Talk Quesada forum

hi is anyone having problems with Astra I have lost a few channels mainly on ITV?

Always happens at this time of year especially if the dish isn't one of those huge NASA type things. Ours is 1.4 and loses some of the HD channels (ITV and C4) plus things like Drama, Pick, CBS and others go all pixelly at certain times of the day.
It's been re-aligned but some of the channels have weak signals and are worst affected.
Sometimes, in the height of summer, I lose more channels than I get. I've been meaning to change to a 1.8 or 1.9 dish but, having started with a 1.1 m dish and then paying out for a 1.4 dish I'm a bit reluctant as something is bound to change and I''ll end up going to 2.4 and 2.8 and then a 3.0 metre dish knowing my luck.
Not exactly cheap to keep changing the dish. (Was informed 1.1 was great until they changed the spot beam so a 1.4 would be better).

2.4 gets everything loud and clear and in HD as well. Mike

Ok thanks, I have. 2 mt dish. Pete.

You could try and replace the cable going from the dish to the box. Part of it obviously outdoors and with the heat in Spain the do go bad pretty quick. Inside the cable there is rubbery plastic and extremely thin foil to protect the rubber. Unfortunately this goes bad pretty quick in this weather and is probably what causes your pixels on your screen. If it was an alignment issue it would not cause pixels. As different channels have different frequencies it does not disturb all channels at the same time. Also, of the foil is broken inside due to the cable being "bent" around a corner even a lamp or a DVD player can disturb your picture with pixels. I recommend to try and replace the cable first before any costly repairmen. When I was younger I worked with support for just issues like this. And 9 out of 10 times this solved the problem. Good luck and hope you'll solve it.

Also, if you do decide to replace the cable you could use black electric tape on the part that is outside in the sun for additional protection against the weather.

If the cable is outside in the sun you could do what I did: run the cable through irrigation pipe, it is very cheap and protects the cable from the elements.

Thanks folks all I need is someone to trust to do it. And not get ripped off.