
clouds nearby? My experience of satellite reception in general is that
complete loss of lock is unheard-of; the worst I've had is frequent dropouts
with usable reception in between. And that's rare: even in heavy rain I
normally get almost glitch-free reception. For anything critical I do the
old belt-and-braces: set the same programme to record both from satellite
(poor in torrential rain) and terrestrial (poor at times of atmospheric
lift), in the hope that one of the two will be OK.

Are all the satellite multiplexes roughly the same received power, or are
some more susceptible than others to weak-signal dropouts?

On 25/10/2022 in message
<d88c8036-fd47-42a6-8c55-7f917c5b6149n@googlegroups.com> R. Mark Clayton
wrote:

>On Monday, 24 October 2022 at 21:55:57 UTC+1, Owain Lastname wrote:
>>Anyone having problems with Sky or Freesat-from-Sky?
>>Two of my neighbours are. One is an old Sky HD Box with a free viewing
>>card in, the other I don't know.
>>Separate independent non-communal satellite dishes.
>>I'm having no problems with true Freesat.
>>Central Scotland area.
>>
>>Just seems unlikely to separate boxes/dishes would fail at the same time
>>this morning and still off: no satellite signal received / no lock.
>>
>>No mention of problems with Sky on their status website.
>>
>>Owain
>
>Very heavy rain meant we lost F24 briefly yesterday plus a few artefacts
>on BBC News 24.

Same in Alderholt 2 days ago, lost signal completely, it was absolutely
hissing down.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day.
Tomorrow, isn't looking good either.

On 25/10/2022 13:27, Jeff Gaines wrote:
> On 25/10/2022 in message
> <d88c8036-fd47-42a6-8c55-7f917c5b6149n@googlegroups.com> R. Mark
> Clayton wrote:
>
>> On Monday, 24 October 2022 at 21:55:57 UTC+1, Owain Lastname wrote:
>>> Anyone having problems with Sky or Freesat-from-Sky?
>>> Two of my neighbours are. One is an old Sky HD Box with a free
>>> viewing card in, the other I don't know.
>>> Separate independent non-communal satellite dishes.
>>> I'm having no problems with true Freesat.
>>> Central Scotland area.
>>>
>>> Just seems unlikely to separate boxes/dishes would fail at the same
>>> time this morning and still off: no satellite signal received / no
>>> lock.
>>>
>>> No mention of problems with Sky on their status website.
>>>
>>> Owain
>>
>> Very heavy rain meant we lost F24 briefly yesterday plus a few
>> artefacts on BBC News 24.
>
> Same in Alderholt 2 days ago, lost signal completely, it was
> absolutely hissing down.
>
Yes, same here on Sunday evening. However, it's only usually while the
rain is in progress, and sometimes when a thundercloud is 'in the way'.
If the loss of signal continues after thing clear then there are
possibly other factors, such as water getting in the coax etc

I'm wondering if the rain and indeed in some places wind is the underlying
cause, dishes moved, then got water up its coax connection?

I have had to bring in my outdoor thermometer, supposedly waterproof which
got full of water that night aand dried it off indoors and had to fit new
batteries.
Sounds to me like its at the receiving end.
Brian

--

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This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
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Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"R. Mark Clayton" <notyalckram@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:d88c8036-fd47-42a6-8c55-7f917c5b6149n@googlegroups.com...
> On Monday, 24 October 2022 at 21:55:57 UTC+1, Owain Lastname wrote:
>> Anyone having problems with Sky or Freesat-from-Sky?
>> Two of my neighbours are. One is an old Sky HD Box with a free viewing
>> card in, the other I don't know.
>> Separate independent non-communal satellite dishes.
>> I'm having no problems with true Freesat.
>> Central Scotland area.
>>
>> Just seems unlikely to separate boxes/dishes would fail at the same time
>> this morning and still off: no satellite signal received / no lock.
>>
>> No mention of problems with Sky on their status website.
>>
>> Owain
>
> Very heavy rain meant we lost F24 briefly yesterday plus a few artefacts
> on BBC News 24.

