I can receive most channels, however not all. Some channels are perfect, clear as a bell and super clear, others drop in and out stutter and pixilate, particularly at night, even though the signal strength is around 80 and quality around 60, why is this? surely if it is pointing at the satellite and getting a good signal on some channels then surely it should pick up the other channels just as good.
UK satellite TV channels are transmitted by 5 satellites using a range of frequencies over a number of beams. these beams have different reception characteristics. So some channels you can receive nice and easily, others require bigger dishes. In my area, I can receive a fair number of free and sky channels on an 80cm dish. But some channels ,like BBC1,2, need a much bigger dish, say 1.8m. And even on a 2.4m dish I still cannot receive BBC3 and BBC4.
If you have some channel and not others, and are expecting others, then your dish may not be aligned properly. a few mm on earth can mean a few 100 kms up in space where the satellites are, and that makes a difference in reception ,. As can many other things: dish is warped, lnb is poor,lnb skew angle is wrong, lnb is not hte correct distance fromt he dish, the cable is poor quality, the cable connections are poor, water ingress into the cable...and a few more.
my freesat box also has an additional antenna output feed to link to another tuner. I have a spare Skyplus box which I was wanting to use in the bedroom (just for the free channels). however it won't pick up any signal. I was told that if the dish was aligned to the satellite for freesat then I should also receive trhe free sky channels.... is this correct? if so then why won't the sky dish tune in?
UK TV comes from 5 satellites. Sky and freeesat use the same satellites and the same frequencies. There is no need for a seperate dish. A sky box with no viewing card will recieve the same channels as a freesat box.
However, the "loop" on the freesat box will only send the frequency "group" that the freesat box is using through that loop. Basically, if you have one channel on your freesat box on freq 12345, then freq 12345 will be sent via that loop to the sky box.
Ideally if you want ot use two seperate receivers at the same time, each will require its own seperate cable, and this se[erate feed from the LNB on the dish - which may mean changing the LNB to one that has more feeds.
I tried removing the cable feed from the dish from the Freesat box and plugged it directly into the sky box but still no signal. I do have a sky viewing card but it is a few years old.
Perhaps by attaching two live receivers to the same cable you have damaged the tuner inside the receivers, or maybe even damaged the LNB.
do i need a new card I wonder?. is it necessary to have a card just to pick up the free channels on sky?
A sky box with no viewing card will get the same channels as a freesat box. Card or no card, the sky box will work. you do not need a card for any "free to air" channels - like BBC1,2,3,4. you need a "free to view", also called a "freesatfromsky" card, and also sometimes incorrectly called a "freeview card", to watch those channels that are free but encrypted - like Five HD or Sony Tv.