Rotor

My Sky box shows Central tv on channel 103/ITV1 , how do I change it to show the ITV 1 channel for the southwest?

EsuriJohn

You can't it depends on the post code it was registered to in UK. I bought a second hand sky+ box and delivered to a uk address there I put my sky card in the box and phoned Sky on my mobile (always said I had no landline). They changed the channels to our original package and opened the record facility even though at that address we only had one input. Works fine down here just recorded Lark Rise while watching skating.

The Guy

A sky box with no card defaults to ITV1 Central on 103.

A sky box with a card in defaults to whichever ITV1 region has been assigned to the postcode of the uk address for that sky card.

But then, you can add all the other ITV1 regions to your "services other channels" list by inputting a the relevant frequency into service, 4, 4.

http://www.satandpcguy.com/Site/itv_...anca_spain.php

But note that ITV1 channels are spread over a number of frequencies, some strong (60cm dish with a sky card), some very weak (probably not even 24/7 in some areas with a 3.1m dish!)

EsuriJohn

It really is suprising how this is equipment dependant. We have three tuners available we get the BBC channels and Anglia (West) 24/7 plus freesat HD on the Panasonic Freesat TV, on the Pace Sky + box we get our regional ITV about 16hrs in good weather and less if there are storms about. The old Amstrad box finds it difficult to pull the Anglia west except in the mornings in the best conditions. Time to get my Ultra Black quad and see if that helps though I know from past changes you can it seems have too much signal.

snikpoh

It's as much to do with your satellite box as anything else.

We have an older pace box and a newer one - both same make and model number, just that one is much older.

The old one is useless at getting certain channels - it gets them but the screen is very pixelated. Checking the strength and quality of the signal really says it all - about half from that on the newer box!

Amstrad and Panasonic boxes (in my opinion) are very poor in deed.

Fred James

The original TU-DSB30 Panasonic was always reckoned to be the best of the lot - but a Sky update messed it up a bit.

I still have one as a backup box.

EsuriJohn

The tuner in my Panasonic freesat TV is brilliant in my opinion. From what I have read the Humax HD box takes some beating but you can't use a sky card that seems to be Dreambox territory.

anonimouse

Absolutely true, my mate in Hungary can't get a lot of the English channels but when I tried my box on his dish, it got them all, he got another box from the UK but unfortunately that was the same.

What are the best Sky boxes to buy though, it's not down to price as mine wasn't an expensive one?

The Guy

As mentioned, all receivers have different components and tuners, so some perform better than others. And of course they are designed for where the signals are better than in Spain.

The Pace 2600, followed by the 430ns are considered the best for fringe reception. They really hold the weaker FTA channels longer. Some Grundigs do also, before they blow their capacitors. The new Pace 440 and 445 are not so good. Then the best Sky+ box I have found is the 3100.

But most HD boxes tend to have better tuners in side them anyway, hence why the SKyHD+ boxes and Freesat HD boxes work so well.

The boxes help a lot for keeping channels longer. They are not much use for getting BBC1 on an 80 cm dish where a 2.4m dish is required! In many cases "poor performing" boxes like the 440 / 445 are OK on small dish systems, as their tuners are OK with signals on the smaler dishes. Its just when you move up to try and get the weaker Astra 2d / 2A/Bnorth beam frequencies that tuner sensitivity comes into play.

CBANDY

Is there any way of receiving sky sports news on a 1.9 dish on the costa blanca? I am using one of the Amstrad sky+ boxes. (not HD)

Mitzyboy

Yes. I had it on a SKY+, and also now on an HD box, I think mine is 1.8m

CBANDY

I must need my dish tweeking then. I only get no satelite signal.

The Guy

Sky Sports News is on a north beam frequency.
This frequency is weakest at 5pm.
It require the dish to be aligned well.
And for the LNB skew to be exact.
And it is worse where you are then Mitz and I are.
Even then some receivers still do not like the frequency (most amstrads dont like it that much!)
You can try and use a signal attenuator on the cable (behind the sky box) and tune that to get the best signal for SSN. Tune it when SSN starts to break up. However, having the attenuator can have an imopact on other frequencies, and you may, with the attenuator, lose the astra 2d channels (ITV1,2,3,4,BBC1,2) earlier.

EsuriJohn

Shouldn't think the Amstrad will do it my standard Amstrad sky box would not do it reliably. What I have found with my Pace Sky+ is that is very sensitive to the skew angle of the LNB. We just kept nudging it clockwise until it was stable and except bad weather we now just press 405. This is in contrast to Sky Sports 1, 2 and 3 which seem to be much easier to tune in. All this is due to the skill and advice on here of the GUY!

The Guy

Thats because SS1,2,3 are on a different satellite / beam than SS4 and SSN.
You can also see the difference with Eurosport1 and Eurosport2...1 is strong, 2 is on a weaker north beam