On Tuesday, 25 October 2022 at 16:54:32 UTC+1, Brian Gaff wrote:
> I'm wondering if the rain and indeed in some places wind is the underlying
> cause, dishes moved, then got water up its coax connection?
>
> I have had to bring in my outdoor thermometer, supposedly waterproof which
> got full of water that night aand dried it off indoors and had to fit new
> batteries.
> Sounds to me like its at the receiving end.
> Brian
>
> --
>
> --:
> This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
> The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
> bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
> Blind user, so no pictures please
> Note this Signature is meaningless.!
> "R. Mark Clayton" <notya...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:d88c8036-fd47-42a6...@googlegroups.com...
> > On Monday, 24 October 2022 at 21:55:57 UTC+1, Owain Lastname wrote:
> >> Anyone having problems with Sky or Freesat-from-Sky?
> >> Two of my neighbours are. One is an old Sky HD Box with a free viewing
> >> card in, the other I don't know.
> >> Separate independent non-communal satellite dishes.
> >> I'm having no problems with true Freesat.
> >> Central Scotland area.
> >>
> >> Just seems unlikely to separate boxes/dishes would fail at the same time
> >> this morning and still off: no satellite signal received / no lock.
> >>
> >> No mention of problems with Sky on their status website.
> >>
> >> Owain
> >
> > Very heavy rain meant we lost F24 briefly yesterday plus a few artefacts
> > on BBC News 24.

Well I have had an LNB fail through water ingress, but not for a couple of minutes during a cloudburst.

A more trick "fault" was poor reception, which mysteriously went away intermittently on a very windy day. Eventually I realised we needed to top the trees that over several years had grown up in the dish's "line of sight" to the satellite. Problem cured.

On Tuesday, 25 October 2022 at 13:19:36 UTC+1, NY wrote:
> What's the weather like in the OP's area? Heavy rain and/or rain-bearing
> clouds nearby? My experience of satellite reception in general is that
> complete loss of lock is unheard-of

OK I think, and I know my Freesat was uninterrupted.

Apparently Sky-freesat came back about midnight last night.

Owain

On 25/10/2022 13:55, Mark Carver wrote:

> Yes, same here on Sunday evening. However, it's only usually while the
> rain is in progress, and sometimes when a thundercloud is 'in the way'.
> If the loss of signal continues after thing clear then there are
> possibly other factors, such as water getting in the coax etc

I've only knowingly experienced loss of satellite signal twice in as
many years due to rain. In one case the rain was so heavy that it was
around 2 inches deep running down the local road. The outages only
lasted around 10 minutes. I do however have a larger zone 2 "sky" type
mini-dish in a zone 1 area.
I've seen a lot more distribution of reception due to weather conditions
on terrestrial via the aerial.

Last year I had a partial failure of a LNB due to the ingress of water.
On examination of the LNB the plastic covering the horn had become
brittle and had disintegrated, about quarter of it had fallen off. The
LNB was around 15 years old and in full sunlight (when available) until
around midday.

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

On 26/10/2022 09:16, alan_m wrote:
> On 25/10/2022 13:55, Mark Carver wrote:
>
>> Yes, same here on Sunday evening. However, it's only usually while
>> the rain is in progress, and sometimes when a thundercloud is 'in the
>> way'. If the loss of signal continues after thing clear then there
>> are possibly other factors, such as water getting in the coax etc
>
>
> I've only knowingly experienced loss of satellite signal twice in as
> many years due to rain. In one case the rain was so heavy that it was
> around 2 inches deep running down the local road. The outages only
> lasted around 10 minutes. I do however have a larger zone 2 "sky" type
> mini-dish in a zone 1 area.
> I've seen a lot more distribution of reception due to weather
> conditions on terrestrial via the aerial.
>
> Last year I had a partial failure of a LNB due to the ingress of
> water. On examination of the LNB the plastic covering the horn had
> become brittle and had disintegrated, about quarter of it had fallen
> off. The LNB was around 15 years old and in full sunlight (when
> available) until around midday.
>
I've rarely taken note whether or not my satellite signal dies during
torrential+ rain, because I find myself watching the spectacle, rather
than putting the telly on.

Of course it's not just the downlink that can be wiped out, the uplink
can be too. I've visited Sky's primary uplink site, they keep a close
look out for heavy rain, and poise themselves to switch everything to a
secondary site about 20 miles away (and hope both locations don't get
the downpour at the same time !)

In article <jrs8n6Fk0ncU1@mid.individual.net>, alan_m
<junk@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> 've only knowingly experienced loss of satellite signal twice in as
> many years due to rain. In one case the rain was so heavy that it was
> around 2 inches deep running down the local road.

Last week we had a downpour with rather more 'difficult' effect.

The rain was so heavy that, combined with leaves from the roof, it caused
our downstairs loo to back up. Did this during the night. Left quite a mess
in the bathroom and I'm now trying to get the carpet changed.

Neighbour did help with shifting the blockage, but I'm still wary as we had
another downpour last night. Fortunately, no ill effects, but... Getting a
'ball' cage fitted to the top of the gutter downpipe. Can at least try and
stop more leaves, etc, getting washed down it in future.

Particularly unwelcome at present because, the week before, my wife fell
down the stairs. At first we were worried about a neck fracture. 999 and
the paramedic, etc, ageed. So she spent 24+ hours in hospital. Scan, etc.
No fracture it seems, but lots of bad sprains and bruises. Brought her home
by ambulance as they gave her a couple of Zimmers.

Thank heaven for helpful neighbours.

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
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Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Jim Lesurf wrote:

> we had another downpour last night. Fortunately, no ill effects, but...
> Getting a 'ball' cage fitted to the top of the gutter downpipe. Can at least
> try and stop more leaves, etc, getting washed down it in future.

They tend to cause clogs at the top, rather than bottom of the downpipe, then
the gutter overflows ...

In article <jrt009F10jsU2@mid.individual.net>, Andy Burns
<usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

> Jim Lesurf wrote:

> > we had another downpour last night. Fortunately, no ill effects,
> > but... Getting a 'ball' cage fitted to the top of the gutter downpipe.
> > Can at least try and stop more leaves, etc, getting washed down it in
> > future.

> They tend to cause clogs at the top, rather than bottom of the downpipe,
> then the gutter overflows ...

I'd prefer that to having the muck all over the carpet, and then having to
change the carpet!

Indeed, I'm now also concerned that the recently installed underfloor
insulation might have prevented some of the wet muck that might have gone
though the floor from escaping. Having the wood remain in contact with that
muck wouldn't do it any good. :-/

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
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Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

"Jim Lesurf" <noise@audiomisc.co.uk> wrote in message
news:5a3de0dd30noise@audiomisc.co.uk...
>> > we had another downpour last night. Fortunately, no ill effects,
>> > but... Getting a 'ball' cage fitted to the top of the gutter downpipe.
>> > Can at least try and stop more leaves, etc, getting washed down it in
>> > future.
>
>> They tend to cause clogs at the top, rather than bottom of the downpipe,
>> then the gutter overflows ...
>
> I'd prefer that to having the muck all over the carpet, and then having to
> change the carpet!

That reminds me of the annual task when we or my parents visited their
holiday cottage in Yorkshire in the spring: to remove the leaves that had
built up in the gutters/downpipes over the autumn. Usually this task had to
be done in the pouring rain, and often required the downpipes to be removed
so a rigid hosepipe could be used to ram the leaves out of the pipe -
because a wire "cage" at the top always lets leaves through (or blows away
at some point!). But that is preferable to the similar task for the bath
wastepipe which usually freezes up over the winter: we once arrived at the
cottage to spend Christmas there, and found the living room carpet soaking
wet because the bath tap had been dripping, the wastepipe had gradually
frozen up, and the bath was now very slowly overflowing and dripping through
the bathroom floor into the lounge. That was a long job to remove the
wastepipe from the outside wall and try to persuade the ice to melt or to
ram it through - about six feet of ice in the pipe...

On 28/10/2022 09:58, NY wrote:
>
> But that is preferable to the similar
> task for the bath wastepipe which usually freezes up over the winter: we
> once arrived at the cottage to spend Christmas there, and found the
> living room carpet soaking wet because the bath tap had been dripping,
> the wastepipe had gradually frozen up, and the bath was now very slowly
> overflowing and dripping through the bathroom floor into the lounge.
> That was a long job to remove the wastepipe from the outside wall and
> try to persuade the ice to melt or to ram it through - about six feet of
> ice in the pipe...

I spent the famous, or infamous, winter of '62/3 in my parent's house in
Gloucestershire, and there was a similar problem every day throughout
that entire winter with the exterior cast-iron waste-pipe freezing up.
I had to clamber up a ladder with a kettle to pour hot water over it
before going to the toilet in the morning. Thereafter, it usually
remained free for the rest of the day, but by next morning it would be
frozen up again.

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk

"Java Jive" <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:tjgfq9$331dv$1@dont-email.me...
> On 28/10/2022 09:58, NY wrote:
>>
>> But that is preferable to the similar task for the bath wastepipe which
>> usually freezes up over the winter: we once arrived at the cottage to
>> spend Christmas there, and found the living room carpet soaking wet
>> because the bath tap had been dripping, the wastepipe had gradually
>> frozen up, and the bath was now very slowly overflowing and dripping
>> through the bathroom floor into the lounge. That was a long job to remove
>> the wastepipe from the outside wall and try to persuade the ice to melt
>> or to ram it through - about six feet of ice in the pipe...
>
> I spent the famous, or infamous, winter of '62/3 in my parent's house in
> Gloucestershire, and there was a similar problem every day throughout that
> entire winter with the exterior cast-iron waste-pipe freezing up. I had to
> clamber up a ladder with a kettle to pour hot water over it before going
> to the toilet in the morning. Thereafter, it usually remained free for
> the rest of the day, but by next morning it would be frozen up again.

I spent the famous, or infamous, winter of '62/3 in my mummy's tummy ;-)
She said she was petrified of slipping and falling in the ice for those last
few months before I was born.

Cast iron drain pipes may be bloody heavy if you have to remove them to rod
the ice through but at least cast iron is more conductive to heat, so
kettles of boiling water poured down the outside are more likely to melt the
ice than through modern plastic pipes.

We lived at the cottage in Yorkshire for a year between selling our old
house and finding/buying our present house. The pipes didn't freeze up,
although the kitchen sink pipe did freeze once because a support bracket had
broken which allowed a long length of pipe, nominally at 45 degrees, to sag
in the middle which allowed water to collect and freeze. I eventually solved
the bathroom pipe, which started to run away very slowly even when there was
no ice. It turned out that there was a blockage further "downstream" which
allowed water to back up and collect in the pipe. Most of the year, the flow
was restricted; in the winter it was able to freeze. It took a long time to
rod the pipes to clear all the sand/earth that has somehow got into that
pipe, but the plumber we eventually called out had a very long pipe-bending
spring which was rigid enough to dislodge the blockage, flexible enough to
go round bends and even a right-angle joint, and long enough to reach the
blockage. There was an almighty slurping noise and huge "logs" of compressed
sandy/hairy conglomerate shot out of the pipe into the underground
inspection chamber. There hasn't been a problem since. The pipes I'd removed
and cleared previously had been the ice blockage, but not the root cause of
that ice being able to form.

On 28/10/2022 14:15, NY wrote:
>
> "Java Jive" <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote in message
>>
>> I spent the famous, or infamous, winter of '62/3 in my parent's house
>> in Gloucestershire, and there was a similar problem every day
>> throughout that entire winter with the exterior cast-iron waste-pipe
>> freezing up. I had to clamber up a ladder with a kettle to pour hot
>> water over it before going to the toilet in the morning.  Thereafter,
>> it usually remained free for the rest of the day, but by next morning
>> it would be frozen up again.
>
> I spent the famous, or infamous, winter of '62/3 in my mummy's tummy ;-)
> She said she was petrified of slipping and falling in the ice for those
> last few months before I was born.

Mummy's tummy? That were bloody luxury! [etc, etc, ...]

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk

On 28/10/2022 09:58, NY wrote:
> That reminds me of the annual task when we or my parents visited their
> holiday cottage in Yorkshire in the spring: to remove the leaves that had
> built up in the gutters/downpipes over the autumn.

A friend had a cottage several miles down Loch Ericht, no elecricity, no
sewer connection and no mains water. His water came from a stream
outside, every time he went up to stay there he would have a walk up the
hill to check no dead deer, sheep etc in the stream.

Hikers sometimes would stop and ask to fill their water bottle because
it was the last cottage for many miles. They could not understand that
the water from his tap was the same as that running past the cottage!

You also had drive across the main railway line to get there, ringing up
on the telephone by the gate to check no trains due.